Day 1419. Emmy had slept between me and Randy all night as he'd been scared to fall off the bed. At 7:30 my alarm woke us up. I was very tired. We got up, and I closed up all the suitcases. Then we headed to breakfast. It was our first hotel stay since coming to the house, and therefore our first hotel breakfast. The kids had some pastries but not much else. And I was really happy that Sammy woke up without a fever for the first time in days, and he's been fever-free all day, praise God! He did end up cranky because he got only two extremely short naps in the course of the day.
After breakfast, Randy loaded up the car, and by 9:30 we were ready to leave to finish our journey to Harrisburg, PA. We had a nearly 3.5 hour drive ahead of us. The kids were on their tablets, and I turned on my hotspot for them, so they had more options. However, we were driving over mountains and through woods, and so we lost our internet connection. Well, that led to one of Tammy's fits, and it was a bad one. She was in the middle seat and grabbed both her brothers' tablets who were both doing stuff they can do without internet, and she also hurt Emmy and me. First it was because she wanted internet, then that she wanted the tablet even without internet, but I did not give in to her tantrum. All I did was to try to protect her brothers until she was done, and it sure lasted a while. Sammy had just fallen asleep and was woken up by it. After she had calmed down, I gave her my hand to hold, but she did not see that tablet for the rest of the day as a result.
Sammy always gets cranky the last half hour before arriving, no matter how long he's been in the seat. At 12:45 we arrived at our destination, a Chick-Fil-A in Maryland that was on our route, where we were meeting up with an old friend. The reason we always pick Chick-Fil-A is not just the good food, but also that they have a playground. We said hello to our friend and walked in, and as the layout is also always the same, the kids ran straight to the door of the playground. However, when we opened it, it was a construction site. Then we saw the sign on the door. It was a huge disappointment to all of us that there was no playground for them to be able to move around after the long drive.
We found a table and sat down. Sammy was very tired and cranky by that time and just crying. I went to order the food and then found Emmy sitting in the baby chair for Sammy. Sammy was not interesting in sitting in the chair anyway, but Emmy then came out of it as well. Our friend got the kids to eat by giving them a challenge to complete, which was great. Sammy didn't want to eat at all at first, but had a little later. He was crying for Marsha again, our friend in GA, and so we called her, and he stopped crying and smiled - until I hung up. I held him for a while and thought he might go to sleep on my shoulder, but he didn't. Tammy and Emmy were moving and playing and really lively, playing with our friend as well as with eatch other. And in the course of all that we were having a conversation with our friend to try to catch up. After two hours we said our good-byes and got back into the car to continue on.
We had 70 minutes left to go, which wasn't bad, but it was also nap time, and the time was a little short for that. The rule is no tablets until after the nap. I kept encouraging them to sleep quickly, as we were gonna arrive soon, and was surprised, when I found Tammy asleep, and she was the only one. Sammy wanted the children's songs on his tablet, so I ended up giving it to them, and in fact he fell sleep moments later. Emmy needed a little more encouragment, but then also fell asleep. As for me, I got close a few times in the course of the day, but then someone always needs me for something. Sammy once again slept for just a very short time and then turned the music back on.
Just before 4 pm we reached our destination in Mechanicsburg, a suburb of Harrisburg. The church we are here for was able to find us this place to stay. It's usually full of ministry students, but they are all gone on summer break. It was in the heart of the town, an old, historic building of downtown. The young man in charge of it let us in and showed us around and to our rooms. We had two connecting rooms with two twin beds each. The church had organized us some bedding, and while Randy unloaded the car, the kids helped me put the sheets on our beds. We moved two beds together for Randy and me, and put one mattress on the ground for the boys. Tammy had a fit, when I wanted to do the same with hers. She wanted to sleep high up, so that's where she now is.
After we were all done, we decided to go check out the nearby playground that was a 10-minute walk away. We put Sammy into his wheelchair and started our walk on degraded sidewalks, as Americans don't walk but take their cars everywhere. When we got to the playground, we were impressed with it. The kids were greatly enjoying it, and Sammy was happy to be in the swing. That is until I went to the port-a-potty with Tammy. His crying could be heard wide and far. Once I had returned, he stopped crying and was happy to go back into the swing, as long as I stayed with him, which I did.
Even though they were having fun, it was time to walk back to the house. In total we had been gone for an hour. Once back, we went straight to the kitchen to have dinner, using what we brought with us. After dinner, it was shower-time, but then it was still too early for bed-time, so I let Sammy have his songs on the tablet, and the others also watched with him for some time. At 8:15 or so I started with the bed-time story, then prayed and put them to bed. Tammy was happy to be on top, but she wanted me to hold hands with her. So I went back and forth between her and Emmy a few times. Sammy was asleep right away, and Tammy fell asleep faster than expected. Only Emmy took longer, and he let me walk away before he was asleep.
It was time to turn the computer on and do my daily evening work. Now it's nearly 1 am, and Randy has already been sleeping for a while. It's time for me too, as we have to get up early tomorrow.
