Day 1273. I had to set an alarm for 8 am this morning, but of course Emmy was up early again, and soon the others were up as well. I was very tired, but we had to get up. I dressed the kids after breakfast, and we left just after 9 am to take the 9:20 train. The first picture today shows them playing with the touch screen of the ticketing machine, which they enjoy pushing around on.
We took the train, then had to take a tram for two stops and walk the rest of the way to the swimming pool. So far the class has been every three weeks, but will be every two weeks in the next few weeks. When we walked in, I was surprised to see the long line at the ticket counter, as there has never been a line before. And most people were there for a class. It took quite some time until it was our turn. I paid an entry fee for Randy and me, then we picked up two keys for lockers, and went to the family changing room. We started getting everyone into their swim suits, showered off, and went inside to the pool area.
All the other participants of the class were already in the water, and so we got in as well. Our kids were so excited to be in the water again, especially Sammy who did a lot of laughing and cheering during the 30 minute class. We started with the greeting song she did for each child, then she did an action song and had Tammy for it, and then she did another activitiy, where she had Tammy, so we could each do it with the other two children. Then the kids got swim rings - Tammy and Emmy two on each arm, and Sammy three. She had them swim through a tunnel on their own, then they were to pick up animals while going through. Finally she had them swim on their backs with the animals on their bellies.
Next she put the slide on the side of the pool so they could slide into the water. Emmy did not want to go under, so I caught him before he did. All three were enjoying the slide. She then gave them swim noodles, but they were to sit on them as if they were riding them. They needed to pick up swim rings that were floating in the water and then put them on their noodles. They were doing a great job.
And then the half-hour class was already over. She did the final song, and we left the water to walk back to the showers. We showered off and went to the changing room to get dressed again. Normally we could stay a little longer, but we were on a tight schedule today. We put their coats back on by the stroller and left to walk to the tram stop.
We rode the tram for four stops and got off right by McDonald's, where we went to have lunch. The kids were pretty hungry and impatiently waiting for their food. I ordered it, then Randy picked it up. We were having a great time eating together. Tammy ate all four chicken nuggets today and had a bite of a chicken strip. Ever so often we have to increase the quantity of the food we buy. They were all hungry and ate quite a bit. Then we got back on the tram to return to the train station.
We had just missed a train so that we had to wait for over 20 minutes. And so I rolled Sammy to the ticketing machine, so he could play with it, as it keeps him happy. The other two were running around and having fun with each other. We finally went up to the platform and got on the train home.
It was 12:40 by the time we got home. Originally we said there was no time for a nap, but I didn't think that that was smart, as they were clearly tired. It was better to get to the party a little later and give them the opportunity to sleep a little. We put them to bed right away, and Randy sat down by them. Thankfully they all fell asleep quickly. I downloaded the tickets to my phone and then lay down myself, setting a 30 minute timer. That's all the time we had.
When it went off at 1:30, I went into the kids' room and opened the curtains, then started putting their costumes on. They were really tired and had a hard time getting up, but they did not complain as they had been looking forward to the carnival party. At 1:50 we left the house and walked to the subway. We rode it to the end, then needed to go up to street level to take the tram. The kids were excited to take the escalator, now that we stopped using the stroller with them, and so I went up with them, while Randy and Sammy were gonna take the elevator. But it was once again broken, and so Randy had to take the stroller up on the escalator as well.
The town hall was one stop on the tram away, but we decided to ride it for two stops so that we had less walking to do to get to the entrance. Even though it was approaching 2:30 and the doors had opened at 1:30, there were a lot of people with little kids in costumes walking the same direction to the entrance of town hall. At the gate there were people just standing there. The person at the gate shouted with a loud voice that anyone with a ticket could go in. I guess those people had hoped to buy a ticket right there, but it was sold out. They later said that there were 1500 families, and I have to tell you that it was extremely crowded.
We showed our tickets and walked in. There was an area where to park our stroller. As it was a warm day, we took our coats off and put them into the stroller, then we gave the guy our stroller that he put a number on, as well as giving us a number. Now we were free to go inside. We walked into the building and up the big staircase of this historic building. In fact, we had to walk up quite a few flight of stairs. And there were people everywhere. I already knew what they had to offer, besides the program on the main stage. When we got to the top, close to the main hall, we bought six of the tickets they were selling for a big drawing. But every ticket won something, and the money from the sale went to helping handicapped children.
They had free donuts nearby, and Randy wanted one, so we walked there and stood in line. We got three, but even though the kids hadn't eaten anything in the afternoon, they did not want any of the donuts. We then started walking to the main event hall, where there was some singing and dancing going on on the main stage. We continued walking to the other end, where they had set up a bassin full of baths. Especially Sammy had been looking forward to the balls. The kids were excited and jumped right in, enjoying the balls. I knelt on the side with Sammy on the inside and made sure he was okay.
After a while we decided to move on to the blowup jumping castle that the other two kids were really looking forward to. We had to walk through a few other rooms, and there was a crowd everywhere. We finally got there, and there was a long line, just like everywhere else, like painting the kids' faces which they would have liked. And so we stood in that line that was moving extremely slowly. Sammy was getting pretty cranky and unconsolable, and the other two were not enjoying standing there either, but they wanted to jump so bad. I looked at my clock. It was 3:15 pm, so fifteen minutes before the puppets were starting, which the kids were also looking forward to. And so they finally agreed to leave the line and go there instead.
We had to walk all the way back through the rooms and the main hall and then all the way to street level to get to the puppets. It was a huge room with a lot of rows of chairs. We started walking to the fron, where it was extremely crowded, and once we got close, Tammy and Emmy simply continued walking all the way to the front row, where they sat down. Randy, Sammy and I stood on the side, where they were a lot of other parents, and we held him during the 30 minute show. He wasn't interested in the show, and so we had to keep him busy and happy the whole time. My feet were really hurting standing there, as we've done a lot of walking these past two days. Tammy and Emmy were enjoying the show, but I was not really happy with the storyline, as it was not really good, plus there were too many witches and too much wizardry happening.
After half an hour it was over, and everyone moved out of the hall, and so did we. Up we went again the several flights of stairs and walked to the main stage, where the kids' entertainer and singer Bernhard Fibich was doing his program. The kids had first seen him in a park in November. I put Emmy on my shoulders, where I could hear him laugh. Tammy, however, was on the ground and couldn't see anything, and so she was not happy at all and wanted to leave. Randy was holding Sammy, who was not interested either. We still stayed there for quite some time before moving on.
I thought it would be a good idea to try to line up at the jumping castle again, as the kids wanted to do it so bad. However, the line was just as long, and Randy did not want to stand in line for that long. There was some playdoh going on, as well as drawing and playmais. Tammy wanted to do some of that, while Emmy didn't. She ended up sitting down by a table, but only stayed for a very short time. We then decided to go pick up our prizes, as it was closeby. Without realizing I actually cut the line instead of lining up in the back, but the upside was that we soon got to the front to exchange our 6 tickets for prices. We got five simply prizes and then had to draw an envelope for the sixth. I let Emmy draw it, and unfortunately he had not drawn a good one. We got our bag of goodies and left. Tammy was hungry and was especially happy about the cookies they had given us.
We walked back to the main stage, where they had a game show going on. One of the sponsors was a maker of board games, and so they had oversized games on the stage that kids were playing. We stood there for some time watching, but it really wasn't that interesting, and so we left again. Randy was ready to go home, but Sammy was still talking about the balls, and so I thought it was a good idea to go back there. After all it had been the best activity of the afternoon. And it was a good decision. The kids jumped right back in and were having so much fun. I once again knelt on the side with Sammy on the inside. Sammy was throwing the balls at me, and I tried to keep them inside. A little girl was taken to Sammy and kept coming to him, trying to give him balls, and Sammy gave her balls as well. It was fun to watch. Emmy kept jumping into the balls from the side, not caring enough for the kids inside the bassin, especially his brother. Tammy was diving, and Sammy did so as well, having fun being under the balls, while I didn't like it that much.
The time was approaching 5:30, which was the time the party ended, and so we finally asked them to come out so we could go home. They reluctantly came to us so we could put their shoes back on. Sammy was on the floor and crawled back to the balls, trying to get in. We then walked away, but were stopped at the playdoh area. There was a little table with a press and shapes for playdoh, and all three of our kids joined the girl who was already playing there. We stayed there for quite a few minutes before moving on to leave.
We got back to the main hall and heard all that popping going on by the main stage. We walke there and saw lots and lots of balloons on the ground that kids were catching and others were popping. Tammy ran to pick up as many balloons as she could, and then Emmy caught a few as well. With their hands full, we made our way to the exit. We had to walk down several flights of stairs and could feel the cold air coming in. It was already dark outside, and so it was a few degrees colder than before. And the ground was wet; it had obviously rained while we had been on the inside. I had Tammy with me and asked her to run with me across the courtyard and to the strollers, and we did. I was actually only wearing short-sleeved shirt, which I was glad about on the inside, as it was extremely hot. I quickly put my coat on and then put the coats on the children. We tried to put as many balloons into the stroller as possible, and made our way to the exit. We had a good walk to the tram stop, together with everyone else who was leaving. We crossed the road, and the tram we needed arrived right away.
It was pretty full, but we got on to ride it for two stops. Emmy started crying, and Tammy was not happy either, as they had wanted to watch videos. I told them they needed to wait until we were on the subway, which upset Emmy. The tram was extremely crowded, and I was glad, when we got off. As the elevator was broken, we took the escalator that was right there. It was harder to go down than up with the stroller, but Randy did it. We then walked to the subway and got on. We sat down, and the kids were watching videos until we got off at home.
By 6:30 we were back home. The kids continued watching and playing, while I made dinner for them. Just before 7 pm we sat down to eat, then they continued eating in the bathtub. Then we got them ready for bed, and I sat down with them to read them Bible stories. Then I prayed for them and put them to bed. It was around 8 pm. I sat down by them for a little bit, then Randy took my place, and I went to the kitchen to make myself something to eat. By the time I sat down to eat, it was already all quiet in the kids' room. I figured they'd go to bed quickly tonight, as it's been a really long day with a short nap. Now it's 2:30 am and high time for me to go to bed - after having cleaned up the kitchen.
