Happy New Year!
01-07-2016 Update:
Yesterday we went to the passport office in Seattle and they are now making our new passports. Kathy and the kids will need to head back to Seattle tomorrow to pickup our new passports. Phew, that's taken care of.
01-05-2016 blog entry:
We wanted to let everyone know we still have not left La Conner. We are getting closer but there are still a few things to do. When looking at our passports (which are valid for 10 years) I noticed that they expire in April this year. This is not good since it is very likely we will still be in Mexican waters when they expire. Also, a lot of countries will not even let you enter their country if your passport expires in less than 6 months. We've heard Mexico is one of these countries. So, we are going to Seattle tomorrow to try to get the renewal process completed. The normal renewal takes about 6 weeks; not acceptable, The expedited process via mail takes 2-3 weeks; also not acceptable. If you go to Seattle in person you can get it done in one day, if you meet all of their requirements. We meet those requirements with one possible exception. They want proof that you are leaving the country very soon. Since we are traveling by RV, on our own time schedule, we don't have proof (airline tickets) of the exact date and time that we leave the country. We have decided to bring our San Carlos Marina papers proving that our boat is in Mexico, and the Mexican RV and boat insurance paperwork for 2016, and of course proof of ownership of the boat, with us in hopes it will serve as proof that we are leaving soon. If they don't accept that, well I guess we will leave a bit later than planned.
Steve has been working on the RV, wrapping up his work commitments, plus we still have house preparations to do. That was a short description that only hints at the huge amount of effort required to leave your home, and country for 6 months or more. We don't want to bore you all with the details because it could fill at least a few paragraphs...
The kids will start home school on Thursday. Cannot say they are excited about it but life is an adventure. They think they have a strict teacher for 2016 ;-)
Next update when we leave in the RV!
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| Christmas Day 2015. First Christmas at home in several years. |
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| Our mantle - notice the Lego presents and Santa house. Yes, Steve has a "boat" stocking (Bayliner 45). We made these stockings years ago at Kathy's parents house in Idaho where we have spent Christmas's. |
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| Kids chose Cake for Christmas Desert. Kevin helped make it |
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| The pure joy after receiving an Xbox-One from Grandparents |
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| Kevin skiing at Mt Baker. A beautiful winter day with nice light snow. Mt. Baker at the time had the most snow of any resort in North America! |
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| Cindy skiing at Mt Baker. It was cold that day. |
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