Today is Family Day

Chance  (left) and Frankie (centre) and me (Charles) love to play Snakes and Ladders.

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!

Know what? Today is a holiday. It's Family Day. I know what a family is. It's us! Our family is me and Chance and Frankie and Grandpa James. We all live together in a nice house on Sparkle Road. That's in Olde Sandwich Towne. Olde Sandwich Towne is in Windsor. I know where Windsor is. Windsor is in O Canada.

We got aunties and uncles and nanas and gramps, too!

I don't have to go to the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre today. We get to stay home and play! We play Snakes & Ladders. Frankie rolled a five. He's gonna move his marker five spaces. I help him count to five. That's easy! One! Two! Three! Four! Five! I have to help Chance count and move his marker for him. Chance is so newborn he tries to lick his yellow marker. I have to say, "My son! Take that out of your mouth! You can't eat yellow markers, my son! Yellow markers aren't in Canada's Food Guide."

Know what's in Canada's Food Guide? Gingerbread persons. We're gonna bake some gingerbread persons today.  I love to bake them. I love to eat them, too! I'm a very good cook. Grandpa James says I'm the Minister of Stirring. Chance is too newborn to help but he thinks he's helping. Grandpa James says Chance is the Deputy Mini-Stir of Stirring. Frankie is a good helper. Frankie is the Bearon of Baking, you know.

 Chance has red mittens. He wears them his red mittens all day long. He wears his red mittens at night when he sleeps, too. Chance is so newborn he thinks if he wears red mittens it will snow. I have red mittens, you know. I only wear my  mittens when I go outside to play in the snow. Frankie has red mittens, too.

Sometimes Chance gets his games mixed up. Look at Chance. Chance climbed into the Snakes and Ladders box. Chance wants to play Hide & Seek. Chance thinks we can't see him when he closes his eyes. Grandpa James says all newborn cubs think they're invisible when they close their eyes. I have to say, "My son! Come out of the Snakes & Ladders box this instance!" Chance can't get out. He makes little squawky noises. I have to help him. Chance is a handful.

We bake gingerbread persons on Family Day. We love to make gingerbread persons but it's more fun to eat them all up! Gingerbread persons are yummy and that's one of the four food groups in Canada's Food Guide.

 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! Oh, wait! Grandpa James is hollering for Frankie, too! "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. Do fun stuff with your family today. Then you can bake gingerbread persons and have a tea party and eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can play Snakes & Ladders! We can have a tea party, too! Okay! Over and out!"

Tea Party with Lulu, Lily and their Friends

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. James says he remembers the first rainbow. He must be really old!

 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'm pretty sure that angels left him in front of our door.

Now I have a little brother 'cuz we adopted Chance. He's so little he doesn't have any teeth. He drinks condensed owls' milk out of a bottle. He doesn't even have a tail! I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? Chance and me got invited to a tea party at Lulu and Lily's house. They had some other friends come, too.

Tea parties are fun. We're on our best behaviour, you know. We sit at the table and drink green tea.  Green tea is good for us. It comes from China. I know where China is. It's far away. It's on the other side of Earth. If we want to go there we have to fly on Air Canada or dig a hole really deep. I like to dig holes. Digging holes is fun. I could dig a hole all the way to China, you know.

At tea parties we eat yummy food. We eat carrot sticks, celery sticks and pretzels. Pretzels are really yummy. We eat hummus on pretzels. It's a dip. We cook hummus in the food processor. Hummus comes from chick peas, you know. James helps us. We grind them up with tahini and lemon juice and spices. That's how we cook hummus.

We eat raisins and cashew nuts and chocolate chip cookies, too. Oh, I almost forgot! We eat Smarties at tea parties. Smarties are my favouritest chocolate. We always eat the red Smarties last. It's a rule.






Chance doesn't eat food. That's 'cuz he doesn't have any teeth. He doesn't know how to chew. He'll learn to chew when he's older. Chance just drinks condensed owls' milk out of his bottle. Chance always falls asleep after he finishes his bottle. That's 'cuz he's a wee little thing. Newborn baby cubbies need a lot of sleep.


 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.  Be kind to friends and neighbours. Be on your best behaviour. Then you can get invited to tea parties and eat Smarties and drink green tea. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house! We can have a tea party together together! Okay! Over and out!"