5 years 4 months 6 days

Day 1954. Yesterday we did not go anywhere. I just had to work and had two students in the afternoon, while Randy and the kids were either downstairs or upstairs playing.

This morning I had my alarm set for 9:30 am, which was tough after another short night. I got myself and the kids ready to leave the house. Randy and Sammy were supposed to stay home and meet us at McDonald's, but Sammy wanted to come as well. I was only able to reserve 3 tickets online, but there was a good chance some people weren't showing up for their tickets. And so we all left the house before 10:15 am.

We took the subway downtown, then we wanted to take the tram to the movie theater. However, we found out that the trams were not running as there was a New Year's Eve run on the ring around downtown Vienna. No trams, no cars. Thankfully we had plenty of time. We went back underground to take the other subway line for one stop, then we had to walk a bit to get to the theater.

Once there, I lined up at the ticket counter and was able to buy 5 tickets. Randy bought popcorn for the kids. We took our coats off and went inside the theater. They often put on kids' movies in the morning, and we've been to a few of those before. Regular movie theaters are closed in the morning. However, this theater doesn't show current movies but old ones; this one was from 2014 and it was "Paddington".

It didn't take long before Sammy started whining and wanted to leave the theater; as he was disturbing the people around us, Randy had no choice but to leave the room with him. We should have stuck with the 3 tickets after all.

Emmy, Tammy and I enjoyed the movie, and they ate most of the popcorn. Then we put our coats back on and walked back to the subway, but then continued walking a little further to go to McDonald's for lunch. It was after 1 pm. The kids didn't eat very much, given the popcorn they'd had. After we were done, we left to walk to where the kids' program was happening for New Year's Eve.

We were a little late as it was starting at 2 pm, so I told Randy to keep up with us, as I was going to walk fast. The closer we got to the location, the more people there were on the street. It got really crowded, and Randy lost sight of us. We continued on and stood right in front of the stage for the kids' program, and we had even made it in time. I called Randy to let him know how to find us, but he didn't try and preferred to get on the subway home. What a shame.

Emmy, Tammy and I stayed there for about 45 minutes. They were playing games and had kids come up on the stage to participate. For the first game, they didn't raise their hands, even though they would have had a good chance to be picked. For the second game, they both raised their hands, but they only needed four kids, and they were not picked. I had Emmy on my shoulders for much of the time - until I put him down and told him to go all the way to the front where his sister was.

After the second game we left. We walked to the subway and went home, where we arrived at 3:15 pm. But I didn't stay there, as I still had a bank run to do, and as Randy had had the cards, I had to go get them from him first. By 3:45 pm I was home for good.

I was pretty tired, and Emmy has been coughing and has even had a little fever recently. He lay down next to me and fell asleep for a short while, while I decided to keep working on the computer instead of taking a nap. I was trying to get some things done on this last day of the year.

At about 5 pm I went to the kitchen to start the big job of getting the cheese fondue ready, which was really the job for two people. Cheese had to be grated and bread be cut, and then the cheese in the pot be stirred constantly. Tammy was excited to help me and did - until Randy took over as he was scared she was gonna get hurt stirring the cheese. Sigh.

Last year Tammy had not even tried the fondue, and only the boys had eaten it. This year it was the opposite. She loved it, while Sammy refused to eat it, and Emmy also only ate a piece or so. I'm not sure if it was because he was sick, as he didn't eat his bread with salami either. Tammy and I enjoyed the fondue the most, while Randy ate it without being a big fan.

After we were done, I put everything up, and then the kids already went into the bathtub. Once out, we got them ready for bed. However, on New Year's Even they're allowed to stay up. They picked a video they wanted to watch. Sammy went to bed with his tablet, and Randy sat down by him. Soon they were both asleep. Emmy also fell asleep quickly, while Tammy came to lie down next to me after the video was over. I continued working, while I had videos on one part of my screen that she was watching. With 10 pm approaching, she also fell asleep. I continued working. At 11 pm Randy went to bed, and I went to the kitchen to continue working there. It was New Year's Eve, and I was the only one awake an hour before the beginning of the new year.

When midnight was only minutes away, I woke up Tammy and Emmy and put snowsuits on them. Then we took the elevator up to the roof level, together with our neighbors. There were already a good number of people there. And it was covered with snow, as it's been snowing all day - the first snow of this winter. I talked with our neighbors and had a countdown on my phone. Just before midnight the fireworks started exploding all around us. I wished my children a happy new year. Tammy was whining that she was cold and so I opened my coat and put it around it, holding her tight. Emmy was really enjoying the fireworks, while Tammy continued whining and wanted to go back downstairs. When the fireworks started to wind down considerably, we left the roof and returned to the apartment. It had been worth it.

And the kids went straight to bed, while I sat back down at the computer to work on the pictures and write my report. Now it's after 1 am; it'll probably be my usual 2 am before I get to bed.