Preparing for Christmas

Well its been a while since I posted, and a lot has gone on. We recently took a trip too Tokyo for my command Christmas party.
We drove across the super cool Rainbow bridge into Tokyo.














Then we swam in the pool. CJ hasn't stopped saying hot tub or pool since we left.














This is me and CJ in the lobby of the New Sanno where we stayed. And, yes, I cut my hair again.














Then we took a "train" ride on the infamous Tokyo subway. No one in white gloves touched James. This was obviously not rush hour since we had seats and could breath.














Here's me and CJ at the Christmas party (minus my head) in our best garb.














Then after we got home temps went from a beautiful 66 to 50 over night and the surf came in. This was taken from our balcony. Those are the small waves in the circles. The entire street was wet, but it wasn't raining.

Our new Christmas tree

We actually have a Christmas tree this year. This is our first prelit tree. Wow, what a snap to put it up!! Anyway here are some photos and video so you can see how it looks.

Vaseline hair

CJ woke up from his nap this afternoon and found something to entertain himself with until we went to get him. Today he made a wonderful selection...a large jar of Vaseline stored in the top of his dresser. He then proceeded to smear it all over his bed sheets and hair of course. Because it is sooooooooooo easy to wash it out of hair...NOT!! To give you an idea of the amount he put in his hair, this photo was taken after we caked his hair with baby powder, washed it once with baby shampoo, and twice with dish soap. At least he looks cute.

Out and About

Here's a few photos of things we've done in the last month. I can't believe how fast time goes by here. Good thing James helps me out or I lose track of adding entries.


Here's James and CJ on the way to dinner right off base.














This is when we were coming back from Ikea in Yokohama and missed our exit. So we decided to be daring after taking the next exit and found another way home. We somehow get home easier when we are lost here than in Sicily...could it be the roadsigns actually go somewhere? Don't be intimidated by the Kanji, there's English everywhere, or at least route numbers.














Here we are at our favorite curry house. CJ loves curry by the way.














Here's CJ playing at the park with his twin girlfriends who just happen to have a stay-at-home dad as well.

If Daddy does it I can too.

Like Daddy I can be a bum and watch T.V. or Work out on the Bench.

Men's Retreat "Facing your Giants" (by James)

I have come to realize that I need to continue to Allow God to escort me on the field of battle sometimes. Being on this retreat was very eye opening to me about my calling in Christ. I went with 30 guys up to a place called Lake Yamanaka. It was just under Mt. Fuji this was very beautiful in person and photos do it no justice.

A day out

This past weekend James, CJ, and I went to a special needs home that my command sponsors throughout the year. We usually do yard work and other manual labor. This weekend the home had a festival with all kinds of food and game booths set up. My command sold hotdogs, t-shirts, and other memorabilia.

The hillside was covered with different types of shrines.

There was a school orchestra there that played some very nice music.

But of course, CJ was the life of the party. Here he is with one of the senior chiefs I work with. It looks like CJ is swinging his churro "sword" in preparation for battle (ha, ha).

Snapfish Videos

I found out last night I have to use our XP computer to upload videos to CJ's snapfish page. So I'm going to start putting them there again. It takes a LOOOONG time to upload them here and ties up the internet. And here's a picture of me and CJ. Both of us got haircuts this last month.

CJ turned 2!!!

CJ turned 2 this last week (I can't believe it). Here's a couple highlights from his big day.











He got a new Fire Chief rain coat from Mommy and Daddy.












He got a new rocking horse from our friend Danea.




And,
He had a lot of cake, ice cream, and cookies.

Fun with CJ

CJ was being a big clown tonight so I got a little on video so everyone can see how big he is getting. He says a bunch of words now and will try and copy ones you say. I can't believe he turns 2 next week!! He also got his first barber shop hair cut here on base last Saturday.

CJ's squeaky seat

The House

Can you tell CJ is Italian?

Our first phone bill

If only I knew what it said...

I've got the "James Tillman" part down. The rest is a little confusing.

The Lemon

CJ got bored while we were waiting at an Italian restaurant out in town...yes I said Italian. And it was pretty good too. Anyway so he munched on a little citrus before the food came. Sorry the video quality is not so good. I took it on my cell phone.

Home sweet home

We'll we are in our house now and have all our stuff (which is a lot). But its nice to have a home again and pretty much unpack the suitcases. CJ seems to be a little better tempered as well since we settled in and his schedule is very regular. Here's a photo of our tower. We're on the 7th floor.

It's nice to not have a lawn. But I learned not to forget my ID card already because I had to wait for the elevator to go back up and down again the other day.

And here's CJ having a great time playing right across the street. The covered playground is great with temps always in the 90's.

Our first week in Japan

Well we made the 13 hour flight in 1 piece...with no luggage. They found and delivered our luggage 2 days after we got here. We were pretty tired of wearing the same clothes, but we have laundry 2 rooms away. Right now we're in the Navy Lodge. We move into our 7th floor apartment next Monday. We can't wait!! It's in a great location, right across from the NEX and commissary and a 10 minute walk to work. We are getting along pretty well without a car. The only bad part is the weather feels like Louisiana (90 degrees/99% humidity.) James and I are going to indoc right now and CJ goes to the CDC during the day. He had a blast today with the other kids and napped on a cot for an hour!! Here's a little photo of our Lodge room that we will be in for another week.

Welcome

Here is our first entry into our blog, which we hope to keep updated with our fun adventures in Asia. So stay tuned!