Austin Surro-sister Get Together

Beth (32 Wks-Singleton), Simi, Shannon (8 Wks-Singleton), Kate (?), Christi and Me

Well, due to the incentive trip for work to Mexico, hubby and I both needed passports.  We haven't been out of the country or on a beach vacation since our honeymoon, over 8 years ago.  Apparently, to get a passport these post 9-11 days, you have to have a "long form" birth certificate.  Luckily for me, my Mom had mine.  DH wasn't so lucky.  His parents only had a copy of his, which doesn't work for these purposes.  That meant that I would have to travel to Austin to get his long form directly from the Department of Vital Statistics.  Since we were born prior to 1983, they are not kept at the local level. 

It all worked out, as I was off work today anyway, but the Vital Stats office was open.  Woohoo!  Road trip!  My surro-sister and friend Beth volunteered to be my co-pilot since she wanted a bit of a break for the day too.  It was so nice to have a travel buddy.  (Thanks Beth!)  I had posted in our FB group that we would be in Austin for the day and we were blessed to have a few surrogates in that area that were able to meet us for lunch. 

We went to the Vital Stats office first and then met everyone at Chuy's in Round Rock on our way out.  It is always great to meet other surrogates that are part of such a wonderful community.  We had a good time (although I can't say the same for the service), but we all made the best of it.  Several of them brought their kids too and they were all so well behaved.  After lunch, Beth and I stopped at IKEA since they have some great glasses that DH likes and have unfortunately broken several of them.  It was a quick trip, but really was a great day.  Rain and all.