Alive

The trip to Hawaii kicked all of our butts. We have taken nearly two days to recover. A mere five hours after we landed, we got Gioia's citizenship application into the Immigration office. I swear to goodness, it almost killed me. Chris did the prep work while I napped with the baby, then he took napping duties while I dragged my sorry tush across town. Of course I got the fee wrong, the money order amount wrong, and did not bring all sorts of necessary info (Crap! What is the hotel address!?). But in the end, the paper was filed.

Five hours after that process, we got a call saying her appointment was Tuesday morning at 8 am, right after President's Day. We did not think it was possible to be delayed by every holiday on both sides of the Pacific, but we were wrong. Oh, and be sure to bring evidence with you that you both have lived in the United States for five years. Like high school records, or something. WHAT!? Oh $#*!.

What to do? Oh, I know. Let's go stand in line at the Social Security Administration so they can give us a copy of our statements. That should only take 20 minutes, right? Nope. Three hours. That's why I pay the 7.65% of my salary every year. So they can under-staff the field offices.

Now the day is done, though, and Mexican food cheered everyone up this evening. As evidence, witness a much happier Miss G.