The Long Trip Home

Friday morning everyone got up and we frantically finished shoving things into bags. Mid-morning we headed out for final errands and a trip to the park where Heather couldn’t overcome her fear of sliding down that darn pole. It will forever be unconquered!! Our friend made us lunch which was really nice, then Jeff and I headed over to a CE lunch before dropping off our bags. Sad goodbyes after final frantic packing…it’s always the kids who set me crying because they change so much! So a hug from Isabelle was all it took to start the waterworks. We said our goodbyes, one more picture in front of the house, and went to wait for the plane. At about 8 (we’d been there for 2 hours) they announced that the plane would not be leaving until tomorrow and to stick around for a showtime. An hour later we were heading for the Oceanview restaurant for a later dinner and an early showtime. We surprised a few friends, played some games and crashed late—another good “last” night in the Azores! Saturday we got to the terminal at 8, boarded a plane at noon and made it to Norfolk safely. The kids were pretty good on the plane ride as usual. We picked up our car and had dinner with a guy Jeff deployed with 3 years ago and then headed to the hotel to crash (well Jeff took Heather and Charlie swimming and Cameron and I crashed).