I needed to post this for posterity's sake.

Well, I thought I would share a taste of the bureaucracy with
everyone. Don't take this as complaining, merely a description of
events.
Thursday James had administrative time if he would use it, so we
decided that we would head into DC and start the passport process. (We
have to get dipllomatic passports so we can't just mail them in.) So,
about lunch time James got home and we drove the hour and a half into
DC. When we first found parking for our very large vehicle, we paid
the meeter and walked across the street- 2 girls and a 3 week old baby
in a sling- to the office to pick up the paperwork. After the security
checks and signing me in, we first stopped off to say hello and show
off the baby, and then headed up stairs to pick up a paper. The lady
that James needed to see wasn't there at first, so we waited. Then
when she got there, the computer system wasn't working, so she typed
up the form on a typewriter so that our trip would not be wasted.
By this time, our meeter had expired and we hurried back across the
street, and decided to look for the free parking around the corner we
had heard about. After trying to find a spot we would fit in for about
10 mins, we found another meeter spot and unloaded everyone again and
headed into have our pictures taken. It was about 2 blocks that we had
to help the kids walk in the freezing wind around the corner of the
building, show them our paperwork and then go in the little office to
have our pictures taken.
Poor JT, I had to hold him up and balance him while they took his
picture. We finished and went to go in the other part of the building
up to the passport office. Unfortunately, on Monday (unknown to
anyone) they stopped admitting visitors from any other entrance than
the front entrance.
Sooo, back into the wind we went. Zoe was starting to feel a little
tired by now. We walked back to the front of the building accross from
where we were parked. But, a bus tour had just arrived so we got in
line behind the bus load of people while they put us through the
security gates and x-rayed our things. When we finally made it inside,
we found our way around the crowd to the sign-in desk and got my
badge. Then the girls and I went through the visitor gate (around the
crowd of people again) while James let himself in. By the time we got
to the passport office.......it was closed for the day. We arrived at
3:10 and they had closed at 2:45.
Now this is just a courtesy office. The real passport office is
located somewhere else down town. So when James called to get the
hours the day before, they gave him the hours for the main office--
but he didn't know that. They do run a shuttle to that main office,
but because of our car, we couldn't leave it parked there that long
and so we couldn't take the shuttle. So after taking care of some
other business while we were there and a trip to the bathroom, we
walked back out, turned in my badge, got everyone strapped in and went
to find more parking near the passport office that was going to close
at 4:30.
We found a spot about 3 blocks away...good enough at this point since
we were getting close to rush hour time. So, James carried Zoe most of
the way, the baby in the sling, Marlo trying her best to be cheerful
since she could tell how frustrated we were by the situation and we
made it to the office at 4:15. Just in time to get it all
processed.....except the guy forgot to ask for the kids birth
certificates, which we had with us, and now we have to fax to
him...and then they will get processed...
We finally made it back to our car just in time to sit in traffic.
Fortunately we were in town and it was easy to stop at our favorite
Kabob place for dinner. (Marlo ate her leftover hamburger from
lunch...I was done having battles for the day :))
That night when we got home, James packed up and got ready to sit at
the airport all day yesterday waiting to fly to AZ

Just a note. If Southwest needs to bump you to a different flight
because they over sold tickets...it is just a minor inconvenience and
you have to deal with it. But if you show up at the airport 8 hours
early for a flight because your work schedule changed and they have
plenty of room on several earlier flights, they will in no way change
your ticket or let you fly stand by. That would just be too convenient
and helpful.

So, the kids and I are spending the weekend recuperating from
Thursday. The girls have runny noses, I have a sore throat, and
thankfully JT seems to be fine. James on the other hand is in AZ
working like crazy for a day helping his parents with some computer
work. And then he can come back and recuperate.....

Needless to say I am tired.
Michelle