Our Trip (Part 2)

Danica and Tillman

Tillman loved playing with Danica's shoe laces.  Chiefa loved playing with Tillman.  This was our morning routine.  Danica would get up and go for a run and then come home and we would all play on the floor until nap time. During nap time we would all get showers and get ready to go out for the remainder of the day. We would usually come home for a brief rest before going back out again for dinner and dessert. We did a lot of walking, shopping, trying new restaurants, and seeing the campus of George Mason, which is where Danica works and Tony and Danica live.

The next few pictures are of July 4th. Tillman has on a cute outfit that was given to her by Mrs. Wilson. We snapped a few pictures in the morning before we went out to show off her red, white, and blue pride. I'm glad we took these picures early because as you will notice she isn't wearing the outfit for very long. She had a rather dirty diaper while riding down the road.

On the 4th, we went to IKEA which is a favorite of all of ours. Josh and I wanted to look around and get ideas for new furniture and decor for the house we are moving into and Tony and Danica wanted to get some plants and other smaller items. We love this store, even if it is just to walk around and look.

Tillman found a stuffed animal that looked like Chiefa, just different colors.

Riding in the buggy at IKEA. She was being very social with everyone and we got many comments on what a happy baby she is.

We spent a few hours walking around IKEA and then we went to an outlet mall that had way more stores than we had imagined. It was HUGE! We walked the outlets and spent some time shopping around before heading back to the apartment to rest up before fireworks. This might have been the night we ate at a Greek restaurant for dinner that served amazing gyros. They were delicious!  Around 9:20 the city of Fairfax put on a fireworks show so we walked up to the top deck of the parking garage near Tony and Danica's apartment to watch the show. There were actually about 4 different sets of fireworks going off aroung the area that we were able to watch from the top deck.

Tillman and Josh watching the fireworks. I didn't do a great job of getting the fireworks in the picture.

Happy 4th of July!

In her pjs because it was already way past her bedtime.

The next day, Tuesday, Josh, Tillman, and I loaded up the car and headed to Frederick, Maryland for the day to visit with Josh's sister, Leigh-Anne. We met up with her in the downtown area and had lunch at a great restaurant where we each got a different kind of stir fry. We all enjoyed our meals and even cleaned our plates. After lunch we walked around the downtown area and went into some shops and bought a few goodies. Then we headed over to a nearby mall to do some more walking, talking, and shopping. Leigh-Anne treated us to lunch, so I treated her to some Dairy Queen from the mall for dessert. We stopped to eat it at this fountain area where I snapped a quick picture.

After the mall we loaded up to head back to Fairfax.  Leigh-Anne kept warning us about the traffic heading back and urging us not to get caught in it. We don't have to fight traffic in Easley (thank the Lord) so we listened to her advice. We got all the way back to Fairfax with 16 miles left to go when we hit a dead standstill. There were signs on the interstate and radio announcements that a truck had caught on fire and all lanes of 66 were closed. So we had to take a detour route, not knowing where we were going, that added an hour to our return trip. Ugh. But at least we made it back safely.

Wednesday Tony went back to work and Josh, Danica, Tillman, and I went out for brunch at The First Watch, a local breakfast restaurant. It was really good, and I think, again, we all cleaned our plates. Then we went to another shopping center in Clarendon that has one of my favorite stores, The Container Store. This store has everything you could ever imagine to organize with. It's a little slice of heaven. I got some good finds and am excited to use them in the house. We shopped around at some other stores and then headed back to the apartment where we made chicken kiev, green beans, broccoli, and bread for dinner. It turned out good. Danica had to take Chiefa to puppy class that night and the rest of us watched a modern day Sherlock Holmes video.

Tillman and Chiefa going after the same toys.  They were Cheifa's toys.

Tired after a long day of shopping and walking around in the sun.

Tiger and Tillman

Thursday Tony was back at work so Danica, Josh, Tillman, and I took a long walk around George Mason's campus. We got an extensive tour and went to the bookstore where Josh got a shirt. We also stopped to take this picture in front of the George Statue, which is a popular meeting point on campus. They were having an orientation check-in, so that's why there are yellow balloons on the statue. After the walk, we had lunch at the apartment and took some time to nap, relax, and lazy around until Tony got home from work. Then we went out to a seafood restaurant for dinner where Tony and I got cheeseburgers. We're not keen on seafood, but Josh and Danica seemed to thoroughly enjoy their meals of crabcakes and salmon.

Danica, Tillman, Tony, Chiefa

When we got back from dinner we celebrated Chiefa's 6 month birthday. Danica bought her a puppy cupcake while we were out earlier that day. Chiefa is deaf, so Danica is giving her the sign for laydown. She takes her to puppy class where they work on sign language and obedience. I must say that I was impressed with how well-behaved Chiefa is and how she knows to follow her signs.

Laying down for the cupcake and sniffing it out.

Getting more curious about it. The cake part of the cupcake was really a granola that smelled pretty good. The icing, however, was as hard as a rock and they ended up throwing that part away.

The next day was Friday, the day that we all headed over to Iron Gate, VA to visit with my grandpa, Tillman's great-grandpa, for the weekend. This was his first time meeting Tillman and it was a great weekend for us all to spend together. The next post will be our visit in Iron Gate. Check back soon for more!