Sandy's 2012 - Year in Review

Yesterday, I saw that Beanie Mouse had done a Review of the Year for 2012... and that seemed like a beary good idea... so I've selected a few pictures from the year to do my own Year in Review.

January 2012

I had a lot of fun playing in the snow and on the ice! Tried my paw at hockey and admitted that I was not great on the ice... not a Wayne Gretzky here!

February 2012

In February, I got to go to London for a week! My first international trip - saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Tower of London. The weather was beary warm and quite a change from Canada!

March 2012

In March, I began to wonder about global warming because all of the snow and ice started to melt!! You have to remember, I was still a beary young bear back then (only hatched in November 2011) so... winter was the only season that I knew!

April 2012

 

Mother Nature played jokes in April... just when I thought the weather was getting warmer and the snow was melting... it started to snow HUGE snowflakes... I wasn't outside for 15 seconds before I looked like that!

May 2012

 

In May, spring was really here - flowers were blooming! I was having fun with all my adventures and posting them online, but didn't have any friends. Then I discovered Jerry & Ben and their blog... and then Beanie Mouse, Hammie Hamster, Buttons BeCause, Bob T. Bear esq, Sullivan McPig and a few others!!! From the USA and Holland the UK... yay!!!

June 2012

In June, I travelled a bit and explored a lot of new flowers!! I also started to get mail from my new stuffie blogger pals. This card was from Jerry & Ben!

July 2012

 

In July, we got ready to pack and move. Apparently there is a Great Adventure coming for us in 2013. I helped with Garage Sales and packing and moving and unpacking! Whew!

August 2012

In August Beanie Mouse hosted the 2012 Bear Olympics... it was a tonne of fun and a whole bunch of bears and not-a-bears entered events and won cool prizes!

August 2012

Also in August, I went to London (England) and Berlin (Germany). I got to meet Beanie Mouse for real. We had fun at Brighton Pier paying the tuppence slot-machines... and winning cool prizes. Beanie is the first blogger/stuffie friend that I have met!

September 2012

In September, I got to go to the Rocky Mountains and do some hiking. It was beary beautiful. I actually went through the Rockies quite a few times in 2012... but didn't always stop to enjoy the scenery.

October 2012

In October... it was off to Akumal Beach Resort on the Mayan Riviera in Mexico. We went for two weeks and it was amazing! Except for me not having a pair of swimming trunks... or even a beach outfit! I went in my parka, snow boots, mukluks and winter hat... hot! Luckily our room was air-conditioned...

November 2012

November was the start of our grand adventure... we went to stay on an island between Vancouver & Vancouver Island. The cottage where we are staying even has a little bear door - just for me!!! This door is beary beautiful!

December 2012

I spent a lot of time wandering the beaches in December and finding all sorts of interesting things. This was a star fish who had gone bottoms up... so I helped turn him over and he was fine once he got in the water!

That was my year... in a nutshell... I had a tonne of fun and can't wait to see what adventures 2013 will bring. Maybe I'll meet other stuffie/blogger friends!

Of Sheep & Bees...

I saw some sheeps today!! A whole herd of them! Wait-a-minute... Mama is peering over my shoulder and says that the plural of sheep is sheep... I don't understand grammar very well...
Goose=Geese and Moose=Moose (not Meese)
Mouse=Mice and Houses=Houses (not Hice)
Heap=Heaps and Sheep=Sheep (not Sheeps)
sigh... Oh and apparently it's a flock of sheep not a herd of sheep.... grumble grumble

 Anyhow!! We saw a flock of sheep today!! Aren't they cute... and there was even a black sheep in the family! With a white stripe on his head...

They didn't like the sight of me beary much and trotted off as soon as I popped over the fence...

They sure can move quickly. I wonder if the black sheep gets into lots of trouble all the time??

Oh, the sheep didn't get very far because the three sheep dogs came by with the shepherd to herd (flock) them into the next pasture! They were beary good sheep dogs - Border Collies - and it looked like they really enjoyed their work. It was fun to watch them but I kept a low profile because they might see me as a threat to their flock!

Afterwards, we went to have a cup of hot chocolate and found...

Bees!! Massive, huge, ginormous, mammoth bees!

They were big enough to carry me away!! If they had been real - which they weren't... but for a moment there, my heart did a little pitter-patter as I tried to decide if I should scamper behind Mama's legs or run towards them crying "honey!!"...

I don't know if you can see it on the wall - but there are some words there - they form a question:

"Why are bees so important to our planet?"

What do you think? I think it's because without bees, little bears would die of honey-deprivation! (Although Mama says there are other reasons...)

Bear in the Woods?

I got out for a walk today!! It was a bit drizzly at times, so I decided to wear my nice red jacket with the hoodie. It's so nice to have clothing options!

Mama even let me pick the trail we were going to hike. I picked one that didn't look too long... but longer than just a stroll through the forest.

Here we go!! It's a good thing I'm a little bear with a nose for trails because this one was a bit hard to follow sometimes. I would scamper ahead and reconnoiter the trail... which gave me a great chance to... 

...hide on everybody!! Heh-heh!!! Isn't that a great hiding spot?? It's a big old cedar tree with a hole that was perfect for me!

"Boo!" I scared Mama pretty good that time... although my red jacket is much more visible than my green one... hmmm... have to think about that... red isn't a great colour for playing hide-and-seek!

Hey - wait a minute.... what is that? Do you see it - just to the left of that big old stump??

That dark thing looks like... a bear!! Or a Sasquatch!!! Ahh!!!

"Should we run, Mama???" I'm just a little bear who hasn't encountered bears in the woods before... other than myself. But Mama has seen bears before and she said don't run! So I stayed perfectly still... wishing I had my green coat on so I could blend into the greenery!

But it turns out it wasn't a bear anyhow... it was just a big root wad from a tipped over tree! Whew... I was a bit worried there... Good thing I listened to Mama and didn't run screaming through the forest scaring all the little birds!

Bored Bear

Hullo bears and not-a-bears. It's me... Sandy!! I am writing this one all by myself...

Mama and partner were beary busy today preparing for the SE Asia trip. They stared at the computer almost all day...

I was super bored and flounced on the sofa for a while... bored... bored... sigh...

Mama!! It is not to rainy out there... let's go for a walk!! But Mama ignored me all day... I could hear the blog comments pinging on her phone but she ignored it too...

Finally, I started lurking around the Christmas lebkuchen cookies... the chocolate covered ones are super yummy!! That got Mama's attention... at 9 pm at night... too late for a walk now. I am going to have to put my paw down tomorrow and make sure I get out for a walk!

Chopping Wood & Fetching Water... er... Honey...

Today we needed a bit of extra kindling and firewood.

Sandy helped supervise the kindling chopping...

And picked out some good pieces of wood to get chopped.

But he stayed far away while the wood chopping was taking place! Those log pieces can sure go flying! Afterwards, Sandy came inside and turned on the television...

Winnie the Pooh!!! Sandy has never seen Winnie the Pooh on TV before!!

The Pooh bear is hungry for honey.... "oh, this sounds like a good movie" said Sandy...

Sandy settled down on the couch with his favourite blanket. Without even taking off his outdoor clothes!! (Sandy keeps forgetting that he has other outfits now!)

"Mama you have to move... you're blocking my view!!"

Pooh has no honey at home and tries to find some at Christopher Robin's... but he has been taken by the Backson monster... so Pooh and his pals go on a quest to find Christopher (and some honey).

This does not look like a good idea from many angles! And it wasn't!

Sandy wants to know... is Pooh going to get his honey?? But Mama says Sandy will just have to wait and see...

Oh... a flood of honey!! Pooh sure is a lucky bear except...

It was all a honey-deprivation hallucination and Pooh was actually eating mud.

Sandy thinks this movie is getting a bit scary for a little bear!

But then Piglet comes to the rescue... Sandy thought Sullivan would like this part - Piglet goes deep into a scary forest... and that sounds like something Sullivan would do too!

Sandy decides that maybe some honey is in order... to calm his nerves and his anticipation... Will Pooh get the honey???

 Oh yes... a huge pot of honey!!!

 Enough to swim in!!! Enough to last for a beary long time. Sandy thinks that is the best movie that he's ever seen... although he hasn't seen many...

SNOW!!!

Sandy woke up this morning with the hope of snow... but it was raining... pouring actually...

Sandy stood at the window for a while... wishing for snow... wishing beary hard!

And then... the raindrops got bigger and more substantial... and... it was snowing!! But it wasn't sticking... and then... after half an hour...

 Sandy rushed out the door - "SNOW!!" he cried with excitement...

But Mama's voice stopped him dead in his tracks - "Get back in here young bear!! You are not dressed for the snow!!"  Sandy keeps forgetting what he's wearing... or not wearing! He gets dressed in one of his snow outfits... and now he is ready!

Oh... the snow is almost 1 cm thick... that is enough to make...

Snowballs!! He remembered that Jerry and Ben were thinking we could all have a snowball fight... Reds against Greens!

Sandy is ready to play for the Red Team... he's got snowballs and a snowfort to hide behind!! Bring it on!!

But Jerry and Ben aren't here to throw snowballs so Sandy gets a bit bored. But all that snow must be good for something!

 And then Sandy has an idea... he starts rolling a snowball... a BIG snowball...

There it is... now he just needs a few more...

It's a snow bear!! Or at least the start of one... Boy, it sure is snowing hard - Sandy keeps getting big snowflakes landing on his face! 

There we go... a couple of legs and some eyes... and that's all for now... because...

The eagle is lurking around and Sandy isn't sure if eagles eat snow bears or not...

So with a bit of cajoling, Mama moves the snow bear to the deck railing where it's under our watchful eye. Happy with that... Sandy runs back inside and does a little switcheroo and comes back outside...

He's ready for a  snowball fight on the Green Team!! (Just in case Ben was feeling outnumbered...)

P.S. - Snowbear Update

Freshly made snowbear...

 Snowbear after the snow has stopped and changed to showers..

 Snowbear looking more like a snowghost!! - 8 hours after creation... poor snowbear...