Home in Austin

After a REALLY long day, we're back in Austin! We flew out of Maui at 4:55pm on Wednesday and arrived into Dallas at 5am Thursday. It was a really long flight. Once it got dark outside we quickly discovered that all the lights in the last half of the plane weren't working - you know... those reading lights that you can turn on. So we couldn't do any of the activities that we had brought for Ryenne. And the "Call" button several rows up was stuck, so every few minutes it would go "DING" and it was quite loud. Both Ryenne and Kai resisted sleep HARD.

Ry made friends with a 6 year old girl in the row in front of us. The girls were bouncing around and Ry decided to eat a snack and then she didn't chew and she got sick and threw up all over herself and the fold down tray-table. But again... it was DARK, so we asked the attendant for a flashlight and I used up every wipe I had to clean it up as best as possible. The attendant brought a plastic bag to cover the chair cushion and a blanket for Ryenne to sit on. I was very nervous not having any more wipes.

When we finally landed in Dallas I was so happy to be off that plane! The sun was rising and both kids got a second wind - It's a New Day! Kai slept for an hour on the plane and took a nap when we got home.

Last night he had a hard time going to sleep. Very over-tired. He finally went down after I let him cry it out, and it's now noon and he's still sleeping from last night. I think I'll go wake him in a moment so we can go grocery shopping.

The trip "home" to Maui was wonderful. It's family and friends that make it home... and the beach of course. :) There are several of my dear friends that I didn't get the chance to see. 2 weeks really went by quickly... I'm sorry I didn't get to see everyone.

The trip did firm up for me though that we made the right decision to leave Maui and raise our children in Austin. The expense of living there is so high. And if you add private school to the mix, the expenses just outweigh the benefits of staying. I don't think we'll have plans to move back to Maui anytime soon. Visiting and enjoying is great for now.