Shipping the kid off:

[jrittenhouse]

The major vacation expense that we have around here is and has been for a long time Sissy Trips so that the twins can see each other ever so often. This year, there’s been two times - March camping in Kentucky and May for a long weekend camping thing in Georgia (with a brief before and after in Birmingham). And since air rates and gas prices have

Comments

[ms_dblk]

I just got an email from a friend who's 14 yr old daughter has spent part of the summer at her older (married) sister's place. The family had driven out, but the younger daughter wanted to stay. In addition to the price of her ticket they were told there'd be an additional $100 fee due upon arrival for an unaccompanied minor. Ouch!

[marmot63]

Southwest, currently the best price for airfare between here and Alabama, doesn't charge an extra rate for unaccompanied minors.

[daddy_guido]

I flew several times alone as a kid - even to Puerto Rico and England - the air crews were fantastic to me.

Does Mere have a passport? that will make the paperwork easier.

sending copies of the article is a great idea!

[marmot63]

Yes, she has a passport and a State ID.

[jrittenhouse]

We got her a US passport the day she became an American citizen (late February, 2001 - the law changed so that kids who are adopted internationally are citizens as soon as they land in this country, and she became one as soon as that law came into effect).

The reason was simple; ID. Since she doesn't look like us, we need to prove she's OURS. She also needs to prove her citizenship and whatnot when we travel (especially by air or going over to Canada, which we do once a year or so). And we also have a state ID and citizenship paperwork as well.

The article is just a good way of dealing with the people who fritz out on the whole Meredith-Meredith separated-by-700- miles-adopted-twin thing.

[marklafon]

Pack sunscreen & tell her to keep out of the sun and drink a lot of fluids. I am in AL at the moment and it has been HOT. Heat index at 110 F. I really miss the cool dark of the karst country of KY where I was a few weeks ago. Summer in a cave is much more comfortable.

[jrittenhouse]

My health conditions make hot weather even more unbearable than it was; I've NEVER liked hot weather. Going to Alabama in the summer - ick.

[one_undone]

Wow, sticky and tough. I hope all goes great for her -- and the rest of you! :) I can't imagine being separated from my little turkeys for a week yet. It's a rather frightening prospect to me. I think Mere will do fine with it, though. A little homesickness the first night maybe, but she'll be okay because she'll be with her Sissy.

[marmot63]

She should be fine. She's considering it practice for going to Camp Juliet Low, next summer. And she chose the length of the visit. She has been away from us for 2 nights in a row. I'm more concerned about later in the trip. She's very comfortable in her sister's house and with their family. Me, on the other hand, will find the house awfully quiet with her gone. I am hoping to get some scrapbooking done while she is away. I have a prepaid Shutterfly book to use before mid August.

[one_undone]

Ooh, scrapbooking is a good idea! :) I never have enough time for it, which is a shame because my sister Deidra owns two scrapbooking stores in New Orleans. :/ She's also got a store blog with some ideas and an online catalog where you might find things that could be useful, or you can email her or her son Emery with questions about anything you're working on if you need help. :) http://scrappersaurus.com/

I think Mere will be okay. She's a strong spirited little gal. ;)

[jrittenhouse]

The stuff Susan does is digital-scrapbooking, FWIW. We have a fair amount of samping and scrapbooking supplies up here; Susan used to sell a line of adoptive-kid stamps when Marmot Graphics was more of a working business.

[almeda]

I used to push wheelchairs at O'Hare, which included among 'disability assistance' tasks things like maintaining custody of UMs who were switching planes -- go to plane, take kid and paperwork, return kid to Secure Kid Holding Area, etc. Occasionally one of us would be summoned to take a flock of UMs to the food court and back, making sure at all times to keep an eye on them so we could prove we'd never left them unaccompanied.

This was actually not a pain ... except Christmas week with the kids-of-divorce (hey, I are one, I know the 'tude) who were FED UP with being followed around and treated like prisoners, and who meanwhile had their flights messed up by weather. Yes, THAT was unfun.

Major advantages of that job: (a) learning how to get through security in 0 seconds flat [because I had to do it 30+ times per day], and (b) now knowing where all the best food and most interesting things to see in the airport are. :->