7 years 2 months 4 days

Day 2621. This week I teach from 10 to noon every day. Today I got up at 9:30 to teach at 10 am. After I was done at noon, I went to the kitchen to cook lunch. After we had eaten, there was not much time before we had to leave the house at 1:30 pm.

We rode the S-train for one stop, then we had the challenge of having to find our way to the event location we were heading to. We took the elevator down, but we were not at the right location. We then took the elevator up (with the wheelchair) and took another path down to try to get to where we needed to go. I even asked someone for directions but they couldn't help. We then turned around and started seeing signs. There was a staircase that had a track for strollers so Randy was able to push Sammy up the stairs. Thank God we were at the right place. We just had to walk on a little more and reached the event location.

We walked into the building five minutes before 2 pm which is what our tickets were for. There were lots of people in line. After a few minutes we took the VIP line because of the wheelchair after another family with a wheelchair had gone that way. We were given some instructions and tickets for the VR experience, then it was time to go in.

There were a good number of rooms, and we moved from room to room for two hours. It was a surprise for the kids as I had not told them in advance where we were going. I had just told them that they were going to have fun, and they did. The first room had mirrors everywhere and the floor was a screen where all kinds of sea creatures were swimming around. When you touched them, they quickly swam away. Especially Sammy had fun being on the floor and touching the animals.

In the next room, there were big balloons and a strong stream of air so that the balloons were constantly flying around. The kids had lots of fun chasing them and disappearing in them. Sammy was on the floor again and disappeared a few times. He had lots of fun.

The next room was the room for camera shots. They had alcoves in the walls, and some had long lines in front of them. We started lining up right away and got some great shots. 

Next was the room with the huge ballpit - and it was deep. At first the kids and Randy went in. When Randy wasn't moving much, I decided to go in myself but I was surprised to find out how deep it was. Then I made the mistake of going down because I couldn't get up anymore. Randy had to come in and help pull me up. After they'd had fun for a while, we decided to move on.

Next they had a room full of mirrors and cords with lights hanging off the ceiling. It was pretty cool. Then there was a huge jumping castle that the kids got all excited about. Emmy was doing flips in the air and did pretty well, landing on his behind. The other two also had fun.

Then there was another room with air and balloons flying around, this time they weren't round and they were reflective. The kids had fun.

In the next room, there were huge balls that were taller than adults, and the kids were pushing them around, including Sammy.

The small room that came next just had bubbles blowing out of a machine, then we had reached the last room where the VR experience was set up. The line was quite long but we had 3 tickets for Tammy, Emmy and myself so I started lining up. Tammy and Emmy left again to go back to the jumping castle where Randy had taken Sammy, while I stayed in line. They returned in time for the experience. 

They had pods hanging off the ceiling all over the room, and people were sitting inside them. We sat down, then a lady gave us the VR headsets and put them on our heads. In the experience, we were flying/floating through a world of bubbles which was the theme of the whole place. Sitting in those hanging pots made the feeling of flying even more real. It didn't take long for me to become nauseous because of the turning and floating. Even though it was cool, I was glad when it was over.

It was the last room, so it was time to get going. It was 4 pm, when we left the event hall. We walked back to the train station and took the next train home where we arrived just before 4:30 pm. Emmy then grabbed his bag with his soccer shoes, and Randy left with him to take him to soccer practice that started at 5 pm. Tammy and Sammy got on their tablets to relax, while I made their sandwiches and cut up their fruit and gave it to them. At 6 pm I started teaching for an hour.  After I was done at 7 pm, I went to the kitchen to cut up the vegetables for my salad. I was surprised, when Randy and Emmy were still not back at 7:30 pm. They arrived at 7:40 because Emmy had played a match which is why they went over time.

I went downstairs with Tammy to do piano practice, while Emmy was eating, then Emmy also came downstairs to practice. Back upstairs, they took a quick shower since it was already late but then we did read a story before they went to bed late. I was finally able to sit down and eat and take a break before going back to work. 

Thursday

I got up at 9:30 am as I had students from 10 to noon. In between students, I quickly put a pizza into the oven for Randy and the kids. Once I was done teaching, I warmed up some leftovers for myself, and at 12:15 pm Tammy and I left the house.

We walked a few minutes to the nearby hairdresser we've been to before. We had a 12:30 pm appointment there. There were not a lot of people, and we were asked to sit down in chairs that were next to each other. Then my hairdresser talked with us about what needed to be done. I told her that I wanted my hair color to be more red than last time so she got her books out to find out what shade of red I wanted. While she was applying the dye to my hair, another guy was working on opening up the knots in Tammy's hair. Once she was done with the dye that had to stay in my hair for half an hour, she went to work on Tammy, cutting her hair to the length we had said. It was shorter than Tammy had wanted but I think this length looks great on her.

Then she washed the dye out of my hair and started cutting it before drying it. It felt so good to have nice hair again! Tammy and I took a selfie together, paid and went home. I was glad that we'd only spent 2 hours at the hairdresser as that meant we both had over an hour left. Randy left with Tammy at 3:45 pm to take her to her dance class at 4:30 pm, while I started teaching at 4 pm. And I had to teach for three hours in a  row, until 7 pm. Randy and Tammy returned at 6 pm. I had already made their sandwiches before starting to teach, but I still had to cut up most of their fruit at 7 pm. A little later, we went downstairs for piano practice, then it was bathtub time. I prayed for them, then sat down to teach at 8 pm. After I was done teaching at 9 pm, it was my turn to eat dinner and take a break before going back to work.