A Holiday?

Ummm... clearly I am not getting the memos in this household! Apparently, while I wasn't paying attention, someone booked a flight to Mexico! For a week... yay!! I quickly scrambled around and found some beach-ware and dug out my Mexican som-bear-o from a couple of years ago...

Last time we went, I only had one outfit (can you believe it??)... and well... see the photos for yourself. As many of my blogger pals commented... I was vastly overdressed for Mexico! But... I am now a bear with a well-stocked closet and I even have choices for my sun-wardrobe... As for where we are going...

Last time we went to the Yucatan but this time we are going just north of Puerto Vallarta, on the Pacific coast... ooohhh... ahhh... must pack some honey (they don't have a lot down there!).

A Blast of Snow and Cold from the Past

Hullo! I've been reading about all the nasty snow and cold out east and dug through my photo archives to see if I had some photos that I could share... just so you don't think I'm a complete wussy bear now that I live on the balmy west coast...

There's this photo from a big snow storm I experienced in Calgary a few years ago. That blog on my nose was one big snow clump!! My fur got a bit unfluffy after that experience!

 Oh... and as for cold... there's this one of Mama from a few years ago (before I was borned)... It was -37C and the steam from her breath froze on her balaclava (not baklava which is a Greek dessert) and eyelashes! That must have been beary super cold!

Real Bears Wear Pink

Guess what... I got another top!! It's a hoodie... with a pink drawstring... It looks quite fetching I think.

I keep telling Mama I have no clothes to wear but when she laid them all out on the ground for me... well... hmmm... that's quite a few!!

Daisy Dog

Hullo! We have a new (temporary) member of the family at  the moment. This is Daisy. She's a dog... and she likes to "play" with stuffies...

I'll have to show her who's boss! I'm hoping I can get out for more walks now that there is a dog who HAS TO go for walks... Hmmm...

Bye Bye Sebastian

Well... it's official... Sebastian is going back home to Malaysia. There are a few reasons for his decisions...

He really missed his job at Starbucks. He thought he could get a job here. But when he went to the local one, they asked him if he had a Working Visa... huh?? Sebastian said he didn't even have a passport!

Uh-oh... turns out Sebastian snuck into the country illegally!! We've been watching Border Security (a TV show about Canadian Border Guards) and Sebastian's eyes got beary wide when he realized that he could end up in prison or even... deported!

Another reason Sebastian is going home is that the weather here is not to his liking at all. He doesn't like the cold rain and I think he is getting cabin fever being cooped up inside so much. Plus... we've been watching the stories from the East and all the crazy weather and Sebastian didn't realize that snow and cold could be so ugly. He thought snow would be nice and fluffy and playful... not.

And he just misses his pals down there... and all the colourful flowers and stuff.

I can't say I blame him but... it will be a bit quieter around here.

A Raging River

Hullo!!! We are still here... although it was raining tonnes and we couldn't get out... much to Sebastian's disappointment. He has been heard muttering "If I wanted rain I would stayed in Malaysia.... at least there it's warm rain!" Hmmm....

Anyhow, we did get out after the deluge stopped and went to check on a local river... Mama says that back in her turf, this would count as a creek and not a river but...

It is going at a fair clip!

Maybe we should throw sticks in and see how fast they disappear!

Whoa... it looks a bit more like a river here!

It's so green here...

And a bit grey too.

Eh? These bubbles are from the water rushing around the soil apparently. I did a blog about it ages ago...

 There's even a small waterfall... we'll call it our Niagara Falls!

I don't think it would be fun to go over that in a barrel!

 This park has some cool totem poles lying on the ground. They were probably standing up back in the Middle Ages (Mama frowns)... but their bases are all rotted, so now they lie in the leaves.

Hmm... I wonder where Sebastian went... he was just here! Oh!!! Maybe he's playing hide and seek!!

He couldn't have gotten beary far..

Ah-hah!! Found you!! Now, let me help you get out of there...

Sebastian is really missing the tropical flowers and colours back home. This is a rhododendron plant and I'm trying to convince him that once spring comes, all of these will be brilliant fuschia! Not sure he believes me...

And these yellow tree flowers didn't cut it in his books.

Oh look... these leaves look kind of tropical!

And there was a bunny rabbit too...

This was Mama experimenting with a slow shutter speed and getting the flowy water look... not bad...

A Rickety Bridge

We got to go for an outing!! Yay!!! It's taken a while... partly weather issues. Sebastian is most disappointed in the weather, he thought he was coming to the land of fluffy, white snow, so the rain is not what he expected!

Today we are going to the Kinsol Trestle... that is short for the King Solomon Mines Trestle...

Sebastian was a bit concerned that there was a shooting range close by...

But there was also a sign saying "No Hunting"... so hopefully little bears are safe!

At least this little wooden bear is safe!

As we started walking, I noticed a bear funny contraption attached to some maple trees... do you know what it is?

It's a maple syrup operation!! These are called Bigleaf Maples (because their leaves can get up to 24" across)... and you can tap them for syrup in January and February... who knew??  One website said:
"Our western maple syrup has more flavour that its eastern cousin. While good on pancakes, it excels for use in cooking baked beans, many deserts and as a glaze for vegetables, ham, ribs and fish. Other favourites include over ice cream and fruit and as an ingredient in salad dressings." Are there any little bears or foxes or mice or hamsters who are drooling right now?

Ah-hah!! Finally, the trestle... Mama says it was closed for a while because they were reinforcing it...

Whooooaaaaa.... The Kinsol Trestle is apparently the longest wooden trestle in Canada (all the others are gone)... It is beary impressive...

That's me and Sebastian!

Ohhh... don't look down... it is a long way down...

And yes... we are going to go across that...

And over this creek...

Whew, we made it to the other side where we met a wooden rocking horse called... Kinsol...

He actually does rock back and forth!

I took this picture for Beanie... 

Well, that was a cool expedition... the railway that used to go over this trestle isn't there anymore, but the railway bed is not a trail that is part of the Trans Canada Trail. It would be great for riding bikes!

Winter Sweaters

Hullo bears & not-a-bears! Mama's been neglecting me lately... the lot of a little bear... but anyhow. Remember this sweater?

Well, it turns out there were a lot of other little bears hiding around the house who had similar ones! They came out of the Christmas boxes and I hadn't even noticed that their sweaters were more or less my size...

This guy even comes with a toque!

So many possibilities...

Here's the gang... There's even a moose and a little cat in there. Some of them are a tad small for me but... I negotiated with Mama that I get to keep the one sweater that I have... at least for the winter. All these little guys are going back to their Christmas storage place. Mind you... I think some of my stuffies out east could use these sweaters more than I can! It's been beary super duper cold out there!

2013 - Year in Review

Happy New Year!!

Beanie Mouse did a Year-in-Review on his blog and... well... I thought I would do it here too! My 2013 was beary full... beary...

January - I was still on Salt Spring Island - beary beautiful place to visit for little bears!

February - Canada phased out the penny so I went around the house looking to see how many we had left...

March - Snow!! In Edmonton where I went for a visit...

April - the start of the BIG southeast Asia trip! That's me in Hong Kong!

April - Bangkok, Thailand - beautiful temples here.

April (too) - Cambodia and the impressive ruins of Angkor Wat.

April (also) - more temples in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia.

May - some well-deserved R&R time on the beaches of Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam.

May - a visit to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) - lots to see and do here.

May - a visit to the first (and only, so far) Starbucks in Vietnam where I met all sorts of distant cousins!

May - more beach time in Mui Ne...

May - the most beautiful town in Vietnam - Hoi An - it had everything, old town, pool at the hotel and a beach! Plus I got to ride everywhere on a bike in the basket which makes for exciting travel!

June - Ninh Binh - also known as Halong Bay on land - beary beautiful but hot! (We did a lot more in June but Mama says this post is already too long!)

July - elephant riding in Luang Prabang, Laos! The hairs on those elephant heads are prickly!!

July - the amazing rice paddies glued to steep hillsides near Sapa in north Vietnam.

July - finally... Halong Bay! As beautiful as advertised.

July - Hong Kong (12 hour layover) and a visit to... Disneyland!!

August - settling into the new house and planting a garden!

September - a trip back to Calgary and I got to ride in a sail boat...

September - and another trip through the Rockies...

September - touring around my new home and finding beautiful places to hike.

September - the garden is doing well!

September - watching the sun rise

October - entered Jerry & Ben's pumpking carving and Halloween costume contest!

 November - a visit to Vancouver... of course.

 December - a trip to Malaysia where I met Sebastian, a bearista bear with a travel bug!

December - whew... Christmas at home...

There was of course lots more that happened in that year, but those are some of the highlights! I had tonnes of mail from my pals and made a bunch of new blogger pals as well, which is beary cool!
Happy New Year!