Keepin Busy

We are trying to keep busy while dada is gone. Today I spent time with my friend Jace. We hung out at Lacy Park and did a little photo shoot for Jace. He turned 1 year old this week. I have been spending lots of time on my tummy, since my Godfather says I have to crawl before I can walk, so I will be a good reader:) I am working hard at it. Right now I can only go backwards. Grandma and Grandpa Olson bought me this new rug and the new toys that I am playing with in the pictures. We miss you dada!!

Bye Bye Dada

This week, Daddy left to go to Kazakhstan for two weeks. We miss him already, but we heard that he got there safely. We already got a picture of him. It is of daddy in the airport in South Korea. While Dada is gone I am keeping busy and so is mommy. Grandma and Grandpa Olson came to visit us. Yesterday was a fun day....we went to the Geddy Villa Museum in Malibu, Malibu Beach and Pier, Santa Monica Beach and Pier, and Venice Beach. I was really good, despite the fact that my top tooth is popping through. I got tired and the beach and feel asleep...it was really relaxing. I did not like the and though. Mommy put my feet in the sand and I screamed and stomped my feet.

Tyler 9 Months

As you can see from the pictures below...I have two teeth. I love to stand and I can support my own weight, but I don't have real good balance yet. New foods I enjoy include...cottage cheese, winter squash, green beans, yogurt, peas, carrots, cheerios, bananas, pinto beans, apricots, and I think that is it for now. I am going to try some new things now that I am home for a while. I like to feed myself. I stick my whole fist in my mouth to put food in and I make a huge mess. Daddy doesn't like it when I am all dirty with food all over my face, hands and body:)
Mommy and Daddy moved my crib mattress down because I started trying to pull myself up and they did not want me to fall out.

Family Camp: Santa Cruz Mountains

We look forward to family camp every year now. Our church is part of the Pacific Coast Japanese Conference and each year about 500 people from the conference bring their families to Redwood Christian Camp for Family Camp. Dave has been the speaker for the high school section of the camp for the last two years. He loves it. The kids have responded really well to him and seem to enjoy having him as a speaker. He speaks 8 times during the week. This year he happened to do it without losing his voice at all. This year I helped Paul with some administrative "stuff" for camp and took care of Tyler. I guess Dave told some people that he did not realize how much I helped him out last year, because this year he had to do a lot of it on his own:)
Overall, it was nice to spend time with our One Voice Church family and see people we haven't seen in a long time. It's nice to spend time out in nature without all the technology and things we grow used to in the city. It was a nice breath of fresh air:)
Tyler has a different experience...he was exhausted almost the whole week, hence he had a hard time sleeping. He stayed up late in the nursery with all his new buddies and then kept mommy up a lot at night. He enjoyed being around all the people and they enjoyed him too. He did well on the 7 hour trip up and back. We had a little bump in the road on the way there. We took a very curvy road on the way there and mommy was feeding Tyler (not a good idea). At the end of the curvy part, Tyler ended up throwing up the whole can of baby food that he had just eaten.

Tyler 1-Daddy 0

This has been a busy week so far...Daddy is preparing to speak to the High Schoolers at Family Camp in the Santa Cruz mountains at Redwood Christian Camp. Mommy is busy packing and helping Paul on the adult camp committee. A few days ago I went on a walk with daddy to Starbucks. On the way back, we got into a tug-o-war with his Vanilla Latte and I won. I spilled it all over daddy's shirt.
I am 8 months and 3 weeks old this week. I love to stand up, not quite on my own yet. I am not a big fan of crawling, or being on my stomach for that matter. I love to reach for my toys and them throw them as far away from me as I can. I like to play fetch with mommy and daddy, but they have caught on to my little game. I love swinging and swimming. I have gone under the water for a quick second. I ate my first cheerios this week and they are yummy!
Daddy has passed on one of his gifts to me already. Today, mommy and I were at Whole foods getting somethings for our trip. Mommy wanted to try a new Born free sippy cup, but they were too expensive ($10.99) crazy. Anyways, we found one in a discount bin and the lady told us it wasn't discounted , so we put it back. I started to wine and the lady told us we could have it 50% off:) It was a steal.
Below is a pic of Tyler in his soccer outfit. He loves to kick and play catch with his soccer ball he got from Daddy's cousin Brandon. Great baby, but not a great photo. Mommy tried to take a picture of me but I kept pushing the ball away and she was home alone with me. This one will have to do for now.

Tyler on Tour

We just got back Friday from a tour of the midwest. I got to visit all 7 of my Great Grandparents for the first time. I loved every minute of it, so much so that I could not sleep I was so excited.

We started in Michigan where we spent time at Grandma and Grandpa Olson's house. The weather was cool at first, so we spent some time inside playing with all of their great toys. They have lots of fun toys. Grandma had my room all set up for me and mommy and daddy. We shared a room this time. Aunt Lindsay and her little belly with my new cousin, Uncle Brad and Bree came to visit, as well as Uncle Lucus. Mommy and daddy had some of their friends over for a party from high school and college and I got to meet their kids. On the 4th of July the whole Olson family came over for a BBQ. We played games like cornhole, frisbee, and did a cherry pit spitting contest. Mommy and daddy went to the fireworks...I went to bed. We went swimming, went to the country club, and went to the Beach bar... for mommy's favorite tomato soup and pizza.

After the tour of Michigan Grandma and Grandpa O drove us to Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Brads for the night and then on to Grandma and Grandpa Knight's. When we got there we were greeted by Great Grandma and pa Knight and Great Grandma Aten. I got to go visit Grandpa Knight's court room were he gave me my own gavel and let me sit on the bench with him like a real judge. I did my circus trick for everyone in the court house and they all clapped for me. Grandma had all sorts of great things for me in my room to make me feel welcome. She got me a pool for the deck and I loved splashing in it. It got to see Aunt Christy and little belly with my soon to be cousin "Specky". Uncle Steve came to visit from NY.We made homemade ice cream with liquid nitrogen and that was cool...literally...it was so cool it boiled the ice cream into ice. We had a fun time. Mommy and daddy rode mopeds around Greenville with Aunt Christy. We were exhausted when we got home and are glad to be back.

Check out pictures here.

My Daddy the Reverend

Yoshikazu Takiya and mommy and daddy- Yoshi knows Great Grandpa Jackson from Spring Arbor. Mommy and Daddy met him at the Annual Conference for the Pacific Coast Japanese Free Methodist Conference.

My daddy became a Reverend on Saturday. I am so proud of him. It was so neat to see so many of daddy's friends and family come to celebrate with him. As you can see from the picture there were lots of people at the Mission Valley Free Methodist Church in San Gabriel for the ordination. Our friend and Pastor, Paul Kim, was also ordained.
Grandma and Grandpa Knight came to visit also. They spent a lot of time with me. They got up at 6:ooam with me so mommy could sleep. They watched me so mommy and daddy could go to a really fun birthday party for their friend Lutz. They did another fun photo shoot with me too. Here are some of the pictures. I know when I am having my picture taken and I am a ham.

Daddy wanted to pike my hair for the picture.