Day 1437. We did not have to get up early, today, but of course, Sammy was up at 8 am, and he was the first one. I had gone to bed at 2 am and was very tired, but when Sammy is up, he's up. His siblings were both still sleeping. It was Tammy who woke up and got up next. Emmy was last. They then all went upstairs to have breakfast, but I stayed in bed a little longer. I was ready to skip breakfast for sleep. Eventually I did go upstairs and got some food, then I used the rest of the time until we had to leave to do office work.
At 11:30 we left the house and drove to Applebee's in Lee's Summit, where we were meeting with an old friend of mine. It was great to see her and her husband again, and they met the triplets for the first time. We had a great time catching up, and the kids enjoyed the food and had their tablets to keep them busy. After 2 hours it was time to say our good-byes and return to the house.
We got back at 2:20 pm, and it was time for their nap. I put them down and lay down by them, but it took some effort to get especially Sammy to sleep. Then I lay down in bed myself to get some sleep. My alarm went off at 3:45 pm. We got everyone ready and left the house at 4:20 pm.
By 5 pm we arrived at the Christian store - a must-visit I had been looking forward to for a long time. We put Sammy into the cart and started exploring the store. It's too bad I never took a picture. We started in the Bible section, then went to the homeschooling section, on to the toy and book sections and the DVD section, then on to the clothes section, and I kept filling up our cart. We had just the right amount of time available to us. It took a while to get done at the cash register, then we paid and loaded everything into the car. Tammy was happy about the princess books and the T-shirt, while Emmy was the most excited about the Bibleman devotional book. Randy got Sammy a little ball, that he was excited about.
It wasn't even 10 minutes to get to the restaurant, and we were going to be a few minutes late. I was really looking forward to going to my favorite restaurant with some of my favorite people, and it was even more special as they had decided to make it a late birthday dinner for me. We met our friends that we had already seen twice this week, as well as my friend's sister, right there at Texas Roadhouse. The kids were hungry and impatient to sit down and eat; that explains Tammy's look on her face, standing there by the different meat cuts. We sat down, and the kids started eating peanuts. They just had to open them up, and then they could throw the shells on the ground, one of the trademarks of the restaurant. There were also really good bread rolls, and Emmy had some. By the time the food came, Emmy didn't eat much any more, while Tammy ate really well. They had cut up steak, which she really likes, as well as corn and fries. Sammy enjoys his mashed potatoes, and I really enjoyed my steak. I was having the greatest time with my girl-friends as well, enjoying the fellowship and being celebrated by them, and it nearly moved me to tears, when they gave me birthday cards and little gifts. How thoughtful! They really made me feel special, which has been rare since the kids were born! Two out of the three gave me the same card that said to hold it over your head. On the inside it read that I was under 50 again for a moment.
Then the restaurant workers came to us with a saddle and asked me to get on. They then let the whole restaurant know that it was my birthday and made everyone clap and shout "yeeha". It was really funny. My other friend then gave us some gifts too, including balloons and bubbles and pinwheels for the kids, which they enjoyed.
Time had flown by, and it was time to say good-bye. We'd had such a great time, but it was 9 pm already. We walked outside together and said good-bye for the final time. I have great friends in Kansas City.
It was 9:45 pm before we were back at the house, so really late. I put the kids to bed right away, but Emmy still stayed up until past 10:30. I turned my computer on and started working on the pictures and writing my report. Now it's 12:30 am and time for bed.
