You thought we were done with these, didn’t you? Mary’s Green Card has been in a ‘conditional’ status for the past 2 years. My petition turned into a K1 visa, which turned into Green Card (Temporary). I’ve gotten rusty over the past 2 years of not having to file mountains of immigration paperwork and I had to send this I-751 in to DHS/USCIS 3 times. I jumped the gun and was a week early, then I somehow fudged the fee amount, then I got it right! Just got the receipt notice back today letting us know that the conditional status is extended for a year and that we’ll have to go in for an interview eventually. After this the Green Card should last a long time, but have to be occasionally renewed unless Mary applies for US citizenship.

Born 10/11/2010 7:08pm (on our anniversary)
Weight: 5lbs 9oz
Length: 19in

This blog was something we used to post up about our trips and Mary’s immigration to the US. We spent years flying back and forth between Chicago, Milwaukee, and Toronto. We were married in October 2008. Wow how time flies. In less than a year we’ll be renewing Mary’s Green Card to remove the conditional status. We’ll be celebrating two years as man and wife in less than four months. Shortly after that we’ll have a bundle of joy in our lives. Yesterday we had our ultrasound appointment and are thrilled to announce that we are having a boy. Tentative due date : November 3rd.

On the immigration front, in one year we have to file to lift the temporary status on Mary’s green card – and after that we’ll just have to keep renewing it or apply for her citizenship.

Wow, has it been 6 months already? We celebrated our 6 month anniversary and are looking forward to many more! In these 6 months we had many holidays and celebrations – even Mary’s first road trip with me to Kentucky. We visited the National Corvette Museum to pick up the Z06 I had ordered back in November of 2008. Mary also received her Green Card and is good to go in the US for another 2 years.

We wanted to send a warm welcome from wonderful sunny Florida. Mary and I rested for a few days after our big day and we left the cold tundra of Wisconsin to fly to Disney World. It did not start out great, our flight was delayed 4 hours and our luggage ended up at our room at 10PM. The last bag arrived at 1AM looking like a plane dragged it all way down.

Day 1

But the bad luck stopped there. The next day we arrived at Animal Kingdom bright and early with our “Just Married” pins. We were some of the first people through the gates and on the first running of the Everest roller coaster – it was exciting and fast! We slowed down from there and took a train out by some animal exhibits … we were surprised with a Dream Pass for the day. It was a part of Disney’s Year of a Million Dreams campaign. So the rest of the day we went on the safari, the “not easy to be a bug” movie, and everything without a wait. After the exciting day at the park we rested and hit up Planet Holleywood at Downtown Disney for dinner. A boat takes us from our resort to the Downtown marketplace. We wanted to end our first day with a bang so we rode the bus to Epcot and watched the fireworks from the Canada area of the World Showcase. With authentic Canadian Moosehead beer in hand had a great view of the show.

Day 2

Day 2 started off well at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Again we were early and some of the first people there. As the cast was readying the park, they pulled the newly weds to the front of the crowd for some photos. There was a few embarrassing photos taken, but it was great. We were the first on the Tower of Terror (scary!) and we walked over to the Rockin Rollercoaster. Our wedding song was played over the speakers, Aerosmith is the main character in the ride. We spent quite a bit of time at the park visiting the Star Wars ride, the 3D Muppet show, and the Stunt Show. I had my first Yungling (beer) during lunch, I’ve seen it recommended before so I had to try it. We had no dinner plans so after our afternoon nap we called up and made reservations at German restaurant at Epcot. We were surprised with a large old fashioned German meal. I had a liter of Spaten Octoberfest (similar to what we had at the wedding) and Mary had a half liter of Franziskaner Hefewisen. We shared the table with a nice family (they sat groups at a table for 6 people). As we walked out we experienced the fireworks again.

Day 3

Day 3 was our first day off. We slept in and did not stray far from the resort. We rode the boat up the river to the next resort and rented a little 2 seater boat and spent 30 minutes going down the cannel and back. It was really fun for two people who can not swim well. After resting up we got all dressed up and made our way to the Grand Floridian resort. We had reservations at Victoria and Alberts, which is the most expensive restaurant on Disney property. It was a seven course meal, all very small portions. However we were very full when it was all done. The service was great and it was a very quite and intimate setting. We had a wine sample selected by the chef with each course. I went for the Japanese Wasabe (Kobe) Steak … it was a little pricey, but it danced on my tounge. The coffee machine was something we had not seen before, it was quite amazing. The meal included personalized menus that we got to keep, a rose for Mary, and a gourmet snack for later. We then took a romantic boat ride to the Magic Kingdom where we then hitched a ride back to our resort.

Day 4

We went back to Epcot on day 4. This time we spent times on some fun rides: Sorin, GM Test Track, Finding Nemo, and Honey I shrunk the audience. We spent some time taking photos with many Disney characters. For lunch we had some luck and slipped into the Italy restaurant early. I had an Italian beer (Moretti). We were then struck by an amazing amount of luck. There was a Samuel Adams taste testing in the American area of the World Showcase. They explained how they make their beer and some of the history of their company. I thanked the presenter and told him we had Sam Adams Octoberfest at the wedding. From there we walked over to the rest of Europe and each had a Hoegarrden (Belgium White beer we have enjoyed in Toronto and Montreal). We then watched the Canada Video and saw some great aerial shots of Niagara Falls (where we got engaged) and Toronto (where Mary grew up). We stayed close to the resort for dinner and took it easy that night.

Day 5

Wow, this trip is almost over! Day 5 was also another lazy day. We spent our time at Downtown Disney again. ………… That night we went to Lanuba (Circus’sola) which was simply amazing.

Day 6

We spent our day at the Magic Kingdom and had lunch at Cinderella’s Royal Table. We rode on all the mountain rides and covered most of the park.

Day 7

We had breakfast at Chef Mickey’s which is located inside the Contemporary resort. We spent our last “park” day between the Magic Kingdom and Epcot – just to finish up some shopping. We were treated with a Luau at the Polynesian resort. It was a little rainy, but they were still able to do the fire stick dance stuff. I had a flower waiting for Mary at our table, so she had a pretty flower in her hair for the nite.

Day 8

We had to go home.

We will have our honeymoon writeup posted soon as well as some good green card news.

We just got back from our honeymoon and wanted to thank everyone for the kindness and love these past few weeks. We have great stories and memories of all the great times. We are eager to get to work on all the wedding photographs and getting our new life together going.

So stay tuned for more posts on stories and photos from the wedding and honeymoon. In the mean time wander through our photo collections.

Well, I felt like I rode it all night long! This weekend was packed with 24 hours of towing a trailer from Milwaukee to Toronto. Mary is flying in just a little bit with her parents as her official “move” to the USA. We’ll begin the immigration process rolling and get everything squared away so we can visit back in Canada soon!