Odd {wo}Man Out

J and I {and his family} have been on a mission to get passports.

I already had one, thanks to a Christmas trip to central Mexico.

Oh, you're intrigued about a Christmas trip to central Mexico? Let me give you the cliff notes. We drove to Nuevo Laredo to then take a bus {I know...kinda ew!} to San Miguel de Allende. My grandparents had been several times {taking the exact same modes of transportation} and we decided to take a family trip for Christmas.

The city of SMdA was really beautiful and, since it was my first time to Mexico, interesting. One of the main attractions is the Monarch butterflies that migrate to the mountains near there for the winter. Yes, we went there and yes, it was amazing. If it's really quiet, you can honestly hear their wings moving. Awesome.

Anyway, we stayed from Christmas eve until New Year's eve. Oh, I may have left out one bit of information: it was 1999. Yes, the world was on pins and needles over the idea that computers might spontaneously combust when the century changed.

Anyway, we made it back to the US, no harm, no foul {minus the crazy "police" with AK-47s and picking up random strangers on our way into SMdA...no big deal.}.

So, because of this trip, I had a passport. It expired back in November, so I thought I was SOL as far as just renewing it went, but it turns out I can do a renewal within 5 years of the expiration. Hello $25 savings!! {No, seriously, passports are expensive!}

But the big bummer for the day was that I have to send all my information in, while the rest of the fam got to get it all sent in at the Post Office. I guess I'll have to cross my fingers that this particular government agency can do their job efficiently. {will you cross your fingers too? I think I'll need all the help I can get.}