Off to Jamaica....finally!!!!

So just a quick blog, we are finally off to Jamaica in about 9 hours, our flight leaves from Kansas City at 7am. I know, that's very early!! We plan on leaving from our house at 4:30am!!! If not earlier. So that means, up and at 'em at 3:30am!!!! I could probably wake up at 4am, but that would be impossible, since I'll also have to get Chuck up like 3 times and then get Allison up, hopefully only to feed her a little bit and then she'll crash again, and into the carseat!
We have the suitcases packed. All that needs to be done is to pack the stuff we use to get ready in the morning. And I'm going to go through our carry on one last time just to make sure we have what we NEED!!! I'm taking a book, but I probably won't get the chance to read it unless Allison takes a nap on Chuck. But maybe throughout the week I'll get the chance to read it.
Anyways, we are extremely excited to be going and everyone has their passports. Ours arrived at 9:30am via Fed Ex!!
We have the camera and video camera, so I promise I'll get some photos and footage up on here once we get back home. However, as soon as we get back home, Allison and I will be on the road again. We will back up to Akron on either Tuesday or Wednesday to pick up Lucy and Kirby. Dad says they are adjusting well to the farm, wonder if they would like to stay an extra week? HEHE, just kidding mom!!!
Well I suppose, I need to hit the hay! 3:30am is really really early for me!!!
Praying that our trip goes smoothly and that Allison enjoys her first airplane ride!!! Again, I'll tell you all about it once we get back and settled in to our regular schedule!! Plus I'll be sure to bring photos up to camp!! Can't wait for that either!
Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend and enjoy the rest of your week!

GOOD NEWS!!!

So some good...no great news!!! Our passports are currently being mailed to us by Fed Ex. After many phone calls, an email to our Congressman Cleaver and Brenda (the bride to be) knowing a friend who knows Congressman Graves, we have our passport. Well we don't have them right this minute, but we do have tracking numbers!!
They were pulled, printed and shipped yesterday afternoon! And they are currently sitting in a container at the Fed Ex hub in Kansas City. So we are very relieved that they are finally within reach! They should arrive at our front door on Tuesday morning no later than 10:30am!! They'd be there sooner, but it's a holiday weekend.
I have to say I am very surprised that we are actually going to have them. Brenda (the bride to be) was able to get into contact with Congressman Graves, in her district in Missouri, or maybe just his secretary. I received an email from Graves' secretary on Thursday saying they were working on getting our passports and I guess they made a special phone call to get our passports pulled, pretty much extreme expedite!! But I'm not giving all the credit to the Congressman, especially since I have probably logged over 24 hours just on the phone with the passport agency!!! And maybe 24 of those hours, only a hour did I spend actually speaking with a human being!
I can assure you that Congressman Graves will be getting a Thank you from us, but more importantly I'm relaxing a little bit after all that hard work of consistantly pushing numbers and speaking with ignorant customer service reps. I can enjoy the rest of my time here at mom and dad's without having to worry if we would be going on or not to Jamaica.
It even came down to Chuck and Allen(the groom to be) cooking up a plan to drive to Denver Colorado on Monday so we could get an appointment at the agency on Tuesday to get our passports there! So I'm glad that we don't have to do that, b/c that's 9 hours in a vehicle with a infant and 5 adults! We would have taken Brenda and Allen's expedition. But still 9 hours in a car with Allison??? She would not be happy!!!

So I'm now just enjoying my Saturday morning. Allison is sitting on the floor playing with her Blocks and occassionally she'll look up to the TV to watch a lil bit of Dora/Diego. Backyardigans are on next so we are patiently waiting for the theme song as she just loves it! She doesn't care much about the cartoon itself, she just enjoys the music!

I put up some new photos on our Picasa Web Album, just click on the link on the right.
Hope everyone is enjoying there Memorial Day weekend!!! I'll be sure to blog on Tuesday when our passports arrive!!! Until then!

Update to Yesterdays Update!

So....I'm not sure how I'm feeling right now. I'm not so sure that going on this vacation to Jamaica was meant to be. I finally got through to someone last night with the passport stuff. A man answered my "on hold" call at 5 minutes to 10pm after waiting for an hour on hold. First off, I must just say that the gentleman that I spoke with was so kind and so helpful, very grateful that I was able to speak with him. Now for the bad news, remember how I said that when I called last week the gal told me that the passports had been printed and just needed to be approved/stamped....well she lied to me. My passport and Allison's passport hadn't even been printed. The man, his name was Justin, said that they were far from being printed. We have a week before we leave, and it's a holiday weekend, so it is going to make it extremely hard for our passports to get to us. Justin did everything in his power and in his supervisors power to help me out. After an hour and half on the phone, he suggested that I try to get an appointment with the agency in New Orleans for Friday or Saturday, well the office there is only open on M-W-F, so this Friday I would have to go, however, I would have to leave (fly out) on Thursday in order to be at the office first thing in the morning, as it can take a full day for it to be "Emergency" printed. I could go to chicago, but I have to have the original documents in order to get the passport, but our documents are in New Orleans.
Then we ran into another problem, in order to get Allison's passport, I need a letter written and signed by Chuck that it's okay for me to get the passport, and it has to be notarized. Again, I'm in Iowa, Chuck is still in Kansas City. Almost impossible to get that, unless he were to write it and overnight mail or even same day, but he would have to get it notarized, but he can't do that b/c he is working from 7am to 7pm. After I got off the phone with Justin, I called Chuck, and decided that it would just be too much to try to fly down there and it would cost us 500 bucks plus hotel to get there, which we currently don't have that money to do that.
So back to on the phone with Justin, he put a 2 hour rush on our passports, which means, when the agency or whoever prints the passports receives the message that our passports are URGENT, they'll pull them and print them within 2 hours and have them mailed out the same day. Now that's great, but I wonder how many other people are having this done, so I maybe have a 1 in 1 million chance of getting the passports mailed today. however, I am hoping that we will get them on Tuesday, the day before we leave.
We have insurance on our trip, but Chuck said that this would not be covered. But I did get some sort of good news this morning when we called the NWA World Vacations, whom we booked our trip through, and the gal told me that we have 2 options if we don't have our passports.
Option 1) Call today or tomorrow (within 48 hours) to cancel and we will be refunded our money as we paid for it. So the money would go straight back to our bank account. Then we could just reschedule our vacation for another date if we wanted to, but it can't be rescheduled during the time period that we would be on our trip. So therefore, we can't go until after June 4. And it would cost $100 per person to do this. But we would also have to reschedule our trip in 48 hours and take the trip within 3 months is what I understood..
Option 2) This gives us until the day of our trip to cancel and we will be refunded our money in vouchers, so this way we would have to use them towards a trip, which is fine. It also gives us the extra days to receive our passports, so if we didnt have our passports in the mail Tuesday afternoon, we could call and cancel and all it would cost is the $170 we paid for the insurance on the trip. And we have a year to use the vouchers. So pretty much we would be fully refunded.
So I think we are going to do option 2. Chuck is working today, and i called to tell him that we could cancel and be refunded but he was just getting ready to go up to the Helicopter to go pick a kid up...so hopefully i'll get to talk to him soon so we can discuss options.

So I guess we just have to do the waiting game some more. I'm hoping and praying that we will get the passports on Friday or Saturday. If not then, hopefully on Tuesday!!! I didn't sleep too well last night and neither did Allison, had too much on my mind, however I'm just drained. When I was talking to Justin about the passports I was extremely emotional and stressed out and was actually crying and very upset. I wish I knew Justin's last name so I could write him a letter. I was able to speak to his supervisor and give my positive comments to him. I also wish I would have wrote down the name of the gal I spoke with last week so she would get a negative comment from me for lying! It would be nice if everyone that worked for the passport stuff was as nice and helpful as Justin. Just wanted to add, he said that this is the longest he has ever been on the phone with someone for dealing with passports.
Okay well that's enough for now. Hopefully my next blog will be saying "WE GOT OUR PASSPORTS" as the headline!
Hope everyone is doing better than we are right now! HAHA! Today I'm going to try to relax and them attempt to call the agency again tonight to see if the passports had been printed yet.
Until then!!!

Update!!!

So it's not a good update yet....I have contacted the passport agency a few times, only go through once...was last wednesday. They said the passports have been printed but they still needed to go through 3 more stages of doing checks and I guess making sure everything is right with the passports. The gal I spoke with told me to call back every few days to see where they were at in the process. I tried Friday didn't get through. Then I tried yesterday afternoon. I got through after 15 minutes of continuously pushing buttons, so then I was on hold with some music for 45 minutes....didn't speak to a single person...so I gave up! I plan on trying again today. We'll see though. I am actually in Akron right now. I decided, with Chuck's approval to come up to Iowa about 5 days earlier than planned. So we are spending some extra days with the family.
Grandma White is visiting here today and is planning on staying the night and then leaving to go back to Newell tomorrow. So it's nice to see her, plus she is doing some work on a new swimsuit I got so it fits right! :D Thanks for Grandmas!
So today we are just sitting inside visiting. Mom, Dad and Grandma are sitting at the table talking about the week at camp, discussing if another cabin may need to be rented or not.
The pool is open here on the orchard, we took a dip on Sunday.....Katie took a dip. Too cold for me yet, Allison got to put her toes in. She looked so cute in her swimsuit and cover up. i'll have to add pictures later on.
Okay well, not too much else going on now. Hoping and Wishing that our passports will be in the mail this week and that Chuck will call me saying.."HEy, the passports are here" So I can quit worrying. We have insurance on the reservations at Beaches but I'm not sure about the airline tickets!!! But....hopefully we don't have to cancel anything. As far as I know, the Bride still doesn't have her passport either.
Well, I'd better go for now! Gram is starting to sew my suit, so I should probably watch and learn! :D

Extremely irritated!!!

Okay so most of you know that we (Chuck, Allison and I) are headed to Jamaica on the 30th of this month to attend a wedding. We are super excited about going on a vacation and we have really been needing one...especially Chuck. Well anyway, since they put the new law in affect for traveling out of state, you need to have a passport to get back into the USA. So, since Allison and I didn't have passports we filed for ours back in the beginning of March. They told us it was only going to take 6 weeks before we would receive them. As of today, I can't get through to anyone on the phone b/c they are experiencing extremely high volumes of phone calls and can only assist customers who are leaving in 14 days or less. Well, that is us, we leave in 2 weeks!!!
I am really getting annoyed by the government at this time. They don't even ask you to just hold until a customer service representative is available...you have to hang up and try again. Doesn't that just push you further back in line!?!?!
I guess I'm going to stay up until 11/12 midnight tonight, just so HOPEFULLY I can get through to talk to someone! I was expecting our passports to be here by now.
The other thing that bothers me....you can try your passport online...just enter your name, DOB and last 4 digits of your SS# and it's suppose to show you where it's at. Well this is what is published on their site right now:


Note: We have been experiencing a problem with the online status check system affecting only the application locator number. This does not affect the processing of your application. If the number above is 10 digits long and starts with 10000, please do not worry. If you need to contact the National Passport Information Center, you will have to provide at least your name and date of birth instead of the application locator number. Otherwise, please provide the locator number above.

So they give you a locator number and tell you to call the customer service number. Well that really doesn't help when you can't even get through to the CSR!!!

Not only is it just the 2 of us waiting for a passport....the Bride and her 2 sons have yet to receive their passport. So maybe we won't be having a wedding for them in 2 weeks! Just makes it so much harder though b/c everyone who is going has requested time off and it's hard to come by, especially since summer is just around the corner!
Okay well, Allison is awake and she smiled at me and giggled so she has definitely made my day a whole lot better! Love you boo!!!
Well since she is awake, I'm going to spend my time with her instead of trying to get through with this passport crap!

Happy 7 Month Birthday Allison and Happy Mother's Day!

I completely didn't realize that Allison turned 7 months old today! What an awesome Mother's Day gift. Our baby sure is growing! Anyways, we didn't go to the zoo as planned, just ended up going to Ward and Robin's house for the day and then out to dinner to Applebee's.
It was a gorgeous sunny day...Chuck said it's HOT! I'll take his word for it, we stayed inside most of the day and watched the Nascar Race this afternoon...by the way.....WAY TO GO Jeff Gordon!!! Whoot Whoot!
So not much took place, just some relaxing and playing with Allison.
Hope everyone had a splendid Mother's Day!
Happy Mother's Day to my Mom and mother in laws!

Nothing Too New...

So it's finally the weekend, however Chuck has to work the weekend...what a bummer! It'll just be Allison and I on my first Mother's Day....but we have big plans! We plan on going to the zoo....AGAIN!!! Mother's get in free tomorrow, plus free tram/train/boat rides and a free Blue Bunny Ice cream sundae! So of course, we are planning on going. Invited my step-mother in law...so odd saying that, so...mother in law to go along with, as well as my little sister in law (sydney) she is only 8...maybe 9?? She's young! So hopefully they will call tonight or tomorrow morning to let me know if they want to go with.
Getting more excited about our trip that is coming up in just 18 DAYS!!! however...a little worried b/c our passports have yet to arrive. So Chuck may just have to go to Jamaica by himself! But I'm betting that the passports will arrive very last minute!
Not too much else going on in the Palmer household. Allison and I will be making a trip up to Iowa Memorial Day weekend (right before our trip). Mom and Dad will be dogsitting for us! Thanks to them we don't have to put them up in a kennel for a week! It'll also be a good trip home as there are some Heisterkamp celebrations going on while we are home. So we will be able to see some family that we haven't seen since Christmas!
That's it for now. Allison is rolling on the floor trying to get my attention so I best go and do some tummy time with her!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all Moms!!!!

Rain Rain and more Rain...well just fog now.

Well it isn't raining right now and hasn't since yesterday morning, but there is a lot of flooding going on in Missouri and Kansas. I'm pretty sure that Iowa has some flooding too (they showed people from Red Oak, IA bagging homes). But all the moisture and all the warmth that is coming north has given us a bit of fog. So this is what I woke up to this morning and it hung low until about noon! Can't imagine what kind of problems it caused for people traveling to work during the morning Rush. I'm very thankful that we don't have to deal with any flooding where we are now. Our backyard had some pretty big puddles in it, but nothing too deep. Hope everyone is drying off! Have a good week.

Allison Likes Peas!

So just had to blog about this....Allison tried her very first peas today...and....she actually liked them! I was really surprised after I fed her the first bite she didn't make an "EWWW Gross" face. She ate half a container of the peas and then some rice cereal which she really didn't want any, she wanted more peas.
I actually didn't know this, shame on me, but not sure it really really matters, but they "Suggest" feeding your baby greens as in peas and green beans before carrots, squash, and others and also before fruit. This is b/c they isn't or is hardly any sugar in green veggies, so they are more likely to enjoy eating greens, than if you were to feed them sweet veggies and fruits first then switch to greens. Doesn't seem like it really bothered Allison too much as we started Bananas as her first food besides rice cereal. Just thought I'd tell ya! :D
Here is a photo of her "Green Smile" you can also check out some more photos of Allison in her Jumparoo and her pea feeding, just click on our photo link...the one that says "New"
Oh yea and we finally purchased a high chair for Allison, so no more feedings in the stroller! Took a few photos of her in it, they are also on the photo link.

Allison's 1st Trip to the Zoo!

Today was a beautiful sunny day. It was quite warm also, but bearable. We weren't really sure what we were going to do for the day...Chuck's mom, Bonnie, is in town until tomorrow morning, so we wanted to get out and about. We were going to go to the World War I museum but had a change of heart as we came close to the exit for the zoo! So much excitement...however, I realized once we had loaded Allison into the stroller I didn't pack any sunblock or a hat for her. Luckily there were plenty of mothers around and one over heard us ask the ticket lady if they had sunblock in the gift shop and offered us some, as she too knows that gift shops tend to rip you off for the smallest things. We ended up in the gift shop also, to buy a hat for Allison. It was a bit big on her, but it worked for keeping her head out of the sun for the most part...until she would pull it off!

We only had 2 1/2 hours to see the zoo, so we didn't get to see everything. I wasn't able to see my kangaroos I so dearly love watching, as they are free to roam around the grassy area, no fence between spectators and joey! So that was a bummer, but we did manage to get through "Africa" and saw hippos, a rino, giraffes, lions, a cheetah and many many more animals. And we were able to go through "Asia" and that is where they kept the Orangatangs and Tigers.
I really enjoy the Omaha Zoo better b/c of the aquarium and I think there is much more to see. We would like to get over to St. Louis to their zoo sometime this year, maybe next?

Anyway, by the time we were making our way to the front gate Allison was passed out in the stroller....such a long but fun day!

Here are a few pictures, and I'm also including a picture of Allison in her cute outfit from Mazatlan Mexico that Grandma and Grandpa Heisterkamp brought back for her.

Allison all tuckered out after the zoo.

The Lions caught a whiff of Allison's diaper!

Daddy & Allison by the lions.

Allison in her Mazatlan Outfit.

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Yes indeedy...today was my 23rd Birthday! Really doesn't feel any different. I just sometimes feel a bit more wiser as I get older....learn many new things each year that passes! I'm sure when I'm at 29 or 39 I'll be wanting to count backwards.
Today was very eventful...kind of...but I'll start off by saying we went out to dinner for my birthday last night, I chose Red Robin! They have delicious wraps there...gobbled it up. Mom treated us to dinner, she arrived at about 4pm yesterday. She drove through "The Triangle" just south of Kansas City on 71 Hwy...during rush hour....she said she had never done that before....speed was about 15mph. But she made it safe and sound.
Anyway, today it was just kind of a rainy day, but we knew what we were going to do. They have what's called "The Parade of Homes" in Kansas City and surrounding cities. SO Chuck took us around to look at houses. However, these are not your ordinary houses....they range anywhere from $750,000 to $2.46 Million!!!! Crazy! We found our dream home, as we do every year. Just something to shoot for I guess. I'll be happy to just be a homeowner someday! And at least have 2 bathrooms....a lot of the houses have 5 or 6 bedrooms along with 5-7 bathrooms...and maybe 3 or 4 furnaces and 2 A/C units! Crazy stuff!!! Just makes ya wonder what the people do for a living as some of the houses are actually occupied. But most of the homes are for sale.
So after looking at a few houses, we headed to the mall to do a bit of shopping. Didn't really hit a jack pot anywhere but Mom made a Bday present purchase for me....which was my swim suit for the year or maybe for the rest of my life, hehe. Never thought I'd ever wear a one piece swim suit again since I was like...10, but the Lord showed me I must wear a one piece, all mothers know what I'm talking about. I have to say though, it is a very cute swim suit! So I'm very proud that I found a suit that looks good on me, and will look better after a few alterations...Grandma...we'll have to talk!
After the mall we headed to Hy-Vee, picked up some meat for grilling and also to pick up some "Organic" Milk for mother to try. Grilled, watched American Idol and One Tree Hill and here we are.
SO I had a very wonderful 23rd Birthday. Many birthday wishes came my way whether by email, mail or phone call. Thank you all so much.
OH and yes....I can't forget lunch was at Chick Fil A. And I had an awesome Mint Cookies N Cream shake.....delicious!! Okay enough for now!