3 years 9 months 4 days

Day 1372. Today was a holiday in Austria. That doesn't mean I don't have students, on the contrary, as the students have more time for lessons, when they're not in school. I had two scheduled in the afternoon.

Emmy was up first and early, as usual, and soon the others were as well. I've asked him many times to let me sleep, and to let his siblings sleep, but he still keeps waking me up. We were in no rush this morning, but we did have to leave the house just after 10 am. We got the kids ready and left to walk to the subway.

We rode it downtown, then took a tram for three stops to get to the theater. They had a children's movie playing at 11 am, and we had reserved tickets. While we were standing in line to get our tickets, I started talking with the family in line before us as they obviously had twins. Then we got our tickets ten minutes before the movie started, later than requested, but they had not given them away yet. The kids wanted popcorn, so Randy bought a big bucket that was empty by the time the movie ended, and they had all eaten a lot of it.

We parked the wheelchair outside the theater and went inside to get seats. Randy and Sammy stayed there, while I took the other two to the bathroom with me. Just after 11 am the movie started, which was really 8 short episodes of "The Little Mole", adding up to 70 minutes. Sammy was sitting in his own chair, then with me, then with Randy. It was long for him, and he was getting more and more antsy. He was not interested in the movie and asked for us to leave.  It was after noon, when it was finally over.

We left the theater and rode the tram for one stop. Then we walked to the McDonald's right there. Because of the popcorn we didn't get much food. I took the elevator up to the top level with the kids, and Randy then brought the food to us. Sammy stayed in his chair for the first time instead of us squeezing him into the small high chairs. Before we left, I took the kids to the bathroom again. An alarm went off, when Tammy pushed against the barrier; you had to pay 50 cents to get in. I paid, and we went in. When they were washing their hands, they had another scare, when the hand dryer suddenly went off. It was actually a part of the faucet, which I have never seen before.

We rode the elevator back up to the top level and then all left together. However, the button on the elevator was not working. Randy had to go down one level and ride the elevator up, so we could get on. Then we finally left and walked to one of my two favorite icecream places in town. We had to wait a really long time in line before it was finally our turn. Even with the smallest cups, they got to choose three flavors each. Then we sat down on one of the many public benches. However, the icecream was melting pretty fast in the warm weather, and so we soon had a big mess on hand. And Sammy did not want his icecream, so Randy ate it. I tried to help the others to contain the mess, but it was not really possible. In the end we all had sticky fingers and other body parts and clothes. It was time to go home. The kids had had a lot of fun playing together, all three of time, while I was finishing my icecream. Both Tammy and Emmy were pushing Sammy around and running after each other, much to Sammy's delight, but Randy did not like them being so wild. I love the picture of the three of them running and wished Sammy had worn my birthday shirt as well; his was dirty and in the laundry.

We rode one subway for one stop, then got on the one taking us home. The kids were watching Bibleman on the subway. It was becoming obvious from their behavior that they were getting pretty tired, as it was already nap time for them. We got home just before 2 pm, and after cleaning them up, I put them straight to bed. Tammy was asleep first, then Sammy, then Emmy. Then I was finally able to leave them.

I was supposed to teach from 3 to 5 pm, but then my 4 pm student was sick and my 3 pm student moved her lesson to 5 pm. I still spent some time preparing materials for her before also closing my eyes to get a little sleep at about 3 pm.

Less than half an hour later Emmy walked into the room asking for something to drink. As Randy was downstairs tinkering, I had to get up to give it to him. Sammy was awake from the noise as well. Randy came upstairs and took the boys downstairs. When it was 4 pm, I opened the curtains and turned the ocean waves off to wake the girl up. She got up and also went downstairs. As for me, I went to work and then taught from 5 to nearly 6 pm. The kids came upstairs just before I was done. Both of them wanted the tablet, and tonight Emmy got it, much to Tammy's dismay. She then watched some videos elsewhere. I soon went to the kitchen to start making their dinner and took the food to them one after another. Then they went into the bathtub, where they continued eating, while having fun. We got them ready for bed, and I sat down with them to read some Bible stories. After having prayed for them and flown them into bed, I sat down by them. It was only just about 8 pm. All three were wide awake and hyper-active. I stayed for a while, then Randy took my place. I returned to my computer to work for some time before going to the kitchen to get something to eat. The children were STILL awake and messing around, so I got sterner with them. I took a long time for them to fall asleep tonight, and then Randy fell asleep in the chair as well.

I continued working even while eating, trying to get some things done, and I haven't stopped working yet. Now it's after midnight, and I still have to finish cleaning up the kitchen. It's usually close to 2 am before I go to bed.