Day 2008. Sunday morning, but no chance of sleeping in, especially because of Emmanuel coming regularly to me for something, even though I've asked him over and over again to let me sleep. Just before 11 am someone came again to let me know the hairdresser had arrived. I got up and greeted her, and she got ready to start with me, putting the hair dye on my hair. We had a good time talking with each other.
Once the dye was on, it was time for the boys. Emmy came first, and she cut his hair. The boys' hair has been so long that I could not wait any longer but had to call the hairdresser now. Normally we do this just before the conference in March.
After Emmy was done, it was Sammy's turn. In the meantime I had put some food into the oven. Randy held Sammy on his lap, while she cut his hair. He's finally not scared of the hairdresser any more. I'm so glad the boys have short hair again! Then she finished my hair, while Randy and the kids were eating.
Sammy gave her her money, then she left. It was time to get ready to leave the house. I had already quickly eaten some food. I got Tammy and Emmy dressed and painted their faces. Tammy got five stones glued to her forehead that looked really pretty. Sammy got to wear a shirt with Mickey today, and I painted his face as well to look like Mickey's. We also still had the Mickey ears for him to put on his head.
At 1:40 pm we left the house, which was perfect timing. We took the subway and then walked to the main square of the amusement park, where the party started at 2 pm. The ground was wet, and then it started raining a little. Thankfully it didn't rain for long.
When we reached the square, there was someone in an ape costume handing out cookies. We continued walking. There was a station, where they had stencils of different shapes to pain those onto kids' hands. Emmy got a star, and Tammy painted the rainbow herself. Sammy got a bee that I painted. The next station was face-painting, but we didn't need it. We continued walking and went right in front of the stage, where they welcomed everyone. Suddenly drums started making a lot of noise. We, as well as others, made our way in that direction, so the speaker on stage quit talking. There was a big marching band with about 40 drummers that were disguised and playing. Everyone was watching them. I put Emmy on my shoulders so he could see. They then started the parade, and everyone else walked behind them, including us. We were near a wagon with apes on top that were throwing cookies down into the crowd. I had Emmy on my shoulders for a while, and it took him a while to successfully catch a cookie. After some time, we passed by the wagon and reached another wagon with apes that were dancing to the music. There were also disguised people in the crowd, and the kids greeted Darth Vader and a sea turtle. We made it all the way to the front, to where the drummers were. We made a big circle through the amusement park before returning to the main square where we had started. I was with Emmy most of the time, while Tammy stayed with Daddy and Sammy. Tammy was unusually quiet, silently walking along, while I was having fun with Emmy.
Just before we returned to the main square, we left the parade and took a shortcut to the main square and walked right to the front of the stage, where there were already some children. The main attraction was about to start - a concert of a famous children's songwriter. We had to wait there until the parade had made it back all the way, then it started.
The guy is really good and funny and makes the kids participate all the time. I heard silent Tammy giggle a couple of times. However, Tammy was really cold and ready to go home. Emmy said he also wanted to leave, and so did Sammy. I would have liked to stay, but we left together. They had said there were 2000 donuts there for everyone to eat, but when we got there, they said they were all gone. We would have had to get them earlier.
And so we continued walking to the subway. Randy had given Tammy his gloves, and I had given mine to Emmy. When they took them off in the subway, I couldn't believe how cold their fingers were. I held Tammy's hands in the subway to warm them up. Just afer 4 pm we were back home. I made them hot chocolate right away. After they were done with it, we went downstairs and did piano practice. Tammy did great, Emmy had a fit right in the beginning, but I was able to get him over it and then he did his piano practice. Then I went upstairs and lay down. I was very tired and fell asleep for a short time.
At 6 pm Randy and the kids came upstairs. I went to the kitchen and made noodle soup for Tammy and Emmy, and warmed up other leftovers for the boys. Then I started cutting up their fruit. They ate, then went to the bathtub and ate some more. Then we got them ready for bed. After they were all in bed, I went to the kitchen to make my food. I sat down to eat, and after having eaten, I started working on the pictures. Now it's 12:30 am, and I still have to take care of the dishes.
