Washington, D.C.

Chet goes to Washington D.C.

I had a fantastic time recently with Mrs. W and her family in the Nation's capital! It was a great place to be following the exciting presidential election. There was so much to see! We took a nice plane ride from Jacksonville (I really enjoy flying now!) I sat with Mrs. W's son on the ride so I could see a lot out of the window, especially when we landed at Ronald Reagan National Airport. It was nighttime when we landed and so we went right to our hotel and relaxed.

The next day I met Mrs. W's great niece who is 3 and the rest of her family from Pittsburg, PA She is cute, happy and full of energy that I loved hanging out with her. She liked me too! The first place we all went was the National Zoo. We took the Washington Metro to our nation's capital. The Metro is a fast train under ground. We had to go down a very long escalator to get to the train. We waited for our train to come and it went super fast from one stop to the next.

There were beautiful fall leaves everywhere and lots of interesting animals. My favorite animal to see was the panda bears (one of my bear cousins). they were a gift from china to our country and are named Ling Ling, Ming Ming, and Ping Ping. There are only 2 zoos in the country that you can see panda bears so it was fascinating to watch these incredible animals. Mrs. W bought me a great backpack there to travel in.

The next day we took the Washington metro to our nation's capital. It was awesome and they were already setting up for the inauguration (the signing in of the new President) in January.

Then we took a cool bus with two levels around the whole city. We sat on the top of the bus and saw so much of this incredible place. There were lots of buildings where people work hard to do all of the nation's business and many great museums that are part of our proud collection of the Smithsonian museums. I really liked the monuments best on our tour. They are so big! These is one tall one built to honor our first President, George Washington. Then there is the Lincoln Monument in honor of the great president, Abe Lincoln. There is also one for President Thomas Jefferson. In addition, there are memorials for the brave soldiers who found in Word War II, The Korean Conflict and the Vietnam War. It all was so incredible and overwhelming.

The day went by fast but the final thing we did was ride on the fun carousel that they have near the capital. It was a great way to end the day!

The final day we explored some of the fabulous museums a little closer. We saw the Natural History Museum and the American Indian Museum. They were so interesting. They even had authentic Native American food to try in the American Indian Museum. I thought a lot about my Kindergarten friends when I was there and how much they would enjoy this museum as they prepare for our annual Pow Wow celebration at Chets.

It was a great trip but I got tired from all the talking! I definitely want to visit again. There was so much to see. I felt proud to be an American! I am not sure if bears are allowed to be president but i think anything is possible in this great country of ours!!

Hollywood, CA

Xinzheng City, China

Chet In China

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Jacksonville, FL - Chet's Family Thanksgiving

Hiya kiddies! Chet Bear again. I'm back from the holiday weekend. I wanted to have that garage sale but A. called and asked me to ditch the sale for the time being and spend some time with her family. I've never really enjoyed cleaning (just ask mother bear), so I put on my favorite green shirt and hit the road with the P family. As you will see, A. introduced me to a new friend on our trip. He was a little taller than me. In fact, he was taller than me, A., and her brother if we stacked ourselves up like a Totem Poll!

On Thanksgiving Day, I watched the Macy's parade, before
absolutely stuffing myself on a yummy dinner. One of my favorite floats was one of a big turkey that people were sitting on. For dinner I ate turkey, green beans, turkey, milk, turkey, pumpkin pie, turkey, and of course some honey (Come on! Give me a break! I'm still a bear!).

A.'s uncle had a big truck from his glass company and A. thought it would be a good idea for me to drive it around. I drove the BIG truck very well -- they thought about offering me a job but I don't think that would be a good idea because I could barely reach the pedals! The day after Thanksgiving, I joined A.'s family for their traditional drive trough the
Christmas light display at Saluda Shoals park and loved it. There were lights in the shape of Santa and Christmas trees, even sporting goods, but my absolute favorite was Santa's canon that was shooting presents and candy. Don't panic! It was just presents and candies made of lights. (Note: No bears were hurt in the shooting of the light cannon.) The next morning, A.'s mom and dad were surprised to find the family's Elf on the Shelf sitting on my lap!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we braved the mall, and
I loved that too. We had hot chocolate at Williams-Sonoma and rode
the carousel and kiddie rides. We wanted to get my picture with
Santa, but Santa was on break, so we got my picture in Santa's chair
instead. First, I had to brush all the crumbs off the chair...that old bowl full of jelly, St. Nick, must have eaten a lot of cookies that morning because there was nearly a whole package of crumbs! :)

Finally, A.'s parents agreed that I could come along with the family and see the Nutcracker. A. and I had to brush our hair (it took me a long time to get all the twigs out) and promise to use our best manners, since we were going to a fancy theater to see the show. I really liked when the Nutcracker came alive. It was pretty great!

We all loved it. After it was over, A. & I got to have our
picture taken with a Dew Drop Fairy named Ashley. We tried to find another Dew Drop Fairy named Chet but there wasn't one! I was a little disappointed but what can you do?!?!