Do you have any idea how much passports for 8 people costs?  Well… if we go to the Post Office and they take the pictures it will be $1,010.  USD.  They can at least do it on Saturdays.  But not at our local Post Office.  No.  When I called the Post Master there to make an appointment his voice squeaked when he heard how many we needed.  He all but demanded gently suggested we go to the MAIN Post Office 15 miles from here.  No problem.  I called the Post Master out there and he indicated they could do the 8 of us in an hour to an hour-and-a-half.  And to bring 9 checks.  He was really pretty nice. 

Then I learned our Town Hall could do them.  And they would only charge $964 to include the photos.  But, she straight out gasped when she heard we needed 8.  She asked questions in a way to discourage me from going there.  She kept saying it was Tax Time.  They were really busy because it is Tax Time.  Maybe if we could come after Tax Time.  I finally asked when Tax Time was over.  She said 2/11.  Um – three weeks?  Yeah.  Um – we can wait three weeks to save the money.  But, then John has to take half-a-day off work because they only do them from 10:00 A.M. – 3:30 A.M.

A wee bit of a hassle, no?  And technically, we don’t even really NEED them.  We are going to go on a closed-loop cruise meaning we get on and off the ship in the same US Port.  And as the only places our cruise ship is stopping is in the Bahamas and Disney’s private island, we really do not need them.  BUT – if we had to be flown back to the US from some other country (due to illness or injury) we would need them.  So, they are like an insurance policy.  And they cost 25% of what the cruise costs.

We still don’t have them.  Nor do we have an appointment.  But we do have pictures.  Sort of. 

You see, I went on the US Department of State website and they seemingly understand that passport processing places are charging ridiculous amounts to have ugly 2 x 2 pictures taken and processed.  So they quite clearly and carefully offer guidelines for photo-taking for the purpose of passports.  One of the rules is not to smile.  Hard for these disciples to do.  Another one is to be mindful of shadows.  Shadows are hard to contend with in the winter.  Even with the boys green screen/light set up.

And this is my wordy introduction to the following mug shots photos.  You can’t say I didn’t try.

I ended up finally getting pictures. 

Was it worth saving $110?  I refuse to answer that.