Today is Chance's Birthday

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, 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! 

Know what? Today is Chance's birthday. He's one year old, now. We don't know 'zactly what day he was born but it has been a year since we found him wrapped in the little green blankie right in front of our door. I am pretty sure that angels brought Chance to our house. Angels look after us. James says we all have guardian angels. They are with us but we can't see them 'cuz they're invisible. Chance thinks he's invisible when he closes his eyes. He's not. I can still see him. He just has his eyes closed.

I know what to do on happy birthdays. We have  happy birthday parties. This is how we do it. First, we get happy birthday hats to wear. Then we make a happy birthday cake and put happy birthday candles on it. Chance doesn't want happy birthday cake. He doesn't have any teeth, yet.

We made happy birthday pumpkin cookies instead of a happy birthday cake. Chance licks them. We get to eat happy birthday ice cream, too. Ice cream is yummy and that's one of the four food groups in the Canada Food Guide, you know.

We sing the Happy Birthday song. It goes like this-

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Chance,
Happy birthday to you.

Then we sing it in French.

Bonne fete a toi,
Bonne fete a toi,
Bonne fete cher Chance,
Bonne fete a toi.

Then Chance has to blow out the happy birthday candles and make a happy birthday wish but he can't say the wish out loud or it won't happen. It has to stay a secret. I don't know what Chance is wishing for but I hope he's wishing for lots and lots  of Smarties and that he will share them with his big brother. That's me! .  I l-o-v-e Smarties, don't you?

We give Chance our presents. I saved up my allowance and I got Chance some Play-Doh at Dollarama. I hope he doesn't try to eat it.

Chance puts everything in his mouth. That's 'cuz he's a wee little cubby and doesn't know you can't taste everything. One time Chance swallowed some pennies and James said, "You are a very funny looking piggy bank, Mister Chance. Indeed you are."

Chance just made little squeaky noises 'cuz he was happy. James said maybe Chance was copper deficient. I don't know what that means but I put my piggy bank way up on the top shelf. I don't want Chance to eat my pennies! He'd eat them all up!

James says we have to watch Chance like a hawk. That's so silly. We're not hawks. We're bear cubs. Bear cubs don't fly. Hawks can fly. Wow! If I were a hawk, I'd fly everywhere. That would be fun! Flying is even faster than riding my blue bike with the Canada flag on it. Know what?  I would fly over to your house!


Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? 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! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. 

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Do good deeds every day. Be nice to your little brother so you can have some of his happy birthday cake and his happy birthday cookies and sing the Happy Birthday Song at his happy birthday party. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer, too.

 Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can eat happy birthday cookies together! We can eat and eat and eat until we're really stuffed! Okay! Over and out!"

Taloola Cafe

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, 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! Know what? Chance's birthday is tomorrow. His birthday is on Hallowe'en. I know what Hallowe'en is. It's a day when we dress up like we're somebody else and we knock on our friends' and neighbours' doors and holler, "Trick or treat!" They guess who we are and we get Smarties and root beer and licorice and chocolate bars.

We're at Taloolah Cafe . That's in Walkerville. Kyle is the cook. Kyle helps us read the menu.  He cooked us some desserts that don't have sugar in them. He makes lots of yummy foods. He makes foods that don't have gluten in them. They're gluten-free foods. Know what else? He makes foods that don't have meat in them. That's for vegetabletarians. We sure are glad we're hungry when we come here!

 Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? 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! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. 

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Do good deeds.  Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can go to the Taloola Cafe together! Okay! Over and out!"

More Fun at the Yee Haw Adventure Farm

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, 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! We don't know Chance's birthday but I found him on Hallowe'en.

We're visiting our friends Lily and Lulu. They're our buddies, too. We have lots of fun together. We have tea parties and we drink milk out of little china tea cups. We eat pretzels and Smarties. I l-o-v-e Smarties. They're yummy and that's one of the four food groups in the Canada Food Guide. I l-o-v-e Lily and Lulu. They're the bestest buddies. I think they are princesses, you know.

We're at  the Yee HawAdventure Farm. It's a good place to go for Hallowe'en. The Swamp Romp is scarrrrrry. Chance hid his eyes the whole time we rode on the wagon. I like the farm a lot. Know what?
I know where whole milk comes from. It comes from whole cows. Whole cows live on farms. Know what tastes good with whole milk? Pumpkin pie. I l-o-v-e pumpkin pie! It's the yummiest!



Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? 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! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. 

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Do nice things. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us!  Okay! Over and out!"

Pumpkin Time

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, 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! He climbs up on top of things and then he can't get down. He makes little squawky noises 'cuz he's afraid. I have to help him.

Chance is really small. He doesn't have a tail, yet. He doesn't even have teeth. I'm five. I have a tail. I have teeth, too. I'm glad I have teeth, 'cuz I like to eat Smarties. I always eat the red ones last, you know. It's a rule.

Chance is staring at this pumpkin. It  is bigger than Chance. I hope it doesn't fall on him! This pumpkin will be our Jack-o'-lantern. We will give it a scary face for Hallowe'en.

We get to help James make pumpkin pie, too. I l-o-v-e pumpkin pie. It tastes pumpkin-y. It's yummy and that's one of the four good groups in the Canada Food Guide.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? 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! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. 

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Do good deeds. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can pick up trash together! Okay! Over and out!"

The Yee Haw Adventure Farm

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, 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! Know what? Chance will have a birthday, soon. We don't know exactly when he was born but we found him on Hallowe'en.

Know what? Chance and me and Lulu and Lily went to the Yee Haw Adventure Farm . We rode on a wagon for the Swamp Romp. We played Cow Paddy Bingo and watched the goats climb way up in the air. We watched the pigs race and then we watched the ducks race, too. We had a lot of fun in the Maze Craze. I went in the Barn Gone Bad with James. Chance was too scared to go in the haunted barn.  We were pretty scared. We got to ride the Hill Billy Slicker. It's fast. There were lots of apples and a field full of pumpkins, too! We could pan for gold and use a real outhouse. I know what an outhouse is. It's  a washroom that's outside.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? 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! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. 

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Do good deeds. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and we can go to the Yee Haw Adventure farm and play! We can pick up trash together! Okay! Over and out!"

Thanksgiving Day

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, 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! 

Know what? This is Chance and me and James. It's Thanksgiving Day. James says Thanksgiving comes every year. It's the second Monday in October. We counted down the days to Thanksgiving. We're spending the day with Lulu and Lily.  We came on the train.

We're sitting at the Thanksgiving table. We're hungry. We're as hungry as bears. We're hungry for mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top and vegetables and turkey and gravy.


Before we eat we all take turns  counting our blessings. We say what we're thankful for. I got a lot to be thankful for this year. I'm thankful for Smarties and root beer and licorice and porridge. I'm thankful that we got lots of good food to eat--not like all those poor starving children in Belgium. I'm thankful for all my buddies and friends. I'm thankful that James is our bestest buddy and looks after us. I say, "Thank you, God, for everything!" Know what? God is very nice.

Chance doesn't talk. That's 'cuz he's a newborn cubby. He doesn't have any teeth, yet. He will get teeth when he's older. He doesn't even have a tail! I have a tail. I'm waiting to grow pockets. When I have pockets I'll keep Smarties in there. Chance is thankful for condensed owls' milk. He holds up his bottle and makes little squeaky noises. When he does that, it means he's happy.

We're not supposed to eat too much, you know. It's bad for our tummies and can make us sick. I know when to stop eating. James says, "Don't feed the bears, they're stuffed!" That's funny. It's true, too. We're really stuffed. I want to nap.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? 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! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. 

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Count your Thanksgiving blessings. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer with your turkey and pumpkin pie. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and eat with us! We can be thankful together! Okay! Over and out!"

Happy Birthday to Debbie

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, 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! 

Know what? Chance and me are hanging out at 1976. That's a store on Sandwich Street. It is full of nice presents and jewellery and clothes. Everything in the store is made by local artists. We're here with Nick and James and our buddy Debbie. It's Debbie's birthday. She won't tell us how old. She just says, "I'm older than dirt." Dirt must be really old. I know Debbie is older than me. I'm five. My birthday is on Canada Day.

Chance and me made a birthday present for Debbie. It's a painting of us. We're the two handsome bear cubs putting the letter in the mail box. We're local artists. We like to paint. It's not easy 'cuz we don't have thumbs. I hope we grow thumbs when we get older. I hope we grow pockets, too. If I had pockets I'd keep Smarties in them.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? 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! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. 

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Do good deeds. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can do good deeds together! Okay! Over and out!"