Picnic by Jill Kristoffersen

Each and every spring and summer my mom, sisters and I would bug my father to take us on a picnic. Every weekend we would hound dad to drive us somewhere, but he wouldn't because he drives a cement truck weekdays and on weekends he just wasn't about to drive anywhere.

One beautiful hot summer morning we were again on Dad's back. "No, No, No," he yelled as he stormed from the room. Feeling rejected we all hung our heads and shuffled to our room. That very afternoon my father's friend, George, came over and the two of them disappeared into the woods at the back of our property. For the next four and a half hours all we heard was hammering, sawing and cracking of wood.

At suppertime, Dad came in with sawdust all over his clothes and face, and a large grin from ear to ear. We asked him, "What are you two doing in the woods"? He replied, "Just cutting us some firewood". All through supper Dad chuckled to himself. The following weekend, Dad and George were out in the woods all day. Hammering and sawing. Sawing and cracking wood.

There were the noises we heard for two days. By the end of Sunday afternoon, we all were getting very suspicious. But no one dared to go out in the woods to see what was going on. Finally, at 4 p m, Dad

came charging out from the woods. He burst into the house with great momentum.

Enthusiastically Dad said, "I want everybody to follow me". Like sheep we followed; out the door, down the stairs and along the path leading to the edge of the woods. We were quite curious by this time as we started walking into the woods. After a short distance we came to a clearing and what a surprise!

The clearing, about fifty feet by fifty feet, now boasted picnic tables, chairs, swings and benches. Dad ran to a nearby tree, jumped in his newly made hammock and roared, "You want a picnic, you got a picnic! Welcome to my park".

Background Information

What did your family like to do for fun? Did you ever go camping or on picnics? Did your dad or mom ever do anything special for you? Talk about surprises. Do you like to be surprised or would you rather do the surprising?

Questions

1. What activity did most of this family like to do together?

2. Do you think dad was mad when he refused to take his family on the picnic?

3. How do you feel if you feel rejected?

4. What makes you think dad enjoyed his surprise?

5. Use the word chuckled in a sentence.

6. Why did dad build the picnic area?

7. What does enthusiastically mean in the story?

8. Who is George?

9. Did the children and mother enjoy their surprise?