Day 1382. It was a typical morning. After breakfast we dressed the kids, and at 9:30 am we left the house and walked to the subway. We don't usually go anywhere on Thursday (except for Sammy who has physiotherapy) but today was a holiday. My good friend gave me the gift of a carriage ride for my birthday a few weeks ago, and today was the day to do it. We rode the subway downtown, then walked up to St. Stephen's Cathedral, the heart of our city. We sat down on a bench there and waited for our friends who arrived a few minutes later.
We were right where the carriages park and wait for customers, but there weren't any there. So we had to wait a while, which gave us a chance to catch up with each other, until a carriage returned to its spot. It was a white carriage with white horses, and Tammy said "Cinderella". They had a storage unit there, where they locked up Sammy's wheelchair, and all 8 of us got into the carriage.We were doing the "big tour", which was a ride through downtown Vienna taking about half an hour. I had Sammy and Emmy at first, and Randy Tammy. They were all greatly enjoying the ride. I had taken Sammy to the horse before we took off, and he had touched it briefly. He was a little scared of it. Emmy got to touch it after our ride, which set off a carriage driver into a mad rage that kept Emmy talking. As we were walking away, Emmy kept saying that that man did not love God.
We slowly made our way through the city, enjoying the ride. Then we heard some loud noise. Today was a catholic holiday, and so there were processions in the street. We passed one big gathering outside a church, then had to stop and wait because a procession was walking by ahead of us. The kids were all looking at what was going on. There was another carriage right behind us waiting as well. Once we started moving again, we could still see the crowd of people gathered there.
We made a switch at some point, with Randy taking Sammy, while I had the other two with me. Before we knew it, we were back where we had started. We got out, then there was the incident with the driver, before we walked off. We had said that we'd go have icecream together, like we used to do before we had children. There was a good place nearby, and so we decided to go there. All the seats outside were taken, so we went inside and found a nice corner table that would work for us.
We ordered a children's bowl for Emmy, while Tammy and Sammy got three flavors each. Randy knew there'd be plenty of icecream for him to eat, while I ordered what sounded best to me. Tammy ate all her icecream, but the boys ate rather little. It was about 11:30, so this was going to be our lunch today. I took Emmy to the bathroom, when we first got there, and before we left we went there again, this time Tammy did as well. They were really enjoying the machine blowing air to dry your hands. Not that long ago they were still scared of it.
We paid, left and said good-bye to our friends. Then we started walking down the street to get to the tram taking us to the subway to go home. Emmy started asking for us to the playground, so I started thinking about where there was one. Randy didn't want to go anywhere with sand. I looked on my phone and saw that there was one not that far away that we could go to. We had never been there before. Our tram arrived, and we got on, but only rode it for one stop. Then we started walking to the playground.
There was a lady working for the city to clean the streets/sidewalks. Emmy says hello to EVERYONE, and she was really sweet and greeted him back. Then Emmy said hello again, and she answered again. That continued a few times, until we were walking in different directions.
We soon reached the playground, and the kids were all excited and ran off to play. Tammy then said that she needed to go to the bathroom, but there wasn't one there. So I did what I've done a few times before recently and put a diaper on her right there and then. Problem solved.
I had Sammy, but he didn't like anything that I took him too. Then I saw the baby swing, so we went over there. A little boy was in there who didn't want to come out, even though his dad kept trying to coax him to get out. I finally said he should simply take him out, whether he wants to or not, and he did. Sammy was overjoyed to be in the swing and greatly enjoyed it. However, it was really low, and his feet were hitting the ground. Randy stayed with him, while I left to help the other two.
Emmy wanted to go into the hammock, and then Tammy joined us, followed by Randy bringing Sammy. So all three ended up in the hammock, asking me to push them as high as possible. It was so cute how Tammy and Emmy were looking at each other, and I tried to capture it on a picture. I also did a little video clip, so that you can hear them giggle and have fun, all three of them.
I looked at the time, and as it was 12:45, it was time to go home. I got Sammy off the hammock which upset him greatly, as he was having the time of his life. He was crying and trying to bite and scratch, like he does, while I was trying to put him into his wheelchair. We succeeded without getting hurt and left the playground. Sammy continued crying hard, all the way to the subway and until we got on the subway. People were looking at us like, why is this poor kid in the wheelchair crying.
They were watching videos on the subway, which they hadn't done in days, and by 1:15 we were back home - exactly at nap time. I put them to bed right away and sat down by them. Tammy threw a fit over something ridiculous, like she does, when she's tired, so I took her into my arms and let her lie there for a while, then put her to bed. The boys were asleep quickly, and Tammy was nearly asleep by the time I left her side around 1:30 pm.
I was pretty tired myself and lay down some time after 2 pm to get some sleep. I was shocked, when I woke up, and it was already close to 4 pm. I was even more shocked that all three kids were still asleep, which is very rare. And so I stopped the ocean waves and opened the curtains, and all three were up immediately. We spent some time together, then Randy took them downstairs to play. By that time it was nearly 4:30 pm, so I was getting a little stressed being ready for my student.
I then taught for two hours, until 6:20 pm. Then Randy and the kids came upstairs, and I started making their dinner. Sammy has been enjoying sitting on the kitchen floor next to me, and that's what he also did tonight. And so I was feeding hi there, while the other two sat at the table. Then they continued eating in the bathtub. We got them ready for bed, and by 8:30 we were all done, and I sat down by them briefly. However, I had a student and needed to get ready. I got myself something to eat and sat down to correct homework and prepare my 9:30 pm lesson. The kids were awake for a while, especially Sammy. When he sleeps that long at nap time, he's wide awake at night and being mischievous, laughing all the time because he's doing what he's not supposed to. It was nearly 9:30 before he got quiet.
I taught until 10:20 pm, then wrapped up and worked until 11 pm . Then I moved into a more comfortable position and started working on today's pictures. And as I got started so late, it is now nearly 3 am. The kitchen is done, so all I have left is to go to bed. It's gonna be hard teaching at 10 am tomorrow.
