Lets Go to the Movies! No, Lets Bring the Movie Here!!

During the month of August when it was so hot outside we enjoyed sitting in the cool shade of the back deck waiting for the sun to slowly set to give us a cool evening to comfortably fall asleep . We would lazily sit on the deck with our feet up and watch the corn grow, and you could  almost see it growing  right before your eyes on some of those hot evenings. We would quietly watch the long shadows grow and the beautiful colours that would glow on the Golden Ears Mountains as the sun would gracefully set in the west behind us.

While we were sitting enjoying a glass of lemonade and doing all we could to keep ourselves cool one evening, my friends thought it would be fun to go to the drive-in movie. Oh yes, I thought to myself, that does sound like fun.  Maggie reminisced about how much fun it was when she was a kid to go to the drive-in.  I thought it was funny that they would wear their pajamas at a drive-in.  Maggie said that when you get home from a drive-in you want to be ready for bed because it is so very late, the night dosen’t get any darker than how dark it is when you come home from the drive-in. My eyes grew as big as saucers at the thought of staying up that late!

A few evenings later our neighbours came over to enjoy some cool drinks, some snacks and some laughing on our back deck. They liked watching the corn grow and enjoyed the sunset too. As a matter of fact, the neighbour that came over that evening was indeed the farmer that actually planted the corn we were watching grow.Yup, it was Farmer Bob and his wife Debbie.  Maggie mentioned how much she enjoyed going to outdoor movies.  Debbie told us they had a movie screen we could borrow and we could have an outdoor movie right there in the back yard.  I started jumping up and down and doing flips and doing my happy dance, hoping that Maggie and Wayne would accept Bob and Debbie’s offer to lend us their movie screen and projector…….oh it could be so much fun!!!!! I guess they thought so too and next thing you know the plans were being made.

We all love movies!  My favorite movie of all time is, well, I have a few favorite movies because my owners like me to have “a well rounded exposure to all kinds of family entertainment”.  Some movies that I have seen, and I like are:  Winnie the Pooh and The Blustery Day, Pride and Predjudice, Cars, An Affair to Remember, 101 Dalmations,  Old Yellar, Treasure Island,  Planes, Swiss Family Robinson, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in 80 Days, Journey to the Centre of the Earth. There are more, but my most favorite, all time, absolute favorite movie, that I LOVE is…………… MARY POPPINS!

Much to my surprise that is the movie that my friends decided we would watch.  Maggie got on the phone and started inviting people over on the Saturday night that we knew it would not rain.  She invited over 50 people.  She asked people to bring their own lawn chairs and some snacks if they like and she would have some snacks here to enjoy as well.

For a few days before our movie night it rained and rained and I was hoping it would stop raining so we could get the yard ready for our movie night.  Never is there a dull moment of sitting around when fun is brewing around here! While it was raining it gave Maggie and I some time to prepare some surprises for everyone.  We worked hard and got the surprises ready for all the kids,” little kids and grown up kids”, Maggie called them, and then laughed.

I have put in  a picture of all our surprise bags. They covered the whole dining room table. First we put glow in the dark necklaces in the bags, so people would not bump into each other. We put whistles, corn kernels, bubbles and more bags in the bags. Oh, and a treat for the kids but there were lots of treats to eat, just look at the junk food table we had!  And for the parents Maggie made special hot chocolate with something called Baileys Irish Cream in it, everyone really liked it.  I think it was because she put real whipped cream on top.

Wayne and Bob’s son, Young Farmer Brad, worked very hard to set up the screen .  Unfortunately Brad and his new wife Rachel were not able to come for the movie. They had a “previous engagement”, dont know what that is but if you have one you can not go to a movie. Brad did pop over later after his “previous engagement” was done.  He missed the movie but was there for the visiting part. I like Young Farmer Brad and his wife Rachel, they are nice neighbours.

Lots of people came to movie night, almost fifty people. People came even before it was dark out because everyone wanted to visit first.. But the ones who did not come were very sorry that they missed out on all the fun and told us to tell them when we do it again.

When the sun had gone down and gave us just the right amount of darkness, Wayne got  the movie ready to go. Everyone ran to their seats and organized all their snacks they had and got ready for it to start, everyone was so excited, especially me :). I sat in a little chair that Maggie put on the balcony off her bedroom. She and I thought it would be better for me there in case I got stepped on in the dark. But from up there I could see EVERYTHING!!!

Just before the movie started, Maggie told everyone that if they want to sing a long to feel free, cause almost everyone would know the words. She told them that if they didn’t know the words they could whistle along, and if they could not whistle, then they could blow the whistles that were in the bags. Marco, the big kid then demonstrated how to blow the whistle. If it was a sad or borring song they could blow bubbles to make it more cheerful. I blew bubbles for the Feed the Birds song, it was long and sad sounding.   There are a few marching kind of songs in the movie so everyone put their corn kernels into  plastic containers and we had instant percussion instruments and we felt like we were part of the orchestra when we shock our instruments along to the rhythm of the music..No body got up and danced and I thought they would to the chimney sweeping song but I think they were kind of shy to and will next time because now we know better how to have fun at an outdoor movie. Ok, to be honest, Maggie did kick her heals up when no one was watching her.  giggle giggle.   But my absolute favorite part was the bags. Those were for us to blow up and pop whenever the neighbour of the Bank’s family, Admiral Boom, shot off his cannon, we popped  the bags all together at the same time.  Everyone loved doing that and the kids would laugh. It kept the coyotes away too. Some of our guests thought it was great fun to swing their glow in the dark necklaces around in the air when it was so dark outside. OH that looked so beautiful, it was almost as beautiful and the fire works at Disneyland.

There was also a trivia game that everyone played and there was a prize. You will never guess who won the prize!?!  My friends the twins from my terrific Tuesday blog, and their Mom and Dad. They now own a beautiful fancy kite that they can go out and fly and think about the fun night when they watched Mary Poppins in our back yard. Everyone that came to the movie said they had “great fun”!

When the movie was over, no one wanted to go home so we all gathered on the deck and visited and laughed and joked around. Maggie was really funny and Brad told her not to have anymore sugar because she was getting too hyper.  I like it when Maggie is funny, I did not think she was too hyper, she was just so excited that everyone was having a wonderful time.

The children all wanted to know when we were going to do a movie again and they had lots of ideas of what the next movie should be. The children also enjoyed swinging on the swing set and thought it was really great that they were outside playing and it was SO dark. At last, when the night was as dark as a night gets everyone went home.

We cleaned up all the snacks and brought them inside the house.

We received thank you cards from some of the people a few days later.  One card was very special. It was from a young married couple who are new to our area, they are originally  from Korea. They grew up in a big city and have never ever in their whole life sat beside a corn field and watched a movie and looked up at the beautiful stars all at the same time. They really appreciated us sharing our back yard with them.  We want to have them,  Alice and Andrew over again. Maggie says they are on her list for a card party.

It is now winter time and we fondly remember the event every time we pop up another bag of left over microwave popcorn.  Maggie was worried there would not be enough popcorn. But there was lots of goodies for sure and here it is 2014 and we are still popping Mary Poppins popcorn. :).

I dont know what a card party is. I can only imagine what a card party might be.  Imagining things is very fun. Finding out what things really are though, is even more fun. That is when I find out that my imagination does not know everything.  When I ask about the card party my friends look at me sweetly and say “you’ll see”.  They gave me a clue though, there is food involved.  I am good with that!

With my knees to the elbows, and stepping in time, I shall say good bye until next week’s blog when I have another adventure to share with you………..did you hear that sound?  Was that a ?…………I will investigate and get back to you.

Patchez

I’m a Beary Busy Bear

It  has come to my attention that I have been very lax in my bear blogging. I do send my beary deepest apologizes to all of my readers.  I appreciate all of your emails of late, reminding me of my obligation to keep you all informed as to my bear-a-bouts.

Since my last blog much has happened and I suppose I should just start from the bearginning.

Maggie never has learned how to put a movie from her movie camera onto the blog, such a disappointment that is, but once she figures out the technology, LOOK OUT, you might see your face on my blog :).

Not long after my lovely Tuesday afternoon adventure with the twins I had the opportunity to go on my very first real Bearsness Trip with Becky.  Her Daddy summoned her and her sister to Colorado to have a meeting about a FANTASTIC idea that he had. So Becky suited me up for my Bearsness Trip Adventure.

I must say, Bearsness trips are quite different from any other trips. There is no singing, spinning  rides, going to movies or having a lovely afternoon tea. And there is no laughing at bearsness meetings The best way to describe such an strange adventure is……talking,listening, thinking, listening, writing, listening and listening some more. You have to have a white board and the Daddy likes serious white board markers.  Jenny did not get to use her cute little markers that looked like crayons. The Daddy gave her a stern look at her idea of white board markers, the same kind of stern look I gave the cat who thought I was a chew toy.  When you have a bearsness meeting you do go out for dinner but then you have to listen and listen and talk and write notes. You shake your head up and down lots and then everyone goes to bed early because they are tired. Then you fly home.  I am not sure if my Becky really enjoys bearsness meetings but I have noticed that grownups often have to do things they don’t enjoy because they need an income.  (note to self: research “income”)  I have never had an income but it seems important to people.

In the last few months my Rebecca and Jenny and the Daddy have had many bearsness meetings. I see Becky on the computer so much now. She even talks to it on Sunday nights at our dinner time and Tuesday mornings very early. She takes lots of pictures with a strange looking camera and then she makes the pictures look funny. She must really like the pictures because she has two of eveyone she takes. She told me it is for “The App”.  Her and Jenny and the Daddy are going to help people to exercise their eyes. It will help people to see better and it helps peoples’ brains work better.  If things go really well with “The App” then lots of people will be very happy.

Now more people are working with my friends on “The App”.  I would like to meet them. Especially the Dr that works with Becky and Jenny, she has children that I am sure would love to show me around their home in Colorado. I will ask if we can meet some day.

So my advice on bearsness meetings is not to rush into this strange activity. Put bearsness meetings off for as long as possible because there are so many more fun things to do with life that include singing, dancing and laughing. 🙂

We took the APP to disneyworld but I will tell you about that on another blog real soon.

So, even though I do not see the fun in bearsness meetings, I do like it when I get to go to Boulder Colorado and be with my girls. It makes me happy to spend time with people who like me. I try beary hard to behaive when they are all talking and listening and thinking and listening.  It seems very important to them, so I will respect that.

Speaking of singing and dancing makes me want to tell you about the fun backyard activity we had one warm summer evening……….stay tuned.

Sincerely, the “not tied up in a bearsnessmeeting bear”

Patchez 🙂

Terrific Tuesday

I am sure you would all agree that to make a day wonderful it must include spending time with someone you enjoy. In order to make a terrific day it would be spending a day with two people you enjoy :)!

This particular Tuesday I am referring to was, what some may think a miserable day. It was cold and rainy outside, there were big black clouds in the sky and the wind was blowing very strong making the trees sway back and forth. Inside the house though was the complete opposite, it was not miserable at all because my friends Erin and Hannah came over to play and do some crafts with Maggie and I.

Erin and Hannah have great imaginations! The girls got me dressed up in my snorkelling outfit and we pretended I was on vacation. My vacation was to be a camping/snorkelling/theatre trip.

The big bath tub was to be the ocean, oh it was so much fun when the girls through me in the air and we pretended that there was an ocean monster after me, but it was just the girls pretending. I knew there were no monsters but it was so much fun imagining that I was in the ocean and swimming so hard that I would shoot way up in the air above the water and then dive back down into the water just like the whales do.

Erin and Hanna took me out of the ocean and got me all warmed up and ready for the next part of the vacation.

We pretended I was camping and they created the best tent ever!! They used cushions from the couch and blankets and they even made me a glowing full moon with special lighting effects on Maggie’s exercise ball. First we pretended I was all ready for bed and had my robe on and everything, then we pretended I was sleeping, it was hard not to giggle but I laid real still until they decided it was day time again. They turned the flashlights off and the moon was gone, that was really neat.

The next part of the vacation was when I was to get ready for a special show they put on for me. I was so excited about the show. They made a little stage out of a little box and then made little puppets out of card board and attached it to string to drop inside the top of the little box. They dressed me up in my tuxedo and put me in the “best seat in the house”… It was a very nice story about a little baby bird looking for its mother. I am going to try to attach the movie to my blog post……..umm I don’t really know how to do that so when Rebecca gets home from her job I will ask her to help me attach it.

After the little show that Erin and Hannah put on, Maggie said that it was almost time for their Mom to come and pick them up and we hadn’t even made our other craft yet. We all worked very diligently and cleaned up the things we had pulled out. I was so curious as to what craft Maggie was going to do with the girls. She said she was even going to let them sew on the sewing machine. I thought to myself “WOW, that is going to be so cool”.

Erin and Hannah had each brought with them an old t-shirt as Maggie had requested. They cut the sleeves off of the t-shirt and cut the neck hole bigger and then Maggie showed them how to sew up the bottom of the shirts and PRESTO, they had a shopping bag !! Erin and Hannah were not even afraid of the sewing machine’s loud noise, they just stitched up those t-shirts like they knew exactly what they were doing. A shopping bag would not be complete without some decorations on it. Erin and Hannah are so talented, they made those shopping bags look so glittery, I am sure their Dad wont recognize his old t-shirts now.

Hannah and Erin’s Mom came just when they were finished hanging their bags to let the glitter glue dry.. They chatted a million words a second to tell their Mom what they had done that morning. Their Mom was not too upset that they did not eat their snack and said she would take them to McDonalds for a lunch. They were very excited to go there. Maggie would have liked to have joined them, maybe next time.

I do not think they saw us waving to them as their car drove down our long driveway. That is ok, we like to wave to people we like.

Maggie and I discussed some activities we could do the next time they came to visit. It all sounded so very exciting to me.

“But Maggie,” I said in a very serious tone, “I might not be here when they come back to visit, I am a travelling bear, you know, and I have been here for a long time now. And yesterday…….”. “What about yesterday”? Maggie asked, as she looked at me with a twinkle in her eye. “Yesterday I saw Rebecca dusting off her suitcase. I am thinking there is a trip in the making……”. “Well, Patchez, if you find out there is a trip being planned, you had better let Puddin know about your plans, she has become very attached to you since she arrived”.

Good ole Puddin, I just love that hound dog! She will understand if I am away for a while, she knows what its like to be a traveller. I sure wonder why Rebecca was dusting off her suitcase…….I wonder where we are off to next!?!

Well, it’s been a while since I wrote this post, Maggie and I are having some technical difficulties with posting the movie of the show Erin and Hannah put on for me, we will post it soon, in the meantime, enjoy these photos of my TERRIFFIC TUESDAY!

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Moo-ving Day

There have been so many “firsts” for me the past few months. My first gondola ride, my first bearsness trip and now my first den move.

The family has found a lovely den to move to in a quaint little town by two rivers. The town is called Pitt Meadows. So far, I have not seen any Pitts or any meadows but there are many cranberry bushes and a big field that will grow corn soon. There is a giant barn that I see out of Maggie’s sewing room window that has lots of cows living in it. Farmer Jim said he will give us a tour of the cow farm as soon as we are settled into our den.

Getting settled was a BIG job for me. As a matter of fact, I had to recruit some help, which is always a good idea when you move. Having a helper can make things more fun and helpers usually have really good ideas on how to organize your stuff. Apparently when helpers come and help move stuff from one den to another you have to order in pizza to eat, and I LOVE pizza!

Speaking of stuff, I think I am getting too much stuff. Maggie gave me my own cupboard. She put it in her sewing room so I could have lots of light when I am choosing my outfits.

Once Rebecca figured out her moving schedule, she invited cousin Brittany to come and help her get organized. So, since Brittany was coming to town I emailed cousin Peachez and invited her to come down with Brittany. Peachez was thrilled at the idea of organizing, she is really a pro at it. Peachez was finished her spring skiing and cleared her calendar so she could ride in Brittany’s suitcase on the plane.

My first chore was to collect all my things together. Everything used to fit in one suitcase but this time I needed an extra bag too. That is ok, Wayne carried my heavy suitcase and bag up all the stairs to my new room. I do not know what I would have done with out Wayne’s help. He is so strong and can even climb two steps at a time.

I decided to wait for the girls to fly in before I started unpacking. In the mean time, I kept Maggie company as she packed little boxes one at a time. I was so happy that she was following the Dr’s orders to be carefully about lifting. I kept a close eye on her though, and gave her little reminders by giving her a gentle growl if a box looked too heavy for her to carry.

One day, as we were packing, I heard a scratching at the back door and a little bark. Maggie opened the door and was so excited that Puddin had come for a visit. Puddin is a hound dog that comes to stay every once in a while. She makes herself quite at home and apparently causes lots of excitement when she visits, I have heard lots of stories from the family about Puddin. We were instant best friends and I was sure she was going to make moving into our new den very fun

Then Peachez and Brittany arrived in perfect time for us to enjoy a lovely afternoon tea at the Fairmont airport hotel, they do make lovely scones. It was fun to have tea and special treats while watching the airplanes flying here and there!

The next day we promptly got to work. We talked about a system but the only thing that Puddin heard was “unpack”. Puddin is good with short sentences such as sentences with one word.
So while Peachez and I took things out of the suit case and put them in a drawer, Puddin would take it out of the drawer and put it in the suitcase.

Soon we had made a complete mess…

I thought we were having great fun, and I was just so impressed at Puddin being able to balance a shoe on her head, she sure is an amazing hound dog.

Peachez on the other hand, being much more mature than me, got us into an unpacking and organizing routine. She also gave Puddin some of my shoes to keep her occupied while we got the work done.

The pizza was delicious and we were all very tired by the time the moon came up. Peachez is so smart, she helped me come up with a wonderful idea.

While we were nestled in our sleeping bags and Puddin curled up by my feet. Peachez said “Patchez, what do you think about the idea of sending Puddin to some training classes”? I thought for a few minutes about good ol’ Puddin and how talented she was. Imagine being able to balance a shoe on your head!? And she made all my shoes so shinny by licking them all and now they are nice and sticky too, they won’t fall off my feet when I wear them. She was so good at getting things from the bottom of the suitcase before taking things from the top, she really wanted to get right into the work we were doing and she made things fun.

“I know what we can do!” I said after giving the idea at least forty five seconds of thought, (which is a lot of thought for a bear like me) “We can have other doggie students come to our new den and she can teach them here, she can teach them all her wonderful tricks she can do!” and I listed all the things I had thought about to Peachez. Puddin then slowly walked out of our room and went outside. Peachez sat up and must have been just amazed at the idea since her mouth was dropped open. “Listen, Peachez,”I said, “Puddin loves the idea, she is out there right now howling to the other dogs in the neighbourhood, she must be announcing the idea of puppy school here, sounds to me that the other dogs love the idea because they are all answering back, listen, more and more dogs are answering back, isn’t Puddin such a good advertiser!?, just wait until I tell Maggie and Wayne and Rebecca our idea, they are going to be howling with excitement too, oh I just can’t wait”! I knew Peachez was as excited as me, she just looked at me with amazement in her big round eyes, but she is so wise, she knew that if we kept making more plans we just would not get any sleep. She just looked at me lovingly and said, “Goodnight Patchez”.

I fell asleep pondering over how many wonderful friends I have and imagining all the new puppy friends I will be making. I figured out Wayne will need to get busy and make, oh, maybe about thirty or forty new doggie houses for all the students coming and I fell fast asleep in my new den…

I didn’t “Makeup” this Post! ;)

Hello travel buddies!

I’m writing to you from 30,000 feet (which is a lot for someone who only has paws…) ! Time to update you on one of my recent adventures. Most of my trips have only one purpose: fun. But Rebecca told me this one would be a little different. I think she called it a…. Bearsness trip? I asked if bearsness trips can still be fun and she assured me that they can so I packed up and off we flew! Our destination was Los Angeles, California (not too far from my most favorite place) for the International Makeup Artist Trade Show!

On the way there, we got to fly first class (thanks to some upgrade coupons from a friend)! We had a quick stop-over in Las Vegas, Nevada. There were strange and noisy machines all over there airport. I was told not to touch them, though, apparently they don’t have “good odds”. I don’t know, they looked pretty odd to me!

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The weather in western Canada had been chilly but when we landed at LAX it was sunny and warm. A shuttle took us to a nice hotel, the Westin Pasadena where we quickly settled into our room.

The next day, Rebecca went to a makeup masterclass in the morning and in the afternoon got to go to the trade show for the “pro-only hours” which meant she got to see all the neat stuff before most people did! The next two days she was busy at the convention centre working at the show for Makeup Artist Magazine, meeting interesting people, and learning lots about makeup. Since bears are already naturally beautiful I don’t need to know much about how to do that so I enjoyed the amenities of our hotel and took in some sights of Pasadena. Rebecca bought lots of colorful little things at the makeup show and showed them all to me when she got back to the hotel.

Also at the makeup show were lots of bloggers like me! Many people go online to learn about beauty products and some of the most famous beauty bloggers were there to meet their fans. Hmm… I wonder where my first meet and greet should be… Comment below and me know where you think would be the beary best place!

The makeup artist trade show was super fun after all. It was just a short trip, though. We had to get back to BC for our next great adventure, which is actually still in progress. More about that in my next post!

Happy travels!

Patchez

Seems Like Yesbearday Part 2

There was so much excitement the day we found each other. Seeing so many new sites and meeting all those wonderful people was a little overwhelming for a young bear like me.

When I asked for a short little nap in the afternoon  the girls said it was a wonderful idea. It was decided  that they would go do some shopping while I had a little nap in their locker. It  had their jackets they had brought for when it got cooler in the evening and they were so warm and cuddly. It was the perfect hideaway den for a little bear nap.

The plan was we were all to meet back at the locker at 5 pm. The plan worked…sort of.  The only problem was no one realized that when I say a short little nap, that really is what it is, a short little nap. Fifteen minutes after my new friends were gone I was wide awake and ready to go for more exploring.

Now, you must remember, I am very young and I noticed through out my first day of being stuffed that I had a slight tendency to be compulsive. Or should I say I acted before I would think.  Before you could say “Bob’s your uncle”, my little bear claw popped out and pressed into the key hole on the inside of the locker and POP, the door opened and I was ready to go  out exploring the sights all  by myself.

I took a few steps excitedly down the isle of  lockers, then my steps slowed down some and then, I stopped. My new little heart was going pitter-patter so fast.  I started to re-think my plan, maybe it was not going to be so much fun all by myself. I got to the end of the locker isle and I was very worried about what could happen to me. What if I stepped in something sticky, who would help me? What if I got hungry, who would feed me? What if I got sleepy again who would gently put me back into the cozy locker for another little nap? What if my new friends came back to the locker and I was gone, they might be sad.

I realized I needed my new owners very much, especially right then. I realized that when I read in my instruction book “you must remain  with your owners”, that it is really important. I wondered what I should do. I sat down and just thought real hard. I thought so hard I thought my head was going to pop and that would have been a big fluffy mess and I did not want to make a mess at Disneyland.  My little furry body started to shake all over and just then, I heard my name being called. I turned and looked and there was Jennifer and Rebecca looking at me with big loving smiles on their face. They laughed and said “Yup, we knew you would try to venture out on your own.  The girl at your birth store that stuffed you told us to keep a close eye on you because you were a definite adventurer. She told us that it will take a little while for you to learn about not venturing off on your own, so be sure to stay close to him, so we did”.

They motioned for me to come to them and of course I ran right into their arms and that is where I stayed for the rest of that day that is for sure. I realized that I had much to learn and I had trustworthy friends. I think it is so nice to be understood, especially when you don’t even understand your own feelings. Thank goodness for smart grown ups.

Before going on some rides I helped Maggie send very important post cards to her friends in Canada. That was fun and a new adventure for me. I wondered how the card actually got to Canada, little did I know that in the near future I would  be learning lots about delivery services. 🙂

I think my favourite ride was the tea cups :).  We spun around and around and around.  The music played loud and we laughed so hard. We spun so fast I fell right over. We really had fun on all the rides.

The street musicians were amazing, I just wanted to dance my tail off :). I also tried to get the sword out of the rock but that needed something special that I did not have, maybe when I am more grown up I will be able to have the strength to pull that sword out.

We stopped for a treat, WOW that was wonderful chocolate cake and we all had a little taste, Maggie was sure to wipe any smudges off of my face.

I met a man that said he was a pirate. I looked at him for a very long time and I was so puzzled,  he really did not look like a pie eating rat to me at all.  I was about to ask him to explain his occupation in a little more detail but  Jennifer took me aside and said she would explain to me later what pirate meant but for now I was to just be friendly and smile nice for the camera, so I did.

These girls were so nice and friendly, they just wanted me to hang out on the shelf with them all afternoon but we had things to do and places to go.

It was so nice of Rebecca to lift me up on her shoulders so I could have a really great view of the fire works.

I was so excited to see where we would be staying that night and it was not a long walk back to our hotel.  We were staying at the Disney Hotel.  I loved it by the pool. It was so relaxing.

And of course the Disneyland Hotel does not just have any old pool, it has beautiful things to look at. Can you see me on the ship?

Need a closer look?

Yep, that is me, just above that sign that Jennifer read to me afterward……..oops, more learning. :).

I have to say if you are going to that “Happiest Place on Earth” to see all the sights…………….

be sure to go with people you love.

And hold their hand, they will show you the BEST time ever.  If you go with strange people you may end up dressing really funny like this guy.

We  decided that he just had alternative fashion choices.  I am glad my new owners gave me comfortable clothes to wear.

So did you guess how we travelled home from Anaheim?

We went by:

Train!!!

Unfortunately Jennifer had to go back to San Diego, that is where she lived in 2006, so I went with Rebecca and Maggie on the 36 hour journey up along the Pacific Coast. It was so sad to say “see ya later” to Jennifer, Maggie cried for a long time when she got on the train. I have learned since then, that saying “hello” is much easier than “good bye for now”.

We got off our first train from Anaheim in Los Angelos, then Rebecca helped us find the line up for  a bigger train that took us north bound all along the coast of the Pacific Ocean to Seattle. Maggie met a man and lady that had been on the same cruise that they had come to San Diego on the week before. They chatted all about their cruise. I wondered what a cruise was, all I could tell from their conversation  was that it was GREAT, they LOVED it and the food was WONDERFUL. I wondered if I was ever going to go on a cruise.

We also met a lady that told us some very funny stories about her adopted daughter who got married and went to South America to grow bananas. It  seems that nothing ever went well for her daughter, and giant bugs came and ate all the bananas they had grown.  The adventures this little old lady told us were not the kind to put you to sleep but the kind that you just want to hear more and more.  I hope the lady writes these stories down to tell her grandchildren one day, they will appreciate them very much.

Oh the trip was so pretty. We changed trains in Seattle and the ticket takers were so friendly! I was very excited to see where Vancouver Canada was and what it looked like.

Rebecca told me we would be travelling business class on this train so we needed to be beary considerate of other travellers, they may not want to visit so much as the people we met in Disneyland. They were working people and had very important things on their minds, so I tried to look as business like as I could. I was amazed at the trees being all different colours, what a sight!

We were all ready for a good rest when we got back to Vancouver. It was a delight to meet Wayne who picked us up at the train station and the three of us fell asleep in the car driving to Maple Ridge.

I am searching for pictures before I send my next post about a rescue operation I was involved in. I may need some help from Jennifer on that one. I will call her tomorrow.  Stay tuned :).

Love, Patchez.

Seems Like Just Yesbearday!

Maple Ridge, British Columbia has been home for me for a few weeks now.  All of our care work is paying off and Maggie is starting to get around the house like the “old” days.  Today she even mopped floors, but I did have to remind her to not move any furniture while she scurried about the house, ok, maybe the word scurry is a bit of an exaggeration.

The weather has been its normal routine for the Pacific North West, the odd day of beautiful sparkly frost  mixed in with grey, rainy, foggy days.  It has been perfect weather for indoor activities.  I can see why most of my bear friends like to hibernate in the winter months. I find it very cozy curled up with a blanket, reading a book by the fire and Bobbin the cat snuggling up, purring. Life is good!

It is very quiet here at Plum Tree Cottage this afternoon. Maggie is resting, Rebecca is at work and Wayne is off looking for more last minute boxing day specials, he sure likes to shop.  I have been perusing through albums and, as promised, I will be sharing some pics and stories to fill you in on what happened between my first adventure and the first blog I posted. I am also working on a song, so stay tuned for that!

My story starts in the fall of 2006. There I was, just a form of a bear waiting for a special person to come. I often imagined how my new owner would carefully lift me out of my barrel, stuff me, give me a heart, a name, and hopefully help me finally see the rest of this Build-A-Bear Store that my barrel had been placed in.  This barrel has been the only place I have known but from all of the sounds I have heard I just knew there was so much more of the the world I was ready to explore.  I knew that soon it would be my turn to be stuffed and loved.  I waited patiently.

It was a warm and sunny afternoon when the girls who would be my owners arrived in the store.  It was love at first sight! All three of them smiled and cooed with delight when Rebecca lifted me out of the bin.  Of course I was trying to look as fluffy as  I could, to show them I could be “their bear”.  You can only imagine my delight to see that I was going to be cared for by responsible owners.  Some build-a-bears do not have that privilege.  I have heard stories about other build-a-bears that just get thrown into a stinky toy box and are completely forgotten about, never getting cuddles or hugs that we all cherish so much from our owners. I just knew that was not going to happen to me.  My new friends loved me instantly! As I was being stuffed they giggled so much they could hardly talk. They debated for at least half an hour over what my name was going to be and I loved it when the announced me as “Patchez”. It suits me perfectly as I have patches on some of my fur! Rebecca and Jennifer made out my birth certificate while Maggie shopped the store through for clothes I would need for my first adventure.

I knew that I would lack nothing when Maggie came back with her arms full of outfits for me. Rebecca and Jennifer very carefully sorted through the choices and tried lots of different looks on me. Many of the outfits didn’t portray the look we were going for  and needed to be returned to the shelves.  It wasn’t long though before I was feeling ever so comfy in  my bear boxers, jeans and a stylish shirt that said “Mickey Mouse Club”. I thought that was a little unusual but that was ok, it fit great and was very comfy! Before we left the store the girls even picked out a few extra accessories for me!

It was very warm outside and the sun was very bright.  I had no idea I had been living in a bin in the heart of Downtown Disney, right beside Disneyland in California!!! How exciting that my first adventure could be in the “Happiest Place on Earth”! I was wondering if I might get to go in the park when, just then, the girls pulled out Mickey Ears and Mickey Mouse gloves for me to wear that were just my size. IT WAS PERFECT! Here is a picture of me on that oh-so-happy day in front of It’s a Small World!

I met so many new and interesting people, here are just a few of my new friends that I made. Maybe some of them will see their picture on this blog and write back to me. I was such a  young and an inexperienced bear, I forgot to write their names down.

There was one character that was not so fond of me at first.  I made it my mission that day for him to get to know what a friendly bear I am and once he stopped bouncing around he warmed right up! We keep in touch regularly now :).

Well, it’s time for me to get dinner started for Maggie. I noticed that she gets very tired after doing extra chores. I think she will appreciate not having to cook supper. Rebecca left me instructions on how to heat up a delicious looking lasagna that she had lovingly made for the family before Maggie’s operation.

In my next post I will share with you all the fun things we did at Disneyland, what we did at our hotel, and the most exciting way to travel to Canada from Anaheim, California. Can you guess how we traveled?  Here is a hint;  it was not by car, not by airplane, and not by boat.  My heart just tickles when I think about the early days 😉

Thoughtbearly Yours,

Patchez

Practicing Patients

I have had lots of great travels the last few years, it’s been a great ride!  I have made lots of new friends in my travels and it is great to hear from you all when you comment on the blog.  A wise friend once told me that to HAVE good friends you need to BE a good friend.

Now, my friend, Maggie had a last minute surgery last December. This December she was going back for another one to fix her all up from the stuff they stuck in last time.  Even though Maggie has made lots of jokes about the procedure, I knew, as a bear could only know, that she was feeling very nervous about being in the hospital.  It was of utmost importance that I get back to Canada and be there to support my friend while she recuperated.

Jennifer and I discussed at length how we were going to get there, where we would stay and when we should travel. We were in a quandary as to what to do since it is very expensive for Jennifer to travel all the way back to Vancouver.  Well to our astonishment, our pug friends, Bugsy and Lola’s owners were leaving town the same time Maggie was going to be in hospital. Of course, Rebecca always pug-sits them at their big house when the owners go out of town.  The owners thought it would be nice for Rebecca to have company so they gave Jennifer a plane ticket to fly all the way from Houston to Vancouver.  AND! She would not have to travel in a box, the way I have normally been travelling. We got to fly first class. Oh I was excited about that, I could just taste the warm nuts served by the nice stewardesses!

Jennifer and I packed light and Max just did not get that he could not go. Too bad, he always has so many one liner jokes that brighten up any boring moments. He has kept Kitty-cat Master Rand and I in stitches when Jennifer has been working on the computer lately, I will miss the guys!

Max did his best to try and pack himself efficiently in the carry-on.

We left late on Tuesday morning. It was a long wait in the Los Angeles airport (Jenny kept talking about busting out and running to Disneyland). But we went to the Alaska Airlines boardroom and Jennifer and I just kicked back and enjoyed the comfortable waiting area. We arrived in Vancouver the next morning at 1am and by the time we got to the pug’s house it was almost three am. I am so glad Rebecca picked us up at the airport and even thought to grab us a Starbucks for the road, what a girl!!!

We got to the hospital the next day around noon. Maggie’s operation seemed a success but she was having a few complications. We knew the symptoms would pass but it was obvious I had my work cut out for me.  Someone had brought Maggie a little teddy to fill in till I arrived, and he was trying his best but this really was a task for a more experienced care bear giver like me.  I was happy to share my knowledge with little Norman and he was a very good teddy student.  I taught him how it is nice to warm up your human friends slippers for them by doing a little dance for them. A soft shoe dance was the appropriate routine for this particular case and it did put a smile on Maggie’s cute green face.

Breaking in Maggie’s shoes

I kept a close eye on the IV machine and taught Norman what to look for and when it would be time to alert a nurse.

Keeping a close eye on the IV is important. Have to stay hydrated!

Norman was an excellent student I must say!  He gets an A+ in. “Appropriate measures of comfort given to said friend.”

Norman did have a hard time understanding the concept of the breathing exercise machine, but he is young and it was not possible for him to get everything perfect on his first hospital care bear giving assignment.

Sometimes you have to teach by example.

He caught on well to the most important job that bears do and that is to sit quietly and just be there for our dear friends.  Sometimes there just is not anything you can do for a friend other than just be there with a caring “I feel for you” look on your face.

My I ❤ you look

I am happy to report that after eleven long days and nights in hospital Maggie is home and is able to eat more than pudding.  A friendly nurse comes to the house everyday to fix the big band-aids on her tummy.  Maggie is getting lots of rest, a bit of exercise. Believe it or not, I got her to play her guitar for me yesterday, that was fun.

Jennifer had to go home and turns out it was a very long trip home. First her flight was delayed because of snow in Dallas.  Then, when she got on the plane someone broke the lavatory (the fancy word for bathrooms on planes) and they all had to get off the plane again. I hope Max and Rand are practising all the tips about caring that I gave them while they were in training with me down there in Houston, Texas.

Oh, I must tell you about the other new friend I made at the hospital.  Stanley was a lady bug that had arrived in room 539 about three months ago.  He was a great conversationalist and loved to discuss the his ideas on how to cure the patients. He said he is really enjoying his Dr training there and is working hard at becoming a surgical assistant. I tried to tell him that he might not survive in the surgery room but I don’t think he quite got what I was trying to say.  In my opinion he liked the juice on this ward a little too much.  One night after he spent a little too much time eating a bag of white sugar he kept babbling on about Maxwell’s Equations. He suggested I read the “Joy of X” that just came out to get back to basics.

Stanley hitting the ‘juice’

I’m home with Maggie but Rebecca is working hard and still looking after the pugs, I can not wait for her to come home on Sunday.  I like it when she is here, she always makes Maggie happy like both her girls do and I love how all her products make the bathroom smell so pretty 🙂

I think I will be here for a few weeks, Maggie needs to be kept an eye on for a good six more weeks, then we will be travelling again.  In the meantime, I would like to write a few blogs about past trips that I have taken, maybe share a few shots of my home town.

Back to bearby-sitting the patient now.
– Patchez

Caribbean Cruise, Part Deux

What usually makes a good trip into a GREAT trip are the friends you make along the way. I already mentioned Jorel, Dwi and Minnie.  And of course, Bob and Jen were my constant friends on the ship. But there were so many other people who made my trip worth remembering.

Each night we sat with the same group of people for dinner. But we didn’t just see them for food, for example we saw Jason and Dustin while we were waiting for one of the big broadway shows to start.

Two new friends from the Disney cruise, Jason and Dustin

The other couple were Julie and Brad.  None of them had bears in their groups, but they seemed to be having fun just the same.

Breakfast is always more fun with the appropriate hat.

It was a treat to have dinner with these new friends every night. Since we all did different stuff during the day, everyone had their own adventure to share.

Speaking of adventures, we had plenty of those to go around. One night nearly everyone on the ship dressed up like pirates. There was a big dance on the main deck and Captain Hook’s crew tried to take over the party. But of course, Mickey saved the day and we had fireworks to celebrate. After all the excitement, there was lots of time to pose for some pirate pictures!

It’s not a pirate party without a Sparrow!

When the ship docked in Costa Maya, the three of us piled into a cab and went in search of a restaurant Jennifer had heard of on the internet.  There we met Fernando, he brought lots and lots of tequila to the table. Jenny and Bob seemed very happy after lunch there.

We learned that Agave is what they make tequila out of.

Yum, tequila!

It was a little cloudy but it didn’t rain.

My new best friend in Costa Maya, Fernando!

All of this fun was exhausting. We had a dress up night, a day where Jen and Bob went sailing (it was too wet for my fur so I lounged in our room).  We even learned how to make Mojitos and Margaritas.

That was a lot of margaritas!

It’s important not to crush the mint leaves!

No matter how busy we got, there was always time for a little siesta or to just chill out on a comfy couch.

After all, we new the big cheese was at the helm and we were in good hands.

Mickey!

 

Cruising Mickey Style

Traveling by post office isn’t my favourite way to go but it sure is fast. Right after my adventures in Whistler, Maggie and Becky had me packed up and on my way to Houston, Texas. Before I knew it, Jennifer was unpacking me and we were getting ready for our next trip. I knew that clothes were going to be important on this one because I overheard Maggie and Jennifer spending a lot of time planning what I should pack.  I’m lucky to have such good help.

We drove for about an hour and a half and before I knew it we were on a Disney Cruise! The Mickey Mouse outfit Jennifer had told me to wear suddenly made a whole lot more sense. Minnie Mouse loved the outfit and gave me a quick kiss.

A quick kiss from the best looking mouse on the ship.

The next seven days were so full of fun, I bearly know where to start.  Maybe at the beginning!
We went exploring around the ship and we found Goofy.. he’s pretty goofy really.

Jennifer wanted to check out the stores on the ship. While we were there we found a whole bunch of other bears just waiting to find good homes.  I hope they end up having as much fun as I do with my family.

I told them all about the fun they’ll have once they find their homes.

Then we went to try out the Disney Trivia game. Jennifer and I thought we knew our Disney trivia but we were both outmatched by some smarter groups.

But we didn’t waste any time worrying about the trivia game, the view out the window was awesome with the water splashing by.

Just don’t get views like this traveling by box.

No cruise would be complete without commenting on the food. And WOW was there some amazing food. Each night we went to a new restaurant but we had the same servers. Dwi and Jorel were so nice to me, each night they had crayons and stuff to color for me. They even brought a booster seat so I could see over the table and be a part of the conversation.

 

 

There is lots more to share about the adventures we had but I’m getting beary tired and its time for a little cat nap.  I’ll tell you all about our shore excursions and the people we met on the cruise next time!

– Patchez