Day 1048. Emmy was up before 7 am this morning, and soon his siblings were too. It was just a little early. Sammy joined us in bed, where we stayed a while longer, but we did get up around 7:45 or so.
After breakfast we dressed them to leave the house. It's been another week without any helpers, though we had hoped to have someone come today, which didn't work out. Just after 9 am we left the house together. Emmy and Tammy were on the tricycles again, while Sammy was in the stroller. The wind was so strong, that the kids were holding on to their caps. They soon handed them to me and didn't want them back for the rest of the trip. It's about an hour from us to the zoo, taking two subway lines. Sammy was not happy, and so we made a switch and put him on a tricycle, which he loves, and Tammy loves being in the single stroller, so it was a win-win situation. However, our train had technical issues and had to be taken off the rails, and so we had to wait for another train, and that train that had to wait until the path was free again, and so a lot of time was lost that way. Because of it we arrived quite a while after 10 am at the zoo.
Thanks to our year-ticket we were able to walk in right away. Our goal was to go to their new petting zoo, and so we were heading that direction.
Right in the beginning there was a house with koala bears, and they wanted to see them, and so we went inside. We saw several sleeping on branches, and the kids were excited to see them. Next we saw a panda bear eating, then we had to strain to see the hippo who was barely sticking out of the water, before getting to the lion cage, where two females were sitting in the sun. Randy kept lifting the whole tricycle with Sammy up for him to see, rather than taking him off. Then we got to the tiger cage, and the tiger even jumped for us in the water, which was impressive to watch. We walked on and finally got to the petting zoo.
It had only reopened recently after having been redone. They had sheep, goats and rabbits. The sheep and goats had a fence that they could pass through but people couldn't. That way it was up to them if they wanted to be with people, and when too many kids were chasing them, they found refuge in their area again. It was fun watching the kids going for the ones that were out for them to touch and pet. Emmy was still a little fearful, but did touch them as well. The biggest disappointment was that the rabbits could not be touched, only looked at. They were really cute.
After a while in there we left again. There was a huge snake that was used as a bench, and the kids enjoyed it. And then there was the playground. They wanted to play there, but it's not the best in that you can't see where your kids are as they have some tunnels underground. They played a little there, but then Emmy saw the excavators and headed that way. However, it only worked with a coin. They were all upset, when we told them we were moving on.
We saw some pigs and buffaloes, as well as groundhogs. Then we had finally reached the chickens that were running around freely. Emmy was scared, while Tammy was chasing them, and most of them soon found refuge out of reach. When then saw the rhino and walked on to get to the polar bear, followed by the sea lions. We went to the glass wall, where you could see them swim under water, and I wished I'd made a video there. Every time one swam by the kids shouted "wow" or something like that out loud and really became the center of attention amusing everyone. They were having lots of fun.
It was already noon and time to slowly make our way to the exit and find something to eat somewhere. We saw the penguins and elephants, and then a food trailer. We decided to stand in line to get some fries and something else, but it took a while and they were getting tired as well as hungry. We finally got our food and sat down on a bench to eat. The fries were good, but the other fast food wasn't at all. After we were done eating we continued walking to the exit and passed by the giraffes on the way. There were quite a few of them, including a baby. I had Tammy on my shoulders at that point and Sammy in the stroller. We continued walking to the exit, when they spotted the machine giraffe that moves, when you put a coin in. Of course they wanted to ride it, but we were told it was broken, and so they only got to sit on it. And then we had reached the exit and walked out,
It was 1 pm already, and a long walk back to the subway. Sammy was very tired, so we flattened out the stroller, and he nearly fell asleep on the way to the subway. On the subway he was crying hard, as he wanted out of the stroller, while his siblings were watching Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol. We did get him out on the second subway, and then he rode on the tricycle the rest of the way home.
It was 2 pm, when we got home, and high time to put them to bed. However, they wanted to have icecream first, and so we sat down at the table. Tammy and Emmy both wanted an icecream stick, and I put some icecream for Sammy into a bowl. However, he wanted a stick like them and refused to eat it. I was so exhaused and tired myself that I simply put him to bed without icecream. A few minutes later Emmy and Tammy lay down as well, and everyone was asleep quickly.
It was my intention to also lie down and take a nap, as tired as I was, but it just never happened. Rrandy went to the grocery store. Not long after he had returned, Emmy walked into the room. He had slept for more than an hour. After about 90 minutes I turned the ocean waves off, and then the others woke up as well. I gave them some snacks and took them downstairs, where Randy stayed with them. Emmy was pretty cranky and crying, but he calmed down after a while, and I actually ended up being surprised that I never heard them cry or shout upstairs to me for the rest of the afternoon. That's rare. I went to work on my computer and made good progress. At 6 pm I went to the kitchen to make their dinner, and not long after they came upstairs to blow bubbles on the balcony, and then they sat down at the table to eat. They ate some there, then some more in the bathtub, where they were having fun as well. They remembered the water squirters we had in Mexico and wanted the one remaining one that was not broken yet. And so they played with it, taking turns. However, Sammy wanted to have it all the time, not just a third of the time, and threw a fit. And so it was his time to get out of the water.
By about 7:40 they were in bed again. They were so wide awake that I feared it was gonna be a long evening, but thankfully that was not the case. I sat down by them, and by about 8:15 pm I was able to walk away. I got myself something to eat, ate, and then went back to work. Now it's going on midnight, and I hope to be in bed by then, as I am very tired. On the work front, I had a scheduled lesson yesterday but the student got sick and canceled. Tomorrow morning I have my next scheduled lesson; hopefully it works out this time.
