Poor Elmo!  Everyone was ready for the big hike through the park but him.  Shae Christopher Veach , age 5, from Chandler, Arizona, found Elmo sitting sadly on the steps of 123 Sesame Street.
     "What's the matter, Elmo?" asked Shae, swinging a backpack.
     Elmo sighed.  "Elmo is supposed to bring 10 sandwiches on the hike, but Elmo isn't good at counting to 10."  "Come on, I'll help you," said Shae.  "Lane, Wyatt,Britt and Cade always help me when I need it. That's what friends are for!"

     With help from Shae, the sandwiches were soon ready and everyone set off on the hike.  As they walked, they heard a loud growl.  
     "Yikes!" yelped Bert.  "Bears!"
     Ernie laughed.  "Nope.  That's just my tummy telling me it's time for a snack."  His tummy growled again.
     "Who has the backpack?" asked Shae.  "There are snacks inside."
     "Elmo has one backpack," said Elmo, as Big Bird pulled some apples from the pack.  
     "Yum, yum, two apples.  One for Elmo and one for Ernie's hungry tummy."

     The path led to a wide stream.
     "Watch me!" shouted Prairie Dawn.  "I won't get wet."  She jumped across the brook on some stones.
     "Elmo, can you count the stones?" asked Shae.
     "Yes, yes!  Three stones."  Elmo hopped across.  Hop, hop, hop.
     "Pop, pop, pop!  Three heads popped out of the water.
     "Look, Elmo," laughed Shae.  "Those stones were really turtles!"
     "Elmo can count turtles, too!" said Elmo.  "One, two, three!"

     In a sunny spot beside the brook, Shae spotted something else for Elmo to count.  
     "Take a look at those bumps on the log," Shae said.
     "Ooooh.  One, two, three, four lumpy bumps on a log," counted Elmo.  "Four bumps that look like..."
     Ribbit, ribbit, croak, croak!  The four bumps jumped away.
     Shae grinned.  "Four lumpy frogs like bumps on a log!  Lane,Wyatt, Britt,and Cade would sure like to see those funny frogs."

    When they reached a bright green meadow, everyone ran and played in the long grass.
    "I spy five things, Elmo," said Shae.  "Can you guess what they are?"
    "Where?  What?" said Elmo.  "Elmo sees lots of things."
    "I'll give you a hint," said Shae.  "The five things I see are little and green and squiggle a lot."
    "Okay, Elmo will look for five little green things that squiggle."

    "Hey Shae!  Elmo saw five little green, squiggly caterpillars," shouted Elmo.
    "You're getting very good at counting, Elmo," said Shae.  "Listen, can you hear the knocks?"
    Tap! Tap! Tap!  Elmo listened carefully.  Tap! Tap! Tap!  "Elmo hears six knocks."
    "Yes!" said Shae.  "See, high in the tree, six birds pecking away."

    Next, Shae and his friends hiked to a small waterfall.  Shae picked up a shiny pebble and tossed it into the pool beneath the falls.  It landed with a mighty splash.  KERPLUNK!
    Elmo gathered seven stones.  But before he could pitch the first pebble, some fish popped up and yelled, "Hey, cut that out!"
    "Whoops!  Sorry, you guys."  Shae gulped.  "Uh, how many fish do you see, Elmo?"
    "Eight fish," said Elmo.  "Eight ANGRY fish.  Let's get out of here!"

    "Do you want to play a game?" said Shae as they hiked through some tall pine trees.  
    "Let's see who can find the most pine cones."
    Elmo looked the hardest.  He found more than all the others.
    "Elmo has nine!  Nine pine cones." Elmo groaned.  "Help!  Elmo can't carry nine pine
cones, Shae."
    "Don't worry, we'll help you plant them so they'll grow into trees," said Shae.  "Nine pine
trees are almost a forest."

    By now, everyone was hungry.  Shae picked a picnic spot and said, "Let's eat!"
    Big Bird poured the lemonade.  Ernie and Bert passed out cookies.  Prairie Dawn unpacked grapes.
    "My tummy's hungry again," said Ernie.  "Where are the sandwiches, Elmo?  I hope you brought a lot!"
    "Elmo and Shae made ten sandwiches," said Elmo.  He counted them out slowly.  
    "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!"
    "Ten sandwiches sure is a lot," said Ernie, munching happily.

    "Congratulations, Elmo," said Shae.  "Today you counted one packpack, two apples, three turtles, four frogs, five caterpillars, six birds, seven pebbles, eight fish, nine pine cones, and ten sandwiches, all by yourself."
    "Shae is right," Elmo said.  "Elmo DID count all that."
    Shae smiled.  "It'll be fun telling Lane,Wyatt,Britt and Cade about the fun stuff you counted when I get home to Chandler, Arizona."
    "You can tell them one more funny thing Elmo counted," giggled Elmo.  "Look, Shae! One sandwhich being carried away by ten ants!"