Day 1322. Emmy was the first one up this morning around 7 am, got a headset telling stories, and lay back down next to me. Tammy had also once again joined us during the night. Emmy left and returned a few times, and I was wondering when he was gonna notice any eggs lying around. I had gone to bed after 2 am last night and got up again at 2:30, when I realized I had forgotten to hide the eggs that we had kept for upstairs, about a fifth of the total of plastic and chocolate eggs that we had. So I hid them in the dark. This morning, I finally asked Emmy whether there was something in his bed, because an egg was sitting in the middle of his bed, when I went to go see Sammy and turn the children's songs on for him. Tammy was sleeping in her own bed at that point. Once I had asked Emmy, he noticed it, and he started looking around and finding one egg after another. Tammy was up immediately and joining her brother. Sammy wasn't really interested. The Easter egg hunt got me out of bed earlier than usual, and I tried to give them tips, once they were looking everywhere and not finding anything. I had nearly as much fun as they had. Emmy was especially excited about a yoyo that was in an egg, even though he can't make it go up and down yet. Tammy was doing a better job and collecting more eggs and chocolate, which bothered Emmy a bit.
Finally they sat down at the table to have breakfast. I had put something under both their placemats. Emmy's was bigger, and so he had found it early on. However, Tammy did not notice the chocolate under her placemat. I gave them hint after hint, like that they can both touch it, but no one noticed it. And I then left it at that.
It was time to clean them up and dress them, so we could leave the house at 9:20 am, which we did. Our train was leaving at 9:32, and so we walked really fast to not miss it. It was finally a little warmer today. We got on the old train, carrying the wheelchair up the stairs, and rode it for one stop. Then we took the subway for a few stops, went to street level and still had a bit of a walk ahead of us. It was raining just a little bit. We had seen the advertisement for the public transportation museum's Easter event for a while, and after having looked it up, we decided to go there. It was our first time there. There was a line at the entrance that we joined. Once it was our turn, we were pleased to find out that the kids were free and that one of us adults was as well because of Sammy sitting in the wheelchair and needing help.
We walked into the courtyard, where they had a few old trams set up and walked into the first one. It was from the 70's and decorated for Easter. It reminded me of my childhood even though I'm not sure that I ever rode in one as old as that one. We got back out and walked into the building, starting the tour through the museum. We were told there were eggs hidden, but unfortunately we never found one. Those who did got to exchange those paper eggs for little items from their gift store.
We walked and walked through the museum, walking by trams from different times and through rooms with displays. Sometimes there were video screens and headsets to listen, and the kids tried to do just that, but it didn't always work. After the tram section we got to the buses and could walk into a double-decker bus and to its top level. The kids enjoyed it.
Then we reached a simulator for the subway. Randy sat down in the seat to drive the subway, and he had all three kids with him. He drove the correct speed 7% of the time. Sammy was crying hard, when we left there, as he had enjoyed it. He'd had a button to push. Walking on, we reached the bus simulator and stood in line waiting for our turn. Once again Randy sat down to drive the bus, together with Emmy and Tammy, and I was holding Sammy standing right there. The kids were having fun.
We walked on and reached the end of the building and stepped outside. There was another tram sitting there with a tram simulator. This time I was the one sitting down, with Sammy on my lap, and I drove the tram for a little while. The kids were having fun, and Sammy was once again crying hard, when we had to leave.
We then walked back to the first entrance and went inside, as there were tables for crafts set up. We set down, and the kids started coloring wooden, flat eggs and gluing rhinestones onto them. Then I put a cord through the hole. Tammy wore hers as a necklace for the rest of the day. I also made them baskets and rabbits with the paper lying around. We could see the table, where people could exchange the found eggs for gifts, and they also had chocolate eggs there. And so our kids had quite a few of those chocolate eggs. After they were all done, we decided it was time to go home.
It was 11:45, and we had arrived at 10 am. The line was now longer than it had been, when we got there. We walked back to the subway, got on, then waited for our train. By 12:35 we were back home. The kids knew that most eggs and chocolates were downstairs, so they were eager to go look for them. As I still had to get the two pizzas we had in the fridge ready, they had time to do so. They were so fast, that Randy had to rush to keep up with them with Sammy, so Sammy could also find a few. I also wanted to see them look for and find their eggs, so I also joined them for a little bit, while the pizzas were in the oven. It was so much fun watching them. We had given them a bag each to put in what they were finding, but Emmy was just opening up the eggs and then dropping everything. I finally told him to put all that stuff into his bag. In the end it was Tammy who had a full bag, as she had put stuff in from the beginning. They were all so excited.
It was around 1 pm, when we finally sat down to eat. Everyone had some pizza, and then some of their Easter chocolates. They were excited to open their big, golden Easter bunny made of chocolate and bit it into. Then I cleaned them up and told them it was high time for them to go to bed for their nap. They were not happy about that at all. Tammy was so tired that she had a fit. Once in bed, I was holding her hand, as well as Sammy's, as I have been doing every day recently. Soon they were asleep, so that I could walk away. It was close to 2 pm.
I was so very exhausted that I went straight to bed and soon actually put my phone down to sleep. It was about 2:30 pm already. I fell asleep and was woken up around 4 pm. I was still very tierd and wanted to continue sleeping, but then Randy let me know what time it was. We wanted to go to church, and so I had no choice but to get up. I got the kids ready and quickly made some bread with salami for them to take with me, as well as grabbing some fruit. We needed to catch the 4:32 train, so we had to hurry once again to make it.
We rode the train, then got on the tram that would take us to church. We then still had to walk up the hill to church, where we arrived perfectly on time. We went to the front, and soon worship started. I was dancing with Sammy who was in his wheelchair, having fun with him, while Emmy was having fun on his own, waving the new banners, and Tammy was having fun with another Mom. When Sammy saw the big staircase in the front, he made it clear that he wanted to walk up. And so I got him out of the wheelchair and went up with him, one step at the time. The steps were a little high for him, so I had to help him get his foot that high, but he was enjoying it and was proud once we had reached the top. Then I took him back downstairs and to the front, as my back was hurting so that I did not want to continue with the stairs. Emmy was crying and sat down on my lap as well, so that I could comfort him. They wanted to go upstairs, so we got up to do just that before it was 5:40 pm.
Randy took Tammy up the stairs, while Emmy came with Sammy and me to find someone with a key to the elevator. I had to disturb a friend who unlocked the elevator for us. There were already other kids in the toddler room. Randy returned to the sanctuary, and I took Sammy to the toy kitchen that he loves so much. It's a little harder for him to play there well while sitting in the wheelchair, as he does not reach everything as easily. Tammy found her babies and had four of them in her wheelchair at the same time. They were all playing and having fun, when the music let us know it was time for the program to start, and so we all went to the circle and sat down.
It took some calling to get Tammy and Emmy to stop playing and sit down. The teacher did the greeting song, the general and the individual one, where the sheep hand puppet kisses and hugs everyone. Then they got Bibles, and we did the Bible song. Then it was time for the teaching. The teacher/Mom was telling the Easter story, and she had also brought a tomb with her to put a wrapped up Jesus inside of. When she was done, she prayed, and the teaching time was over. Tammy was asking to draw, but there was no drawing time. Most kids sat down at the tables to eat, but ours did not want to eat. A little later they all shared a banana, and they ate their salami bread even later. Emmy got his truck again and continued playing with it, while Sammy sat down at the boxes full of Duplo that also contained a horse he likes. Tammy started building a Duplo house, and I was helping her. We were all having fun.
At 6:45 Randy returned, and Sammy was ready to leave. He'd been asking about Anna repeatedly, so he was eager to go to the sanctuary to see her. And so we all got ready to leave the room. I left with Sammy first, leaving Randy with the other kids to put their shoes on. I did not want to go look for someone with the key to the elevator but decided to go down the stairs with the wheelchair, and it worked just fine. Sammy was calling Anna's name, but she was not there. I felt bad for him. We went to the lobby, where I gave the boys their salami bread, then we dressed them to go home. Just after 7 pm we left the church together.
We started walking to the tram stop, and a guy on the way to church stopped us and talked to us, having fun with the kids. Once at the tram stop, the kids started eating while watching videos, and continued on the tram, then at the train station. We still had 20 minutes to wait for our train, when we got there. Just before 8 pm we got on the train, and just after 8 pm we were back home.
We started getting the kids ready for bed. Then I prayed for them and flew them into bed. Tammy was crying hard, because I did not read any Bible stories. I told her it was too late tonight. It was 8:45 before everyone was in bed. I sat down by them and held her hand as requested, as well as Sammy's. Those two then fell asleep first, while Emmy needed longer. When I walked away, he was still awake, but he was alright as long as I opened the door to our bedroom. I got myself something to eat, then continued working. Soon my eyes were falling shut, while I was working on the pictures. I still managed to write my report, even though i cannot keep my eyes open any more. It's 2:30 am and time to fall into bed. There's another early morning ahead.
