California Trip

Recently me and CJ took a trip to Huntington Beach, CA. I went for a conference at Boeing and CJ went because that way I would only have to buy 1 plane ticket. That saves a lot of money when you live in Japan. My mom and dad met us out there and got some quality CJ time in. He went to the Aquarium of the Pacific. I'm not sure what he is doing here, but the fish probably are deaf from the banging on the tank.

Then they were going to go to the beach or pool one day and somehow ended up a the Wild Animal park north of San Diego. Here CJ is watching the Gorillas with his Papa.

Then he had his 3rd!! birthday while we were there. What better than birthday brownie (with whipped cream to dip in) at the cheesecake factory. He only ate a little bit of 1 piece of the brownie. When he was done I took a bite to see how it was. WHOOO!! Chocolate overload. I also do not recommend sharing 2 pieces of cheesecake between 3 people. You need about 5 people to finish them. And don't get the Godiva one and think you can eat more than 5 bites, this coming from someone who could live off chocolate.

The last day (I didn't have to work) we went to the Queen Mary. Very cool. Here's CJ and his Meemaw and Papa in the engine room.

This picture was probably illegal. But I caught CJ sitting on the wrench used to remove the retaining bolts for the propellers. They would remove them using this wrench and hammers...crazy.

CAPT CJ...who put him in charge?!

Baby Girl Tillman

This is a few weeks late, but we have a girl!! The first thing James said was, "Now I have to buy a gun". Her size and everything looked great for 19 weeks. She is very active already. If anyone needs any boy clothes let me know and I will ship you a couple rubbermaid tubs full.

Disney Tokyo

Here's James and CJ in front of the Disney Tokyo castle. By far the best Disney experience from a mom perspective. CJ had a great time on the rides. Since he is short and I'm pregnant we could ride all the same rides. So I had my little riding buddy. We did the Dumbos, merry-go-round, train, river boat, Small World, and some KiddyLand stuff. He had a great time. And James was able to ride the big kid rides with some of his friends that came up for the Chapel youth trip. Plus factors of Disney in Japan: Really, really, really clean. I felt bad that the only trash on the street was some ice cream drops from CJ's popcsicle. No line cutting. No one smoked where they shouldn't. And my #1 favorite. Take a look at the stoller parking here. There was an employee that kept them all nice and lined up in organized rows and as you went through the ride, they moved your stroller to the front. So when you came out there was no mad untangling. It was so cool.

Baby Tillman #2

Surprise to those who don't know. This was the ultrasound at 10 weeks. I'm 15 weeks now, so I guess that tells you how behind I am on posting. At 20 weeks we do plan on finding out if it is a boy or girl this time. If its a girl, I get to empty out all the boy stuff from the closets. If its a boy, I get to save a lot of money on clothes. It's pretty much a win-win. Since James was right about it being a boy last time I asked him what the baby was, but he had no guesses. CJ says he wants a baby brother, then 10 seconds later a baby sister. We are due Feb 6th. I'm hoping to come a little closer to the due date this time. Apparently I, or James, just make big babies because I was dated at 10 weeks, but the baby measured 11.

Hawaiian Vacation

We took a vacation to Hawaii at the end of June and over July 4th weekend. I think we all had a great time. CJ said his favorite part was riding escallators at the mall for the longest time, so I guess next time we'll go to the mall and save the 7 hour flight.
He was a fish in the pool at the Hale Koa and kept wanting to jump in (if you knew me growing up, this is not my child).

I also got to go to the Arizona memorial...finally, on my 7th visit to Hawaii. I was really excited to take CJ on the ferry ride, but he didn't quite make it. He was sacked out the entire time on his Aunt Lynda's shoulder and didn't see a single minute of the boat ride.
Then we headed to the Missouri, which CJ was awake for. He thought that was pretty cool walking around all the decks.




























Here we are watching the 4th of July fireworks from out hotel balcony (which was far more important than a picture apparently).

CJ's Genius idea of the week

Toddler creativity never ends. So CJ came up with a great idea that (in his little eyes) was a good activity. In fact it kept him busy the whole time I was in the shower yesterday.
We had a cooler with drinks for the couples study we've been hosting the last weeks in our dining room. Good part was the cooler was on the tile, not the carpet. So he normally just dips his hands in until he gets told to stop playing in the water. He took it a 100 steps farther this time. He decided to take his jammie pants off and put them in the water. Probably realizing he had done something wrong he proceeded to get several towels out of the kitchen drawer to clean it up. At least 2 of the towels ended up in the cooler. 1 soaken 1 was on the carpet and about 1 gallon of water was on the floor when I caught the stinker. Good news was I didn't have to mop my floors this weekend.

May Wrap-up

This is what has been happening since my last post.
CJ re-fell in love with talking on phones. Here he is chatting with his imaginary buddy or maybe there's more than 1. Who knows what's in the mind of a toddler.

Then he got some super cool new Thomas the Train bed sheets and blankets. I was hoping he would give up his nasty blanket that he chewed the snaps, yes metal snaps, and tags off of. But its a not go so far. He's just added 2 new blankets to his collection of things on his bed. At least they are all soft and quiet.














Here is James and CJ (I'm behind the camera) at Adam's last ramen excurtion. Super yummy.