THERE IS A WINNER

Today is the day that Mom said she would draw a winner for the little book that she made for the Altered Oz blog party. She said that since there have been people asking about our where about she would let us be the ones who will do the drawing and announce the winner. We had already planned on doing a post this week and Friday is the day we normally do our posts but because that was the day of the party we decided to let Mom have that day and we would take St. Patrick’s Day instead because that is what our post is about anyway.

So first thing this morning we sat down with our computer to put together our post. When we log on we usually check our email first thing and waiting for Bellamine was an email from Ms. Brenda Black Bear from Camp Good Bear saying they would like Bellamine to become their newest Bearcelor for the Arts & Crafts Program this summer. We were so surprised and Bellamine was jumping up and down and shouting and then Mom came in and wanted to know what was going on and when we told her she was just as excited. We’ll get a formal letter later and we’ll let you know more then.

Now back to our post.

As you all know, we have been decorating our little tree for each season and holiday.

We make most of the decorations that we decorate our tree with  but on our St. Patrick's Day tree we only painted the gold coins. Notice Sampson and Bellamine are wearing their green. Bellamine is really insistant that we all wear green today. It's something she heard about from the O'Dell kids.

We also help our mom doing other things like baking cookies and stuff. One of our favorite cookies to bake is cut out sugar cookies because we have a very nice collection of cookie cutters. What better dessert for today’s Irish Corned beef and cabbage dinner than Shamrock cookies?

Now to that thing we told our mom we would do for her. This is what she is giving away.

We wrote the names of the people who said they would like to have the little book that Mom made on slips of paper and put them into the Leprechauns pot and had our little brother Sampson reach in and pick one and the one he picked was number 17 which is Miss April. Mom is going to need an address to send your book so get in touch with her.

Remember, if you’re not wearing green someone just might pinch you.

OUCH!!! Stop doing that Bellamine. I told you there are green leaves on the flowers.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Hugs,

Bellamine & Wendy

Fern Gully

Hi Everyone. It’s me, Bellamine and I have some photos of camp I would like to share with you.

One of the things we all liked to do at camp was go hiking. There are several really great trails where we could choose to hike. One of Bitsy and my favorite trails was the one that went into Fern Gully.  Fern Gully is a bee-u-tee-full area where really big ferns grow everywhere.  Mom would have loved it. We climbed up on some of the really big ones and scooted under one and hid from Wendy and Clarissa for a while but when they didn’t even look for us we decided it was kind of creepy under there and Bitsy is really scared of bugs. I’m only a little bit scared of bugs but then I got to thinking that snakes might like hiding under those big ferns so we didn’t hide under them anymore.

Here’s Bitsy sitting on one of the ferns.

Here I am standing on a really big fern. Ferns are easy to climb up on when you're a great climber like me.

Bitsy decided to join me up here on this really big fern. She's a good climber too.

There are trees everywhere at camp because Camp Good Bear has forests and woods all around it. I know that bears are natural tree climbers but we don’t have a lot of trees at the North Pole and the ones we do have are all Christmas trees and we're not supposed to climb those so it was a new experience for my sisters and me.

Here I am starting my first climb. It's hard to climb this kind of tree because there isn't anything to get ahold of.  Some of the other bears climb the trees that have bark but I was afraid I'd tear my romper and my mom would have been really upset.

I'll tell you a secret if you promise not to tell my mom. Most of the time at camp we ran around  B-A-R-E. We were bare bears.  Yep, just wore our bear skins.  Hehehehe!!! It's the best way to go swimming in the lake and we went swimming every day because it was so warm and the lake was so cool.

Here I am again half way up. I had to keep my eyes closed because I’m afraid of heights.

Here I am as far up as I dared to go. It was really high up and when I opened my eyes to see how high up I was I got scared and couldn’t climb back down for a while until I got my nerve up and then I came down really fast. It’s a good thing there was a big ol' fern at the bottom because it softened my landing.

Since we got home we’ve been telling the other bears about all of the things we did at camp and now most of them want to go next year. The boys want to learn to fish and they want to learn how to paddle a canoe and they want to go to Fern Gully and climb trees. They want to sit around the camp fire and listen to scary ghost stories and have s'mores. Who wouldn't want to do all of those things? I know I want to go again next year.

Clarissa, Wendy and I have enough stories to last for weeks so we’ll be taking turns telling you about our adventures and showing you some of the photos we took.  Although I miss being at camp and being with all of my friends I'm kind of happy to be home too. I missed my family and my friends who live here. I've already made plans to spend the night at Dory's house on Friday. I hope all of you have been having a nice summer because it's almost over and school will be starting back up next week.

Hugs,

Bellamine

ANOTHER LETTER FROM CAMP

Dear Mom,

I am so happy I decided to come to Camp Good Bear with Wendy and Bellamine. If I had stayed at home I would have never met my best friend Blossom. We are so much alike we could be twins. We don't look alike although we are both beautiful. Her fur is almost as amazing as mine. Hers is the prettiest color and is so fluffy. Wait until you see her. Prudence took a picture of us. See, I'm staying in the shade so my fur doesn't get sun damaged.

We talk for hours about everything. Next to me she's the prettiest girl here at camp and certainly the nicest. That yellow flower she's holding she picked for me to wear in my fur.

I really like her brother Sweet Pea. He's so nice and handsome and I can tell he likes me too. Remember when you told me that when boys tease you it means they like you? Well, yesterday he chased me with a frog. I pretended to be scared and screamed and ran away and called him a meanie and he laughed in the cutest way. Oh Mom, wait until you meet him.

Prudence is my favorite bearcelor and she's really pretty too. Blossom has a sister named Sissy and she and Prudence look a lot alike.

This is where we are going to be this afternoon.

We've got to practice paddling our canoe for the big race tomorrow. It's the girls against the boys and I think the girls are going to win.

Bellamine and Wendy spend a lot of time making crafts. They're going to need another suit case to bring it all home. I made you a button necklace and a braided key holder. You're going to think I did a wonderful job because they really are the best ever.

Every night the bearcelors tell us scary stories around the camp fire and then we get to have a special treat. They're really yummy and they have a funny name.

They're called smores, and almost as good as honey. I think we need to start making them at home.

Bellamine and Wendy said to say hi and they miss you and to remind you to bring money when you come tomorrow. You are coming tomorrow aren't you?

Hugs and kisses from your little princess,
Clarissa

LETTER FROM CAMP

Dear Mom,

We are having a splendid time here at Camp Good Bear. We have made so many new friends and have finally met our blogging friends in the fur.

On our first night at camp we had our first camp fire and it was so much fun. We learned some new songs that we’re going to teach everyone when we get back home. Bellamine’s favorite is the one that starts out “The ants go marching one by one” and she learned the whole thing the first night and wants to sing it all of the time. She even marches while she sings it. One of the bearcelors told us a really scary ghost story and we all screamed and then laughed and it was so much fun. Wilbur showed us how to make Damper on a Stick and when we get home we’re going to show you how to make them because they are so good and easy to make too.

Us listening to the scary story with one of our new friends. He brought marshmellows to snack on and said we could share. Wilbur is cooking us a Damper and when it's ready we're going to pour honey in the hole. We'll show you how it's done when we get home.

That's what a Damper looks like. The bear sitting next to Wilbur couldn't get his fill of them and wanted more.

Prudence is just as we thought she would be and although she is a camp bearcelor and has loads of responsibilities she always has time for her friends.

Believe it or not, Clarissa has made some friends. She and Blossom have become besties and spend lots of time telling each other and everyone who will listen how beautiful and special they are. Sissy looks so much like Prudence but they are so different from one another. Both are a lot of fun and such wonderful tales to tell.

Sweet Pea and Wilbur have become best mates and you’d think they’ve known each other for ever.

One day some of us went hiking on one of the trails and climbed some rocks and found a bird’s nest but the birds weren’t there anymore. We gathered all sorts of neat things to use making some craft things.

They encourage us to make crafts and since we like making crafts we work on something every day. Mom, we’ve already spent our camp money so please bring more when you come to visit next weekend on Bearents Day.

We’re having fun and we miss you and the hug.

Love and kisses from your girls,

Bellamine, Clarissa and Wendy