5 years 10 months 27 days

Day 2157. Sammy was up first, as usual, and soon everyone was up. At 8 am we went to the breakfast room where we were the only ones. There were eggs, sausages and potatoes and some of the typical stuff. Emmy wanted a little of everything and then ate hardly anything. Tammy chose little and ate it all, while Sammy ate with Daddy. Once he was done, he started crawling around on the floor, exploring the environment and found the AC unit that he enjoyed since the cold air was being blown out of it.

After breakfast, we returned to the room where I needed a few minutes on the computer to get something done. My student had canceled so that I did not need to do a lesson. Randy was loading everything into the car while the kids were watching cartoons on TV. Then we all got into the car and drove off just before 10:30 am. 

We had nearly 5 hours of driving time ahead of us, going south and a little west to Fort Worth/Dallas, Texas. The kids were on their tablets. I was looking for Chick-Fil-As along our route where we could eat lunch. The next one didn't have a playground, neither did the following one, but the third one had a picture of a playground as its first picture so we chose it even though it was quite a distance to get there. We made a bathroom stop, then continued on and reached Chick-Fil-A at 2 pm. The boys had had half a cereal bar each, while Tammy had not eaten anything.

We parked and walked in. I was looking to see where the playground was and couldn't see any. What a disappointment! I had ordered on the app on the way there so that we only had to sit down and wait for our food to be brought to us. The kids were very disappointed, and we started making plans to go to McDonald's afterwards for the playground. When the manager came by, I mentioned it to her, and she explained that they used to have a playground before Covid and then had it removed during renovations later. I suggested they'd have that picture removed as it was the reason we had come, and she agreed.

After we were done eating, we got back into the car, intending to go to the nearby McDonald's. However, then everyone agreed to simply continue on our way. We had 1 hour 40 minutes left to drive, and everyone was looking forward to the hotel swimming pool. So we did not go to the McDonald's playground.

We continued driving, and as we were getting closer to Dallas, traffic increased more and more. By 5:10 pm we arrived at the Fairfield Inn in Forth Worth. The kids wanted to go into the pool right away. I checked us in, we got our keys, and went to the room. Randy then went to get our luggage. In the meantime Tammy, Emmy and I had already put our swimsuits on. Sammy started crying hard even though I told him Daddy would take care of him and that we would not go swimming without him. I tried to comfort him. Once Randy had returned, he put Sammy's swimsuit on him. After he had changed himself, we headed downstairs and to the pool.

When we got off the elevator, Randy asked about the pool, and the guy at the reception (who'd been pretty unfriendly during check-in) told us that the pool was out of order until Thursday. The kids were devastated. We returned to our room and discussed what to do. It was already after 6  pm. I looked on my phone and found a community center like the one in Missouri where we had gone swimming. It was still open so we decided to go there to swim.

We got into the car and drove the 15 minutes to the center. On the way there we passed a water park and a Peppa Pig park. We parked and walked inside. I wanted to pay for the swimming when the lady told me that the pool was closed because of swim lessons. It was not our day! The kids were devastated, and Tammy started crying hard. She cried on the way to the car, and she cried when we drove off. We then drove 10 minutes to a splash park, but she didn't want to go there so she screamed and screamed in the car, all the way there.

It was 7:15 pm by the time we got there. The kids and Randy took their clothes off as they had their swimsuits on underneath, and Emmy was the first one off to the water coming out of the ground. He was having lots of fun, and so was Sammy. Tammy was still upset and didn't want to be there, but she got more and more into it until she had just as much fun as her brothers. 

After a while I dried them off and helped them get their clothes on. They still wanted to go to the playground right there so they did. I first took Sammy to the little music area there where he could bang on some cymbals, and he had fun. 

They played at the playground a while, Emmy wanting to conquer the harder climbing stuff that was there but he was only partly successful. By 8:15 pm we were done, and we were hungry. It was time to get something to eat and return to the hotel.

Randy had seen advertising from Domino's Pizza so I looked it up on my phone. They had a special deal going that saved us more than 50% on the price, so I ordered online, and we drove the 10 minutes to the pizza place. We parked outside, and Randy went inside to pay and pick up the pizza. It didn't take long for him to come out. The two pizzas smelled so very nice in the car, while we were all hungry and couldn't wait to eat it.

By 8:40 pm we were back at the hotel. In our room we all started eating the pizzas; they were delicious. Then it was time to get them ready for bed. I guess 9:30 pm is not such a bad bedtime given that they'll be going to bed even later the next few days while the conference is going on. That way they're starting to get used to it. After they were in bed, I started working on the pictures and my report. Now it's 12:30 am, and I have to get up early and teach 4 hours in a row in the morning.