5 years 5 months 8 days

Day 1987. It was a terribly early morning for me, when my alarm went off at 8:30 am. I was already awake, of course, since the kids get up early, and Randy was making them breakfast. I got up and helped Emmy get dressed and got ready for us to leave the house just after 9 am. I was taking Emmy to a surprise event. He had no idea what it was, only that it was a show we were going to watch, and even that he had only just found out. Tammy's turn is next Sunday.

We took the subway downtown and then just missed our tram. On a Sunday morning the intervals are longer, and so we had a good while, about 10 minutes, for the next tram. There was another boy there who was Emmy's age, and the two of them started playing together. It turned out that the boy was going to the same show.

The tram took us all the way there, then we had to walk a little to get to the big even hall. Emmy had already heard the word "monster" from the other boy, but still didn't know what the show was about. The event hall itself had a big poster of their ice-skating show on it.

When we reached the hall, there were lots of people in line to get inside, even though it was still 25 minutes until the show was to start at 10:30 am. I had to open my bag, and they looked inside. They scanned our tickets, then I asked where we had to go, and we headed that way. The first guy had said my purse was too big to take inside, but I was glad when I got to keep it after all.

We had cheaper tickets and were sitting all the way on the top, but I liked the seats as we had a great view. We handed in our coats, then walked up the stairs to the top. The trucks were sitting on  the field, together with all cars that they were then going to jump over. The two MC's were already talking before it even started. We found our seats and sat down. The rows were very tight. Emmy was excited as he finally knew what the show was about. It was the show Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Glow & Fire Live. And then it started.

It was different from what I had expected, as the different trucks were competing against each other in four different disciplines. They each got points in each round. There was a winner in each round, and in the end, one of them won it all. They had to jump as far as possible, and spin in place as often as possible. They also had a freestyle round. All the trucks were glowing in the dark, and of course they all had names that the kids knew from the TV show. One of the MC's walked through the audience and had kids give the scores for each vehicle. He also had quiz questions that the kids had to answer, and then the kid where he was got a coupon from a sponsor. They also did a few rounds of a vehicle going around on the field and shooting T-shirts into the crowd. Of course we were way too high up for that.

Just before the break, they had a fire-spitting dragon vehicle go around spewing fire and then eating one of the cars in the middle. It was pretty cool. During the break, we went to one of the stands where they were selling stuff, as I had told Emmy he could pick something I'd buy him. He chose a flag with the logo - thankfully the cheapest of the overprized items. Then we bought a box of popcorn and returned to our seats. On the way there, we could see that they were setting up a big ramp to jump into the air. It was very narrow, so clearly not for trucks.

When the show started again, it quickly became clear that it was for motorbikes. They had three motorbikes that were doing all kinds of stunts jumping over the ramp, including somersaults in both directions. After the motorbikes were done, they took all that stuff down and the truck competition continued. Once the final winner was determined, the show was over.

Emmy was all pumped up. He said he'd really enjoyed his surprise. We picked up our coats and left, walking back to the tram stop. We rode the tram to the subway, then the subway home. By 1:15 pm we were back home.

Randy and the kids had already eaten, as I had prepared all the food for them, so it was only Emmy's and my turn to eat. Emmy didn't each much, probably because of all the popcorn he'd had. I was extremely tired and just wanted to get a nap before having a student at 4 pm. I don't usually teach, just in case of emergencies, when there's no other option, and it was such a case. After having eaten, I got all my teaching materials ready. The student's mother was texting me and asked whether I could do the lesson earlier, so I ended up starting at 2:30 pm already. I told Randy about the change and that that would mean that we could actually go to church tonight, but I was so exhausted that there was no way I was going anywhere. Randy and the kids were downstairs, while I was teaching, but came upstairs way too early, while I was trying to get some rest after my lesson. They then all ended up with me. Sammy wanted to play with the door, and the other two were watching a show on my computer. Just before 6 pm I went to the kitchen to make their dinner.

They ate, but I was too tired to deal with the bathtub tonight, so we just gave them a quick wash. I then put Sammy to bed with a prayer, and read a story to the other two before putting them to bed with a prayer. They were in bed earlier than usual tonight. Then I got myself something to eat. Now it's not yet midnight, and I'm done writing. I just have to take care of the kitchen still.