TC

SFG, You can apply for a passport with "Secondary Evidence of Citizenship". Requirements as follows from the US Govt webs site:

<i>If you cannot present primary evidence of U.S. citizenship, you must submit secondary evidence of U.S. citizenship. Determine what form of secondary evidence is most appropriate for your situation based on the descriptions below.

Early Public Records

If you were born in the United States and cannot present primary evidence of U.S. citizenship, submit a combination of early public records as evidence of your U.S. citizenship. Early public records must be submitted with a birth record or Letter of No Record. Early public records should show your name, date of birth, place of birth, and preferably be created within the first five years of your life. Examples of early public records are:
Baptismal certificate
Hospital birth certificate
Census record
Early school record
Family bible record
Doctor's record of post-natal care

<u>You may also file a</u>
Form DS-10: Birth Affidavit

If you were born in the United States and cannot present primary evidence of U.S. citizenship, you may submit Form DS-10: Birth Affidavit as evidence of your U.S. citizenship. The birth affidavit:

Must be notarized
Must be submitted in person with Form DS-11
Must be submitted together with early public records
Must be completed by an affiant who has personal knowledge of birth in the U.S.
Must state briefly how the affiant's knowledge was acquired
Should be completed by an older blood relative

NOTE: If no older blood relative is available, it may be completed by the attending physician or any other person who has personal knowledge of your birth</i>

http://travel.state.gov/passport/get...irst_4315.html

moneymoo

As I have been going to Costa Rica for 12 years I absolutely love it. However, last year I found a place called La Manzanilla that is 45 minutes from the Manzanillo airport. It was fabulous! My criteria was that it had to have a beach, good snorkeling, good food and low key without a lot of tourists and a flight away from Houston where I could be on the beach by 3!

http://www.lamanzanilla.com/Welcome.html

http://www.powell-graphics4.com/cale...8/calendar.cgi

We stayed in Las Brisas #1 and it was spectacular. Good restaurants, great local food - good hiking in the jungle and the snorkeling was unbelievable at Tenacatita.

cat111719

moneymoo, that place looks great. We are looking for a place for a family honeymoon. One son mentioned Costa Rica but I'm afraid that with 6-8 of us, it might be too expensive to get there.

suze

I'd go to Hawaii.

moneymoo

cat - I don't know where you live but the airfare from Denver to San Jose is $361 rt. Then instead of renting a car, I either use Luis that works out of Los Orquideas in Alajuela for transportation where I want to go. He has a 12 passenger van and he will take you practically anywhere for cheap. My boss and his entourage of 22 just got back from Mal Pais and had a great time. They stayed at Moana Lodge and arranged everything through them. Also, I use vrbo.com to rent a house and then stop at the grocery store and cook most of my meals. I've stayed at gloria's before and it is right on the beach.
http://www.vrbo.com/77745

Tons of wildlife, good beach down the road and a full kitchen.

She has a round tub outside that is great to get into after a hot day of hiking. Even if you flew into San Jose, stayed in Alajuela at my friend Robert's place

http://larosadeamerica.com/ and then used Luis to go see the sights around there - Poas Volcano, coffee tours close by, La Paz waterfall, - sheesh there are lots of things to see close to Robert's lodge.

If you have kids, La Manzanilla might be too low key for them unless they are going to hang at the beach all day. Otherwise in Costa Rica you have zip line, ATV's hiking, the beach, swimming at wherever you stay, etc.

Let me know if I can make other suggestions for you. I've been all over the country!

suze

hey you guys... turns out the OP doesn't have their passports current. Costa Rica or Mexico either one are not going to work for them, this trip.

cat111719

I know, Suze! I'm sort of piggybacking on this thread because all our kids do have passports! It's still going to be a while, but moneymoo's link looks so interesting.

Hawaii is off because that is where I had my first honeymoon. Don't want to jinx it!

moneymoo

Here are the other towns that are close to La Manzanilla -

http://www.barradenavidad.com/barra/English/Main.html

http://www.tomzap.com/melaque.html

Lots to do and very pretty - safer place in my opinion than farther up toward Cancun -

Also there's another town that I didn't get to that I really wanted to do - it's called Colima

http://sparks-colima.blogspot.com/ - volcanoes and there is a cave on the way that you can go into

http://www.gomanzanillo.com/old_articles/grottoes/

Just posting this makes me want to go back!