Christmas Bears part 6

In 2000, Adam got a job in San Francisco so we (bitter sweetly) traded in this:

Here:


For this:


Here:

On an aside that has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas or bears, when we were moving to Pittsburg, CA (because it was close enough to San Francisco that it was on the BART but far enough away that we could afford to live there), I called the utility company in East Bay to get our phone service set up. There was a long pause when I gave my new address and said that it was in Pittsburg. The woman on the other end of the line finally said, "Um, I'm not sure we have service in Pennsylvania..." Now I hadn't known previously that there was a Pittsburg, CA either but I didn't work for a company that provided phone service there. My hope is that she's brushed up on her local geography by now.

Besides feeling like a celebrity when I went to Safeway because all the store employees were SO NICE compared to the surly East coast dwellers, we were now much closer to family.

In 2000 we went to Washington to spend Thanksgiving with Adam's family. While there, we visited pretty little La Conner:



We scattered in the little shops and when we got back to the van, a lovable bear was sitting in Emma’s car seat. We named him Conner and he’s Mark’s favorite.


Conner's a cunning little bear though. We have this countdown to Christmas thing going and the little blocks are removable.


A few days ago they were missing in action. I asked everyone if they'd seen the blocks. I asked Mark twice. He's 35% squirrel and likes to stash things.

After the blocks had been gone for days and we were left not knowing how long until Christmas, Mark found them squeezed between a living room chair and ottoman.

The following conversation ensued:

Mark (triumphant): I found them!

Me (suspicious): Did you put them there?

Mark (confiding): It was Conner.