Last Friday, the Olson clan grew by 4 more paws. Yup! We adopted a new puppy and he is wonderful. As a family, we thought Finley would be a great name for him, but wanted to have eyes on him before making the decision final. He's definitely a Finley (Finn for short) and has quickly worked his way to the center of our hearts.
Before I go into the details of Friday, a little backstory:
A number of months ago, Eric turned to me (rather out of the blue) and said, "I'm surprised you haven't suggested getting a puppy with all of us home during the quarantine" My reply was rather matter of fact, "Huh! I hadn't really thought of it until now. NOW I am thinking about it!" After a number of conversations about the merits of adopting another dog, we decided to pull the proverbial trigger and reach out to the rescue coordinator who found Huck for us last year. We were very low-key about it, just that we were thinking Huck would like a buddy, so if a good fit for our family crossed her path, to please let us know. On July 27th, she reached out to me via text and told me about some lab/shepherd pups (in TX) who were going to need a home and wondered if we'd be interested in one of them. It all seemed to fall into place. Once we got confirmation that he was a healthy pup, we told the coordinator that we'd like to adopt him. We were put in contact with the pup's foster mom, who was truly wonderful and gave him such a great home for his last couple of weeks in TX. She sent me so many pictures and updates, for which we were (and are) so grateful!
Fast forward to last week:
Eric and I had kept news of the puppy from the kids, just in case anything fell through. We didn't want them to be disappointed. Our plan was to keep the pup a secret until I arrived home with him Friday night. A few days before pick-up day, I told Eric that I was thinking it might be good to tell the kids so they could help weigh in on names and because there are so few things to look forward to right now (hello, life in a quarantine) and anticipating a new puppy would be a lot of fun for the kids. That night as dinner began, Eric pulled out his phone and had a pic of the puppy on the screen. He ooh'd and ahh'd over how cute this picture was and when the kids asked whose puppy was in the pic, we told them the news that he'd be ours in a few days. Needless to say, the kids were over the moon. (I now regret that I didn't think to take a video of us telling them so we could capture their reactions ... oh well!)
On Friday (8/14/20), Conor and I set out on what was the longest drive either of us had made in MONTHS (if not all year.... again, hello life in a quarantine). We didn't go straight to Olympia, where the rescue transport was going to do the puppy hand offs. Instead, we "swung" through Issaquah/Renton to pick up a knee scooter for my sister who broke her ankle a few days before (hi, Suzanne!) and then headed to Tacoma to pick up some chocolates from Johnson's Candy (get well gift for said broken-ankled sister), a socially distanced wave with our favorite priest (hi, Fred!) and to have a socially distanced coffee with my best friend (hi, Kate!). Then, we were off to Olympia to pick up our new up. Unfortunate for Conor and me, traffic was horrific from the time we left the house until we got to Olympia We got to our destination about 20 minutes late, which when you're anticipating picking up a new puppy, seems like FOREVER!!!
Not long after arriving at our arrival at the designated location in Olympia, we masked up were handed our new pup.
Having Conor with me was a huge help in terms of getting Finn home. Conor kept Finn calm and as relaxed as possible, which was no small task considering Finn had no clue who we were or anything about what was going on!
Needless to say, when we got home, we were greeted by a very excited crew! Annika could barely contain herself and Eric could barely contain Huck and his excitement!!
One disadvantage to Finn's arrival was the smell that accompanied him. After transporting 3+ days with many other dogs from Texas, let's just say, there's a little "ripeness". We were given a heads up about this potential, so had anticipated he'd need a bath that first night. Fortunately, he's small enough that the kitchen sink proved to be the perfect place to de-stink him!
Over the past few days, we have helped Finn figure out how to be an Olson and he has reminded us how to be a puppy family. There have been lots of belly rubs, naps (the dogs, not us), and snuggles.
Welcome to being an Olson, Finn!!
