Send-off

Our recent Stuffie Tour has come to an end and our tourists are going home one-by-one.

"It was great to meet you, Ozzie," I said.  I gave him a bear hug.

Ozzie is a beary brave bear, coming all the way from Australia for his visit to the United States.  He put on his backpack and set out courageously on his journey.

It was also time for Scooter Wojak to go home.  But first, we got a picture of our matching t-shirts.

Thank you everyone for making our first Stuffie Tour a successful one!  We also collected some money that will go to a local animal rescue, yeah!

Au revoir!

Just like there is only a finite amount of honey in the jar, all good things must come to an end, unfortunately.

Today, our friend and stuffie tourist Sandy is leaving to continue on the rest of his journey.

"Sandy is leaving today," I announced.

"NOOOO!!!" was the reply.

"Pleeeeeeaseeee stayyyyyy."

"Woof!"

"How about one final group picture?" suggested Uncle Tibbs.

"Sandy, I made some... umm... modifications to your traveling vessel," I said.

"Er... modifications?"

"Oooh!"

"There's a little refrigerator that opens...

...and there's honey and fish inside!"

"There's also a laptop...

...so I can write emails to Mama en route!"

"We enjoyed your visit beary much.  Thank you for being our friend," I said. "You are welcome back anytime, Sandy!"

"It was fun!" he said.

We exchanged bear hugs.

"Here is your plane ticket," I said.

"Thanks Ajdin!" Sandy said.  "Now I just wish I knew where I was going next!"

Our stuffie tourists

As you may or may not know, we currently have a few tourists staying with us after the recent 2016 Cherry Blossom Tour.  The cherry blossom season may have passed this year, but we are lucky to have our guests give us a virtual tour of where they are from.

First up is Sandy, a little bear from Canada.

"The capital of Canada is Ottawa," says Sandy, "and the official languages are English and French.  There is a population of approximately 36 million people."

"How many little bears live in Canada?" I asked.

"At least one!" replied Sandy.

"And you can see that I am wearing a Canadian flag pin on my hat!" said Sandy.

"Ooooh!  Ahhhh!"

Next up was Scooter Wojak.

"I am from North Carolina, where the capital is Raleigh, but the largest city is Charlotte," says Scooter Wojak.  "North Carolina is known as the Tar Heel State or the Old North State.  The state reptile is the Eastern box turtle."

"Yeahhhhhhhhhh allllllriiiiiiight," said Ooogie.

"And..." Scooter continued, "the state insect is the European honey bee!"

*hearty applause from bear audience of 3*

Finally, it was Ozzie Quirkybear's turn.

"I am from Australia," says Ozzie Quirkybear.  "The capital is Canberra and the largest city is Sydney.  The Great Barrier Reef is just a short distance off the north-east coast of Australia."

"Are there koala bears in Australia?" asked Sandy.

"Yes, koalas are native to Australia.  They sleep up to 20 hours a day," said Ozzie.

"That sounds... *yawn* ... like a really good ... *yawn* ... idea..." I said. "ZZZZZZ...."

"Ajdin?  Ajdin?"

"Well, I guess that's all for this blog post," said Sandy.  "Hi Mama!"