HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Since this is my post-Thanksgiving post, I will chronicle the recent activities of the not-quite-NINETY-THREE-members of MY family.

We drove to NY for the holiday, seeing a good bit of Pennsylvania in the process due to Mike's desire to avoid New Jersey (nothing personal, folks!) and listening to a LOT of storytapes (technically, CDs) and music.

Yes, we are the last family in America that does not employ DVD technology for looooong car rides (though our trip to Cape Cod last summer almost removed us from that category). Audio hits of this trip were Arthur chapter books (borrowed from the library, so one tape was busted and hence we never found out what happened with Prunella's cootie catcher), My Father's Dragon (Bougie's perenial favorite), Tom Lehrer's That Was The Year That Was ("Mommy, why are you skipping the song called 'SMUT'?") and Roger Miller's Greatest Hits ('Do Wacka Do' being my personal favorite), which was a steer from Neal Pollack - thank you, Neal.

We stopped in Easton, PA on the way and visited the Pez Museum (OK, technically we visited the Pez Museum gift shop, which the kids thought WAS the museum) and the Crayola Crayon Factory (ditto). We ate lousy pizza in a random spot and mourned the fact that our other planned expedition - The Caramelcorn Shop - was en restoro, due to a fire (presumably a tasty fire, not that one should joke about such things).

Other highlights of our trip (above and beyond a perfectly splendid Thanksgiving, featuring something like 23 of our nearest and dearest) were a trip to The Big Apple Circus (complete with positively mesmerizing blue cotton candy courtesy of Grandpa Dan), a trip to the American Girl store (at the insistence of Franny and her doll, Kit) and a trip to Mike's favorite restaurant, The Excellent Dumpling House (aka The Dump).














See how happy Mike looks when he's at The Dump?

That's because he's eating MY Hunan Special Rice Noodle Soup, which totally kicked his Hot and Sour Noodle Soup's tushie! Tushie is a Grandma Dearie word for BUTT, in case you were wondering. Still no word about the future of my BUTT book, for those of you who were wondering.

Speaking of books... NINETY-THREE IN MY FAMILY broke into the TOP FIFTY chart of Abrams books (at, um, #50, I think) and has been steadily climbing! This may be because BarnesandNoble.com named it a "Great Read Aloud" for 4-8 year olds. Or it may be because my mom is stocking up for her holiday gifts. Either way, it's all good.

AND, NINETY-THREE IN MY FAMILY also received a very nice review in the December issue of Washington Parent magazine (HOLIDAY BOOKS ROUND-UP)!

I'm hitting several school book fairs and book stores in the upcoming weeks, so please check my calendar and come say hi!!!