Finally

We've really been putting off this blog, but at long last, here it is... Round Trip Rico.  Rico is our Puerto Rican cat, who was adopted for us by our neighbor in Alexandria, right before Snowmageddon 2010. We never thought that we would bring him back to his homeland a couple of years later. 

In early June we packed.  Our friend C was kind enough to convince the movers to let us get in the crates for a photo.

After that we camped out in our house for a couple of weeks with air mattresses, etc. The cats went to the vet for a whole month of being boarded. Then B and the kids went to CA and M finished up at work and joined them a few days later.  M and B went to Seattle for a couple of days to meet J and J's new baby, then back to CA.  Then two fun weeks in NH.  There's just too many photos to try and do a complete update so we're selfishly focusing on the big move.  We went from NH to Alexandria for one day to collect the cats which our friends were kind enough to pick up for us since it was Sunday and the vet closed early.  We were reunited with the cats in the hotel and then met friends for dinner.

Then, the next morning, off to the airport with our tons of luggage and live cargo!

Everything was great... no traffic to Baltimore during rush hour, and the security lines weren't bad!  Then... TSA said the cats had to be removed from the cases and carried through the metal detectors.  Or, submit to private screening.  B was sure that the private screening was going to involve a body cavity search for the cats, so we carried them.  M got Minnie Pearl through no problem, she practically dived back into her case.  B was passing through with Rico, when something beeped and he panicked.  He brutally slashed B's midriff with his back claws.  M grabbed him and was bitten through his hand right down to the muscle, and Rico took off into the bowels of TSA.  We were bleeding and L was crying because he thought TSA was going to keep Rico.  They cornered him in a back room and got him out.  We doused our wounds with hand sanitizer and were on our way. Our friend said Rico was pissed we were bringing him back to Puerto Rico!

We got on the plane for the 4-hour ride.  The cats were popular.  M and L had to sit across the aisle from each other, and L talked his rowmates' ears off.  He's definitely a plane talker.  Pro-tip:  there is no food available on Air Tran... not even to pay for.  So we got to PR starving.  

Met by a colleague, we checked into our nice condo in the loud beach/party area of Isla Verde.  Nice place, but the AC was broken... until today, 10 days later.  There would be a nice cross breeze but the cats could leap to their deaths from the 11th story windows, so we mostly kept the windows cracked and coped with some serious heat and noise at night.  While M got situated at work, B took the kids to the pool and beach during the day.  We decided not to live in housing and are still househunting with a couple of good leads.  Last weekend we drove to Pinones beach, which is less crowded, and enjoyed some local food.  The driving is crazy, which we  knew, but until you experience it...  

We can tell it's going to be a fun time here, and are looking forward to moving into a "permanent" home.  There is a lot to do here and people are very friendly and fun. After we get a house our next project will be buying a used car. After almost 2 months living out of suitcases, the kids are at the end of their rope and driving us crazy.  School starts in 3 weeks, and it will bring routine and friends, so there is light at the end of the tunnel. Stay tuned for more frequent updates now that we have broken the seal on RTR.