Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we stayed at home this year. We could not agree on the mode of traveling, so we decided to stay put. It is nice, not to have to join the thousands of travelers. I got my shopping done early, so no pushing an shoving for me last minute. We invited the Brunett family. Ethan Brunett is in the same class as Marlene and since they did not had any plans either, we celebrated together. Rosario, Ethan's mother, said, they never had a real traditional Thanksgiving, because they always had celebrated in Florida with other foreigners, and everyone brought something to a potluck. Not so here. We had a huge turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, vegetables, salad, gravy and cranberry sauce. Afterwards, off course, we had pumpkin pie for desert. We loved the company and the kids had a lot of fun, running around and playing.

On Friday we went to the beach. Nothing says beach like the stench of dying and dead salmon trying to get up the river. It was nauseating. Last week there had been no rain, so it is very hard for the fish to reach the river (at this point) at Carkeek Park, because the water has been so low. We counted 17 dead and two dying fish. Last year, we spent the day after Thanksgiving in Santa Cruz at the beach. Somehow 70 F has more appeal than 35 F and fish stench.

Today the girls and I went with Jen and Zoey to the Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaqua. For years i have been wanting to go. Today was the day. The Cougar Mountain Zoo has the largest herd of Northern reindeer south of the "North Pole". And wouldn't you believe it, there were Rudolph, Dasher, Prancer, Dancer, Vixen, Cupid, Comet, Donner, and Blitzen. These were some beautiful animals. Everyone was getting the park ready for Santa and the Reindeer Festival, which starts next week (just my luck). I guess it was nice to be able to see everything without huge amounts of people. Off course, there were cougars and Bengal tigers, as well. I loved the Alpacas and there were many different parrots, other birds and lemurs. The zoo was small, but nice. I want to come back in summer when it is not freezing.