July 14-15--It Is All A Blur

It has been a blur. I know that most of the girls are back home, or with their parents, but knowing the girls, I figure it doesn't hurt for me to give some details of our last couple of days.

Our last day in Hawaii started early for some of us. Susie and Hannah were off to Australia, with Susie's family, and they were leaving for the airport at 6:30 am. Most of the girls hadn't slept much, as they tried to keep the bonding going, so we bid farewell to two Shooting Stars. At 9, we said goodbye to Zoe, who was leaving for the airport at 9:15 with her family for a tour of Asia. Then, we went for breakfast at Eggs 'n Things, where our capable waitress, Anna, took great care of us. Breakfast was delicious and filling.

The team then returned to the hotel for final packing and room cleaning (don't ask). Our luggage was picked up at 11:45 and we checked out of the hotel. We loaded up 2 of the vans, without Kayla, whose family was checking out of our hotel and moving to another one for a few more days in Hawaii, and went to Hilo Hattie's, a famous Hawaiian souvenir shop. After buying a bunch of things, we moved to the Ala Moana Mall for more shopping and lunch. Since we had no hotel to return to, we figured that this was the thing to do, rather than get messy at the beach.

We shopped as long as we could, then returned to the hotel, where all of our luggage, and most of the other Tarrytown players, were waiting. We stuffed our new things into our bags and waited for the luggage truck and then the bus (but not TheBus) that took us to the airport. It is fair to say that no one was happy at this point, as our Hawaiian adventure was nearing an end.

The airport checkin went smoothly, and our flight to LA was quiet--I think most of us slept some during the flight. There was a short layover in the LAX, where we said goodbye to Sara Rod., who was staying in LA with her aunt. So we were down to 10 girls, me, Katharine and Adam. The flight to Newark was crowded, and again, I think most people slept. There were some bumps before we landed, but when we finally did, our luggage came pretty fast, and the buses arrived not long after. As most of you know, we got to John Paulding at about 5:30, where we said our last goodbyes, and headed home.

I'm still not ready to sum this trip up. but I will say one thing--this team is not done.