Daddy's Weekend Read online

  Tehya and Michael Cunningham

  Daddy’s Weekend

  A day out with Daddy

  Contents

  Title Page

  Daddy’s Weekend

  Copyright

  Meet Tehya and her dad…

  This is a charming real story about her weekend with her daddy, their adventures, and see how much fun they have along the way.

  Presented in a positive manner addressing the modern family unit today. Tehya lives with her mum and looks forward to her special weekends she spends with her dad.

  It’s Saturday morning and Tehya has just woken up. She is very excited because today is the start of her daddy’s weekend and she knows she will soon see her daddy.

  Tehya’s daddy and mummy are not together anymore and they also live in different houses. Tehya’s mum and dad are also different colours and that makes Tehya a lovely different colour too. Tehya’s mum is white and British and Tehya’s dad is black and from The Bahamas. And that makes Tehya mixed raced and makes her a lovely light chocolate brown. But one thing is sure; they both love Tehya very much and love sharing time with her and being a different colour, well that makes no difference!

  Mummy makes Tehya’s porridge for breakfast and she sits down to eat. It’s always good to start the morning with a healthy breakfast, especially when you are going on a full weekend of fun with daddy.

  “Make sure you eat all your porridge Tehya, your daddy will be here soon,” says mummy. “I can’t wait to see my daddy again. I miss him SOOOO MUCH,” says Tehya, as she finishes the last bite of her porridge.

  “Let’s brush our teeth and have a quick wash,” says mummy with a loving smile. Tehya wants her teeth to be as shiny and clean as her mummy and daddy’s teeth. They have been taking good care of their teeth for years and now their teeth are very white, clean and healthy. And of course, it’s always good to make sure our bodies are squeaky clean as well and that’s why we always give ourselves a good wash.

  Tehya finishes getting dressed and is wearing one of her favourite dresses; covered in brightly coloured butterflies and flowers. Then with mummy’s help, packs her favourite toys, a few clothes, a favourite book, and of course Bunny, all packed up in her little Gruffalo suitcase, just as her daddy pulls up in his car. Tehya’s daddy walks up to the house and rings the doorbell. “DING DONG.” “My DADDY’s here,” Tehya shouts, as she jumps up and down like a little bunny rabbit…bounce…bounce. Mummy helps Tehya with her little suitcase and opens the door.

  “Hello Daddy,” Tehya cries out, as she jumps on her daddy, giving him a big hug. “Hello Little Princess,” Daddy says, as he spins her around in his big arms. Daddy always calls Tehya Little Princess because she is his Little Princess whom he loves sooooooo much!

  “Hello Mummy,” Daddy says. “How are you?” “I am very good, it’s a beautiful day and Tehya is ready to go with you; her things are all packed in her little suitcase,” Mummy replies.

  “It is a nice day Mummy,” Daddy says as he peers through the second storey window at the beautiful blue sky and welcoming warm sun shining through the trees; making shadows dance inside the house.

  “Tehya, are you ready to spend a weekend with Daddy? We are going to have so much fun,” her daddy says with a big bright smile. “Yes Daddy,” Tehya says, as she takes her suitcase with a big smile, and proceeds to walk down the stairs.

  “Bye bye, Tehya,” mummy says, as she kisses and hugs her. “Bye, Mummy,” Tehya says, as she turns and waves goodbye.

  Daddy also says goodbye to Tehya’s mummy and walks Tehya to his car.

  “Arrrrrrrrreeeeee you readyyyyyyyy?” Daddy says. Tehya smiles and giggles.

  Daddy puts Tehya in the passenger seat and buckles her in. It’s always a good idea to make sure small children are sitting in a car seat, or if you are a big girl and boy and don’t need a car seat, you make sure your seat belt is buckled so you are protected in case you have any accidents. “Seat belts all buckled?” “Yes, Daddy,” Tehya replies. “Ok hereeeeeee we go,” says Daddy, as he locks the door for safety and slowly drives off down the road. “We don’t want anyone falling outside now do we and rolling down the road?” Daddy says as he shakes his head from left to right.

  “Guess where we are going today, Little Princess? We are going to have so much fun,” says Daddy with a big grin. “Where Daddy?” asks Tehya as her eyes light up. “Well we are going to the market to buy some food to cook for later and you know what, there is a town fair right next to the market,” Daddy says in a deep funny voice.

  “Yippee!” shouts Tehya. “Daddy, can we please go on some rides?” says Tehya, excited. “Oh! And do you think they will have a roller coaster? If they do can we PLEEEASE go?” “Oh Yes, we will definitely be going on a few different rides,” replies Daddy. “And they may also have a roller coaster,” adds Daddy in the same funny deep voice. Tehya laughs. Tehya and her daddy happily sing songs, while they journey to the market. They have so much fun singing songs together; daddy sings the LOW notes and Tehya sings the high notes.

  “We are nearly there, Little Princess,” Daddy says. “Daddy, do you think there will be animals at the fair?” Tehya asks with excitement growing all over her face.

  “There might be some animals, we’ll have to wait and see…surprise surprise,” says Daddy, as he wiggles his eyes while he rocks his head from side to side. Tehya laughs.

  They soon pull up to a grassy field. Tehya can see a lot of caravans, stalls and lots of happy people walking around. Not only can she see the signs of a fair but she can hear the sounds of the fair; screams of joy, music being played, the motorized sounds of the rides and laughter all around. The sun is shining today and indeed it is a wonderful day to have a fair. And even a more wonderful day to be out with daddy.

  “Yayyy we are here,” cries Tehya as daddy undoes the seat belts then unlocks and opens the cars’ door. “Let’s walk around a bit and see all that’s here,” says Daddy.

  So, they do just that! They walk around looking at the stalls, stopping from time to time to watch the fair entertainers. They walk by many stalls selling a variety of different oddities and colourful curious trinkets of all sorts. WOW! There’s so much to see. Just at that moment when Daddy and Tehya are taking it all in, Tehya’s attention is caught by loud screams coming from around one of the corner stalls, she looks and notices it’s a cotton candy stall; one of Tehya’s favourite sweet treats. She looks over to the stall where the screams are coming from and realizes that the screams are actually coming from just behind the stall from a nearby ride. And what ride does she see? “Daddy it’s a roller coaster!” shouts Tehya, as she immediately takes Daddy by the hand and guides him quickly across the green grass and straight to the ride.

  Daddy speaks to the ride conductor to find out how much the ride costs. The conductor has to check Tehya’s height before she can go on the ride. Daddy motions for Tehya to move towards the wall where she eventually stops and stands by a large upright ruler that is stuck against the colourfully painted wall, comprised of pictures of various funny upright standing animals, all dressed in human clothes. Sometimes you must be a certain height to go on the ride for safety reasons. Remember safety always first, no one wants for anyone to fall out of the ride and hurt themselves; do we? But it’s perfectly alright, Tehya has just reached the red line, she is the right height therefore, it’s safe for her to go on. Daddy and Tehya sit down in the carriage that looks like a little rocket ship. Tehya looks excitedly at all the blinking lights while each carriage begins making rocket sounds. Patiently daddy and Tehya wait while the conductor walks up to each little rocket ship in order to lock the safety bar down. Once locked, it’s time to get ready to blast off. The ride starts and all the rocket ships st
art moving slowly along the clickety clackety tracks, and then they all start slowly climbing up; steeper and steeper as they move forward. Tehya can soon see the entire fairground; everything looks so small from that height. Daddy asks Tehya if she is ready. She is ready! At that moment the spaceship they are sitting in reaches the tip top point, and then just at that moment the carriage shoots down. SHWOOOOOOW! It goes up again and down, then twists and turns and goes upside down, loop-to-loop and SHWOOOOOOW! again.

  Tehya and Daddy go around a few more times and feel compelled to join in amongst all the screams, cheers, and laughter that are coming from all those riding on the ride. After a while the rides starts to slow down and eventually comes to a complete stop.

  “Was that fun?” asks Daddy. “Yes!” Tehya says, with the biggest smile on her face. “Did you like it Daddy?” Tehya asks. “Oh, yes I did,” says Daddy. “It was awesome fun, it makes me feel like my insides are jumping out,” Tehya says.

  The conductor comes to unlock the safety bar and Tehya and Daddy climb out with warm smiles on their face. They walk away reflecting on past excitement, such big loops and swirls. Tehya loves the feeling in her stomach when she goes really fast and loves her hair blowing in the wind. “What’s next Daddy?” asks Tehya. “Why don’t we walk and continue taking in the sights for a bit more, we can also pick up some things to cook,” Daddy says. “Come on,” says Daddy as he walks hand in hand with Tehya; a big smile on both of their faces. Daddy always says smiles are the medicine for the soul and the vitamins for your heart. Smiling makes everyone feel so much better and both Daddy and Tehya love to smile and laugh.

  As they walk together they both inspect all sorts of different arts and crafts, various kinds of jewellery, and many other interesting things.

  They both walk by a man selling paintings of sea life. “Daddy, look at that.” Tehya points to a large water colour painting. “The picture looks like a sand dollar. Do you remember? I found one on the beach in The Bahamas,” says Tehya. “Yes, I do remember. It was the time we spent Christmas in The Bahamas. Your big brother came over from America to spend it with us,” replies Daddy. “They are so pretty,” Tehya says giggling to herself.

  Sand dollars are a type of sea urchin that is found in tropical waters. And The Bahamas is definitely in tropical waters.

  There is so much to look at and curious little Tehya asks so many different questions about what they see. And her daddy makes sure he answers all her questions. It’s always good practice to ask questions about things we don’t know about; that’s how we learn about the world around us. So always remember; never stop asking questions and you won’t ever stop learning. Amongst all the fun they are having, Daddy and Tehya stop at one of the stalls to buy some grilled corn on the cob.

  “This is the best corn Daddy,” Tehya says, with a little butter smudged on her face. “You know it doesn’t just taste good but it’s also very healthy for you,” says Daddy as he wipes Tehya’s butter face with his handkerchief.

  They continue to walk around and take in the sights.

  “Why don’t we buy some things to cook for dinner from the market, we’ll walk around a little bit more and maybe go on one more ride then we will head out,” says Daddy. “What are you going to cook Daddy?” asks Tehya. “What would you prefer?” says Daddy.

  “I would prefer fish and pasta, Daddy,” Tehya says with glee. “Sounds like a plan. Why don’t we also buy some yummy and healthy vegetables; how about some broccoli? That will feed our muscles, brains and our bodies with good vitamins and minerals,” explains Daddy, as he shows his big muscles off with a smile. They continue walking and soon find themselves in the middle of all the market food stalls. They approach a stall selling fresh fish and stop to purchase one. Tehya chooses a fish and the fish merchant wraps the fish carefully in newspapers and places it in a paper bag. Daddy tries not to use plastic bags when he can because plastic can damage the environment, especially if it’s not thrown away properly.

  So, make sure you throw away your plastic in a recycling bin and any other rubbish in the regular bins.

  They both continue to walk from one market stall to the other, peering in to see what they are offering for sale. During this time, they do pick up some pasta as Tehya requested and then pick up fresh broccoli; the last item Daddy requires for dinner.

  They walk by the last stall which is selling fruit. Daddy stops and takes a long look in. “What do you see Daddy?” Tehya ask. “I stopped for a second because I thought I saw something. I thought that those fruits looked like a sugar apple but now I look closer and I see it was pears and apples in the same basket for sale,” Daddy says.

  A sugar apple is a tasty fruit that has seeds and has a sweet white inside. It grows in the Caribbean and America.

  “Ok! Little Princess are you ready to go?” asks Daddy. “Yes Daddy, but can we go on one more ride?” Tehya asks. “And how do we ask?” Daddy asks. “Oh yes, can we pleeeease go on one more ride,” Tehya politely repeats. “Ok, one more ride and then we head off home,” says Daddy.

  You should always say please when you ask for anything and say thank you when you receive anything; that’s the polite thing to do and shows that you have good manners, and good manners are good to have!

  “Which last ride will you pick?” asks Daddy. Tehya looks around and sees one of her other favourite rides; the horse and carousel.

  “Owww, can I go on the carousel please?” Tehya asks with a big grin on her face. “Of course,” says Daddy. “Will you come too Daddy?”

  “Of course.” Daddy says as they walk towards the ride. “That’s one of my favourite rides…I remember when my Dad used to take me on it when I was your age,” Daddy says with a loving smile.

  Daddy pays the man and they walk onto the ride. Tehya chooses a brightly coloured pink unicorn with leather tassels and radiant coloured jewels all around the saddle. Tehya loves unicorns. Daddy chooses a zebra with a big saddle made up of zigzag stripes and colourful swirls. The music starts and all the lights start to blink while the ride begins turning slowly around and around. The animals that Tehya and Daddy are riding on also start going around and around as well as going up and down.

  “Whoop we are going on a magical ride, so hold on. We are in a race in a mystical magical land where unicorns and dragons live with flying horses and talking zebras,” Daddy says with a big smile as they pretend and make-believe while they ride around and around on their animals. It’s great fun to imagine magical things and play make-believe; sometimes Daddy acts and plays silly but he loves it, he is a big kid.

  “I am going to beat you Daddy,” Tehya says as she pretends to gallop faster and faster.

  Daddy and Tehya always have fun playing make-believe. After a while the ride comes to an end and all the animals and brightly coloured characters finally come to a stop.

  “That was so much fun Daddy,” Tehya says as she and her Daddy climb off and walk hand in hand through the exit gates.

  They walk a few more steps and they arrive at the entrance of what seems to be a petting zoo. “Oooooowwww a petting zoo,” Tehya says. “Daddy, before we go home can we go to the petting zoo, please?” asks Tehya. “Come on, of course we are going, we can’t come to a fair and not see the animals if they have a petting zoo, we love animals. We will spend some time there then we will head home,” Daddy tells Tehya.

  Tehya and Daddy enter the gates. They can see many different animals from where they stand. Directly in front of them is a large pen with a few fluffy white sheep. Tehya leads Daddy by the hand towards the sheep. She asks if she can touch them. The handler says yes and Tehya rubs their soft woolly coats. Daddy asks Tehya if she knows where wool comes from. “From sheep,” Tehya says. “That’s correct Little One,” says Daddy.

  The next animal they see is a pretty brown pony with white markings and hair on its feet. Tehya asks if she can ride the pony. The handler says yes and brings the pony closer to Tehya. Daddy picks Tehya up and puts her on the pony. The hand
ler slowly leads the pony around the enclosure, while Tehya strokes its soft mane.

  After a few minutes the handler walks the pony with Tehya on its back, back to Daddy. “Wow that was so much fun Daddy,” says Tehya. “I am glad you enjoyed it, Princess,” says Daddy as he picks her up and off the pony. “I love riding on ponies,” Tehya says with glee.

  Daddy and Tehya walk down the path to see what other animals they may have. They pass a little cabin with a sign saying…

  “Buy food to feed

  the animals here!”

  They walk into the little cabin and buy two small bags of food. Now they are ready to feed the rest of the animals and off they go.

  Tehya walks up to the gate and sees a large horse towering over her. But she is not scared as she stretches out her hands filled with food. Tehya makes sure her hands are nice and flat when feeding the horse so her little fingers don’t get bitten by mistake. The horse lowers its large head and starts eating from her hands.

  Tehya laughs; “Daddy, it tickles,” Tehya says, giggling away.

  The next animal they see is a big pig, with two small piglets “I am going to feed the big pig that’s sitting in the mud,” says Daddy.

  Tehya watches Daddy inquisitively as Daddy feeds the big pig. Tehya then spots some cute little goats playing in a large pen. She attempts to feed the goats but only one seems interested in getting fed; some seem content just sitting lazily along the grass while the others prance around the pen.

  “I have made a friend with this goat, Daddy, it’s very playful,” exclaims Tehya, as she feeds the little black coloured goat.