Our Little Illegal Immigrant

We are now safe and sound in Prince Edward Island! I am so excited to be here--it's so fun to see my grammy again and it's also fun to see the island--straight out of the Anne of Green Gables movies. Anyway, it was quite a process getting here. Before we left, I called the airlines to see what all I would need (as far as documentation goes)--it was determined that I would need my passport, Kennedy's birth certificate and a notarized permission slip from Jeremy stating that he was aware of our going to Canada for 2 weeks. Anyway, Kennedy and I had to get up at 3:30 in the morning to make our 7:00 flight--so that was kind of crazy...

After getting to the airport and passing all of the (very rude and distrusting) airport officials, we made it onto our plane. We had a layover in Chicago and as we were waiting to board the next plane, I noticed something strange written on my ticket, so I took it up to the counter. Well, it took them sometime to figure it out but eventually they told us that Kennedy and I would not be able to board the plane. Apparently she needed a passport and we didn't have one for her. I thought I was going to pass out---I told them that I had been told she didn't need one and that the airport people in Salt Lake never asked or inquired about one for her. None of my arguments worked--we were just going to have to get one, or else not go at all. I was so steamed!!!

Gordana, the lady at Northwest who was helping us, gave us the address to the Chicago Passport Agency and directions to the subway. We were still kind of in shock--I was mostly afraid of forfeiting my (very expensive) plane tickets. But, she was very nice and helpful and said she would transfer us for another flight. She also said that we were very lucky to be stopped in Chicago, which is only one of 6 cities to have an agency--otherwise it could take up to 6 weeks.

So, off we went to the subway station, we rode it all the way downtown and made it to the agency 20 minutes before closing time--we gave her Kennedy's birth certificate and our permission to travel from Jeremy. However, they informed us that we not only needed a permission to travel, but we needed permission to grant a passport. It had to be the original and notarized. I had no idea how we were going to do all of this. Jeremy suggessted flying out to pick Kennedy up, but we decided to give it a try--

I faxed Jer the form he needed to be completed (luckily he works at city hall, so he was able to have it notarized quickly)--he had to fed ex the paper back to me. He drove to the UPS store only to find that their pick up time had passed 10 minutes ago. But, they said if he hurried, he could catch the UPS store in West Jordan. I'm sure he flew like the wind, because he made it with 5 minutes to spare. However, there was a long line in front of him. He announced to everyone waiting: "My wife is stranded in Chicago--if you all let me get to the front of the line, I will buy everyone a book of stamps."--Well, they let him in front and he made the deadline. Luckily, no one demanded any stamps--i'm sure the USPS was disappointed...

Well, I got the permission form, we had Kennedy's mugshots taken, and I filled out the application. We made it back to the passport agency (the next day) and they told us our passport would be ready at 3:30 that day. Wow...we spent 2 days and 2 nights in Chicago, but we made it. I'm sure the Canadian officials were worried about Kennedy spooking the mounties or drinking their supply of maple syrup...guess we'll never know.

That was definetly the longest and most expensive plane trip I have ever been on. Her passport is hilarious--I had no idea that an infant would need a passport to fly to Canada...what a crazy world we live in...

We had fun in Chicago, though. We had some deep dish pizza and saw the Sears Tower. We met a lot of interesting people--all of whom loved Kennedy (unlike Utah, she was the only baby for miles around, so she attracted a lot of attention). We sat beside an older man on the subway. He looked rather rough around the edges and he smelled...interesting... Kennedy wouldn't stop staring at him! She really wanted him to look at her, so she stared him down. Finally, after 15 or 20 minutes, he looked up at her and she said "hi!" in her raspy baby voice--it was so cute! His face just lit up! she waved and said "hi" some more and he just laughed and smiled and asked me some questions about her. It was so sweet. When he left, he said "I'm going to go home and tell my wife that I met the most beautiful girl on the subway today!".

We also got to know all of the northwest airport people really well. Everyone knew our story and felt so bad for us--it felt good to have their sympathy :)

Our plane to PEI was full of women (Japanese tourists)--they all loved Kennedy as well and kept giggling at her. It was so funny! They didn't speak very much english, but would laugh and laugh at anything she did. Hopefully they thought she was just as cute when she screamed on the plane for 40 minutes....

I'm excited to show pictures--we don't have any of Chicago, but I'll be sure to post plenty of pics from PEI!!!