Half a year old

Half a year old .... that's what a woman said to me recently when I told her that Olivia was six months old. Of course, after the initial shock of this moment, I immediately started planning Olivia's first birthday party in my head. But seriously Olivia is six months old and continues to grow like a weed.

At her doctor's appointment earlier this month, she weighed 17 pounds (which seems tiny in comparison to the birth of the 19 pound baby) and measured at 26 inches long. She tends to be larger than her 6 month old counterparts, which Benny is very proud to tell everyone. When I'm only with her at the store, people always comment about how big she is and that her father must be very tall. Yup, that's where her height comes from.



No crawling yet, but lots of wiggling. She rolls over like a champion, but doesn't seem to understand my need for her to sit up on her own. And I bought her a Bumbo chair in the States during my very first visit to Babies R Us as a mother. Luckily we tried it out before flying to Japan. That's when we discovered that Olivia was too big to fit into the grooves of a Bumbo chair. Bummer about the Bumbo.

First time meeting her cousins

Olivia had a blast with her cousins .... who were very excited to meet her. Luke couldn't stop saying Olivia Lydia, Olivia Lydia, Olivia Lydia over and over again. And Grace and Ava took turns holding her. And Sam, well, Olivia was happy to not be the youngest baby in the room.

First food

Grandma Marie gave Olivia her first taste of rice cereal.

It'll be easy to remember

when Olivia's first tooth came in because it happened today on Grandpa Cliff and Grandma Marie's anniversary!

Happy Anniversary, we love you guys!

Olivia's First Viking/Packer Drama

This is why our friends Jeremy and Andrea made a onesie with the Vikings and Packer's logos with "Mommy and Daddy don't talk on Sundays".



It started with Grandpa Cliff calling Benny, saying Brett was on his way to Minnesota in the Vikings jet to sign with the team. Benny thought Grandpa Cliff was pulling his chain, until he turned on the radio and the TV.

The local TV stations were so into the Farve drama, they could tell you what he had for breakfast, how many days it had been since he last shaved, and how many days he'd gone without showering.

Michelle and Benny were pretty shocked. We never thought Brett would get between us for more than two Sundays a year. Looks like we're in for a long football season.

Then we flew to Minnesota

Where Olivia met Uncle Jon

San Diego Part 2

Olivia's first four generation photo


Olivia's first time on a Navy aircraft carrier. Yes, we toured the Midway.

Olivia's First Trip to San Diego

After traveling to San Diego for holidays and weekends for years (escape from Yuma and home cooking when we lived in Oxnard) it felt like a homecoming to touch down in San Diego.

Olivia had her first lunch at Soup Plantation (my favorite buffet restaurant), Andrea bought Olivia her first tutu at Marshall's.

Then we picked up my parents at San Diego Airport as part one of Mission: Surprise Lydia on her 80th birthday. In the backseat, my dad met Olivia in person. It was their first encounter.

In the morning, part two of the surprise mission went into full effect. Mom called Grandma and said her and Dad were on their way to her house for breakfast. Yes they arrived fine. No, they did not need Peter to come find them and take them to her house. Yes, they would be there soon. Once she hung up the phone, my mom breathed a sigh of relief. The surprise news would be revealed in minutes.

It seemed like my mom and I have been planning this surprise forever. But considering my grandmother has been planning her 80th birthday since she was 78 years, 364 days old, this decision was relatively soon. My mom and I first talked about it when she was visiting me in March. We knew that we were going to the States in August and that Patti was getting married in late August, but we could be there as early as Aug. 12. And since I love surprises and my grandmother has been know to pull some surprises on other family members, it was on! I was up for the challenge of creating fake itineraries, giving most people false information and telling no one that we were stopping in San Diego.

At 9 a.m. Olivia, Benny and I rang Lydia's doorbell. I heard her and my dad's brothers and sisters talking inside. I heard her sister and brother-in-law chatting in German. And then she opened the door. And we yelled "Surprise. Happy Birthday." And she stopped and stared at us. And stared. And stared. And I gave her a hug and then the realization of us standing in her home finally set in.

There were lots of tears and many smiles. I forgot to take any photos of that moment. I think my aunt Becky might have some. If I locate some, I'll post them.

Olivia's first surprise was a success! Along with meeting her great grandmother for the first time.

Benny's 32-Hour Birthday Festivus

I'm not talking about a birthday festivus that the celebration goes into the night and lasts more than 24 hours. I'm talking about a birthday that starts at say, 12:01am on Sep 12, and 32 hours pass before the clock strikes 11:59pm on Sep 12.

It was the definitely the longest birthday I've ever had, and I celebrated it with three of my favorite women.

Olivia helped my start off my birthday celebration by singing to me at 5am and letting us know the party needed to start. Then Michelle chimed in and started singing too, except Michelle's singing was more in tune (Olivia has some work to do).

After we had breakfast at Chili's in Yokosuka, we packed our bags and were off to the airport in Narita. Our lunch celebration included takoyaki, noodles, and biru (beer). Once we boarded our flight, there was another biru served to help me celebrate (thank you United for serving Kirin on your international flight without charging a dime - unfortuntaly it was overshadowed by the $80 fee for checking four bags). The beer almost made up for the movie selection (Star Trek, Dragon Ball Z, something else similar to Dragon Ball Z, and something else we weren't interested in staying awake to watch). Besides, we had to entertain Olivia for five hours. And as long as she was entertained, she was happy.

We tried to get Olivia to sleep, but she only fell asleep after five hours in the air of a nine-hour flight. The airline gave us a giant bowling ball bag that they referred to as a bassinet for Olivia. She did not like being in it because she could not roll around and she could not see all the friendly faces smiling at her. She also probably didn't like the smell of all the feet, since the only place the bassinet could go was under our feet.

We landed at LAX and surprise, surprise, missed our connection to San Diego. We were on standby for the next flight and I asked the clerk if we were going to be able to get on since boarding had started for the 1:35pm flight. Michelle had stepped away to call her sister and use the facilities... but that was 15 minutes ago and she was no where to be found. I asked the airline rep to page her. "Michelle Volkmann, please report to gate 42, you have one minute to board before the gate will be closing!" One minute, holy schnikies - I didn't know there was only a minute left to board! They had not announced the final call yet, and I started to think we were going to have to wait for the 5:30pm flight.

After landing in San Diego and picking up the rental car, we had lunch at Ricardo's Very Mexican Cafe in Del Mar. Then we met up with our Yuma-turned-FOUR-friend Andrea at the Coffee Bean in Solona Beach. Another birthday present for Benny: really very good Mexican food and really good coffee.

In the 29th hour of the birthday festivus, we headed to Applebees for some chicken wings and Fat Tire. We were amazed at how many places were closed at 9pm, and Applebees was the only place open in the area. Our waiter had the gumption to mock Olivia's Minnesota Vikings bib ("why don't you get her a bib for a real team, like the Chargers?"), but he made up for it with a birthday cake dessert complete with a candle to blow out. I'm easily won over sometimes.

When the clock struck midnight, 32 hours had passed in our day. It was an awesome birthday, thanks to Michelle, Olivia, and Andrea. Thanks for voice messages, emails, and Facebook messages too.

Grandpa Roy has a birthday, E-I-E-I-O

And on his birthday he has some candles, E-I-E-I-O
With a candle here and a candle there,
Here a candle, there a candle, everywhere a candle, candle,

Happy Birthday Grandpa Roy, E-I-E-I-O!

Olivia's First...

and LAST Dome game!

Poppa Bear, Momma Bear, and Baby Bear Tees in preparation for the big game.

Thanks for my first Twins Tee Aunt P


We arrived at the Dome after Olivia's first ride on the light rail train. Aunt Patti, Uncle Bob, and Grace made awesome signs for Bert Blyleven to circle us with his John Madden skills on the telestrator. Unfortunately, Bert didn't see us in left field to circle us. (Patti was circled before, you'll have to ask her about it).


The Newlyweds: Uncle Bob and Aunt Patti


Before we could even get into the Dome, we enjoyed some cheese curds. Then we had one last stop before entering the friendly confines of the HHH Metrodome - Olivia's first team picture.

Somehow the Twins managed to score on every V-Team diaper changing expedition. So we never got to see Mauer or Kubel's home runs. In the end, it was the Twins 4, the White Sox 1. The box score included two dome dogs for the V-Team, one cotton candy for Grace, two foam fingers for Uncle Jon, and a great time had by all.

Olivia had so much fun she couldn't even sleep on the light-rail train ride back to the car. After her mandatory morning-after bottle, Little O was still exhausted after all the fun of her first Twins game.

Trip of Firsts

In 2000, former Des Moines Register feature writer Ken Fuson wrote a yearlong series call "A Year of Firsts," chronicling Iowans doing something for the first time. Most of the short pieces were cheesy and dealt with children (ie. first haircut, first Easter dress) and at the time of publication I greatly mocked Fuson's column.

But after becoming a mother for the first time 6 months ago and taking my daughter to meet her extended family for the first time, I've been knocked on the head by the greatness of Fuson's idea. And I'm so fond of this idea, that I plan on stealing it for the blog recap of our trip to the States.

It was a natural choice. Olivia experienced numerous firsts during the monthlong trip, ranging from the typical baby firsts as her first solid food to the typical Iowa first of her first tractor ride.

This is the first blog idea I've ever stolen. But I'm sure it won't be the last.

The Rest of the Fuji Story

Although we did "go to bed" at 7pm, we awoke at midnight to shuffling in the hut and people getting ready to leave. The sleeping arrangements required you touch the shoulder of the person next to you, even if it was someone you didn't know. If one person sneezed, we all felt it. We wondered why the early risers were getting up so early, since we didn't plan on waking up until 2am.

The midnight risers knew something we didn't. The trail would be packed at 2am, they were going to beat the rush. At 2am, the trail was packed, walking was like doing an extremely slow waltz up the hill. Step, together, step, together, except in this dance there was no room for twirling. It took us 2.5 hours to finish the hike to the summit when it should have only taken half that time.

As we gazed up and down the hill on the way up in the dark, it was like looking down the interstate at night during rush hour, seeing headlight after headlight, bumper to bumper, all the way up AND down the hill as far as they eye could see.

During one of the many traffic jam pauses, I looked back and started to see a reddish haze above the clouds before 4am. It was the beginning of the sunrise that all the hundreds (if not thousands) of people were trying to scurry up the hill to see.

We regularly looked over our shoulder the rest of the way up to see the colors over the horizon. When the traffic jam reached the top of the hill, there was little space to enjoy the moment. One had to start walking around the crater to get a little space and soak it in without worrying about running into another hiker.

After the glorious sunrise, dodging the crowds at the few souvenir stands, it was time to escape the madness and head down the hill.

The hike down was much more challenging than I thought it'd be, especially with the loose volcanic soil. It was like walking down a hill of soft sand 12 inches deep. If you weren't paying attention or were not coordinated, you'd end up on your rear (hiking sticks were extremely helpful). It seemed as if it would be easier to run down the hill than walk. The only downside to running down the hill is that you are like a freight train and you would take down anyone that unintentionally ended up in your path that you could not avoid.

Although Fuji is only officially open during a few months in the summer since it is covered with snow the rest of the time, I would be up for hiking it again and recommend it to anyone willing to taken on the altitude. The sunrise is worth it.

5 months

Forgot to post this last month.