4 years 10 months 3 days

Day 1768. Tammy had a rough night because of the fever but mainly her stuffy nose. She was sleeping between us. Sammy was up really early again, even though he had gone to bed after 10 pm for two days in a row. Emmy continued sleeping for a while before also getting up, and Tammy stayed in bed with me. In fact, I got up before she did. I woke her up at  around 11:30 to get her ready, as we had to leave the house at noon.

We drove only a few minutes and parked in a garage, where our friends had also just arrived. We now have a parking sign for the handicapped, which allows us to park where it's marked for the handicapped, which is really nice. We unloaded the wheelchair and put Sammy in, then we all made our way to the Italian restaurant, where we were going to have lunch. Our friends had brought two of their granddaughters with them. One was the same age of our kids, and so they all became immediate friends, especially Tammy and the girl. They sat next to each other at the table. We had a good time eating Italian food, then we decided to go to a nearby playground for a short time, as the kids wanted to spend more time together. I had given Tammy some fever-lowering sirup before we left the house, so that she was feeling fine.

The playground was not far, but we noticed how wet the grass was. It's been raining a lot these past few days, and today was the first sunny day. We told them to stay out of the water. There wasn't much there, but they started using the equipment that was there. I sat down on bench there, when I suddenly heard Emmy crying hard. He came over to me and was covered with mud and wet all over. They had played catch and he had slipped and fallen. I told him to take the shirt off, but he didn't want to. I tried to comfort him and calm him down, telling him it was not the end of the world and that things like that can happen. It was time to walk back to the car.

And so he walked with me. At the car we said our goodbyes, and I took Emmy's wet shirt and pants off, so he could sit in the car. It only took a few minutes to ride back to our house, but the car seat ended up being wet, and so we put it into the sun to dry.

Sammy had said he was really tired, but of course he would not lie down at home. The kids started playing, and eventually I lay down because I was so very tired. For once, Emmy let me sleep today, and so I had a nice nap, though I could have slept longer. Half an hour before we had to leave the house, we started getting everybody ready, then we loaded them into the car.

We got to the restaurant 10 minutes early, at 5:20 pm, and waited outside, in the sun. There were lots of flowers and lots of bees and bumblebees to watch closeup. Then our friends arrived, and we went inside. A few minutes later the pastor and his wife arrived; we wanted to spend some more time with them.

We once again ate Italian food and had a great time of fellowship. Sammy, however, was really tired and cranky, and for some time, it was challenging, even though we had his tablet with us. Then he finally calmed down again. Emmy was being pretty wild, running and climbing around until the restaurant staff told him to stop. Tammy was sitting next to me. I had not had to give her any more fever sirup, which I was thankful for. And I myself had only taken advil in the morning as well.

It was clear at some point that we had to go home. We said our goodbyes and got back into the car. At about 7:15 pm we were back home. It was about time they'd go to bed at their regular time of 8 pm. I showered them, then we got them ready for bed. They still wanted a story, so I read one to them. Then I prayed for them and put them to bed. However, they suddenly weren't that sleepy, and so it took them until after 9 pm to fall asleep. Some time later Tammy woke up and moved to our bed, even though we were not in it yet. She also took her nightgown off, as it was really hot in the room. In fact, I've been way too hot all evening, sitting on the couch with my computer. I hope I can sleep in this heat.