Day 978. Last night I went to bed at 1:30 am. Tammy and Emmy joined us in the early morning hours, and Emmy was up very early, around 6:30, and woke his sister up early as well. They were playing hard in the bathtub, when we got up at 7:45 am. And it was high time as we had to leave the house at 9 am today. I was really tired though. I made breakfast, and we sat down to eat. Then I cleaned them up and dressed them. Today was supposed to be even warmer, and so it was time to switch to open summer shoes and no socks.
We left the house a few minutes after 9 am and had two long subway rides ahead of us. All five of us sat on seats both time. When we got off at the stop to go to the zoo, masses of people got off as well, primarily with children. We stood in line to go on the elevator to go to the surface, where Sonja was already waiting for us, even though it was only 9:50 am. We joined the crowds moving towards the entrance of the zoo. When we scanned our ticket to go in, it turned out that our one-year-ticket to the zoo had expired. I had to go buy another year so we could get in. Then we were finally in and headed to the giraffes first.
We were disappointed that they were nowhere, neither inside nor outside, and continued on to the monkeys. They were watching different ones inside, behind glass, then we got to where they were outside, and they showed us their abilities, swinging and climbing, while our kids were watching. We continued on to the elephants, but they were nowhere to be found either. We passed by the zebras, where I was shocked, when Emmy threw his pastry inside, after Randy had just handed it to him. We saw some more monkeys, then got to the penguins. They were standing right by the glass to look at them close up, as well as swimming close to the glass. We walked on to the sealions. Just when we got there, a worker walked out and threw some fish into the water that they caught, then left again. They were not outside the water, and so we walked to the glass, where you could see them under water. The water had little visibility, and so we could only see them, when they'd swim by the glass, which they did a few times.
Emmy had been talking for a while about seeing the polar bear, and that's what we saw next. It was pacing, walking up and down and up and down, and we were watching it for a while. It never stopped. We continued walking, saw another polar bear which was further away, then some mountain goats and the like. We were walking up a hill and then walking back down on the other side. I had Sammy with me, who was standing int he single stroller, facing me and holding on to the stroller, with my hand giving him stability. We reached the rhinos and were watching one eat. Tammy needed a diaper, and so Randy left to change it, while we were watching the rhino. Then the boys sat on a huge statute of a rhino.
Once Tammy returned, we continued walking. We had already heard the roosters crow, which especially got Sammy's attention who loves that sound, which is why Alexa plays it for him frequently. We got to the chickens that were walking around freely. They were all very interested in them and followed them. Randy gave Tammy some of his pastry to feed the chickens. They were loving it! We walked on, passing buffaloes and pigs and heading to the sheep and goats that they were eager to see. However, their pen was under construction and they were nowhere to be seen.
There was quite a playground right there. I had Sammy and let him go down the slide a few times. There was a tunnel that Emmy and Tammy went into, but Randy didn't like it as you couldn't see them or where they were going. It was getting late, so we did not stay there, but continued on, making our way back to the entrance. We passed the tiger cake and could see it walk back and forth in the distance, then we got to the lions, where both male and female were lying in the sun and sleeping. Then we got to the hippos who were also lying in the sun and sleeping, right by the glass. Tammy had already been cranky and tired and riding on my shoulders because of it, but she happily went to the ground to see them close up. We walked by the kangaroos, where we only saw one sleeping one, and then saw that the giraffes were now outside. We walked over there, and then Emmy started running. I thought he was running to see the giraffe, but instead he ran to the machine in the shape of a giraffe and climbed on top of it. Tammy followed suit. I put a Euro in to make it move, and it started softly rocking them. Randy added Sammy to the mix. The machine was moving for a long time, while both Tammy and Emmy were complaining that it was too tight. Still, once the machine stopped Tammy was throwing a fit, when Randy got her down. It was late and time to go home. I had to put her on my shoulders once again.
Just before the exit there are birds in a cage that always make a lot of noise. I was surprised that it was completely quiet, when we got there, and found them all asleep while sitting on the branches. They had their heads tucked under their wings. Fascinating! We excited the zoo and were on our way back to the subway, which is quite a long walk. It was already about 12:30. I asked Tammy several times whether I could put her into the stroller, but she always said no. I was getting tired, my feet and back started hurting, but I walked on. Once we got to the elevator to take us down to the subway, I lifted her off my shoulders and put her on the ground. When I put her into the stroller just before getting on th small elevator, she three another fit. Once we reached the bottom, people were looking and wondering what had happened to her. Randy picked her up and carried her to the end of the platform. The train arrived, and we got on, and everyone was happy again. Tammy sat down with me, and Emmy with Sonja. After a long ride, we got on another subway which was pretty empty, and so thy came out of the strollers and sat down on seats. They were asking to watch Peppa Pig, and considering the time and how tired they were, I turned it on on my phone for them to watch.
It was 1:10, when we got home. They were all pretty tired. I had used the timer on the oven to have a lasagna cooked, when we get home, got it out of the oven, and portioned it. Emmy said he didn't want any, but then wanted some anyway, once he saw everyone eating. Sammy refused the first bite I tried to give him, but then allowed Sonja to feed him and ended up eating a good amount. Then they all had pudding. Tammy successfully went potty, then I cleaned them up and dressed them. The boys went to bed, and Sonja went downstairs with Tammy. However, it was 2 pm and so she needed to go straight to bed as well. She came back up reluctantly and went to bed as well. As I hadn't eaten yet being back on my diet, I was hungry and needed to eat, and so Randy sat down by them. As late as it was and as tired as they were, Tammy and Emmy fell asleep right away. Sammy however works differently. He was laughing and having fun, and the only thing to do to get him to sleep is to remove his audience. I had to go wake up Randy and ask him to leave, and then Sammy fell asleep as well.
I was finally able to finish eating, then started working. I was pretty tired, and at 3:05 I gave in and closed my eyes. At 3:30 I woke up, when Emmy stood next to me. I was still really exhausted. I picked him up, but he said right away that he wanted to go downstairs to be with Sonja, and so I let him back down to go to Randy to take him downstairs. Of course Sammy woke up as well, and so I picked him up and took him to the staircase, where Randy took him from me to take him downstairs. And then Tammy already stood next to me and went downstairs as well. I returned to my computer to work, while Randy took advantage of Sonja being with the kids to start the next project, which was hanging up longer curtains in the kids' room, and then moving suitcases to a better place to save our wardrobe from caving in.
At 5:15 I went to the kitchen to start making their dinner, then I went downstairs to tidy up with the kids. I was able to motivate them to help, and so we all tidied up, including Sonja, and they got money for it. Then we went upstairs to eat. We sat down at the table, and they told me how they had fun playing with the puppets with Sonja. Emmy said that he didn't have any more fear of them. Sonja said her goodbyes, and the kids soon got up to go potty before going into the bathtub. I put the rest of their food into bowls that I took to the bathtub, where they continued eating while having fun. Pretty much every day now they're role-playing taking the boat somewhere, or another vehicle, and they're doing a great job. We got them out one after another and got them ready for bed, but they've found a new tactic to delay going to bed, which is asking for cake just when it's time to do so. And so they eat the cake in their hand while playing around, and only when it's gone can I get them to go to bed. Sammy usually stars fussing because he doesn't want to be the only one in bed. Today it was 7:40 pm before they were all in bed.
I sat down by them, and Tammy lay down on my chest. They were talking about our zoo visit today. Then Tammy went to bed, and I sang over them. I then picked up Sammy to rock him a little bit, and for the first time there weren't any protests from the others. Just that Emmy wanted to be rocked too after I had put Sammy down, and so I did. At 8:25 I tried to leave for the first time, but both Tammy and Emmy protested. I returned, Tammy fell asleep. I kept trying to walk away, but Emmy started crying every time. One time Randy tried to sit down, but that didn't help any. I was getting frustrated and hungry, wanted to make my dinner and eat. It was 8:55 pm before I was finally able to walk away and finish making dinner. I took it all downstairs, ate, and then went back to work. Once again it's gonna get late tonight.
