4 years 4 months 10 days

Day 1592. It was a typical morning. Samuel was up first, then the others, and eventually Randy got up to make them breakfast. They're not big breakfast eaters, though. Then he took them downstairs to play. It was finally quiet, giving me some extra time to sleep. At 9:30 am my alarm went off, and I got up, as I had a student at 10:30, and it was a class where I needed to prepare more. And so I sat down by the computer, with my tea, getting ready for my class. I then taught until 11:45, then needed a few more minutes to wrap up. At noon Randy and the kids came upstairs, while I went to the kitchen to put two lasagnas into the oven. At about 12:45 we sat down to eat. The kids really like lasagna, and so Tammy ate a lot. Emmy hasn't been eating much recently.

After having eaten, the kids got on their tablets to watch stuff, but not for long. I started dressing them so we could get ready to leave the house. At 1:25 pm we all left together. We got on the subway, rode it to the end, then went up to street level and took a tram for two stops. Then we had to walk a little to get to the entrance of town hall, where today's event was taking place.

It was the second of a three-day event - free, without registration. They had a few different stages set up in town hall that different groups were performing on - from Kasperl, to dance and music and theater and even a circus group. I liked who was scheduled to be on today. But first we had to find the barriere-free entrance for wheelchairs. I left Randy and Sammy (and Tammy) on the bottom and found someone working on site. The lady then came with me to show me where the elevator to go up was. We had to go back outside, cross the courtyard, got on, and were right away by the stage we were heading to. She led us to the usher in charge there who took us to the front and to the side, making room for Sammy's wheelchair there. Tammy and Emmy found their way to the front in the middle and sat down in the midst of all the kids there. Randy and stayed with Sammy.

The first performer was a clown that was doing magic tricks for 45 minutes. He was really funny. He got some volunteer helpers from the kids and got everybody laughing a lot. Emmy later said that he enjoyed the most, when the clown's pants fell off. As for Sammy, he cared nothing about the show, and so we had to keep him busy and entertained, Randy and me taking turns doing so. However, Sammy always wants to be with me, when we're out and about together.

After the show was over, it was time to head to the stage, where Kasperl (puppets) was going to be. They let us go through another hall so we didn't have to go down or up any stairs. When we got there, there was a long line, and we got in line as well. Then they opened the doors, and the line started moving. We had nearly reached the front, when the workers said there was no more room inside for any more people. I then asked her, whether they had any wheelchair spots, and she left to ask her manager, who soon returned and led us inside. She put us next to the aisle chair in the first row, and Randy and I sat down on the floor by Sammy. Tammy and Emmy went again to the front and the middle, sitting down amongst all the kids sitting on the floor. Then the 35 minute show started. Sammy again was not very interested, but we kept him entertained. Tammy and Emmy loved the show.

After it was over, they had another Kasperl show start not long after. We asked, and they let us stay inside, while all the other people had to leave. However, Emmy had left his new kids' camera (a Christmas gift) at the first stage, so I left with him to return there and see whether we could find it. We retraced our steps, so I had to tell them why we needed to go there, and then a worker came with us. She knew exactly where to go, and the person there pulled out Emmy's camera right away. What a relief! We then had to pass by all the people waiting to go inside the theater to see Kasperl to join the others again. Then the doors soon opened, and the next performance (a different story) started. This time Randy and I each had a seat right next to the wheelchair, and we got Sammy out of the chair. Again, we had to keep him entertained. He kept asking to go home, had already done so by the previous stage, but I had to tell him that it was not time yet, which he didn't like.

The other kids had greatly enjoyed Kasperl. After it was over, it was time to move on to the last and biggest stage for the last performance of the day. There was a lot more seats there than needed, and the show had already started. We walked to the front and the side, where Sammy was able to park and not hinder anyone. Tammy and Emmy didn't go far this time. It was a 3-person circus group doing lots of juggling primarily, all geared towards kids. I had both Tammy and Emmy on my shoulders at different times. Tammy got her camera back out and took lots of pictures, having so much fun doing so, especially from my shoulders, where she had a great view. Sammy was playing with Emmy's camera for some time, which kept him busy. Randy then left with him to change his diaper, and he also left to pick up our jackets as the program was nearly over. We left just before it ended. Emmy already looked really tired; you know he's tired, when he's quiet, as he is usually very talkative.

We walked back to the elevator we had come up on and left the huge building on the other side than where we had entered. We walked towards the town hall park, where the Christmas market had been, but tonight they were working on taking everything down, as the iceskating rink is going to go up there next. We crossed the park and got on to the tram for one stop. The kids were really thirsty, as their drink bottle had been empty for quite some time, and so we went inside the McDonald's right there after getting off the tram and bought two Happy Meals for them. I was on the screen ordering, when Randy went after Tammy and Emmy who had gone around the corner. When he came back, he gave me the card to pay, but it wasn't working, so we had to go pay cash at the cash register. Suddenly Randy said, "Where is Sammy?" He had left him next to me, when he had gone after the other two, but now he was gone. Sammy had rolled around the corner, where Randy found him. I thought it was funny, that he now also takes off by himself.

The two packets of apple juice from the Happy Meals were gone within minutes. The chicken nuggets were also gone quickly. We made our way to the subway, and Sammy was very unhappy that it was an old train. It was a 15-minute wait time for the new train, which was just too long. Just after 6:30 pm we were back home. I went to the kitchen to cut up some fruit for them, then they went into the bathtub, where they ate it, while having fun. Emmy had lost his diving goggles, and then Sammy also wanted to have some, and yesterday they had arrived. So all three were having their goggles with them in the bathtub, having fun with them. Then we got them ready for bed. I read them two Bible stories, brushed their teeth and prayed for them. Then it was bedtime. I was too hungry to lie down with them tonight, but they all fell asleep rather quickly. Randy sat by them, while I went to the kitchen to get myself something to eat. After having eaten, I went back to work. At 10 pm we had a one-hour Zoom meeting, then I continued working on the pictures. Now it's after 1 am, and I teach again in the morning.