Day 744. Last night I headed to bed at 11:30 pm, as I was simply too tired to go on. It's not any different tonight, as traveling is even more tiring than when we're at home, and I have less time to work and to sleep.
Tammy woke up before I went to sleep last night, but I was able to keep her in her bed, and she ended up staying there until rather late. Then she climbed into bed with us and slept next to me for a long time. Even after Emmy and Sammy were up and making noise for quite a while. Emmy had come into bed with us rather early. Because of Tammy sleeping so long, we got up later than usual and went downstairs for breakfast around 8 am. There was a lavish table set up for us again. After breakfast they all stayed downstairs to play, while I went upstairs to work for one hour. I was very tired and had a hard time staying awake, but I just had to make some progress. I could hear them play outside.
At 9:30 I went downstairs, as it was time to drive to a nearby farm. Before we got into the car, we saw a lady walking a dog approaching, which got their interest, and so the lady stopped and talked to us, but she discouraged them from touching her dog. Then they got into our car, and we followed our host to the farm. The kids had been eager to see cows and been talking about it, and now the time had finally come. The adult cows were all outside on the pasture, but the calfs were inside, and that's where we went first. Emmy was a little scared as usual, and Tammy also had some respect of the cows. There was also a little kitten there that they enjoyed petting. Then we walked on and got to the pig pen with three big pigs inside, and they watched them with interest. Of course there were also chickens running around free. It was an organic farm, and the owners were Christians. They are making their own cheese there, and we ended up buying some to take with us.
We put the kids back into the car. Tammy was so very tired that she screamed, not wanting to be in the car seat. We were only driving to the neighboring farm, as they had horses, but she screamed the whole time and tried to get out of the seat. She quieted down after we got out. We walked over to the horses who were behind an electric fence, and they all just looked at them. Randy touched them in between the electric cords. Then we crossed the road to where the adult cows were on the pasture, and walked up as close as we could to the electric fence. There was a lot of them, and they were all sitting down and chewing.
We got back into the car and drove the few minutes home. By the time we arrived, Tammy and Emmy were nearly asleep. It was 11 am, and the food was not quite ready, so we decided to put them to bed and eat after they got up. But as soon as we got to our room, they were suddenly wide awake again, no signs of tiredness, so we went downstairs to eat right away after all. After lunch we went upstairs for their nap. Yesterday it had not worked at all. Today it was also quite a struggle to get them to lie down and sleep, but in the end Emmy slept in bed with us, and Tammy and Sammy in their beds each, and all five of us slept. I would have liked to use the time to work, but I just could not.
It was 12:40 by the time everyone was finally lying down and falling asleep. Sammy woke up first, and then the others were up soon thereafter. We dressed them and left at 3 pm.
We had a one-hour car drive ahead of us again to go our friends' house. Unfortunately it was rush hour, and so it took us 90 minutes to get there. As they had all slept, they were cranky because it took so long but did not sleep. I played Veggie Tales for a few minutes, but they were really not that interested. They did want to call Grandma and Sonja, but neither one picked up their phones. The last half hour was getting tough, especially with Tammy who just wanted out. I was glad, when we finally pulled up at their house at 4:30 pm, and we couldn't even open the car doors fast enough for them to get out.
We went into our friends' garden, where there were lots of toys, a trampoline, slide and swing. Just a little paradise for them, plus a 4-year-old girl to have fun with. And they were having great fun with her. We sat down at the table and had cake and coffee, but the kids didn't stay long, as they wanted to play. Sammy stayed the longest, with Randy, and ate the most cake. Right now his favorite word is "Kek" which is what they say for "Keks" (cookie), and it actually sounds like the English word "cake", which is actually what he was eating. Just because Sammy says "Kek" doesn't mean he actually wants a cookie. I think he just likes the word. And today I heard him say "Essen" (food) for the first time.
They had a cute, little dog that they chased around a lot to pet him, and Emmy had lost all fear of dogs. Unfortunately the cat never made an appearance. Randy ended up on the big trampoline with all four kids, making it jump, and they were all having great fun.
As it was getting later and cooler, we all moved inside, where we sat down at the table to eat dinner - a traditionally Austrian dinner with bread, different cheeses and sausages. Tammy can't sit still for long and was the first one up and playing. She found a little doll stroller that she started pushing around. After we were done eating, we moved to the living room, where they were all playing, but time was advancing and we needed to get going. We had enjoyed our time with our good friends.
Once again it was 8 pm, when we said our good-byes and drove off into the night. As expected all three fell asleep quickly. However, Sammy woke up after about half an hour and stayed awake. We ended up talking, and he was laughing pretty much every time I answered him. It was the cutest thing, and I have a short video of it. We were doing it for most of the last half hour before arriving at our host's house. Tammy was getting restless a few minutes before we got home. It was already 9:15, when we pulled up at the house. I carried both Tammy and Emmy upstairs, put them on our bed, and started changing their diapers and putting their pj's on. Emmy had his eyes open, while Tammy moved into sleeping position and continued sleeping. Both of them continued sleeping once I put them to bed. Sammy was a different story. He once again kept leaving his bed, just because he could, and I had to put him back several times before he finally fell asleep as well.
Then it was my turn to start working, even though I was so very tired. I downloaded the 350 pictures of today, started choosing the best, and then writing my update, being aware that I could not get it all done. I'm so tired that I have to leave the pictures for another day once again. Tomorrow we have a long drive to the other end of Austria, so please pray for us.
