I got so frustrated with the post office this weekend. In order to get Annabelle a passport both H and I have to be there to sign the papers in person. Well on Friday I got all the paperwork ready (like we literally just have to sign and call it day, everything was filled out), we got ready early in the morning to go in and once we got there we were told that nothing can be done because we didnt have an appointment.
They said it only takes 15 minutes to get everything done but they wont do anything for us that day because we simply didnt have an appointment even thought there was nobody else there and there were 3 postal workers on registers just standing there waiting around.
Now H had to take off work on Friday because they only do appointments from 10am-1pm M-F and for a Saturday appointment they are booked until May. I wish that I would have seen somewhere that you need an appointment on all the websites I went to when I was reading about getting a passport.
Oh, but they did tell us that if we would like to renew one for her that we can just mail the forms ourselves. Ummm, shes 1.

Re: USPS
That stinks! Is the appointment thing new? I got one in 2011 for our honeymoon and just walked in and filled the paperwork and went home. I just remember I had to be there by alerting time because they didn't process them all day.
And it's also annoying that you both have to be there. Grant was supposed to go on a cruise with his mom ( they were actually supposed to be going the Triumph this week) but it was cancelled. She just asked H if she could get him a passport and he said yes. He didn't sign anything saying it was okay.
Sorry it's such a pain, but when you're enjoying your amazing trip it will be worth it
Yea, when you have a minor under 16 getting his/her passport for the first time both parents have to be there to sign the documents and show ID along with the birth certificates or one parent can have a notarized statement saying that its ok. Its basically to prevent one parent from stealing a child into another country. Did she already get the passport? I cant imagine them allowing her to get it without anything notarized unless she has full custody.
We had to make an appt for our passports in the summer, it says it at the bottom of the USPS website. Can you meet H at the Aberdeen one so he's not missing as much time? That's what we did, they were really nice. Also, since it's a closed looped cruise (it leaves and enters the same US port) you can use birth certificates. We did in 2011 without issues in the Bahamas.
https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1139/~/documents-needed-to-take-a-cruise
To be honest, I'm not sure if she did. She asked about it and that's all that was said. She does have full custody since we live here, so maybe that's why, unless she was just going to use his birth certificate since it went out of TX and returned to TX.
The last time I was at the Hares Corner PO, there was a sign about having appointments being a new thing starting on x date. I don't remember what it was, though.
We still haven't gotten passports, and we really need to. I wanted to go on a mission trip this summer, but we can't swing it. But still. Argh.
boy (n): a noise with dirt on it