Summer Fun with Travelin’ Rick

Hi everyone! I hope you are enjoying your summer holidays. I know I sure am. The weather has been great and I’ve just been invited to a huge picnic, a family reunion picnic. There are going over one hundred members of my family there.

My family members are all spread out over Canada and a few of them are living in the United States, too. We live so far apart that we don’t get to see each other much. Sometimes that is a good thing, but sometimes it’s not.

The picnic is going to be held at Algonquin Park, which is located in northern Ontario and is renowned for its wildlife and its beauty. Besides, it is very close to my grandparents cottage and since it was my grandmother’s idea to have the picnic, then she has every right to hold it wherever she wants to. However, that isn’t what certain members of my family think. Take my Aunt Jean, for instance. She would like to have the family picnic close to her. She lives in British Columbia. My grandmother says there is no way she is going to fly. She’s 96 years old! I don’t blame her one bit!

Getting ready for the picnic is a lot of work. Grandma has given out a list of things to do for all of us family members that live close to her. Grandma considers Toronto to be close to Algonquin Park, so I’m on her to do list.

My chore is to organize some games for everyone to play, young and old. Grandma thinks I am the athletic type.

I thought baseball would be a good family game to play and also horseshoes. These two games seem to be popular picnic sports. Then I had to go around to all the family members that lived close to Toronto and borrow baseball equipment from them.

“Baseball!” exclaimed Uncle Joe. “Why I haven’t played baseball in years! That sounds like a lot of fun.”

“So do you have any equipment we could borrow?” I asked him.

“Baseball equipment,” said Uncle Joe. “I have lots!”

“Now you wouldn’t happen to have any horseshoes, would you?” I asked, figuring I was pushing my luck.

“Horseshoes!” exclaimed Uncle Joe. “Yeah I’ve got horseshoes.”

“Great!” I exclaimed, with a sigh of relief, knowing that my job was finished.

The family picnic turned out to be a great success. Everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. The only one that didn’t make it was Aunt Jean. She got a bad cold just days before she was to fly out and the doctors advised her to stay home. Besides, she lived in British Columbia, so, it’s not surprising that she didn’t make it.

There was plenty of food to go around. Grandma made sure of that. Everyone loved the baseball game, with those that couldn’t play, cheering on those that did. Uncle Joe proved to be a very good ball player, with his team winning 4 – 0. Everyone played some horseshoes, too.

Toward the end of the picnic, Grandpa brought out his violin and started to play some music. This got most of the older women up dancing, including Grandma.

“I would like to say thank you for all your help in making this picnic a success,” said Grandma just before everyone left. “See you all, next year!”