Happy Thanksgiving

It was a quiet one at our house this year. No company, not even all of the kids home. A bored toddler, tired college student and grumpy parents made for one of those days. Last year at Thanksgiving Alex had been home just 5 weeks. With a house full of company he was overwhelmed and over stimulated before the day was half over. This year we took the opposite approach - no excitement whatsoever. But still he was having a meltdown by the time Thanksgiving dinner hit the table mid-afternoon. Maybe he just doesn't like Thanksgiving? He certainly doesn't like eating dinner at 3:30. These photos capture the essence of our holiday.

Alex drives his cars down the piano keys

Liz does her chemistry homework

Dan and dad munch out while waiting for dinner

Travel Town

We were in LA for the weekend visiting our college student and her big sister during Parents Weekend at Oxy. After the campus festivities on Saturday we all headed over to the Travel Town Museum in Griffith Park - an amazing collection of retired locomotives. And for a third time in as many weeks we rode a miniature train around the park. Great fun!

Halloween

We got a second year out of the Dalmatian costume, though Alex was a wee bit too tall for it. Luckily it was still in the mid-sixties when we were out with two girls from the neighborhood, so all we needed underneath was a pair of light cotton pjs. Alex loved his first experience with Trick or Treating - he scampered along with the group, stood patiently with them at the door, and politely accepted treats that were offered. Until we got to the end of the street and started back. Then he didn't understand why we weren't heading up the same driveways we'd just come down. He lost it when I wouldn't let him visit the same house twice. So we called it a night and came home. Which was fine since none of us need the sugar.