Long Beach, California

February 23, 2010

Dear Miss England and 1st Grade Students,

Greetings from Southern California! Your friend, Tidy Teddy, traveled 2000 miles to see our family in Torrance, which is a suburb of Los Angeles. Although he didn’t manage to spot any movie stars, Tidy Teddy did get to have many fun adventures with our family.

The temperature is very mild here, even in winter. There are some kids living in Torrance who have never even seen snow! With sunshine and 70 degree weather, we decided that Tidy Teddy would like to spend some time outdoors. We took him hiking in Topanga Canyon which is part of the Santa Monica Mountains. We hiked two miles up to get a spectacular view of the ocean and city of Los Angeles. Good thing Tidy Teddy isn’t afraid of heights!

Next, we headed to Long Beach, CA. Here, we boarded a boat and took a tour of the harbor. We saw the Port of Los Angeles, which is the busiest shipping port in the U.S. Crates from all over the world arrive here bringing goods to our country. We also saw massive cruise ships getting ready to set sail to places like Mexico and Hawaii. Tidy Teddy enjoyed seeing harbor seals, ducks, sea gulls, and pelicans near the water.

No trip to Southern California is complete without a day at the beach! We took Tidy Teddy to Redondo Beach Pier. We saw fisherman catching fish right off the pier. We also saw many birds and some seals hoping to get a fish snack. Tidy Teddy enjoyed looking for shells on the beach and looking at the waves of the Pacific Ocean. While we were splashing in the water, four dolphins swam by. What fun to see them playing in the water!

Thank you for allowing Tidy Teddy to visit us! We really enjoyed him.

Sincerely,

The Webster Family

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

February 21, 2010

Hola Miss England’s class,

Here we are with Tidy Teddy in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  It is 1,547 miles from Nashville to Puerto Vallarta.  If you look carefully, or zoom in over our shoulders, you will see a giant peacock.  Teddy likes peacocks, as they are very colorful. Teddy found some coconuts in Puerto Vallarta Mexico.  He likes hanging out with coconuts. Folks speak Spanish in Mexico.  Tidy Teddy found this crocodile in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  It was about 8 feet long.  Teddy didn’t get close enough to find out if it was a boy or girl.  We think crocodiles will eat bears….

Your cousins,

Margie and Sally

Peoria, Illinois

February 2, 2010

Dear Miss England’s Class,

Today, Tidy Teddy and I went to the Peoria Rivermen hockey game. Hockey is a very fun sport to play and watch. Sadly, the Rivermen lost to the other team, but Tidy Teddy and I had a lot of fun!

I go to Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. I took Tidy Teddy to my classes and introduced him to Lydia Moss Bradley, the founder of the school. Peoria is in central Illinois, where it is very cold in the winter, however there is very little snow. The students at Bradley are very nice and kind. I had lots of fun with Tidy Teddy!

Love,

Alyssa

Washington, D.C.

February 2, 2010

Hello from Washington, DC!

My name is Katie and I live in Washington, DC. Washington, DC is a very important city. It is the capital of America. This means that President Obama and his family live here. Tidy Teddy and I had a great time together in Washington, DC. You can see in the picture that I am wearing a hat because it’s cold here now. There is snow everywhere! In this picture, Tidy Teddy and I are standing in front of the White House. The White House is a very very big house where President Obama and his wife Michelle and their two daughters, Sasha and Malia, live. They also have a dog named Bo, who likes to run around in the yard in front of the White House. Maybe next time Tidy Teddy and I will go inside and meet President Obama!

Yours truly,

Katie

Pekin, Illinois

February 2, 2010

Dear Miss England’s Class,

We have enjoyed having Tidy Teddy at our home in Pekin, Illinois.  We hope he has enjoyed his visit too.  Pekin is a small town in central Illinois.  It is 439 miles from our house to Nashville, and would take Tidy Teddy seven hours if he were to drive from here back to your school.

It has been cold here during Tidy Teddy’s visit. The average temperature has been 25 degrees, so we’ve been staying inside a lot.  This past week was pretty busy for Tidy Teddy.  He starred in a puppet show, went to a dance party, visited Pekin Insurance and went to Nick’s preschool with our family to hear a story.  We hope you enjoy the pictures of Tidy Teddy.  We had fun during his stay here!

Sincerely,

Sarah, Jon, Nick, Anne & Emma

Chicago, Illinois

January 30, 2010

Hi Miss England’s class!

Tiddy Teddy came to the office with me today.  There are pictures of him in my cube, at reception, and in our biggest board room.  At Charles River Associates, we work with companies who are suing each other over Intellectual Property (patents, trademarks, etc.).  A typical case would be something like: Company A sued Company B for selling a product with the same name or same composition (that’s trademark or patented) as Company A’s product.  Typically, we are the people who testify in court on how much Company A should get (what the damages should be).  Our office is located at 1 S. Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606.  Being an “Analyst” is a really fun job because we get to work in a ton of different industries, such as Pharmaceutical, Industrial, Home Appliances, etc (those are the ones I’ve mostly worked in).  The work is fast paced and pretty exciting, especially when you calculate damages for trials that are millions of dollars!

To become an Analyst, you need to be good at math and problem solving, along with going to college and getting a degree in Business: either Finance or Accounting.  People that work here also go back to school to get their Masters in Business Administration (MBAs), or study for years to take series of tests to become Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) or Chartered Financial Analysts (CFAs).  We even have people that leave our company to become lawyers.

Your Friend,

Hadley

Chicago, Illinois

January 23, 2010

Hi everyone,

I’m Miss England’s Aunt Di.  I live close to Chicago Illinois close to where Miss England is from.  Tidy Teddy came on an adventure with me to volunteer at a BIG Telethon to help raise money for the people that live in Haiti where that big earth quake happened.  There are many many people that need food, water and homes because the earth quake destroyed them.

The event was called ‘Chicago Helps Haiti’ and all of the TV and Radio stations came by to let people know they could call a phone number and donate money to help the people of Haiti.  The place where I work volunteered all the phones and 1500 people to answer them.  I was one of them.

I volunteered along with my friends Priya, Terri and Tidy Teddy to answer phones and take donations.  We started at 5 o’clock in the morning and stayed until 11 o’clock at night.   I was very tired but it was a lot of fun being with my friends and helping collect money for the people of Haiti.

At the end we raised 2 million 9 hundred thousand dollars that will go to food, water, clothes and homes for people.  I talked to a lot of very nice people on the phone.  My biggest donation was $1000 dollars!!!!  I also talked to a mom who’s little boy and girl asked her to call and donate their allowance of 10 dollars they had saved up.  They wanted to help the kids they said.

It was a very exciting day and I hope Tidy Teddy had fun.  Everyone asked about him as he was sitting next to me on my desk.  I told them he was helping me and that I was going to send pictures to your school so you can see him helping out!

Love,

Aunt Di

Tidy Teddy posed with the big sign that told everyone what were were doing.

Tidy Teddy sitting on my desk next to my phone and PC where I would type in peoples donations.

Tidy Teddy and my two friends Priya (on the left) and Terri (on the right).  We were sitting in one of the rooms where all the phones were.  We had 4 rooms of people!  You can see more people and the Total Board in the background.  This picture was taken at about 5:15 in the morning.

Tidy Teddy and Aunt Di

This is a picture of Tidy Teddy, Aunt Di, Terri and Priya back at our desks where we work.  Tidy Teddy let me know I should clean up my desk before I leave everyday to make sure everything looks neat.

These are some of the other volunteers that helped out at the telethon.

Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

January 22, 2010

Dear Miss England’s class,

Costa Rica is a democratic country located in Central America.    Costa Rica was colonized in the 1500’s by Spanish explorers.    Spanish continues to be the primary language of its people.   The climate is tropical allowing for a very rich agricultural industry.   Costa Rica’s primary exports are Bananas (thanks TT), Pineapples and Coffee.   On this day, Tidy Teddy helped a group of accountants assist their client in harvesting Bananas.    A banana plant takes 9 months from seedling to harvest.   The process continues to be very labor intensive. Costa Ricans live on/or near the banana farm that their parents, grandparents and great grandparents lived.   The children go to local schools, built and sponsored by the banana companies.

Love,

Mr. England

Willowbrook, Illinois

January 20, 2010

Dear Ms. England’s Class,

What an exciting adventure Tidy Teddy and I just had.  We went to the grocery store and met 3 firefighters, who were there to buy food for their meals. The firefighters spend many days at the firehouse, working, eating, and sleeping.  They get their equipment ready in case the bell rings and they need to go to a fire. They also take turns cooking their meals and doing chores around the firehouse.

They asked if we would like to sit in their fire truck and try on a fire hat. Tidy Teddy said the hat was too big for him, but he jumped inside of it and discovered something very interesting….inside under the straps were photos of the firefighter’s family.

When it was time to leave, the firefighters invited us back to their firehouse.  When we arrived, they had some surprises for us to send to you. They hope you like it.

Please take a picture with your hats for the firefighters and send them a letter. They want to put your picture and letters in their firehouse to remind them of our fun day together.

Hugs,

Tidy Teddy & Ms. England’s Mom

Hinsdale, Illinois

January 17, 2010

Dear Ms. England’s Class,

I am so excited to tell you about the very exciting adventure I had with Tidy Teddy. He traveled almost 500 miles to Hinsdale, Illinois, which is a small town near the big city of Chicago, Illinois. The town has a lot of houses and streets with many different kinds of stores. One place that I wanted to show Tidy Teddy visit was Einstein’s Bagel Shop because he didn’t know what a bagel was.

When I went inside, the people working there were very friendly and were excited to tell us all about bagels. Tidy Teddy learned that the first bagel was created centuries ago. Did you know that a century is one hundred years? This means bagels have been around for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. Wow, that’s a long time!

Tidy Teddy had never tasted a bagel before and the people working there told me it tastes like bread because it is a roll with a hole in it.  Can you think of why someone would want a hole in their roll? I discovered that the hole made it easy for people to sell them on the street because they could put many bagels on a stick or string and walk around the streets selling them.

A very nice manager named Caroline showed us the baskets and baskets of bagels waiting to be sold to hungry people. They had blueberry, chocolate, wheat, cinnamon raisin, and many more different kinds.  What kind of bagel would you like to eat?  Tidy Teddy picked a blueberry bagel.  Caroline cut the bagel in half for him and put some peanut butter on it.  Yum, yum.  It tasted wonderful.

When it was time for me to go, we thanked Caroline and all the people working at the bagel store for teaching us all about bagels. It was fun for Tidy Teddy to learn something new and to make some new friends.  I loved having Tidy Teddy come for a visit!

Love,

Mrs. England