When spring has fully come to Honeysuckle Hollow and the rainy days are out of sight, the neighbors all plan an impromptu Picnic Day. As you know, the neighbors of Honeysuckle Hollow love nothing more than enjoying the great outdoors. On Picnic Day, all the families take a day off from their businesses and school and quickly get organized. Everyone brings their own special things to share and their talents to entertain. Every year is full of surprises!
This year, Kelly and Kenny Quickquack have plans to meet up with the Tippytail foxes Howie and Cookie. The two sets of siblings are close and loved to do all sorts of activities together.
“Let’s conquer the picnic – like we have never conquered before!” said Kenny when the Tippytails were in sight.
They were dressed and ready for a full day of play.
“Yes! Why don’t we go around the entire park, so we get a chance to say hello to everyone!” suggested Howie.
“What a superb idea!” said Kelly, “We can be the unofficial social greeters of picnic day!”
The four started at the front of the park and looked out to see all the neighbors of Honeysuckle Hollow stretched out across the green. There were picnic blankets as far as the eye could see. Many had set up different games, some had put hammocks up between trees while others moved around to greet others just arriving.
“Hey! I see the Toby and Olive Curlicue up there!” shouted Cookie.
“Let’s head over and see what they are up to,” said Kelly.
When they got closer to Tobi and Olive, they saw they were inspecting the grass with magnifying glasses.
“What are you doing?” asked Kenny.
“We are watching the ants run in and out of their small hills! Have you ever watched ants? They are incredibly strong! Look at this one carrying leftover crumbs from our crackers,” Olive pointed to a few ants with large crumbs.
“Wow! That’s incredible. Can I take a closer look?” said Howie.
Tobi and Olive took turns letting them take a look at the ants. Once they had done it for a while Tobi and Olive decided to join Howie, Cookie, Kenny and Kelly to meet up with some more kids.
Next the growing group of friends saw Hip and Hop Croakalily. They were playing a game and once they got a bit closer, they could see they had chalk to draw on some pavement nearby.
“Can we join in?” called out Olive.
“Yes of course! The more the merrier! We are playing hopscotch!” said Hip.
The Croakalily’s were expert hoppers and loved to practice with games to perfect their jumps. The gang all got in on the fun. They jumped and jumped and jumped some more until Tobi piped up.
“I am getting pretty hungry. Is anyone else hungry?” he inquired.
“Yes! Yes!” they all cried out in unison. Their jumping had worked up a fair appetite.
“Hey, look over there,” Howie pointed to the top of the park where the Honeysuckle Sweet & Treats food truck was parked serving ice cream.
The group all headed over, and on their way, they danced through the park – other kids of Honeysuckle Hollow spotted them. The O’Funnigan monkeys loved ice cream! And as soon as they saw the crew of kids – Lila and Lolo ran to catch up.
Even though there was a line up and a bit of a wait, that was half the fun as all the kids joined hands and began singing songs awaiting their turn to grab a cool ice cream cone. There was a special flavor for that day.
“Yummmm!” they all cried out as the tasty pink ice cream was served into each cone.
“Do you like it? It’s called Passionfruit Picnic” explained Maggie Bushytail.
The kids could hard get a word in around licking their cones.
“I love it,” said Howie, “It tastes exactly how today feels – very sweet indeed.”
Tune in next week!
Love these stories…