Weekend snapshot

I'm back from Osaka, Japan. I have much to say about our babymoon to mainland Japan. But it's Sunday night and I'm tired. And a little lazy. Actually really lazy.

Here is a snapshot of our weekend in Osaka/Kyoto:
-- Visited five Buddhist temples
-- Toured a Japanese castle
-- Ate every chance I got, including ice cream at noon today
-- Completed the Philosopher's Walk, but we aren't any smarter
-- Saw thousands of red maple leaves, pressed five into my travel book
-- Loved my babymoon/birthday trip. I can't wait to return for the cherry blossom festival in a few years with little Volkmann.

Thanksgiving Past

This is our first Turkey Day without turkey, football, family or friends. And even though this holiday will be a nontraditional one for Benny and I, we are taking the time to stop and reflect on our blessings. We are thankful for our friends, family, our stubborn baby, our jobs, our home and our life which allows us to travel to new places this week. I'm also thankful for elastic pants, pumpkin-flavored coffee creamer, ice cream and online shopping ... definitely the Internet.

Today we will write a new page in our Thanksgiving history, which has been fruitful no matter where we were and who we were with. Here is a quick look at our past Thanksgivings.


Thanksgiving 2007: Benny experiences a Wille Thanksgiving at my mom and dad's house in Iowa. Benny had the honor of carving the turkey. I had the joy of telling my 20 aunts and uncles and 25 cousins that we were moving to Japan in the spring.


Thanksgiving 2007: We invited the Olsens over for pre-Thanksgiving meal. I love leftovers that much.


Thanksgiving 2006: I spent Thanksgiving in Colorado with my mom, sisters and the rest of the Wille family. Benny spent the holiday with friends in Yuma, Arizona. I think Andrea and Tammy have photos from that holiday.


Thanksgiving 2006: Again, I made a pre-Thanksgiving meal for Benny and I. Since we spent that holiday apart, I wanted us to share it on the Sunday before the holiday. This was the first turkey I cooked. Quite an accomplishment.

Thanksgiving 2005 and 2004: My memory is a little foggy here, mostly because I can't find any photo documentation of what we did. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think we spent one Thanksgiving in Yuma, where Andrea's mom, Becky flew in from Pittsburgh to make the meal. A group of us ate her terrific cooking at the Yuma townhouse, so that must be Thanksgiving 2005.

That leaves Thanksgiving 2004 at Matt and Roxanne's house in Yuma. That's the first time I had a turkey deep fat fried and Roxanne's delicious cooking. I remember us playing with the fryer later .... something with Twinkies. I brought my "Better than Sex" cake to share with everyone.

Thanksgiving 2003: I flew home to spend the holiday with my family in Iowa. (Until this moment I didn't realize how often I've spent Thanksgiving with the Willes in past years.) Benny spent 8 hours in traffic trying to get to Los Angeles to spend Turkey Day with college friends who now live in California.

Thanksgiving 2002: Benny flew to Wichita Falls, Texas, to visit me over his holiday break. We drove to Fort Worth where we ate turkey with my favorite lady in Fort Worth: J.R.

Thanksgiving 2001: We got in a big fight right before this holiday break and nearly broke up. We didn't talk through the week, but patched things up when we returned for the Iowa-Iowa State game (the muddiest football game in history) on Friday. That was the last fight we had.


I wonder where we will be for Thanksgiving 2009 ....

Baby Volkmann's Room: The Reality

The nursery is a work in progress. It's not nearly as cute as the photo from the Web site, but I think everything will come together before the baby's arrival in late February.

First of all, I took Alicia's advice and told Benny to turn the storage room into the entertainment room. Therefore the entertainment room became the baby's room. This room has a lot of window, so the baby will have plenty of natural light. And it's the only room in the house that doesn't have wood paneling, so I hope the baby appreciates his/her white walls.

After three cups of coffee on one Sunday, Benny moved all the furniture between the two rooms. He even changed the light fixture, since I liked the light fixture in the former storage room and wanted it in the baby's room. (Isn't my hubby the best?)


Then we bought the crib that I've been eyeing at the on-base furniture store since August. We got the mattress and a green rug with bits of tan and brown in it. I thought the rug looked like grass, so it fits in with the baby's baby farm animal theme.
I ordered the bedding set, cow night light, three animal cartoon pictures and a growth chart from this Web site. The items have been shipped and should arrive shortly.

I emptied a chest of drawers so that Baby V has some place for his/her things. I still need to find a new place for my things, but for now that's a low priority.

Last Saturday while I talked to my sister Colleen, Benny assembled the crib in the less than an hour. I barely got off the phone in time to take this photo for the baby book.


So we have a bed, sheets, a rocking chair and carpet. I think we are baby ready.

Missing Dana's wedding

My Iowa State buddy, Dana, got hitched on Saturday. I was planning to call her on Saturday night (her Friday morning) to wish her happy thoughts on the day before her wedding. But being a silly prego lady, I fell asleep waiting for the clock to click over to 10 p.m. local time (actually I fell asleep in the movie theater an hour earlier) ... so that phone call didn't happen.

Then on Sunday morning I wanted to call, but I didn't want to bother her on such a busy day. But I was thinking about her over breakfast. Benny and I were eating pancakes when I commented "Dana is married and enjoying her reception right now. This exact moment."

Then we proceeded to debate over whether or not Dana will change her last name to match Nate's last name. We need Dana to make a ruling on this discussion.

If we lived in the United States, I would have been at that church. There is no doubt about it. Nothing would have stopped me from being there for Dana's happy day in the same way she was so supportive of our wedding four years ago.

But with the Pacific Ocean separating us and my enlarged stomach, it wasn't an option. It makes me sad to miss Dana's big day, but I know she understands.

Congratulations to Dana and Nate. Best wishes from the V-Team.

Baby Volkmann's Room

This is the vision.

While Michelle is reading

and trying to complete 100 pages for her bookclub tomorrow, you get a reading from the book of Benny:

We're going to Kyoto in two weeks, and I can't wait. It's almost like the can't-sleep-the-night-before-going-to-Disneyland feeling. We haven't even been there yet, and I'm already thinking we're going to have to go back. There is just way to much to see and do in the most traditional city in Japan. So I found out on last Monday that our guided tour was cancelled because they could not get 20 people to go on it. We had already put down a deposit (refundable) six weeks ago, so we were a little bummed out. Three weeks to go until Thanksgiving, can we get there another way? Wait a second, the Japanese don't celebrate Thanksgiving, we'll just do it on our own. Sounds easy, except for some reason, it was tricky finding a room in Kyoto for Thanksgiving. So we're staying in Osaka, the second largest city in Japan and only an hour away by train (not just any train, but the bullet train). We're staying close to a train station. It's really a blessing in disguise, since we found some great walking tours of Kyoto that we would not have been able to experience with a guided tour driving around the city on a bus.

We haven't been to Osaka yet (not including a transfer at the airport) and I'm already thinking about the okonomiyaki amongst the other things to do in Osaka. And of course, we are going to have to go back. There's the language (and great website), even though we can't read characters quite yet (besides exit and entrance). And of course, way too much to see and do.

Two reasons were heading to Kyoto:
1. Birthday present for my baby momma
2. Last flight for Michelle before she's not allowed to fly anymore, therefore the last big trip for the V-Team as a dynamic duo before we become the terrific trio

Quick note on our last trip to Tokyo at the Shibuya Crossing on a Saturday night. My original video (see below) was yanked because I put Jimi Hendrix music to it like a Quentin Tarantino film. It was like the Times Square of Japan (or so they say). This madness repeats itself every 2 minutes and 40 seconds. Throughout the 30 minutes we watched in amazement, no one was run over although there were some close calls.

Only because Patti asked

In this photo, I'm 24 weeks pregnant (six months). My belly continues to grow each week. Last week it measured in at 38 inches. Last night it measured 40 inches. I'm blessed with a long torso, so the baby has plenty of room to grow in my middle, which may explain why I'm not growing out very fast. (Co-workers still tell me I don't look pregnant, which makes me sad.) But I have a feeling that growing wider and wider will be come over the course of the next two months.