Day 749. Last night I went to bed after midnight, unable to finish my report or the pictures because I was too tired. Emmy crawled into my bed much later than usual; it was a late night for them last night. And he was the first one up just before 8 am, which is unusually late for them. He was up for a while, talking with me and eating cookies, before Tammy and Sammy woke up. And so it was 8:45 before we got to the breakfast room today, later than ever. And today no dishes were broken, praise God.
We returned to the room, put their shirts on, and left to drive to an indoor playground 15 minutes away. While driving, Randy saw a herd of sheep, and as we were in no rush, he turned around and stopped right there, so they could go see the sheep. They had been talking about sheep, but we hadn't seen any yet. Emmy was too scared to be on the ground, and so I had to hold him. Tammy was on the ground, and we made sure she didn't get close to the electric fence. While we were looking, an old lady came up to us, and we told her we were just there to see the sheep. A car wanted to get through, and so we got back into our car and continued on to the playground.
We got there just before 10:30 am. We had to show our Covid test results and found out that we needed socks, and so we had to purchase them. After putting them on, they were ready to go. And it was truly a paradise for kids. They started off in the little kids area, where there was a pool full of balls, which was very popular with them. They enjoyed jumping in and throwing the balls around.. Sammy enjoyed it too. And they interacted a little with the other kids. There was also a little slide they used, and some stacking bricks, and Sammy rode on a zebra.
Then we moved on to the inflated jumping castle. I got on as well and took pictures. Emmy didn't care much for it, while Tammy was going to the other end, but then wanted off as well. They rode a bicycle for a few minutes, and then followed me to the sled rail. That turned out to be great fun. Randy would give me the sled, and I'd put the kids on it, so they could slide down on the rolls. Especially Tammy loved it. One time she ended up rolling down on her knees, looking upward, and did not like that all. Randy slid down together with Sammy.
Tammy, Emmy and I started making our way to the top so we could slide down the big slide. There was lots of climbing involved and getting around obstacles. Tammy didn't mind, but Emmy did. Finally we were on top, sat down on the slide, and slid all the way back down, where Randy was standing with Sammy.
Next we went to the trampolins that they greatly enjoyed, and then to the gokart race tack right next to it. I sat down in one together with Emmy, but couldn't make it move. I asked another little girl and finally figured out that you needed a chip to put into the carts for them to run. And that's how I ended up pushing them in circles around the track, while the other kids drove, but they didn't mind and enjoyed it. Tammy was able to keep the driving wheel straight, but Emmy kept turning it, which made it very hard to stear the vehicle the right direction. I went on as long as I could before being exhausted and stopping. As you can imagine, they were not happy.
They returned to the pool of balls, while I ordered our food for lunch. When they saw me walking away, they didn't like it, and Emmy came with me and received a buzzer so we would know when the food was ready. It took quite a while, but they were playing happily - with Emmy asking for food.
We then ate our lunch and got ready to leave to go back to the hotel. It was already 1 pm. By 1:30 we were back in our room, and it was high time to sleep. Emmy ended up sleeping on my bed, while I was working on finishing yesterday's report and pictures, and it worked out well. By 2 pm they were all asleep.
I was making good progress, even though I was also getting really tired. I was close to finishing up, when Emmy woke up first after 2 pm, and was finishing as Sammy and Tammy woke up as well. Or rather when Emmy woke them up. It was already 4:30 and high time to leave.
By 5:15 we arrived at the restaurant by lake Constance, where our friends were already waiting for us. We walked all the way to the water. It was the first time the little ones saw a huge lake like that. And it sure reminded me of the ocean, especially the sound of the waves, which I love. The kids wanted to go into the water, and Emmy saw a ball lying on the ground which he wanted to have. They were not happy, when they couldn't go into the water or have the ball. As for me, my longing to be at the ocean just increased big time. We let them take their shoes off and put their toes into the water, and took a picture together with our friends. Then we walked to the restaurant to sit down for dinner.
My friend pointed at Emmy and said that she had seen him in that position before, one hand in the pocket and the other behind the back. I had never noticed it, but it sure looked cute, when he was walking holding Wolfgang's hand like that.
We sat down at a table, and Emmy kept asking for food. We ordered, and he continued asking for food, and then Tammy joined in. They were antsy and needed to occupy their hands with something, and we tried to keep them busy with safe stuff. It's hard, when kids want their food now and it's just not there. I was glad, when they finally brought it. I cut food into pieces and put them on their plates. It wasn't long before Tammy and Emmy stopped eating and wanted out. And so our friends ended up going outside with them, while Sammy continued eating. Randy said he had never seen Sammy eat this much. Before he was done and we could join them outside, they actually returned to our table. I was told they had kept asking for Mommy. And so they went to the bathroom with me.
When we returned, we found out that we were still going to the icecream shop together. Sammy had been asking for icecream. I told the kids, and as we walked out to go to the car, Tammy threw a fit because she thought she was not getting her icecream. I tried to tell her that we had to drive to where the icecream was, but she didn't really seem to get it.
We put them into the car and drove off, following the GPS to the shop. We all got icecream and sat down at a table. I was sitting between Tammy and Emmy, holding their cups as the table was high, until my friend held one cup, so I could also eat my icecream. It was gone fast, and Emmy was very distressed about that. We didn't stay much longer, as it was already late, and said our good-byes to our friends, as it was the last time for us to see them. It was just after 8 pm, when we drove off to return to the hotel.
Once in our room, we immediately started showering them and getting them ready for bed. It took a while to get them to sleep, and I had to sit between the three beds to get them there. I was finally able to get started on working on today's pictures and then the report. And I have been struggling this whole time to make my eyes open up again, correcting mistakes, and continuing on. My body just really needs sleep. Now it's after midnight, I'm done, and giving in to its demand. Tomorrow is a travel day again, driving a long distance, so please pray for us.
