5 years 6 months 22 days

Day 2032. This morning the alarm went off at 6:30, half an hour earlier than usual, after Sammy had already woken up and called for Daddy. Randy got up and made breakfast for the kids, then left with them at 7:45 am. He dropped Sammy off, then took the other two to their kindergarten. They were going to a petting zoo today which is why they had to be there earlier. As for me, I lay back down after they had left the house. My alarm went off at 9:45 am. I got up and just after 10 am Randy and I left the house together.

We took the train to the main train station and went to the Hertz office there to pick up our rental car. After the paper work, we went to the garage and found the car. At first Randy was worried about the little trunk, but it worked out. We got into the car and drove it home. I got out at the entrance to our building, then Randy went off to find parking.

It was time to start packing. I hadn't started at all yet, so I went to work. I put the two suitcases - one for us, one for the kids - on our bed and started putting in what we needed. I also had to get the bag with all the Mali stuff for our product table ready. We warmed up yesterday's leftovers to eat, and just after noon Randy left to go pick up Sammy. I continued packing, and I continued packing after Sammy got home. Randy left again to go pick up the other kids.

I made good progress and was pretty much done by the time Randy and the kids got home at 2:15 pm. Randy still had to put his stuff in, and we needed toys for tomorrow, and the kids gave me their favorite socks. We finished it all up, including packing food for breakfast and snacks, and Randy took everything to the car to fit it in somehow. The kids and I put our shoes and coats on, and when Daddy was still not back, we locked up the apartment to go to the car so we could get going. Tammy and Emmy were carrying the wheelchair bag together, while I was carrying Sammy and my purse.

When we got to the car, Randy was at work getting everything into the trunk. I thought we could put them into their seats and go, but Randy had to go back to the apartment to get his coat, or so I thought. When he was still not back 10 minutes later, I called him. Every minute we were waiting meant more traffic on the way out of Vienna. At 3:20 pm we finally drove off.

The entrance to the interstate is pretty close to our house. We hit some traffic crossing the Danube, but then it got better quickly. We made a big circle around the south of Vienna and stopped at he first reststop as Sammy's seatbelt was not on properly. Then we continued on. In total we had 200 kilometers to cover which was projected to take 2 hours. The kids were on their tablets, and Sammy was switching between tablet and headset all the time. Then Emmy pulled the door handle, and we could hear the door open slightly. I might have scolded him too hard for that. We stopped at the next reststop, and I turned on the childlock on both back doors.

The two stops cost us about 15 minutes, and so it was 5:45 pm before we reached our destination. It's become a tradition to visit these friends of mine on the first night of our trip to the missions conference. Emmy said right away that he recognized where we were. They always have lots of fun there, and tonight was no exception.

We put our coats on, walked inside the building and took the elevator up to the top floor, where our friends greeted us. They had toys ready for the kids who started playing right away. Tammy also showed how well she plays the piano, playing a few songs. Emmy didn't want to. Soon the calm playing started getting wild, and it stayed wild until the end.

We soon sat down to have dinner; it was great, home-cooked food, and the kids ate well. But they didn't stay at the table long, as they wanted to play, especially with the family's son. Sammy played with a remote-controlled car, then he discovered the door and played with it for a while, with Daddy's help. The other two stayed wild. Sammy was clearly getting tired as it was after bedtime, so at 8:15 pm we made the decision to get going. We said our good-byes after a wonderful evening and left at 8:30 pm.

We got back into our car and followed the GPS to our Airbnb. It was a 20-minute drive. We had stayed at that place last year, so it was already familiar, even in the dark, and much easier to find. We parked on the premises, and I got out to find the key as Emmy needed a bathroom urgently. They'd installed a box for the key now, which hadn't been the case last year, but didn't explain well where it was. I kept searching and searching but it wasn't where they said, so I texted them. It took a while but then I finally found the box in a completely different location and got the key to the apartment.

We walked into the cold apartment, and I turned the heat up in all the rooms. Randy was getting our stuff out of the car, while I got the kids ready for bed. It was after 9 pm after all. It took some time before all three were together in a double bed. Tammy was so tired that she was already fussing and was asleep first. Emmy fell asleep next, but not Sammy. At 9:45 he was STILL up and asking for Daddy, so Randy sat down on his bed until he was asleep.

I made myself some tea and sat down on the bed to start working on today's pictures and then writing. Now it's 12:30 am, and everyone is asleep but me. The conference starts tomorrow night, but I teach in the morning.