Day 1428. I did not have a good night, was awake a lot after having gone to bed at 1 am. Emmy soon joined me in bed, then Tammy came as well. At 7 am the alarm went off. We got up, and I started to finish packing. Then we went downstairs for breakfast. After breakfast, I dressed the kids, then gave them the tablets already and asked them to sit in the living room that we had not used at all during our stay. Then I went to the kitchen and turned my computer on to teach a lesson, while Randy closed up the suitcases and started loading the car up. I taught from 8:30 until 9:20; Sammy had had enough and came to me during that time. I had to get up a few times to take care of him.
After I was done teaching, there was still stuff to do before we could leave. In the end it was just after 10 am before we actually drove off. I left a thank you card and some Austrian and thank you chocolate behind.
We had 400 miles ahead of us, so it was time to get going. However, Randy wanted to get gas right away, and so we stopped at the gas station right by the house. Then we finally got going for good. We drove north, then east, going around Harrisburg, before turning north and west. We had only driven for an hour, when Emmy already said he needed to go to the bathroom. We actually put diapers on them during these long drives, at least for the pee. This time Randy stopped next chance he had, and I walked into a McDonald's with Emmy to take him to the bathroom. Everybody else stayed in the car. Then we continued on, and it was already 11:30, and we had only done 75 miles up to that point. It was time to make good progress.
I looked up where there were Chick-Fil-As along our route, as they have playgrounds and good food, and found one not that close away, and the next one way too far. It was earlier than I would have liked to stop, but we did anyway. It was 12:15 pm. The first thing we looked for going inside was the playground, but there wasn't one. An employee overheard us and told us that they had done away with it during Covid. The kids were really disappointed. We chose a table, and they were loud and moving around there. The same employee then gave them paper hats that looked like they were usually used for birthdays. We got our food, and they ate some. After I had calmed down Sammy who also wanted to play, I was able to put him into the high chair, and he ate as well.
After over an hour, just before 1:30, we moved on. We buckled the kids in, and Randy took a picture of the famous stadium in the distance. We were in State Collge, PA. We drove off to continue on our way to Ohio. It was nap time for the kids, so no tablets until they'd had a nap. I sang for them to fall asleep, and it took some time, but Tammy and Emmy did. Sammy never did, which meant that I never got to either as I tried to get him to sleep the whole time. Then the other two woke back up and asked for tablets, so I gave Sammy his as well, as he's fallen asleep with the song son there before. But not today.
We wanted to make good progress, and we wanted to stop at a playground, where the kids could play, so I looked for one on my phone. I found just the right one in Akron, OH, which was a good distance for us to cover. Just before 5 pm, after 3.5 hours of driving, we reached the park. The kids were really excited, when they saw it, and ran off right away. It was nearly empty, and the streets around were also empty, and it was very quiet. The kids were having great fun climbing and sliding, and Sammy was eager to go into the swing. I had him go really high, which he greatly enjoyed, then his sister joined him in the swing next to him.
We stayed there for one hour, then we decided it was time to finish our trip and cover the remaining 90 minutes to our destination. At 6 pm we drove off again, and it actually took us until nearly 8 pm to arrive in Clyde, OH, a suburb of Fremont, OH. Their tablets ran out of juice over an hour before we arrived, which caused one of Tammy's famous fits. I had been Sammy's entertainer up until that point, as he was tired of the songs on his tablet, but then I became the entertainer for all three. We had lots of fun, as I played Kasperl and other characters, making them laugh and shriek and think it was the greatest show ever. It was lots of work, but it made that last hour or so pass by quickly, even without a tablet. At 8 pm we pulled up to our hotel.
We checked in and went to our room, where I turned cartoons on TV for them to watch while giving them some food, while Randy unloaded the car. Then I put their swimsuits on so we could go use the inside swimming pool, even though it was bedtime for them. They'd been looking forward to it the whole time. When we walked in, it was pretty dark, and there were two people in the pool. I called the reception to have them turn the light on, then we went into the water. It was rather cool, but not for long. The kids were having lots of fun, especially once we blew up the waterball our friend had just given us. Later a whole group of young people came as well and actually passed the ball to them a few times. Eventually we decided it was time to return to our room and put them to bed. It was 9:30, when Emmy was still awake - and in our bed, so he could sleep between Mommy and Daddy, as he was afraid of falling off the bed. Over the next few hours Tammy and Sammy, who are sharing the other bed, have both woken up crying frequently, as both have a runny/stuffed up nose. Now it's after 1:30 am and time for me to go to bed as well. I hope there is enough room in the double bed, and that no one falls out, and that they sleep the rest of the night. I teach again in the morning, then we drive another 250 miles.
