when we opened our advent calendar for december 17th, we found a slip of paper telling us that this was the day to ride the walkersville southern railroad’s santa train! hooray! we missed the train last year, and couldn’t wait to see the big guy again this year…

we had a nice, long scenic ride before santa came and sat down next to us!

when the big guy finally arrived, the kids were pretty shy. after some prompting, jackson was able to tell him a few things from his list. and give him a hug. phoebe? none of the above.

hooray for the walkersville southern! we’ll be back for another excursion soon!!

shortly after arriving home from our whirlwind tour of eastern pennsylvania, our family’s portable hard drive took a turn for the worse and we thought all (meaning our last 6 years’ worth of personal images and videos) was lost. after a few friends tried to help out, we turned to some pros. and voila! we got everything back, including all our videos! yay!

so, here it is, our long overdue post on our fun times in doylestown during the holidays!

presents, presents, cute baby girls and snow!

we enjoyed ourselves for almost a whole week in d-town, meeting our newest niece, ginger miriam, having a date night with matt and naomi (way too much fun, needs to be done more often) and just plain hanging out with grandma and grandpa. along the way we took a few pics, but for the most part we just enjoyed everyone’s company. looking forward to a planned trip out west to see more of the idaho spences soon!

look what santa brought jackson… a big kid bike! super cool, dude!

the girls and their aprons from jan.

it’s the crazy hat family!

got your hands full there, matt!

the girls loved taking baths together! lots of splashing all around!

jackson thought the girls were wacky!

naomi trying to read the girls a story, but there was just too much squirming!

ginger is a master of the serious stare. but get her started on laughing or talking and watch out! she’s a riot!

she’s not a fan of the hugs, phoebe.

phoebe and daddy had fun in the snow…

…and big brother jackson loved it, too!

while visiting doylestown this week,  dave, phoebe and jackson took a little trip to visit with grandma’s aunt meb and her family! we had a blast with nancy, bob, kate, mark, and the kids! and of course great aunt meb, who is dave’s late grandfather, charles babcock’s little sister. she is such a fun lady and we love visiting with her whenever we get the chance.

aunt meb checks out little phoebe kate’s technique on eating cookies.

phoebe was all smiles the whole night, except when daddy tried to get her to eat her dinner.

the kids were busy, busy, busy all night long. of course, everyone had to initially get over their shyness!

the whole group! we had a blast, thanks again!

jackson’s 4th birthday celebrations started about one month early, with a fun-packed “journey around the sun” ceremony at monocacy valley montessori public charter school this morning.
jackson stood in the center of the circle, holding the earth. each of the sun’s rays represented a month, and jackson started at july, since that is his birth month.  jackson walked slowly around the sun as his friends chanted the months: “august, september, october …” until he arrived back at july. miss heidi then read a few sentences about that year in jackson’s life, and passed around photos of him during that year for each of his friends to see.
fun fact: the boy in the blue shirt sitting at the bottom center of this photo is carson. his mom, heidi, was molly’s doula for jackson’s birth!
jackson walked around the sun four times, to represent the four years of his life.little sister phoebe was excited to visit jackson’s classroom. she wanted to be part of the fun…
she parked herself right next to all the girlfriends in the circle. when jackson was done with his final trip around the sun, he was allowed to choose four different friends who each gave him a wish. he called on andrew, who wished him a “helicopter,” then alejandra, who wished him “an airplane,” then alexander wished him “a spaceship” and finally, his good buddy daniel wished him “a rocket.” do you sense a theme? all the kids headed to the snack area to enjoy juice and homemade cupcakes. jackson and molly baked them from scratch – devil’s food cupcakes with whipped vanilla icing, courtesy of martha stewart’s cupcake recipe book. the super-cute edible icing decals came courtesy of etsy.com find hello frosting. love it!

just as jackson and his friends (twin brothers) cayman and collin and aysha started eating, the fire alarm went off! impromptu fire drill! oh no! the kids all wanted to carry their cupcakes outside, but they had to leave them behind, at least for a few minutes!

the kids were a little puzzled that they could “eat the paper” on top of the cupcakes, but I encouraged them to do it. one boy said, “I can eat paper?! yay!” then, he tried to eat the cupcake wrapper, too. oops!

on sunday night, jackson had a sneak preview taste of the cupcakes. we have to say, they were super delicious! what a wonderful way to kick off birthday celebrations for our favorite, little almost-4-year-old!

the farmer and his lamb (sheep?) made a second appearance this season, this time on halloween night in doylestown, pa. phoebe rode in style in a borrowed wagon filled with hay, jackson’s barn, and the other animals as we ventured up and down grandma and grandpa’s street searching for candy.

it was a dark and rainy night, but lucky for jackson it wasn’t too spooky. the houses we visited had only friendly monsters and ghosts, and plenty of candy!

grandma and her friend, barb, manned the porch, giving away lots of lollipops in between gabbing!

when we got back to the house, jackson wasted no time digging into his treats.

phoebe was so sad she couldn’t have any chocolate this year!

thanks, doylestown, for a super spooky, sweet and delicious halloween 2009!

nana and pop pop spent the weekend with us in frederick, and we couldn’t have enjoyed it more! (see more photos by clicking here.) they arrived friday night and stayed all the way to monday morning. molly and jackson had lots of fun with them while dave worked at two weddings! though we have no photos of nana, trust us — she was here! among other things, she helped us plant some new flowers in our backyard.

on sunday, jackson had a birthday party to attend — for his friend, jillian. to celebrate her fourth, we hung out at adventure park usa, a really cool mini amusement park about 20 minutes down the road. while there, jackson rode on the merry-go-round (white-knuckling it the whole way, as nana said) …

and rode in a noisy helicopter. before all that, he practiced his best tiger woods moves while taking on 18 holes of mini golf with pop pop. next, we hit the arcade …

where jackson demolished pop pop at a game of air hockey! nana also had a blast in the arcade, playing at least 10 games of skee ball, and earning enough tickets for jackson to get three lollipops and a crappy foam rocket that has already broken.

as we entered the tent for cole bros. circus last monday, jackson was truly in awe. he’d been to circuses before, but not in his own town! and besides, the circus is always awe-inspiring to a 2-year-old.

jackson kept asking about riding on the horses, and i was doubtful whether he’d actually go through with it. but, we paid our 5 bucks, and sure enough, he loved his first pony ride! we went around and around and around, with jackson clutching the saddle tighter and tighter.

some of our favorite parts of the show! for days after the show, jackson talked about the elephants visiting us at our house. according to him, they helped us garden, they slept in our bedrooms, and mommy had to kiss them goodnight every night!

hurrah for the great show! we want to see it again! if you’d like to see more photos of our circus trip, click here.

ok, so pretend that the random woman above is actually molly — or my sister, beth. you see, we were both way too busy relaxing and soaking up the loveliness at the spa at hotel hershey on sunday, that we didn’t take any pictures at all! but that’s exactly what it looked like.

we started our day out right with the luxurious breakfast buffet in the circular dining room at the hotel hershey. all I have to say is … wow! if you ever have the pleasure of eating there, please eat the waffles with fresh whipped cream! I ate so many of them that I didn’t even have to eat lunch or dinner!

after, we checked into the spa and received our luxurious yellow robes and black sandals and were shown into the locker room where we could change and keep all our belongings. I have to admit — it was sort of strange to see dozens of other people walking around, all wearing identical robes and shoes, all looking dreamy and relaxed.

we spent the afternoon at the pool, then in the various “relaxation rooms” before I got my prenatal massage and beth took her reflexology treatment.

we finished the yummy, chocolate day at chocolate world, of course! we took the tour ride, for old time’s sake (you can’t visit hershey without taking the ride), bought some cookies and other treats, then were on the road.

it was a wonderful day, and I can’t thank beth enough for arranging it all. what a great idea! (and special thanks to marcia for the early birthday gift!)

can’t wait to go back!

jackson was still napping when it was time to get ready for his first swimming lesson at hood college, so when we arrived at the pool, we had a tired, cranky guy on our hands.

he didn’t want to go in the pool or talk to the teacher at first. but after a while, he really got the hang of things!

during the 30-minute lesson, mom and dad both got in the wading pool with jackson to help him learn to kick, put his face in the water, and float on his back. but the best part by far was the end of the lesson, when jackson learned how to climb out of the side of the pool, then jump into daddy’s arms in the water! he had the best time.

it was so much fun, in fact, that he didn’t want to get out of the water at the end of class! ah, the life of a two-year-old!

aunt naomi and uncle matt bought jackson an awesome “old man hat” at an antique shop in downtown frederick when they visited during christmas. it must have belonged to a very small old man at one point, but now it fits our 2 1/2 year old quite well. and he loves to wear it.

whenever we leave the house — no matter if we’re going downtown, to the bank, or just in the backyard to play “hoop ball,” jackson wants to be wearing his hat.

he has been attracting quite a lot of attention, especially when he pairs it with his bright red chuck taylor hi-tops! (so many people stopped us on the sidewalk last weekend when we were out with friends downtown, we almost missed dinner!)

we must admit, our little guy is pretty darn cute — and the hat only makes him cuter. thanks n&m!

jackson is finally old enough this year to dress up and take out for some good, old-fashioned trick-or-treating! hurrah!

night one of our quest for candy led us to hood college, in the heart of the city of frederick. the historic college has some famous alumnae in spence circles (hoodlums — you know who you are!!), and we thought, what better place to break our 2-year-old into the halloween gig?

hood hosts “safe harvest” each year on campus. basically, students in various dorms decorate and dress themselves up for halloween and the city’s children walk around to pick up treats from the older kids! what a great idea!

dave, jackson and molly were supposed to meet up with friends brian, lisa and their son, aidan (who we’re staying with this week — but that’s another blog!) at hood at about 7 p.m. but that was easier said than done! safe harvest is a popular event, we learned, as we passed by the mobs of kids and their parents.

we finally met little astronaut aidan and his parents and walked around to three residence halls, collecting tons of candy along the way. jackson was mesmerized by all the lights and decorations, but he quickly got the hang of it. he knew right away to grab one piece of candy and stuff it into his bucket (thanks, barainyaks for the tote!). as we left each hall, he’d say “please mommy, jackson get more candy?”

we passed by many superheroes (batman, spiderman) and a baby shrek, some fairies, princesses and even a policeman. but so many people were oohing and aahing over our little chef and calling out to him — “hey chef!” we must admit, he was pretty darn cute!

when we were all done, jackson was rewarded with one bite-size hershey bar before bed. he loved it!

on friday night, we plan to go door-to-door in spring ridge — the neighborhood where brian, lisa and aidan live. we’ll post more photos after that!

when asked how he wanted to spend his 33rd birthday, dave responded with a big idea — let’s take a day trip to the strasburg railroad in pennsylvania! and so we did.

the trip north took a bit longer than expected, but we arrived by noon to see a parking lot full of visitors and a yard full of trains. it was an absolutely gorgeous, sunny fall day and we couldn’t wait to get on the train and see the amish countryside.

we boarded the dining car and were promptly served carafes of lemonade and iced tea. jackson was mesmerized by the train itself, as well as all the cows and vehicles we passed on our 45-minute ride. but he still managed to eat his hot dog and chips before the ride was over!

after our ride, jacob, josh, sarah and beth arrived! we were so happy they could make the trip to meet us. we spent the afternoon with all of them, exploring the railyard (the crazy loud steam whistle was too much for the kids — and drama queen beth!

later, we ventured across the street to the railroad museum of pennsylvania. there, we explored tons of model railroads on display alongside their enormous counterparts. the kids loved walking through the real railroad cars and especially had fun playing in the education center, where legos and other toys abound.

during the course of the afternoon, we spotted the quaint red caboose motel and restaurant just up the street from the railyard. what a cool place! as we got out of our cars, we saw a bevy of farm animals just waiting to be visited — small horses, pigs literally rolling around in the thick mud, goats jumping on top of fences and roosters running wild. the kids loved checking out all the crazy animals.

but eventually, we went inside one of the rail cars for our diner-like dinner. as we were served our french fries and sandwiches, the waitresses pushed a special little button near the hostess stand that made the whole car rumble, as if we were taking a real train ride! the kids weren’t fooled for long, but it was fun to watch their faces at first.

all in all, it was a fun, happy birthday for dave. it was a long day, but we were glad to make the trip and spend such a lovely day together with family! thanks barainyaks!!