All good things...

eventually must come to an end.

No one was ready to leave when the day of our departure arrived.

Since I was pretty sure that Jeremy would not be happy if we just chose to miss our plane, I thought I better get us back to the airport on time.  To be honest though, I wasn't completely committed until I turned in the rental car keys.  ;)

The Pastor, Valerie and Bobbie Jo all met us at the airport.  We left really early in the morning.  It was so sweet of them not only to see us in to Yuma, but to make sure we left too.  Bobbie Jo even packed us a delicious breakfast and snacks.  We were so grateful for it because it ended up being the only food we had all day.  You know what?  Now that I think about it, Jeremy probably paid them to make sure we got on the plane.  LOL.  

The ride home wasn't too bad.  We had one long leg from Phoenix to Philly.  You know, the kind that are perfect to sleep through.  That would have worked out really well as I had burned the candle at both ends the last few days of our trip and was kind of planning on that time to sleep. Turns out the pilot was one of those Chatty Kathy types.  He felt the need to point out every little thing.  It's one thing if he wants to show you the Grand Canyon, the St. Louis Arch or the Smoky Mountains, but I have to say that I really don't care if we are somewhere over Kansas.  Every time I nodded off, he woke me up.  We also had 2 short legs.  Yuma-Phoenix and Philly to Harrisburg, where my sister would be waiting for us.

 At one point, I woke up and saw that Abby had conned some man out of his iPad.

These kids are scam artists.  They bat their eyelashes and people are throwing their stuff at them.

I also overheard an older woman talking to the girl next to her.  They were in the row behind Abby and she could see Abby furiously writing her book (she's an author, don't ya know?) on the sheets of yellow paper.  She commented to her seatmate "Boy, that lady sure is busy, isn't she?"  I wasn't sure whether to laugh at what she imagined must be going on up there or cry because she called my 14 year old a lady.

Some people can sleep right through irritating pilots.  It's so unfair.

We almost missed our connecting flight to Harrisburg.  Thankfully they held the itty bitty plane for us.  Turns out that the guy Abby borrowed the iPad from and his wife were also on that flight.  (What are the odds?)** So between the 6 of us, we had half of the plane.  ;)  I realized my mistake in leaving Yuma when the flight attendant put on her coat and scarf to open the door to the plane at MDT.  Sigh.  Summer Fall is over.  Welcome to Winter Fall.

Thank you so much to all of our wonderful friends in Yuma and California who shared their homes and time with us.  We love you guys and can't wait to see you again... soon!

**I can't believe I've never told this story on here before, but on our flight from BWI to PHX in 2010, when Amelia had her broken foot and cast, we met a nice family that sat near us.  They were talking to Abby because she was upset and crying about having to leave. Here's where the weird BIZARRE-O coincidence comes in.  The very next year we were again flying from BWI to PHX on our way back home and guess who I saw in the terminal.  The. Same. FAMILY!  I didn't have the kids with me as I had left them sitting at the gate while I went to get the Auntie Anne's for the ride plane, so I felt like a fool, but I had to stop and tell them who I was. They remembered us and it turned out that we were on the same flight again one year later.  They even sat just a few rows behind us.  Now the odds of us picking the same flight on the same day, 2 years in a row have to be some kind of KA-RAZY!