Day 1423. This morning it was already after 7:30, when Sammy was the first one to wake up. We had breakfast, then I had to get ready for my 9 am student. I taught until 10 am, then went upstairs to our room, where Randy and the kids were. At 11 am we left the house to load them into the car. Tammy had woken up with fever for the second day in a row, but it was not as bad as yesterday.
Just 10 minutes after leaving we arrived at the big Baptist church, where one of the pastors is a friend and has been to Mali. He was right at the door, when we walked in, and it was great to see him again. He took the kids straight to the aquarium that was by the reception, and the kids were very interested in looking at the fish. Then they enjoyed the murals of animals as well as the big stuffed animals lying around. We walked into one of the kids' ministry rooms, where we sat down to eat. He had brought some Chick-Fil-A food with him, which was perfect. However, Tammy didn't want to eat because she was sick, and Emmy was too busy exploring all the toys in the room. Sammy enjoyed them too, but also ate some food. I enjoyed catching up with our friend. After some time he began playing with the kids. He took Sammy, when he was cranky, and the crankiness ended. He then made him drop a little, which made Sammy giggle and laugh. Then the other kids wanted to be a part, and he did two kids at the same time. They were greatly enjoying it.
Just after 1 pm we said our good-byes. The kids had once again made a friend that they had to say good-bye to. Just before 1:20 we were back home, and it was nap time. Tammy and Sammy fell asleep quickly, but Emmy needed more time. I walked away before he was asleep and lay down myself. I was close to falling asleep several times, but was kept from Tammy crying one time, then other things. Then Sammy was up for good rather early. We finally all got up, got the kids ready, and left the house just after 3:30 pm. Tammy was not just cranky from having woken up from a nap, but also from being sick. In the morning she had cried because we were not driving to the Chocolate World, in the afternoon she did not want to go at first.
It was a 45-minute drive to Hershey. We got a good parking spot and got the wheelchair for Sammy out. Then we walked to the entrance, which was not far away. I had been looking forward to taking them to Chocolate World for a long time, and they were excited, when they saw it all. I had looked at their website, even together with the kids, so I had already seen all the expansion that had happened since I had last been there myself. Only one of the new attractions was suitable for the kids. We bought the tickets and rushed to get in before they closed the door. We then got passports and some candy each. Then a guy disguised as a train conductor greeted us and talked to the kids. He then took us in first, as we had to use a different door with another person to roll the wheelchair in. They showed us to the first row, where there was a spot for a wheelchair, but it was too close to the screen. We got Sammy out of the chair and sat down a few rows back. Sammy stayed with me throughout the whole virtual 4D train ride we then went on. There were even buttons for every seat, which was Sammy's favorite part. This ride had only opened in May of this year, and they'd done a fabulous job with it. The kids greatly enjoyed it, which made it worth what we had paid to me.
We left the theater and went to the original and free ride that I've been on a few times before. A person there pulled us to the side to another entrance for wheelchairs. We then had to wait there for our turn. The train conductor from the last ride came by and started interacting with the kids, and Emmy treated him like he'd known him forever, trying to climb up on him and have fun with him. He told us that they were down to two wheelchair carts, which was the wait time was longer. And we ended up waiting quite a long time. The kids were out of patience, especially Sammy. They had some of the candy we'd received at the previous ride, but Tammy was even too sick for chocolate, which is not like her at all. She did do a lot better than yesterday.
Finally our turn had come. A young guy took us through the door to the moving ground, where people get into the carts that take you through the attraction. Once again Emmy was having fun with the guy, which made the new wait time go by faster. Then we walked onto the moving ground and to the cart that was wheelchair accessible. He rolled Sammy in, and he got to be in the front, right in front of the screen, while we were sitting on the bench behind him. Throughout the whole ride he tried to touch the screen, but it was no touchscreen, and didn't look as much as what was going on around us. The other two kids enjoyed the singing cows and talking chocolate and the chocolate everywhere. The ride was over in no time at all, and we took the exit to land in the big store they have. We looked around a little and saw the big chocolate sculpture made for their 50th anniversary this year. We also saw some giant candy that I took a picture of with them, and sat in an old-style cart that somebody took a picture of us in of. Then it was time to leave. We walked back to the car, and started our 45-minute ride back home. We then stopped at the grocery store just before our home to grab a few needed items. Once again they had those car-carts that they enjoy riding in. We got our stuff, put it all in the car, strapped the kids back in, and rode the remaining 5 minutes to our house.
It was already 7:40 pm, when we got there, so pretty late for dinner. We went straight to the kitchen, and Emmy helped me peel the corn that I cooked. I also made bacon and scrambled eggs, and we had some melon. Everybody ate something, even though Tammy barely ate anything at all. After dinner, I took them to the shower, then we got them ready for bed. It was after 9 pm before they were finally in bed. Tammy fell asleep right away, Sammy did not take long either, but Emmy again needed longer. I left him awake, turned my computer on, and started downloading today's pictures. Once again it's later than I wanted, i.e. 1:15, as I finish and can go to bed, and tomorrow we have once again an early morning.
