Day 1075. This morning I woke up because Sammy was fussing, and I was surprised that it was already 8:30. I was even more surprised that Sammy was the only one awake, as it's usually Emmy who wakes up first, and it's very rare that he sleeps this late. Since I had a 9:45 lesson, I knew I had to get up right away. After breakfast, cleaning them up and dressing them, I took them downstairs and returned upstairs to get ready, with only 15 minutes to go.
After that first lesson, I was supposed to have another one, but the student canceled. I still had plenty of work to do and time just goes by so fast these days. Just before it was time to eat I warmed up yesterday's leftovers. They came upstairs, and we sat down to eat. They ate surprisingly well today, compared to yesterday, and all had icecream. Then we actually went downstairs today, which we hadn't done in days. Sammy wasn't happy, when I took him out of Emmy's bed that loves standing in, but he was happy, when I put him into the swing. Tammy and then Emmy followed suit. Sammy got to the play the piano for the rest of the time, while Tammy and Emmy wanted to put stickers into the Peppa Pig sticker book. At 1:15 we left to go upstairs and to bed, and Tammy didn't even resist or cry.
Once again it was harder than it has been to get them to sleep. I finally left them, awake or not, and soon it got quiet and they fell asleep. I went back to work and suddenly it was nearly 3 pm, which was our planned time to leave the house. We woke the kids up, got everything and everyone ready, and left a good few minutes after 4 pm. T
oday Randy had decided to take both tricycles, as we were taking the subway. We had two long subway rides followed by a good walk before we got to the playground in the middle of a huge park where the church was doing a picnic for everyone. However, we were disappointed as there were fewer people than ever before, and nobody from the leadership. The kids ran straight to the playground, where they kept us busy helping them. Tammy and Emmy both climbed up the ladder to the slide that was thankfully in the shade, plus Tammy had long pants on, which was really helpful. Tammy also went up there on a rope, with the help of Daddy, and then climbed across this big net to where the slide was. Emmy wanted to do the same but was too scared and ended up going around. Then there was a net-tunnel to go through to get to the slide, and this time it was Tammy who was too scared, and Emmy was not. But once Emmy did it, Tammy followed him and went across as well.
After a while I returned to where the church people were and ended up talking to someone I've known for a very long time but hadn't talked to in a very long time. It was nice to catch up and reminisce. I had Sammy with me for much of the time and had to constantly move him around to keep him happy. Randy was at the playground with the other two. There were some yellowjackets that were interested in the sweet squeezies they were drinking, and so I tried to get them away from the kids who were a little scared.
After about an hour in the intense heat of 36 C (97 F) in the shade, we decided it was time to go. The stick came off Emmy's tricycle, and he impressed me, when he showed me how he can pedal all by himself. We walked back to the subway, got on, and rode all the way downtown, where we got off. We first went to the McDonald's that was right there. We hadn't been at one in a few weeks. They did not have any decent toys, unfortunately. Tammy and Emmy have only been eating fries there, but recently Emmy did eat it, when Randy would give him meat with cheese. Today Randy tried to give them a burger and had them both bite into it. Emmy took a big bite and ate it. Tammy took a small bite, made a face, and spit it out. She won't even eat a piece of meat with cheese. Sammy enjoyed it all.
After we were done eating, we continued on to the square right there, where I had read was a water event. We walked all the way to the big fountain in front of the cathedral. Tammy took her shoes off and went into the water, but Randy didn't like that it did not look that clean. Emmy had also started taking his shoes off. Suddenly the church bells starting ringing. The kids continued playing with the water. Then a priest in full regalia stepped out of the entrance of the church. He had insense and a big object in his hands. I was really surprised, when the kids suddenly freaked out. They had never seen a catholic priest before. They were really scared of the way he looked and wanted to leave as quickly as possible. We were going to leave anyway, so we put their shoes on, put Sammy back into the stroller and left. Tammy was walking holding my hand instead of getting back on the tricycle. I explained to them that it was a priest and that it was a church that was different from ours. They still didn't like it. I later realized they've never been inside of a catholic church, and we have many and beautiful ones.
We walked in the direction of the loud music, where the water and the action was. It was much smaller than I had expected. They had put up some water features ,water nebulizers, and a bull that had a surfboard on top for people to try to stay on it and not fall off. Randy had Emmy jump on the side of the blow-up round "pool".
We went to the back, where there was more water coming out, and the kids started running up and down and getting all wet. I was holding Sammy so he could enjoy the water and got wet in the process myself. They had a game right next to it, where someone would sit on a seat with waterbombs falling down on him, but there was not much activity there. After we were all more or less soaking wet, we walked back to the stroller and tricycles. They were handing out free straw hats and sunscreen, and they were all looking really good with those hats. We started walking back to the subway and took two subways to get back home. The kids were watching videos on the second one.
It was nearly 8 pm, when we got home. We let them play in the bathtub for a few minutes, and then got them ready for bed. At around 8:15 they were in bed, and I sat down by them. By 8:45 I was tired of them still being awake, and Randy took my place. I sat down by my computer and started working. And someone it is 1 am once again.
