5 years 9 months 21 days

Day 2120. It's been an intense few days without rest, and this morning I had to once again get up early. However, I was up before my alarm went off because of the kids coming to me with sunscreen that they wanted to put on, and they put it on by themselves and needed some help. It was about 8:30. Just after 9 am we all left the house together. 

We had a long walk to the tram stop, then a long wait since it was Sunday morning. Then we got on the tram and rode it to the end, then got on another tram that we had to ride for quite some time. It was our first time at the headquarters of the Football School Emmy has been a part of for nearly a year. We still had to walk a bit, then we reached their premises. 

And there were already hundreds of people there, and the kids were already playing soccer. It had said to arrive between 10 and 10:30, and it was about 10:20, so I was surprised to see that. We walked to the soccer field and started asking around for Emmy's team. But nobody could help us. Finally a guy pointed out the person with the blue shirt who would have the answer. I then told Emmy to run to him and ask him, which he did, and the guy showed him to his team at the other end of the field. That's where the kindergarteners were playing on smaller fields. And some teams were already playing. I'm not sure if Emmy missed a game or not, but he joined right in. 

The rest of us sat down on the bank there where all the parents were sitting in the sun. It was a very hot day. I had brought my umbrella with me to protect myself from the sun and soon opened it. Randy soon left with Tammy and Sammy as they were bored. They went back to the entrance area where there was a jumping castle, soccer darts and a Zoom Mobile station where they had some stuff for kids to do, and Tammy was able to live out her creativity there.

I stayed with Emmy, watching him and taking pictures and videos. He had three games to play in the first round, and his team was sitting together on the field, when they were not playing. I tried to encourage him to drink as much as possible because of the heat.

After the round was over, the trainer told them to go eat and then come back for the second round. There were 8 teams, and the best four were then playing against each other, as well as the worst four teams. Emmy's team was second from last.

Emmy and I walked to the entrance area, where he wanted to play soccer darts. He did for a while but it wasn't that easy. Randy and the other two were also nearby. Emmy didn't want to eat, he only had a few meat sticks, while Tammy was hungry. We needed to head back anyway, so we did, while Randy lined up with the other two to get something to eat.

Once we reached the end of the field again, I noticed that Emmy didn't have his water bottle any more. So he went back by himself to get it, while I sat back down where I could watch them play. While waiting for him, I saw that his team had already gathered again and was getting ready to play. So I immediately pointed him in that direction, when he returned. They were now playing on the other one of the two smaller fields. 

He started playing, and then Randy called me saying that both kids were crying. I told him where I was, and they soon arrived and sat down with me. I was able to calm down Sammy again, and we then all sat there and watched, while eating the buns with sausages and fries that Randy had bought. Once again Emmy's team played three times and lost all three games. In the first round they had won one of the three games. Emmy played very well and had the balls a few times. However, their team was too big so a few boys always had to wait to be changed out to get to play.

Once all the games were completed, everyone headed to the entrance area where they had a stage for the award ceremony. The eight teams were lined up with their trainers, waiting for it to start. At that point I had no idea how the teams had done, but then Emmy's team was called up first as they were in last place. They walked up to the stage where they each got a medal and a Football School sticker. Then they took a group picture and came back down. We were all hot and tired and ready to go home, so we left right away. However, we made a stop at the icecream stand and they had some slushies. Another stop was made at the porta-potty, then we left for good and started the relatively long walk back to the tram stop. It was 1:30 pm. 

We got on the tram and rode it to the other tram, then rode that tram for a long time. The kids were tired, and Tammy was pretty mean and annoying, while Emmy was rather cranky. After getting off, we still had a long walk home. I was so glad, when we got home at 2:30 pm, and I really just wanted to sleep. I had ordered pizza and chicken wings on the way as we hadn't eaten much. But the first thing we did was go into the bathtub to get clean. Now it was Tammy's turn to let the tiredness out and cry. Back out of the bathtub, the doorbell rang - our food had arrived, just after 3 pm. We all had a good time eating together. Then I went downstairs with them for piano practice. As tired as I was, I had to do it right away before sitting down more comfortable. After piano practice, I returned upstairs and turned my computer on to work. I was so tired that my eyes were falling shut, but I kept pushing on to make progress. The kids were downstairs and playing. Then Tammy came upstairs and showed me her artwork. It was very impressive. 

By 5 pm everyone was upstairs, but it wasn't until after 6 pm that I went to the kitchen to cut up some fruit because they were hungry. I also cooked an egg for Sammy and made a nutella sandwich for Emmy. They then ate. Once they were done, they put their pj's on, and we continued looking at the photobooks from two years ago, when we were in the US. They were really enjoying that. Randy then asked them if they wanted a fried egg, as Emmy often gets one from Daddy so that he doesn't eat Daddy's dinner, and all three wanted one. So Daddy made three eggs that were gone very quickly. They brushed their teeth, I prayed for them, and they went to bed. It was just after 8 pm. I felt like going to sleep myself. However, I made myself some soup, ate, then went back to working on pictures and my report. Now it's 1:30 am, and I still have to take care of the kitchen before going to bed.