Last one . . . I promise

So . . . you thought I was done, didn't you? I just couldn't let the previous trip recap be my last. Since it was such a ginormous post, by the end of it, I was sick of typing and uploading pictures. I promise, this will be my last post about the trip . . . a few last recollections and observations.

• I was soooooo nervous to be going to New York with a complete stranger. Sure, Megan and I work in the same school district, but we had never actually met. We saw each other for the first time in the taxi line at JFK airport in New York. I could not have been luckier. We hit it off instantly (I think we bonded instantaneously while riding in the sketchy "private" minivan from the airport to our hotel.) From wearing the same size shoes, having the same toothbrush, loving scrapbooking, to our husbands even being similar (loving to fish and hunt) it couldn't have gone better.


• I saw fireflies for the first time in Central Park . . . definitely a story I will write about during our "small moments" unit during writing when school starts again.
  
  
• We often forgot that the school did not send us to New York to sight see, but to actually attend Teacher's College. :) The school part was amazing . . . it was so exciting to be around other teachers who were excited and passionate about their work. As much as I didn't want to think about school in the middle of July, my head was swarming with so many new ideas and things that I want to try that I can't wait to get back into my classroom and meet my new first grade friends. I learned a ton . . . too bad I will have to "present" this information to my colleagues when school starts. As long as I'm only talking in front of 5 and 6 year olds, I'm fine . . . not so much when it's big people.


• Usually when you go on vacation, you gain weight . . . I actually lost 7 pounds while we were gone. I think it all came off in sweat.
  
  
• Tom loved New York even more than I did. He tells everyone we are going to move there and he will either be a bouncer, tugboat driver or manny. Yes, I said manny. Seriously . . .
  
  
• Tom's head swelled to an enourmous size when he found out that the Dutch originally settled New York. Say it with me . . . "if you ain't Dutch, you ain't much."


• Our pace was speeeeeeeedy while we were in New York . . . once we got to D.C. we slowed down a bit. It was so nice not to be on the go, go, go all the time.
  
  
• Having said the above, I cannot believe we did as much as we did in New York while being in school from 9-4 every day. We were buuuuuuuusy.
  
  
• Another thing I was nervous about (there were many on this trip) was having all our plane tickets, train tickets, etc. align. I was relieved to meet up with Megan at the airport, then I was relieved when Tom made it there, then I was nervous about getting our train tickets booked and making sure I got them to and from the right station, then I was worried about meeting up with Alison and finally, I was so nervous about Tom and my plane tickets matching up on the way home. The school bought my ticket several months earlier than when I had booked Tom's, and I was pretty sure we were on the same flight . . . I never told Tom that I was only "pretty sure" we were on the same flight home. Wouldn't you love to hear that? "Honey, I'm pretty sure we're going to be on the same plane." I was freakin' sweating bullets when we got to the ticket counter. Oh, and one more twist in the plot . . . we flew into JFK in New York, but were flying out of Reagan Airport in D.C. You're probably saying, "yeah, big deal." You don't understand . . . the first thing my Dad said to me when I got back was, "I can't believe you really went to New York by yourself." Seriously, I don't know how I had time to do anything else but worry. :)
  
  
• Finally, I feel blessed that I work in a school district that values learning so much that it would send me to New York, I feel blessed that I made a wonderful new lifelong friend in Megan, I feel blessed that Tom could come and share in this experience, I feel blessed that I have a fabulous cousin who was our hotel and entertainment coordinator and I feel blessed that God kept us safe through this whole crazy adventure. I am one lucky girl.