Forget the Facebook, Twitter and e-mail, I'll take a Christmas letter any day of the year

It's the first day of the new year and Benny and I are busy packing away the Christmas decorations. We have fun looking through the ornaments that we have accumulated over the years and the new additions this year. The most interesting ornaments and decorations always come from our goofy friends of NMCB FOUR.


Yes, Alicia, Melinda and Becky, we hung up your ornaments this year. Olivia LOVED them, by the way.

Another favorite of mine is the Christmas letter.

Until I lived in Yuma, I didn't realize that not EVERY family wrote a Christmas letter to friends and family. Maybe it's only a Midwest thing. When I was young, I always wanted to hear what my mom wrote about my sisters and I in her letter. She would dedicate an entire paragraph for each of us which outlined our accomplishments of the past year.

Then in Port Hueneme, I read a holiday newspaper article about a family that saved their favorite Christmas letters. And after 25 years had quite a collection of their annual letters and an interesting documentation of how things changed over a course of a quarter century for their friends and family members.

Stealing their idea, I decided to start my own collection of Christmas letters.

Today is the day that I read through the 2009 Christmas letters one last time. Benny and I also reread our past letters that I saved in our "Christmas box" and laughed about what we wrote. For example, one year we wrote about Benny's promotion from ensign to lieutenant junior grade and his promotion party where he "handed out the beer. Good job Benny."

I'm always amazed how in a world of constant communication through e-mail, texting, Skype and Facebook, there are details of a person's life that I only learn in December during their Christmas letter.
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Here are my favorite lines from the 2009 Christmas letters:

But kudos to GPS tracking -- won't leave home without the Garmin.

Even though all species of salmon don't like him, giant halibut find him irresistible.

Mya turned 6 months old and still has that new car smell despite the prunes behind her ears and the ever-present lint between her toes.

But while the celebration was for her 30th birthday, it might have been her 10th, as it was a party with friends at Aces Ballpark for a baseball game. The difference, though, being the beer that was consumed by the partygoers.

Lynne is not ready to give up any of the boys' clothes until her arrival and see she finally has a daughter!

He has even asked Elsa what it was like inside Mommy's tummy. "Was it dark in there?" Elsa replied an emphatic "Yes!"

She recently went through a puppy dog phrase, which was cute when she was barking, annoying when she kept licking everyone and downright horrifying when I caught her drinking out of the toilet. (REALLY!)

Now I know why Japanese people are not overweight.

Our wish to you all, beloved family and wonderful friends, is that the special feelings of the season remain with you all year and won't ever end.

My friends and I at Clarke watched way too many movies, went to the Homecoming dance, had a blast going to the Iowa-Arkansas State game for my birthday (which Dad so kindly provided the tickets for) and dressed up as the characters for the premiere of New Moon.

That said, he has enjoyed figuring out how to be a chaplain at a base chapel and hasn't yet run out of sermon ideas, though he still has roughly 100 Sundays to go.

In a year of widespread hard times, we feel blessed to have each other, our health and an amazing network of family and friends who gave us a year's worth of memories through vacations, weddings, weekend getaways, and family get-togethers.
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Thanks to everyone who sent us a letter. I hope for even more letters next year.

Skype Babysitting

Thanks to J and Dre for singing to Olivia and keeping her occupied while I made her bottle.

Saturday: 2 days until induction

On Saturday morning, I woke up Benny and told him about my plan to get the baby out by talking to it.

He started to rub my belly and repeat the message of “We are ready for you baby.”
Around 6:45 a.m. I felt my first contraction.

The way Benny moved around the house, I think there was alarms going off telling him “Baby is coming.” He sprung into action putting the bags in the car. He was ready in minutes to go to the hospital.

I turned to him and said “I don’t think we go to the hospital at the first contraction.”

I called Labor and Delivery at Lester Navy Hospital. The nurse told me to monitor my progress and call again when my contractions were less than 5 minutes apart for at least 30 minutes.

So we ate breakfast. I practiced breathing through the contractions. We watched “Happiest Baby on the Block” video and reviewed how to swaddle our little one. I took a nap. Benny reorganized the kitchen. I took a shower. Benny repacked the car. We took a walk in the rain at the seawall. Benny ate dinner. I watched The Apprentice finale. When Donald Trump said "You're fired," I was ready to go to the hospital.

I called the hospital and the nurse told me that if I wanted to have this baby without any drugs I needed to stay at home as long as possible. Sleep and call back in a few hours.

I told Benny I really wanted to go to the hospital and get checked out, so we went to the hospital.

I walked to the second floor delivery section, which was quiet. Apparently I was the only one having a baby that day.

I checked in at 8 cc dilated and the nurse said I wasn't going home and I was going to have a baby that night. Wondeful!!! This was at 11 p.m. I thought the baby would be born by 1 a.m. Foolish thoughts.


I wish we had a photo of Benny carrying the 5 bags of stuff we had to the delivery room. He was on top of everything, including setting up the iPod with my "Contraction Relaxation" playlist that we made for this moment. The nurse walked in to check on us and said "Jack Johnson. You are the coolest couple we've ever had in here."

With Jack Johnson playing in the background, I tried to laugh through the contractions and think of the prize: the baby.

The doctor arrives and I'm surprised that the doctor is a woman (The nurse said she would call Dr. Leonard and I had met a male Mr. Leonard before). But turns out that the two Dr. Leonards in the Navy are married. Dr. Leonard reassures me that I can have a drug-free delivery. She did it with her two children. I'm in good hands.

At 2 a.m. I beg Dr. Leonard to break my water. I want this baby out NOW!

At some point Benny asks if he can turn on the television. There was some kind of sporting event on that he wanted to watch. I said no in a firm tone.

Benny starts to nap inbetween contractions too. I'm not happy, but I don't have the strength to yell at him.

At 4:30 a.m., Dr. Leonard said it's time for this baby to be born. The entire staff is excited to find out that sex of the baby along with us. Dr. Leonard said "Let's see if we have an Olivia or a Jack. Dad, do you want to tell Mom want it is?"

Benny nods eagerly and we begin the final pushes. Push. Push. One more push.

"It's an Olivia," Benny yells at 5 a.m. on March 8.

Dr. Leonard places Olivia on my stomach and I start crying. "She is so much bigger than I thought she would be. She's huge. How was something that big inside of me?"

Dr. Leonard said Olivia was bigger than they expected too. But she is happy and healthy and cried right away, so all was good.

We call our families from the phone in the room. Olivia is cleaned up, dressed in her V-Team Baby onesie made by Benny's family and wrapped in a blanket. She falls asleep. And so do we.

After moving to the post-delivery room, Benny goes to the gym to use the wireless connection to send the email announcement that he wrote 4 weeks earlier. He leaves the video camera with me "in case she does anything cute while I'm gone."

I look at Olivia and think I'm a mom. Am I ready for this? I have a daughter. I can't believe I have a daughter.

And now you know the rest of the story.

Ghost of blogs past

Today is New Year's Eve in Japan. As with everything in Japan, there are specific rituals and traditions that must be followed.

One of those rituals involves intense cleaning, scrubbing and mopping.

Families will clean their homes from top to bottom today in anticipation of the New Year. It's a symbol of starting the next year off on a good start and not carrying any "dirt" from the past year into the new year.

Our house is its usual dirty mess today and I doubt that we will clean it like our Japanese neighbors.

Instead I'm spending some time over the four-day holiday weekend, "cleaning" our blog.

Blog ideas come to me constantly and I'm always taking photos for postings that are only written in my head, but fail to make it to the computer keyboard. Next year I plan to be better. Must be better.

So as we frequently do here at V-Team is Turning Japanese, we are going to take a trip down memory lane and revisit some events from the past year.

Happy reading! Happy New Year!

No Seabee Baby

I’ve written this blog a thousand times in my head. Over and over again in my head. I’m tried to remember every detail, but over time, the memory of Olivia’s is fading. So I must document the few details I have in mind, before it’s all blank.

March 6, 2009
Benny leaves for the Seabee Ball. The moment of goodbye is an emotional one. This is his first (and hopefully last) solo Seabee Ball. We didn’t have a ticket for me, because we thought that I would have given birth to our child by now. I was planning to be at home with baby. Instead I was home with Grey’s Antamony reruns. Plus even if I could find a seat, I didn’t have any dress that fit me. Nothing for Cinderella to wear to the Seabee Ball.


So I stayed home in a quiet house wondering again: “Was tonight the night I would give birth?”

At this point, I have been off of work for 2 weeks and my doctor has given me to Monday, March 9 to have this baby on my terms (AKA natural.) I did not want to be induced and was trying everything under the sun to pursue this baby to come out of my belly. I had a date to be induced (March 9) and I wasn’t happy about it.
I turned to my friend Kati for advice. I ate the hot wings like she recommended. I walked and walked in the rain in circles like my sister in law Kelly recommended. And still nothing.

That night while Benny was at the Seabee Ball joking about us having a Seabee baby, I was knitting and knitting. I was working to get that baby blanket finished. And I did. By 10 p.m. What now. I turned to the Internet and Googled “Naturally induce labor” and started reading.

I made a mental checklist of all the various recommendations and techniques. Nothing was done except two things.

1) Drink castor oil. Apparently this has worked since the Dark Ages. I emailed a hippie mom on island who could supply me with the oil and instruct me on the procedure for drinking. She said I would be pushing out a baby within 2 hours of drinking it. But the online evidence said the oil basically makes a person sick. That didn’t sound pleasant.

2) Talk to your baby. The Web site said that sometimes babies need to know that Mommy and Daddy are ready for them. It sounded silly to me, but was better than drinking castor oil.

So I walked into the baby’s room and said "Baby I know you can’t see this, but your room is ready. Everything is in place. And Mommy is ready. I can’t wait to meet you and see you. I want to hold you and hug you. I want to kiss you. It’s time. It’s time to meet your parents."

I rubbed my belly and waited.

"Ok baby. When Daddy gets home from the Seabee Ball it’s time to come out."

I never picked up the castor oil from the hippie mom. And I never made it to my induction appointment.

Like a library book

It's official, I'm overdue.

People told us that you are never really ready to be a parent. Well after 41 weeks and four days of pregnancy, I can strongly say that yes, I am ready for the unknown world of parenthood.

The bags are packed. And sitting in Benny's car along with the baby's car seat. The baby's room is done. The champagne is chilling in the refrigerator waiting for me to take that first celebratory sip.

I've read all the books. Every thank you note for a baby shower gift has been written, stamped and mailed. The baby blanket that I started knitting when I found out I was pregnant and recently tried to finish is nearly completed.

Sure I could clean out the refrigerator or reorganize my closets, the type of thing that read about pregnant women doing during the "nesting" stage. But I have no desire or energy to do any of that. So I wait.

And wait. And wait.

(Originally written March 4, 2009)

Hey harpist

Hows about a little "Happy Birthday" tune for my Auntie Kelly back in Minnesota?
This one goes out to you Birthday Girl!

Maybe Santa Should Have Delivered a Rocking Horse or a Harley

Happy Christmas! (just like they say it here)

To our friends and family in Iowa...


and Minnesota!

Merry Christmas!

Santa Meets Olivia

The gap between imagined experiences in parenthood and the actual moments can be quite amusing.

In my ideal or imagined experience of Olivia's first Christmas we would take her to get her photo taken with Santa. Santa would be seated in a comfortable chair with a wonderful background. Olivia would have taken her nap earlier in the day. She wouldn't be cold or hungry. Her hair would be brushed and she would be wearing her red Christmas dress that I ordered in October.

She would smile at the camera and we could capture this grin and reprint it for all holiday photos.

Here is the reality:

I didn't plan a day and time to take her to meet Santa.

We went to Tinsel Town on the Air Force base the first weekend in December because I was feeling like the Grinch and needed a pinch of holiday spirit.

We listened to the Christmas music, watched the older children play and ate a funnel cake.

Santa was set up in a red shack and the line was 20 children long. But we had our camera with us, so we could stand in the line and do it. Olivia was wearing brown pants with purple and green hearts on them and pink shirt with brown hearts on it. I washed her face and we waited for our turn.

When it was our turn, we pulled off her hat. Benny placed her next to Santa and stepped to the side. At first she was fine. She was looking at Dad.

Then she thought if Dad was making funny faces in one corner and Mom had a camera directly in front of her, who was holding her?

Benny stepped into the picture to save a screaming Olivia (and Santa!) just as I was snapping the typical crying baby photo.


We thought that this would be a test run.

Christmas is a few days away.

So that's Olivia's picture of her first Christmas with Santa.


I'll print it and placed it in her baby book.

All she wants for Christmas

Olivia's favorite toy?

An empty box.

6 Reasons to Visit Okinawa

According to Time.com

The 160 tropical islands that make up the Okinawa Prefecture (also known as the Ryukyu Islands) look and feel very different from the rest of Japan, with their own language, cuisine and customs. While East Asian travelers have long been aware of their charms, the 1,000-km-long archipelago stretching out toward Taiwan remains something of an unknown to long-haul visitors, apart from its dubious renown as the location of the Battle of Okinawa. Visiting Japan? Here are five reasons why the Ryukyus should figure on your itinerary.

1. Ryukyu Mura
In an effort to preserve local culture after the decimation wreaked by WW II, traditional wooden houses from other islands were uprooted and reconstructed as a village at Ryukyu Mura, tel: (81-98) 965 1234, near the west coast of the main Okinawa Island. But this is no theme park. The elderly residents (locals regularly top the world's longevity lists thanks to a healthy diet and lifestyle) are serious about saving their way of life and will happily chat to you for hours on end over endless cups of green tea and sata andagi — sweet, deep-fried doughnuts.


2. Sunset Beach House
This small boutique hotel, sunset-bh.com, in Onna-son in central Okinawa Island, is run by a young bohemian couple from mainland Japan. Slap-bang on a picture-postcard beach, it has just four stylish rooms. And the food is something else. Make sure you sample local delicacies such as squishy umi dubi (sea kelp), delectable crispy pork grilled BBQ-style in garlic sauce, and purple sweet potatoes, all served up on the ground-floor patio. Wash it all down with an Orian beer or awamori, a local high-octane version of sake, while you soak up the heart-stopping views.

3.Peace Memorial Museum
What happened at Nagasaki and Hiroshima is burned onto the world's collective psyche. What's less well known is that 200,000 people, including 100,000 civilians, died during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, the biggest campaign of the Asia-Pacific War. The Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum, peace-
museum.pref.okinawa.jp, is located in the eponymous park on the southern tip of Okinawa Island and showcases poignant exhibits. One section covers the lead-up to WW II, another the postwar period when Okinawa was transformed by U.S. military occupation.

4. Urizun
With over 100 varieties of awamori, the 30-year-old Urizun bar and restaurant, tel: (81-98) 885 2178, in Okinawa's capital Naha is an institution and a world away from tourist haunts. The liquor goes down well with mimigaa — boiled, chilled and thinly sliced pigs' ears — or boiled trotters (chock-full of youth-enhancing collagen). The Okinawans love a drink and a good time, so expect to be invited to join in an impromptu sing-along or two.

5. Kayaking in Iriomote
Ninety percent of the beautiful and remote Iriomote Island in the southernmost reaches of Okinawa Prefecture (it's an hour's flight from Naha to Ishigaki Island and then a 40-minute ferry ride) is covered in mountainous virgin jungle and mangrove forests. Tailored ecotours like those offered at Hirata Tourism's Jungle Adventures, hirata-group.co.jp, allow you to get up close and personal, either on foot or by canoe, with mysterious creatures such as the Chinese box turtle and the indigenous yamaneko wild cat. Abundant reefs and sparkling blue waters have also made the island a playground for scuba divers and snorkelers. And with just 2,000 inhabitants, it feels like you've got it all to yourself.

6. Because Michelle, Benny and Olivia live there

Yuma or Okinawa?

A family that vaccinates together

On Thursday I received my H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines at a clinic for military families. With this poke of a needle in my left arm, I became the last one in my house to be vaccinated.

First Benny, so he could continue to build and fight without any threat of sniffles and fever.

Then Olivia earlier this week at her 9 month appointment.

Now me.

Hopefully this precaution leads to a healthy winter and illness-free travels.

Guess who is NINE months old

It's the same girl who will no longer sit still for a picture.

We had Olivia's 9 month appointment on Monday and she continues to be happy,healthy and the class clown of her daycare room. Her runny nose seems to finally be done. Now she is plagued with a cough. But hopefully she will be well in time for her first Chrismas. She saw Santa for the first time last weekend and is not a fan of the man with the big beard.

Monday's check up went well. Olivia weighed 20 pounds, 7 oz (which means she is heavy for her age and can beat up any light weight 9 month girls whocross her path). Her length was 27.75 inches, again long for her age.

Sunday night she did her first crawl like action. Benny said she looked like a fish out of water.

Hope all is well in Minnesota, Iowa, or where ever you may be reading this from.

Catch her if you can

Olivia moved 2 feet all by herself in 90 seconds in a mode other than rolling! Not much wind blowing in her hair at 0.015 miles per hour, but she'll get there... someday.

You can't do that at a Wille's Thanksgiving

My mom's family always gets together for Thanksgiving. The location rotates between the 11 siblings. But there is always turkey, pie and card playing.

This year, my sister and my aunt missed Wille's Thanksgiving at my Aunt Doris' house. (And so did my sister Rachel. My poor mother had all 3 daughters outside of the United States on Turkey Day.) I knew I couldn't recreate the atmosphere of 60 people stuffed into one house for one day. But I could offer them an experience they wouldn't soon forget: zip lining.

Ever since Forest Adventure opened in the summer of 2008, I've been dying to go. Last year, I couldn't go because of my "condition" aka pregnancy. Benny experienced it with his Navy crew. And I was left to ask some ladies in my office if they wanted to do. All said no.

So as soon as my sister said she was coming, I was plotting about an afternoon at Forest Adventure.


My aunt Kathy was game from the first mention of zipline. Colleen took a little more convincing. In fact I think she wanted to strangle me for suggesting the activity. It didn't help that Benny told her that Forest Adventure is the best because it doesn't have the safety legal paperwork that you would find in the States. Thanks Benny.

When we signed the single waiver promising to follow the rules of Forest Adventure, Colleen turned to me and asked "How many people have died doing this?"

"None. If Americans did get injured in any way, the U.S. government would NOT let Benny do this. It's safe, Colleen, sign the paperwork."

And off we went to the park in the woods.

There was one snag. Kathy didn't have any sneakers packed for the trip and the park wouldn't let you without any other type of footwear. Benny loaned her a pair of his smallest running shoes and bless her heart they worked but provided an extra challenge when climbing the rope ladders.

After we got into our harnesses, the instructor began a safety brief. It was important that we paid attention. After all, we needed to demonstrate that we understand how to hook onto the rope properly before starting the course. Colleen was worried that we wouldn't remember the steps involved. I reassured her it would be easy. Then the instructor proceeded to talk only in Japanese.

A bell went off in my head. This isn't good.

Kathy asked if I understood what he was saying.

"Well I know that aka means red, so something about the red piece. So either we hook that on there like that wait did he just say don't hook it like that."

I tried to ignore his speech and watch his hands.

Then he turned and asked me to demonstrate. I couldn't even get my hook unclipped my hands were shaking so hard.

Colleen said she knew what to do and did with flying colors. You should have see the grin on her face when she landed. And then she explained to me on how to do it properly.

Since Colleen was now our leader we sent her out first across the forest.

Kathy followed.

Soon Colleen was smiling.


Then she was going backwards.

Look ma, no hands.

And even began to ask if we could do it again. Apparently 9 ziplines isn't enough for Colleen.


As a little surprise, there is an obstacle course, which includes a Tarzan swing where you land by slamming your body against a net. Benny called it the bug on the windshield effect. I was too chicken to do it.

Kathy was game.



In the end, we finished. We were sweaty, tired and hungry. And we will probably never have another Thanksgiving like this Thanksgiving.

Sayonara to my 20s

Take a trip back with me to December 1979.

Jimmy Carter was president. Disco was the dance of choice. The Soviets had invaded Afghanistan. American hostages were being held in Iran. It wasn't a white Christmas in Iowa. Almost no snow that winter.

And around 9 p.m. (exactly 2 weeks after her due date) I was born in Prairie du Chien, WI.

This week I celebrated my 30th birthday.



I wasn't the first one of my friends to turn 30. Most of my friends (Dani and Benny are the young ones who are still 29) celebrated this milestone earlier in the year. Dana will check that box next week.

Benny did a wonderful job organizing a birthday barbecue in my honor last Sunday. We had a picnic style birthday party at the beach with MCCS co-workers, Navy friends and book club gals. The weather was sunny and warm. A bit windy, but nice.

This is the first beach bash I've ever had for my birthday. Normally my birthday triggers the first snow of the season and I remember plenty of cold birthday celebration.

We had cheesecake for birthday cake. My favorite.

On my actual birthday, I ate Indian food with a couple of coworkers. Benny delivered flowers and a balloon, which Olivia gets really excited every time she sees it. In the evening, we put O to bed earlier while we ate take out dinner from Macaroni Grill and drank a bottle of wine.

I listened to my phone messages left on our Vonage phone while I was at work. And was happy to get more messages during my stateside birthday.

I had planned to write something profound about my 30th birthday. Reflecting on the past and look forward to the next decade.

This Saturday morning I can't remember what I was going to write.

I'll blame it on my memory. It's going in my old age.

Sayonara 20s. Hello 30s.

First Taste of Sweet Potatoes

Favorite things

My aunt said she wanted to do all my favorite things in Okinawa.

This meant a trip up north to the aquarium, pineapple park and glass blowing factory.





The pottery village and gift shops.

The Okinawa cultural park.

And of course the pedicure salon.

On to Okinawa

Highlights from Kyoto

Castles, temples and shrines, oh my.

All aboard

Next stop: Osaka.

After a few days of walking and sightseeing in Tokyo, we said sayonara to Japan's capital city and bought a ticket on the bullet train heading south to Osaka.

Osaka is the second largest city in Japan. It's more challenging because it's more traditional and there isn't nearly as many signs in English to help language challenged travelers like us. It's great because it has a lot of international flavor, including German, since it is sister cities with Hamburg.

We had a great ride on the train. But when we arrived at Shin Osaka station we ran into a bit of a snag. We couldn't figure out how to get to our hotel. Our map of the area did NOT look the same as the maps that were posted at the train station exits. So we walked in circles for a while before a very nice gentleman who had lived in Europe for a time, helped us by saying that we needed to take a train to Osaka train station. Common mistake, he said.

When we got to the Osaka main train station, I still couldn't figure out which direction was the correct direction for our hotel. My map said it was only a 15 minute walk. But nothing was looking similar to my map.

Thinking that this exercise in patience is preparing me for my great win on the Amazing Race someday, I called the hotel to get directions. The hotel had one employee who could speak English and this woman from Korea tried to talk me through it by first asking me to describe where I was standing. I described my surroundings and luckily she knew exactly where I was standing. First we needed to cross the street and head to the underground market.

I personally find that I am more likely to get lost in a tunnel underground than being outside looking at Japanese signs. But she said there was no other way. So we walked into the underground market.

Once there we needed to follow signs heading in the direction of a certain place that she spelled out for me. I swear it was the longest word ever ... some 15 letters. After my cell phone cut out a few times and I tried to spell this crossword puzzle word back to her and didn't think it was right. This worried me greatly. I asked if there was a different sign we could look for. Something a bit shorter, perhaps? Nope, she said. "I'll wait for your arrival," she said.

Armed with these directions, my map printed off the Internet and this long word, we continued to walk forward.

Then we got to a crossroads in the market and I didn't have any instruction about if I needed to turn. So I asked a clothing store clerk for help. She looked at my map and shrugged. I remembered one of the keys to survival in Japan: bilingual maps.

English maps are great for me. English maps mean as much to a Japanese woman on the street as a Kanji map means to me. My map was worthless.

I was beginning to wonder if we were going to sleep in the train station that night.

Then my guardian angel showed up in the form of a tiny middle-aged Japanese woman carrying a small bouquet of pink flowers. I noticed that she was watching me ask for help. I asked her for assistance. She could speak a little English and read my map. She motioned for me to follow her and we did. Through twists and turns in that underground market, this woman lead us through the crowds all the time attempting to talk to me in Japanese. I would answer best I could and nod as she pointed to landmarks on our path.

We walked and walked and suddenly I saw that word the English-speaking hotel woman spelled for me on the phone. We were heading in the right direction. My brain was fried, but my heart was singing this good Samaritan's praises.

She continued to lead us to a water fountain and then pointed to stairs. She looked at our luggage and then helped us carry our luggage up those stairs. Once above ground, she again pointed to the street signs and landmarks. We could see the sign for our hotel.

She could have left us there. I mean, didn't she have places to be? Wasn't she heading in the opposite directions when she stopped to help us?

Instead she walked us to our hotel and delivered us to the front lobby.

That's where we thanked her over and over again. I tried to give her money for her trouble. She refused to take it.

I asked if I could take her photo or get her business card, so I could write her a thank you card later. Again, she refused.

She simply smiled and bowed and walked out the door.

Happy Turkey Day!

I've always been a little bit of a tree-hugger...

I miss the good tap water in Ames, Iowa. It's interested how few of the plastic water bottles are not recycled. And its ironic that some people (not including those who use do not have access to a municpal water supply) think that bottled water is safer than their tap, but some bottled water is tap water anyways.



Thanks for sharing Tammy, I'll get off my soapbox now.

Can you believe it - 8 months already

Found!

Olivia's 7 month old photo.

I wonder if Benny has time to take and publish a photo of her at 8 month olds before she turns 9 months old. Hint, hint.

Tokyo makes my butt hurt

Repeat after me: The stairs in Tokyo are good for my body. The stairs are good for my health. The stairs are good for my legs. The stairs are good for my butt.

This mantra doesn't make the pain stop. But I'm definitely feeling the effects of my laziness on this vacation trying to keep up with my aunt and sister. They want to see and do everything. And so we are attempting to do everything in Tokyo.

Today illustrated Japan and its ying and yang.

We went to a shrine where families take their children when the little ones celebrate their 3rd, 5th or 7th birthdays. The adorable girls in kimonos were constantly in the shrine's main courtyard. I couldn't resist taking my pictures with one.

After observing the traditions of this country, we walked to the shopping and entertainment district for teenagers and explored stores that sell socks, crazy clothes and short, short skirts. Hip, trendy and completely Japanese.

Then we hit the busiest intersection in the world

Before finishing the night with a view from Tokyo Tower.