A special treat

Millie and Billy had gone to stay with their grandparents for a week in the summer as a treat. They had already had one day with grandma and grandpa that had been packed with fun. When they hopped out of bed the next morning they were excited, wondering what this second day would have in store for them.

“We have got a special treat for you this sunny day,” grandpa said over breakfast. “We are off to the seaside.”

Millie and Billy were thrilled. They helped grandma and grandpa to make up a picnic and put their buckets and spades in grandpa’s car. Then they were off. Grandma sat in the front of the car with grandpa, who was driving, and Millie and Billy sat in the back.

After they had been driving along for a while Millie and Billy began to play a game of ‘I spy’.

“I spy with my little eye something beginning with ‘C’,” Millie said, looking out of the window.

“Car,” Billy said.

“Yes,” said Millie. “It’s your turn now.”

“I spy with my little eye something beginning with ‘L’,” Billy said, also looking out of the window.

“Lorry,” Millie said.

“That’s right,” said Billy. “Now it’s your go.”

“I spy with my little eye something beginning with ‘R’,” Millie said. “Here’s a clue. It’s what the car is driving on.”

“Road,” Billy said.

“Yes,” said Millie. “Now you have another go.”

“I spy with my little eye something beginning with ‘S’” Billy said. “The clue is that it’s inside the car.”

“Sock,” Millie said, looking down at her feet.

“No,” Billy said. “But you’re getting warm.”

“Shoe,” Millie said.

“Yes,” said Billy.

Millie took her next turn. “I spy with my little eye something else that begins with ‘S’. This time it’s outside the car.”

Billy looked out of the window. “Sea!” he cried. He had got it right, and soon afterwards they arrived at the seaside.

Grandpa parked the car. He, grandma, Millie and Billy unpacked the picnic and the buckets and spades and they walked along the wide pavement that ran alongside the sandy beach.

There was so much to see as they walked along the front. There were adults and children like them in their summer clothes, people on roller-skates, people propelling themselves along on scooters, and there was even someone on a motorized scooter.

There were dogs with their owners, seagulls flying in the sky, an airplane off in the distance, and a helicopter hovering above them.

There were lots of people on the beach. There were people paddling and swimming, a couple of boats in the sea and several people water skiing. It was a feast for the eyes.

Grandma, grandpa, Millie and Billy found an empty bench along the front and stopped to have their picnic as they looked out at the sea. Then they went onto the beach where Millie and Billy built a super sandcastle with their buckets and spades before going for a paddle in the sea.

When they came out of the water grandma said, “I spy with my little eye something beginning with ‘I’.”

Millie and Billy looked in the same direction that grandma was looking and immediately spotted what she had spied. It was an ice cream van. Grandma gave Millie and Billy some money to buy themselves ice creams. Millie chose one with a chocolate bar in it and Billy chose one covered in small coloured sweets.

“What’s yours like?” Billy asked.

“It’s very nice,” Millie said. “You can try a bit if you like as long as I can have a bit of yours.”

Billy took a big bite of Millie’s ice-cream.

“You greedy pig!” Millie exclaimed with a giggle, and made sure she had a big bite out of Billy’s ice-cream in return.

All too soon Millie and Billy’s day trip to the seaside was over. Travelling back to grandma and grandpa’s house in the back of the car, Millie and Billy sang nursery rhymes. They sang ‘Humpty Dumpty’, ‘Little Bo Peep’, ‘IncyWincy Spider’ and ‘Hey Diddle Diddle’.

Snuggled up in bed that night, Millie and Billy agreed that going to the seaside that day with grandma and grandpa had been an extra special treat. It had been so enjoyable that Billy was still excited even though he was now very tired.

Millie calmed him down by singing him a lullaby she had made up just for him.

It went, “Go to sleep little brother Billy,

Go to sleep, little brother of mine.

Go to sleep, little brother Billy,

Go to sleep lovely brother of mine.”

By the time that Millie had got to the last line of the lullaby Billy had fallen fast asleep. Millie soon followed him into the land of nod and she and Billy both dreamed lovely seaside dreams.