Day 745. Last night I went to bed at midnight, having tried to fight sleep off so I could work. And it turned out to be a pretty bad night. I hadn't even fallen asleep yet, when the girl crawled into bed with us, and a few minutes later Emmy. Somehow they were not in good spots, and I was worried Emmy would fall off the bed, so I did not get much sleep at all. Emmy was up first, as usual, and it was only 6 am. By 7 we were ready to go downstairs for breakfast.
For the last time we had our host's wonderful spread of foods on the table. After a while the kids got up and started playing. Once I was done, I went upstairs to pack and left Randy and the kids downstairs to play. Then Randy came to start picking up stuff to carry it to the car. We have a lot of stuff with us. It all took a while, but then we were finally ready to put the kids into their seats. But it wasn't quite time to leave yet, as we needed to get a Covid test done to check into the hotel at night. Thankfully our host knew exactly where to go - the local doctor. We were way out in the countryside, so it was a small doctor's office. It was the first time since leaving Vienna we had to put a mask on again. Our friend stayed by the car with Sammy, while Emmy and Tammy came inside with us. They had some toys there that they started playing with. We checked in, and a few minutes later they did the test. I went back outside with the kids, while Randy was waiting for the test results. And then Emmy's fingers got hurt, when Tammy slammed the car door on them, and he wanted his Daddy, so I took him back inside.
By 9:20 we had our results on paper, said good-bye for good, and started our long journey to the end of Austria. There was a fast way to go that meant driving through Germany most of the time, and a slower way that only had a short part in Germany. Since we hadn't brought our passports we decided to take the longer route. We started driving and following our GPS. And then my phone said "welcome to Germany". I was perpexled, zoomed out of the map, and discovered that we had followed the faster route through mainly Germany after all. We turned around, but when we realized that we were actually inside Germany already and that our trip would now be even longer, we turned around again and stayed in Germany.
Tammy and Emmy had been sleeping since shortly after we had left the doctor's office. They were waking up, and lunch time was approaching, plus we needed gas, so we already stopped to eat at 10:45 am. It was a truck stop, and there were no other people in the restaurant. It was a good thing we had the test results, as we needed them to eat there. We picked three dishes, and during the wait time I took them to the shop next door, where they looked at everything they had. It was a good distraction. Then we returned to the boys, and the food was already coming. Sammy sat in a high chair, while the other two sat on the bench. I cut them all some meat and gave them fries, and they ate mainly fries. After we had eaten, Randy still got gas there, and at 12:15 we left and returned to the interstate to continue on.
Now they were awake, and I was very tired, but there was no break for Mommy. Sammy hadn't slept yet and was tired and was crying a lot. We finally decided to stop at a playground, so they could have fun. I typed it into the GPS, and picked one that was right off the interstate. When we got there, there were no other kids there. And it turned out to be a great playground. They started having fun - sliding, swinging, and impressing me with their climbing skills that are constantly improving. Both Tammy and Emmy had no problem at all climbing up the rope ladder to the slide. I put Sammy on wood on the other side, and he also did pretty well, putting his hands on the next rung, and then I helped him move up his legs.
They also had a double swing where an adult could be the second person, and that was cool. Both Randy and I sat on it with them.
We had driven an hour and a half before getting there, and left after nearly an hour at the playground. It was 2:40 pm. It wasn't long before Tammy and Emmy fell asleep again, but Sammy did not, even though he was very tired. He decided to cry instead, and there was nothing we could do to have him stop. I don't know why he didn't fall asleep. The other two slept until we arrived at our destination. And we had two more hours to go. It was getting tougher and tougher with Sammy, and we just had to let him cry.
By 4:30 we had arrived at the hotel. I was so glad we had not taken the longer route. Emmy was awake immediately, and Tammy woke up quickly as well. They could not wait to get out of the car.
We put our masks on and went inside to the reception desk. We showed them our test results, filled out a paper, and received our key. Then we went to the room, where I stayed with them until Randy had brought up all our stuff from the car. The kids were wild, checking everything out and pulling on everything they could find. Sammy was still cranky from not having slept. I was unpacking, when our friends arrived. I have known her for a very long time, and she used to be my best friend. We stayed a little in our room and talked, and then went downstairs to the hotel restaurant. It was pretty full outside in the garden, and they put another table together for us. They also gave us two high chairs, which is not a good number. Sammy needs one, and then the other two should each have one or neither one. It still worked out today for the girl to sit in it and Emmy to sit on a normal chair. They kept asking for food, not realizing that you have to order and wait, and it took pretty long for the food to come. Thankfully there was as slide right there. They needed a little help getting up there, and any one of us helped them at times. Once the food came, I cut the meat up for them and put it on their individual plates with fries, and they started eating. They ate pretty well, mainly fries, and then left to go to the slide again. Sammy was now beyond tired, just cranky and crying for much of the time. It was time for them to go to bed. So we said goodbye to our friends and went to our room.
The hotel had promised us two more blankets and a fridge immediately, but when they weren't coming and Sammy was just crying, I went ahead and started showering him and getting him ready for bed, and then the other two. We put their mattresses on the floor, and then them on it. Sammy was asleep quickly. The other two needed more time, and Tammy lots of encouragement to lie down and stay down. Randy was so exhausted he showered right after them and was in bed by 8 pm just like them, and was actually asleep before Tammy and Emmy were. It took them a little time, but it wasn't too bad. After they were asleep, I went downstairs to get myself some hot water for tea and to ask about the fridge and blankets. The boss wasn't there any more. They gave me water, and this time they did bring the two addtitional blankets a few minutes later. And then I sat down at the computer to start working on today's pictures and report. Now it's 11 pm, and I've been struggling with my eyes falling shut while writing.
