Once upon a time there was a little boy and a little girl that lived on a farm with their mom and dad.  Billy and Susan loved to play on the farm and go to school with their friends. But it was summertime now, and every year when school was out, Billy and Susan would go visit their Grandma that lived a long way from the farm.

But Billy and Susan wouldn't ride in a car to see grandma, they would ride in a hot air balloon!! And it was time to go see grandma this week.  They were so excited to see her because she lived on a beach by the ocean and they loooved her chocolate chip cookies!!

So, they packed up for a week at grandma's house and put everything in the balloon. They told their friends, "see you in a week". They gave their mom and dad a big hug and climbed into the balloon. And away they went. Up and up and up and up!

As they were going up, they would go over towns and houses and other farms. People woud wave at them and they'd shout back, "We're on our way to grandma's house!" Before long, they were so high up that people looked like little dots on the ground.

They had to go high  up in the sky because in order to get to grandma's house, they had to float above the mountains. And so, when they were high enough to go over the mountains, they decided to have a snack that mom had packed for them.

While they were eating, all of a sudden they heard a bird singing. They couldn't figure out where the bird was because they couldn't see any birds flying around their balloon. Susan  looked up at the top of the balloon and there he was! He just kept on singing the whole time they were eating. In fact, he sang until they were over the mountains and starting down to land on the beach by grandma's house.



They really liked listening to him sing and Billy said, "I think we should give that bluebird a name." And so they thought and thought. "How about Barney the bluebird?" said Susan. "Yeah, I like that name," said Billy. "So thats what it will be!"

Well, no sooner did Billy say that, when suddenly, Barney flew off the balloon and dissappeared below the clouds. "I guess he had to go home, " said Susan. "I'll miss listening to him. I hope we see him again sometime."

     So, on they flew.....down, down, down they went until they could  see the beach where grandma lived. When they went below the clouds, people on the beach started  waving and shouting at them. It's not everyday you see a hot air balloon land near the beach!