Walking for BANA on Victoria Day with His Worship Mayor Eddie

We help Patrick hold up the BANA sign.

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I'm five. I go to the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre on Sandwich Street. That's in Windsor. Windsor is in O Canada. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy,  Grandpa James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.  Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful! Oh. Wait! Frankie lives with us, too! He's our cousin. Frankie's four, you know.

Her Majesty is our gracious Queen. That means she's the boss of O Canada.

Monday is Victoria Day. It's Queen Elizabeth's birthday. She's old but not as old as Grandpa James. He must be a hunnert!

We always walk the Mayor's Riverwalk. We walk for BANA. They're very nice people who help boys and girls and grownups good ways to eat healthy food. Healthy foods are the four food groups in Canada's Food Guide. I know the four food groups. There's yummy, sweet, sticky and nasty. I like them all except nasty. Nasty foods are broccolis and sauerkrauts. I have to take two bites but I hold my nose, you know.

This year we are gonna get lots of people to sponsor our walk. We want to help BANA. They have a very important job.  BANA needs money so they can help people. So far Frankie and Chance and me got $90 but we're gonna get some more. You can help us. You can pledge money to BANA and tell them Charles the Bear Cub asked you to help. That's what good citizens do, you know. Thank you for helping.

His Worship, Mayor Eddie, is the boss of Windsor, you know.

Mayor Eddie talks to us. Then we start the walk.  10:00am 10:30am at Ambassador/Assumption Park (Windsor Riverfront) just below the corner of Sunset and Riverside Drive West.

I love cubcakes, don't you?

After the walk we can go to  Windsor’s 121st Birthday! Windsor is really old! I know what Windsor wants for a birthday present. Grandpa James says the best presents we can give to Windsor is our time, our talent and our treasure. He says that makes us good citizens and it makes  Windsor a nicer place to live. Know what? Windsor is the centre of the known universe and the nicest part of Detroit!! I learned that at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre.

When we all help BANA, we're helping Windsor.

 Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario!

Help Frankie, Chance and me to be good citizens. Give money to BANA and tell them we asked you to help.

Grandpa James hollers, "Where's Frankie? Where is my Knight of Knewfoundland and the Lord of Labrador?" We gotta go find Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Give money to BANA. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can walk for BANA together! Okay! Over and out!"

Christmas Music

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

 Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful! Oh. Wait! Frankie lives with us, too!

Last Christmas Chance tried to climb up on top of our Canadian Tire spruce tree. I had to help him get down when he got stuck up there. "My son! You are a handful," I tell him." Santa has to sit on top the tree so he can see who's naughty and nice." Chance is too newborn to know better.

Know what we're doing? We have on our headphones. We're listening to Christmas music. That's 'cuz it's only 243 days 'till Merry Christmas comes to our house. She comes every year. She brings Santa and the angels. She brings the elves and Elvis. The little drummer boy comes and so do the shepherds and the sheep. Sheep smell funny, you know. Oh. Wait! The three wise guys come but they follow the OnStar.

Auntie Ruth plays the zither. She sings, too. I bet she knows a hundred songs!

This Christmas album is special. It was made by our Auntie Ruth. She knows lots and lots of Christmas songs.  The CD is called Christmas All the Time and she sent it by Canada Post all the way from New Brunswick. It was a surprise present. Grandpa James helped us write a thank-you letter to Auntie Ruth.

If Christmas came every day I'd get to eat a lot more Smarties!

 Some of the songs Auntie Ruth sings are old and some of them are new ones 'cuz Auntie Ruth wrote them all by herself. She's very smart, you know. My favouritist song is Christmas All the Time. I like that. I want Christmas to be every day! Then I wouldn't have to wait all year. I tell Frankie everything about Christmas. He hasn't had Christmas with us before.

Christmas All The Time has lots and lots of songs!

Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! Grandpa James hollers, "Where's my Frankie? Where's my Knight of Knewfoundland and my Lord of Labrador?

 We gotta go find Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Be kind to friends and neighbours. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can listen to Auntie Ruth's Christmas album together! Okay! Over and out!"

Our New Puzzle

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.  Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful! Oh. Wait! Frankie lives with us, too. He's our cousin, you know.

We got a present from Nana Elizabeth. It's a puzzle. It's a puzzle about O Canada. We take out all the puzzle pieces and then put them together so we can see our home and native land. Puzzles are fun. We start with British Columbia. I know where British Columbia is. It's the first one on the left.

Look! Look at Chance! He's so newborn he doesn't know how to play with a puzzle. He's trying to eat Quebec! "My son! You can't eat Quebec! Quebec is not one of the four food groups! Put that down this instant!" Chance really is a handful. Frankie knows how to play with puzzles. He doesn't try to eat the provinces. Frankie's four. He's very smart.

We love our new puzzle. Grandpa James helps us write a thank-you note to Nana Elizabeth for the O Canada puzzle. Won't she be surprised when she opens the letter and sees pictures of us playing with it, too. We love Nana Elizabeth lots and lots and lots!

Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! Grandpa James says, "Where's Frankie? Where's my Knight of Knewfoundland and my Lord of Labrador?" We gotta go find Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Learn about O Canada. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play puzzles with us! We can have a puzzle party with hummus and pretzels and apple juice, too! Okay! Over and out!"