2 years 23 days

Day 754. Last night I was so exhausted I had no choice but to go to bed at 11 pm, without having written my update. It wasn't long before I had to get up because of crying babies, and Tammy joined us in bed rather early. Then Sammy, and in the end Emmy. It wasn't 6 am like before our trip, but 7 am when we got up. I made breakfast - a little different than before - and we sat down to eat. After cleaning them up and dressing them, I went downstairs with them, where I turned worship music on.

It was their first time downstairs since our return, and so they immediately started playing with all their toys they hadn't seen in so long. I also got their Bibles out, and they listened as I told the stories depicted on the pages. When Randy arrived, I went upstairs to get to work. Emmy complained at first, but then they were okay. We hadn't done anything last night, and so there was not only cleanup but also all our suitcases to unpack. However, my first priority was to finish yesterday's pictures and the update. And that took me until 10:30, which is when I had to stop to make lunch anyway.

As we have not gone shopping yet, my options were limited, and I made scrambled eggs with onions, bacon and corn. It was fast, and they enjoyed eating it. Then they wanted their puddings (Fruchtzwerge) that they are crazy about right now. I cleaned them up and dressed them, and Randy went downstairs with Tammy, while I put the boys to bed. Thankfully I did not have to sit down with them but was able to continue working. It didn't take long for Emmy to fall asleep. Just as I was about to call Randy upstairs with Tammy, she came walking up the stairs all by herself. Randy said that she was tired. Tammy walked straight to her bed. She played for a little while before falling asleep as well.

After the cleanup, I finally got to do some unpacking of suitcases and packages that had arrived, which was a lot of work anyway. And I had to be cautious, as I had to do all that close to the sleeping kids. It was obvious that they were catching up on sleep, as they all slept well and long. At some point Randy went to the car and moved it closer to our house and did the final cleanup. He also put the single stroller into the car. It was after 2 pm, and the kids were still sleeping. Sammy had fallen asleep at 11:45, and Emmy at about noon. I finally turned the ocean waves off, and after that it wasn't long before Emmy woke up. And the noise he was making woke up Tammy and Sammy as well.

I immediately started dressing them for us to leave, and a few minutes later we did. They were excited to get to be in the car again, and to get to see Grandma. They were partly running to get to the car. By 2:30 we drove off to return the car at the main train station.

But first we had to fill it up with gas. At the gas station Randy realized that he had not brought our masks, and as they had none on sale, we had to return to our house to pick them up, which did not take that long, and we were early. We had not needed them much on our trip which was nice. Back on the road we hit Friday afternoon rush hour traffic. We had to go slow, but it was not too bad. At 3:15 we parked the car at the designated rental agency's spot, 15 minutes early.

We had found a solution to the dilemma of Sonja not being available. My Mom agreed to come meet us there and then take the car seats with her in her car, while we take the train home. She had a little difficulty finding us there, but then she drove up. We were all already outside the car waiting for her. When the kids saw her, they got all excited and Tammy ran to my Mom who picked her up. Emmy waited for her to put down Tammy, and then it was his turn. Sammy was also excited to see her. We gave her the car seats, she gave us a bag, and then we already said our goodbyes again. She was so kind to take the car seats to our house right away, as she said it was unlikey we'd see each other soon due to the rising Corona numbers. As for us, we had the single stroller with Sammy in his car seat, and the attached board that Emmy and Tammy both stood on at first. But it was a lot to push and soon one of them stepped off and walked instead. We took the elevator up, and when we got to the platform, our train was already sitting there. We just about got on, before it started moving, and it only comes every 30 minutes. What a blessing!

We got off the train right by our house. Tammy and Emmy were both walking, Tammy holding on to the stroller, and Emmy on my shoulders for a while, then on the board. By 4:20 we were back home. We took their clothes off and went downstairs to play. Randy left to pick up some bread and bananas for tonight, as he'll go shopping tomorrow, while we were playing. Sammy was enjoying the swing, we looked at the new August photobook, and then they wanted to do some drawing, as they had seen it in the pictures in the book. And so I put up table and chairs and got down some paper and crayons, and they did a great job. Just as we were finishing Randy returned. Emmy had already been talking about food, and so we went upstairs at that time. It was about 5:15. We sat down at the table right away, and I gave them the food I was cutting immediately. It worked out pretty well. We only had three different types of fruit plus the bread with cream cheese. And I cooked the last ear of corn we had. Randy cut the corn off and gave it to them, and they loved it. And of course they got their puddings, eating the remaining ones we had.

Then it was bathtub time, and they all enjoyed it. I had a small plate of leftover food that they all ate. Then they came out and went to bed. They were in bed rather early, as it was not even 6:30 yet. And that's why it took me until after 8 pm before they were finally all asleep. And Tammy went to the bathtub 4 times, as she would not stay in bed. (I give her a choice of sleeping in bed or the bathtub. If she gets up, she chooses the bathtub.) It was aggravating to not be able to eat or walk away but to constantly have to try to get them to sleep. Even Sammy cried at one point for no apparent reason. I was glad, when I was finally able to eat and then get working. Now it's later than I thought it would be because I also booked our tickets to Mali in December. It's 11:30, and now I have to clean up the kitchen and dining room, and I have one more suitcase to unpack.