Bobby woke up feeling better on Saturday so we all went up to Jax for the competition. (Though "better" is a relative description at the moment; over the weekend, four separate people told me that they were worried because Bobby seemed terribly quiet and introspective. The sooner he gets out of this job the better).

The competition was a lot of fun. The same thing happened this time as happened at Gainesville : they were short of belayers so I ended up belaying one of the routes. I actually enjoyed this; gave me something to do while Bobby helped the kids strategise about what routes to do when.

All three kids did very well. Sophie took first place in Girls 11-and-under, Emily took first in Girls 12/13, and Stephen took third in Boys 14/15. He has got so strong over the past couple of months and his confidence has sky-rocketed; I think next year is going to be his big year.

We ate dinner with the rest of the team after the competition (and it looks like Team Gecko, informal though it is, might actually get the Florida team prize this year; our kids have got more first places than any of the other teams.) And we were home again by 10.

Had to have Stephen at church by 9:30 next morning for Coming of Age, which was a bit of a challenge. While he was at COA and Sophie was at RE, Bobby, Emily and I went to Barnes and Noble for coffee. Emily was thrilled. She loves getting opportunities to be The Only Child. When we picked the kids up at 10:30 before we went into church, Sophie emerged from her RE class bearing a somewhat cracked, scribbled-upon hardboiled egg. She was unable or unwilling to tell me its significance, but simply dumped it into my bag. This sort of thing is why Bobby absolutely refuses to reach into my bag anytime, ever.

After church, we met up with Jennifer and Anth and Alice and Sammy for lunch and playtime at the park. Last time they met Alice and Sophie didn't want much to do with each other; this time they ran off together pretty much straight away. I enjoyed chatting with Jen and Anth, and Sammy utterly charmed us with her cuteness when it came time to say goodbye. So that was pleasant.

And then we had book group in the evening. We told everyone we were leaving, and they were sad and surprised. I am going to miss them; it is sort of comforting to know that they will miss us too. When we left Durban I wasn't really sad - there was no need to be, because we planned to be back at the end of the year. This is different : I doubt we'll return to Florida anytime soon - or ever, probably - so our goodbyes are more permanent.

So we got to bed well after midnight last night and woke up early this morning(Stephen had a 5am crisis involving a printer and an essay) and today I almost fell asleep in the car driving back from a homeschool thing. I really need an early night tonight.