wish we were still in maui

It was so nice to sneak away, even for just a week to enjoy the sunshine and sand in Maui. It all went by too quickly, but if you care to hear more, you can read along and see some of the pics on The Travel Diaries. Rick and I had separate seats on the flight home, so I pulled out the laptop and tried to capture as much of the memories as I could while I still remembered everything.

As for the end of the trip being uneventful, well...I wish I could say that we got home from the airport and went right to sleep. Remind we why we returned home late on a Sunday night when we both had to work early the next day?

After we collected our bags, we found my car at airport parking where my sister and brother-in-law had parked earlier that morning as they took off for their vacation to Mexico. That part was easy. They had sent me a text with the location, and I had my car key on hand. Bags loaded up and our next stop was to my sister's place to pick up their puppy BeBe so we could dog sit for them while they get tanned in Mexico.

House key. Check. BeBe? Well, she must have wondered who on earth was invading her house because she hid from us. It took us a good 5 minutes to find her, only for me to see her little head and pointy ears sticking out from the side of the couch. After some convincing, she finally came to me and we proceeded to head home.

That is until I tried to get into the house and realized the door to house from the garage was locked. Ughhh. I had totally forgotten to tell our house/dog sitter that I didn't have a house key and to leave the door unlocked. And with no spare key lying around, my sister and brother-in-law out of the country, our only option was to call the dog sitter and head downtown to her place to pick up the key.

By the time we got home with house key, luggage and BeBe in tow, it was around 11:15 pm. Thank goodness we were still on island time (3 hours behind) which helped immensely in getting settled, but not so much on getting to bed on time for work the next day.

With BeBe being a new addition to our household of two Boxers, and that she's used to being pampered (read: she gets to sleep in their bed), I thought she may want to spend the first night in our room (in her crate, of course, not our bed). Big mistake. She whined all night and then needed to go potty around 3 am.

Oh, did I mention that before we left for Hawaii, we took Rick's car to the dealership to get some parts replaced. We left it there for the week, so when we returned home Sunday evening, I realized that we'd have to carpool to work in the morning and then go after work to pick up his car.

So a sleepless Monday morning rolls around. Clothes are still in the suitcases and I've got three dogs who need tending to. As I'm bringing Zeke back inside from his potty break, Zoe makes a dash out the back door sans leash. Normally I'm not too worried as she sticks close by and comes right back, but this morning she took off.

For ten minutes I walked the greenbelt behind our townhouse looking for her....nothing. I finally told Rick she was gone and then after 15 mins, jumped in my car to start driving the streets around our neighborhood. Nothing. I'd stop dog walkers to see if they'd seen her. Nothing. I was close to tears at this point. Did someone have her already? She had no tags on, so unless they took her in to scan her microchip, it'd be awhile before we knew who had her. Or even worse, did she venture onto the busy road near the house? I couldn't even begin to entertain the idea.

Half an hour later, I realized that I wasn't going to find her driving around in my car. Low and behold, at the back door was Zoe's face starring at me so happy. It took everything in my being not to get mad at her. Instead, I let her in and then moved on to finish getting ready for work. I figured I better just ignore her, otherwise I might just lose it right there. Of course Rick was all about giving her attention, and I get it, she was mad at us for leaving her, but I didn't want to condone her behavior.

And so a full day at work and then off to the dealership to pick up Rick's car that evening. Finally had a chance to get some laundry going, check in on the progress of our mortgage paperwork for the house in Roslyn -- we signed the papers today!

As for the rest of the week, Rick has his second carpal tunnel surgery for his right hand on Thursday which will incapacitate his ability to lift and do things for a few weeks. We're finalizing when we actually close on the house. If we can move up to this Friday, then this weekend will be about sealing the grout and tile before moving in, as well as shopping for appliances for the house. Otherwise, we may be doing the tile seal and moving all during the next weekend.

Whew! I'm already thinking we should have stayed in Maui for another week. :)