The girls are off to Hainan Island for a little vacation with some friends before returning to Houston.  They were also invited to go to Macau with the same friends but couldn't make that trip because of their trip to Shandong Province.  Some of Cici's former classmates will also be on the Island so she will begin celebrating her birthday early there and continue the celebration on her actual birthday when she returns to Guangzhou.  She arrives home in Houston two days after her birthday so the celebration will continue here.

The girls will return to a Houston with dark early mornings and shorter evenings because autumn is approaching.  They will see the last gasps of the crepe myrtles but will miss their summer beauty.  I suspect they won't mind too much; they will just be glad to be home.