Day 1839. It's 1 am, and it's been such a long day! While I have to wake up Tammy every morning at 8 am so she can go to kindergarten, she was up at 7 am this morning of course, when we didn't have to go anywhere until after 10 am. We left the house together at 10:15 and took the subway for a few stops. Then we had quite a long walk ahead of us. It was another hot day, but the previous to last hot day this summer. When we were approaching the hockey stadium, we met a young boy who Emmy knew. He had been at the soccer camp with Emmy. We asked him where the hockey stadium was, and he pointed us in the right direction.
We walked on a little and saw the hockey field, where kids were playing. We also saw the big tree, where we were supposed to meet at 10:50. Our two were not the only ones who had come to try out hockey. They got a bag of hockey sticks out and made sure every kid had the right size stick. Then they all went to the gate to the field with the two trainers. There was a good number of kids. Then they went inside to play for one hour. Randy and Sammy left to go to the nearby playground, while I stood at the sidelines to watch them play.
First, the trainer showed them how to hold the stick. Then they were supposed to play balls back and forth. Tammy was playing with an older boy, while Emmy was playing with another girl. They did that for a while. Then they put up goals, and they had to move the ball around little cones and then shoot it into the goal. They did well. Later they had them try to get the ball from another person, and Tammy and Emmy were playing with each other. The trainer also tried to get Emmy's ball who defended it very well. They did some more playing, then the hour was up. Just before it ended, Paul called me from Mali because of a situation.
Then we walked back to the subway and rode it home. By 12:30 pm we were back home. I warmed up the meal I had cooked last night, and we all sat down to eat. Then I turned my computer on to get ready for my 1:20 pm student. I taught until 2:10, then we got ready to leave the house. We walked to the train station and took the 2:32 pm train. After we got off at the main train station, we just had to walk a little and arrived at the party room a few minutes early. Sammy had been invited to the birthday party of a little girl in his kindergarten group, and his siblings were allowed to come as well. The girl had also come to Sammy's birthday party two weeks ago.
We were the first guests to arrive. It was a nice party room with lots of stuff for kids. The kids immediately started exploring everything. They had a small ball pit and some funny mirrors. They also had an impressive full wall of channels for balls to move through, where you had to help out for it to come back out on the bottom. Sammy really enjoyed that wall. You had to put a ball in that was sucked up to the top.
The birthday girl joined the kids by that wall, and Emmy started interacting with the non-vocal 4-year-old. He was so very sweet the way he acted with her. The other parents even noticed and mentioned it to me.
After everyone had played and talked for a while, the kids sat down by the table, and the lady working there brought in the birthday cake with lit candles. Everyone ate some cake before continuing to play. After they had played some more, and I had enjoyed talking to especially one parent, it was time for the girl's birthday gifts. Emmy helped her open the packages. Sammy was also very curious. Then there were still small gift bags for all the kids that had come. The girl's Mom gave them to Emmy to hand out. Our kids were eager to find out what they had received. They were happy about the bubbles and the reusable water bomb.
Then the kids all sat down at the table again, and they were served bread with frankfurters. Then everyone played some more, and people started leaving one after another. We finally also said our good-byes. Everyone had enjoyed their time there.
We walked back to the train station, where our train was already sitting and waiting for it to leave at 5:52 pm. Emmy go this new dinosaur mask out and put it on, and so did Sammy briefly. Tammy got the white back and crayons out; the bag was made to be colored by the kids - something Tammy enjoys doing.
By 6:10 pm we were back home. I was completely exhausted, but it was time to at least give them some fruit. I cut up some and gave it to them, then I lay down for a few minutes, until it was time to put them into the bathtub. They were having fun in the water, especially with the new water bombs, then we got them ready for bed. Sammy was asleep really fast tonight. Emmy's got a cough and has even been coughing in his sleep. After they were in bed, I started working on today's pictures. There were a lot of them, and so it's nearly 2 am, as I finish this, and tomorrow morning we're leaving the house again.
