The first place we went for a expedition was the place on the strip that billed itself as "The World's Largest Toy Museum." It was a building that probably housed a drug store, back in the days when those were only a few thousand square feet. Every room was crammed with interesting things, and I took pictures of some of the ones I liked best. As you can see, my sister's daughter added a lot of sweetness to the place.

My father had just returned from a trip to South Africa. Just for fun, I asked him to read the chapter in this book about the place. He said "It's a fair description of the place as I knew it when I lived there, but nobody could have predicted then the changes that occurred there in the 1990s". Heinlein only wrote two nonfiction books, neither of which were published during his life. This one talks about his trip around the world in the 1953-1954 time frame. It's a nice coincidence that my father was working at the U.S. Consulate in Port Elizabeth at the time and knows what it was like from personal experience.

My brother and I have a tradition. Every thanksgiving we try to get out and do something together. This year we played a game of golf at the Holiday Hills Golf Course. I gotta admit that he won the game, but neither of us are good enough golfers that you want to invite us into your foursome. On a typical hole, I would get about ten strokes, and he would get something like six. We didn't let that stop us from having a good time though.

We played a lot of board games, mostly Monopoly Junior and Scrabble. When we played Monopoly Junior I always wanted to get the videogame arcade. When I succeeded, after people paid rent on the spot, I would blink the LED on my key ring over their icon. This year I had a green one. I find myself wondering if the little one remembers that three years ago, when we played in Williamsburg Virginia, I did the same thing with a red LED.

Our big Tourist Trap experience of the vacation was the day we spent at Silver Dollar City. For reasons I completely fail to understand, we all had trouble pronouncing the name of the place for days before we got there. It came out completely differently every time, usually followed by gales of laughter. Must have been an inside joke. Several people (usually shop salespeople and waiters) reccomended the place.

Quiet family time before the big meal.

My brother brought this refer magnet that our mother had given him a few years ago, just in case we needed it. She had given one to each of us, but I had left mine behind at AOL when I left the place. The breakroom fridges had been so naked, I couldn't leave them unadorned.

Thanksgiving is made complete by doing things together. Ball games have many ways of being enjoyed.

The last thing we did before going our separate ways was pose for a group shot.

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