Uh, whoops! So I took some really cute pictures around Thanksgiving in 2011 and never managed to get them online. How about I address that?

First up: a trip to the San Francisco Zoo with Henry’s first grade class. It was a blast seeing him and his buds from school interact with one another. I rarely get to see them at their “day job” so watching how they talked and played was a real treat. The bug house, in particular, was a delight with them alternating, “Ewww!! Gross!” with, “Whoa, that’s so cool!” depending upon the bug.

Next up: our Thanksgiving feast. We dined solo this year, not making a trip to either homestead nor having a visitor. We tried (but failed) to reduce the quantity of food we cooked. That’s OK, though; Thanksgiving is about left-overs.

Last up: a trip to Devil’s Gulch in Samuel P. Taylor park. It’s en route to Point Reyes National Seashore. We took a nice 3 mile hike with the kids and enjoyed the nearly diametric difference between SoCal (a desert) and NorCal (a lush , verdant landscape by winter). Mushrooms grew from pools of water standing in the roots of redwoods and seasonal waterfalls raced down the steep inclines. Magic.