a small amount of anxiety on day one (“mommy, I don’t want to talk to any of the new children who don’t know the rules.”) gave way to lots of smiles when jackson saw some of his buddies from last year, including daniel, garrett, and cayman and collin. jackson really likes that he can show all the “new kids who don’t know the rules” how to get along in the classroom. and he’s proud of himself, because he sees how much he’s grown since last year.to celebrate, jackson, phoebe, and daddy met mommy at work after school and we all had lunch at la paz, jackson’s favorite spot to get quesadillas with sour cream!

little sister enjoyed a quesadilla of her own, and a big-kid drink! she’ll start pre-k 3 at mvmpcs in only 2 years!
unfortunately, jackson was so exhausted from his big day, he slammed his fingers in the door at the restaurant. so, he soaked them in a cup of ice. poor guy.
all in all, it was a “delicious” first day, and a really successful first week back at school. jackson has had no trouble adjusting and he’s excited about all the new things he will learn this year!

we had two kinds of yummy martha stewart cupcakes — devil’s food (chocolate) and strawberry. some included plain white buttercream icing and others were topped with a strawberry buttercream, created with strawberry preserves from jill’s freezer! awesome.

but phoebe wasn’t the only one we celebrated that day. her godfather, colin, turned 16 on aug. 2, and so we all got to tease our favorite teenager by singing the happy birthday song to him, too! (how about those awesome cupcake toppers? another super-fun etsy find!)

in case you couldn’t tell, the “theme” for the party was ice cream! the kids’ favors were ice cream bowls, phoebe’s headband had a cone on it, and we all enjoyed some awesome homemade ice cream that jill brought along. afterward, phoebe tried out her pink howdy cow, which we found at our favorite toy shop, dancing bear in downtown frederick.

our little princess enjoyed all the attention!

big brother jackson couldn’t wait to show phoebe the present he had picked out for her. his love for his little sister just keeps growing, and it’s a joy to watch.

thanks to everyone who made phoebe’s 1st birthday so special. here’s to many, many more lovely birthday celebrations for her!

we started our journey on fathers day by boarding the cape henlopen, one of the larger ferries in the cape may-lewes ferry fleet. what a fun way to start our day: a 90-minute trip across the delaware bay! once we, and our packed car, were back on solid ground, we made our way to ocean city to check out our rental. the barainyaks — beth, paul, sarah, jake, and josh — had already checked in. what a great, little place in a super neighborhood, very close to the beach! score!

we were fortunate to have beautiful, hot weather all week, with almost no rain or cloudy skies! we spent many days relaxing on the beach and playing in the waves, rented bikes and a surrey to ride on the boardwalk, checked out “toy story 3″ to escape some sunshine, played boardwalk mini-golf, visited the cape may county zoo, ate lots of tasty meals and desserts, and just generally enjoyed ourselves. check out the last three photos in the gallery below for a sneak peek at a beach portrait session for jackson and phoebe’s birthdays!

thanks to the barainyaks for sharing our vacation this year! what an awesome trip. the only downside? it’s already over!

also on saturday, we attended sts. peter & paul orthodox church greek festival for some delicious food. jackson’s favorite was “greek quesadillas,” also known as tiropita, or feta cheese wrapped in phyllo dough. basically, it’s spanikopita without the spinach!

jackson also had a few bites of molly’s gyro. (the guy above made the gyros for us — he was super. they were stuffed to the brim! yum!) the “sour cream sauce,” also known as tzatziki, won jackson over with that dish! he and phoebe are also huge fans of the homemade rice pudding. jackson would’ve eaten the entire container if we let him!

on sunday, we all ventured out to ellicott city. what a great, neat little town! dave met a couple there to do an engagement shoot, and molly, jackson, and phoebe spent a few hours exploring “old town.”

first stop was the b&o railroad museum, the birthplace of american railroading! there, the kids enjoyed exploring a caboose.

the train museum was a lot of fun. a few minutes after this picture was a taken, a “real” train drove right past us! jackson loved watching it, covering his ears when it got too loud! we also spent some time learning about how a telegraph works. jackson tried to tap out some letters and said he was “sending a mesh-age to america!”

after the museum, we did a little shopping, found lots of bargains, and lost phoebe’s sunhat! oh well.

finally, we met up with dave as he got done with his lovely couple. (see his favorite shots soon at spence photo’s blog!) dave and jackson got a quick lesson in handspun yarn (below) just before we got back into the car. totally fun weekend.

we had a great trip full of experiences! phoebe took her first airplane ride. jackson, dave, and kurt enjoyed circus sarasota. we visited the palm beach zoo and reconnected there with the limberts (who used to live in frederick). jackson got in a lot of swim practice. marcia helped molly begin to learn to sew. we visited jensen beach, the children’s museum of the treasure coast, and checked out rescued sea turtles at the loggerhead marinelife center of juno beach.

we had such a wonderful time, in fact, that it’s taken us almost a full month to go through all the photos and choose our favorites! so, our apologies for not updating this blog sooner. but we think these photos were worth the wait!

are we crazy? yep! but who could pass up this opportunity? dave and molly first ate at volt in october 2008, and fell in love with the food. one year later, bryan and his brother appeared on “top chef” and became nationally recognized personalities. jackson loved to watch the show with us, and could spot bryan every time he came on screen.

on wednesday afternoon, as winds howled outside, molly fielded calls from her reporters, all working at home. one of them lamented not being able to cover a great story — the fact that volt was indeed going to open its doors to diners during this historic storm. so molly said, “ok, i’ll cover it instead!” she was eager to put her reporting skills to good use again. and, what luck, she happened to live with one of the gazette’s freelance photographers. so, she volunteered dave to work, too!

check out the story and photos by clicking here.

all of us got majorly bundled up, phoebe riding with molly in the bjorn, and headed out for a surprisingly short walk downtown. when we arrived, the staff was waiting for us, and helped us get our many layers off and put away. we settled in for a memorable dinner.

it was such a wonderful experience in so many ways. first, the other diners were all so fantastic! everyone was in a great mood and very willing to talk. our “neighbors” to the right took several photos of jackson and complimented us on our very well-behaved children. another fellow diner offered to take  a family shot of us eating, and a third gave jackson his iPhone so he could play a game on it.

the highlight for molly — aside from the outstanding food — was definitely getting to meet bryan, and hang out in his kitchen for a short while. he is a bit shorter in person than he looks on television. but he’s very kind, genuine, and knowledgeable about food. he talked about getting himself and his staff up to frederick through the storm, about wanting to get back in his kitchen and cook after a long absence, about loving downtown frederick, and wanting to offer those of us living downtown a respite from the storm.

jackson was thrilled with the special chicken fingers and fries the chef made for him — with tiny dipping pots full of mustard and ketchup. molly loved her main course best — pineland farms beef strip loin with yukon gold potatoes, filled with three different sauces: roasted red pepper, chive and sweet golden raisin, with turnips. dave’s favorite was his first course — yellowfin tuna with jasmine rice, sesame lavash, yuzu vinaigrette, chili oil and cilantro. molly liked dave’s dessert better — goat cheese dulce de leche with granny smith apple sorbet.

what a wonderful dinner, and a memorable way to spend a snowy day. we won’t soon forget it!

on friday night, dave and jackson took a long walk down church street to pick up friends roman and zach, then on to la paz for some mexican dinner. the place was packed! we think it was the only restaurant open.

dave also managed to get out early saturday on an adventure downtown, shooting photos for the gazette. you’ll see some of what he saw in the gallery below.

who knows how long the snow will stick around. it’s highly doubtful that school will be in session for at least a few days. molly’s getting ready to brush off her boots for a trek into work on monday, though. the news must be posted online!

for now, enjoy our photos. we’re thinking of printing up some t-shirts:”we survived snowmageddon 2010″. or: “snowpocalypse now, redux 2010″!

jackson took  his first trip to the dentist today, to the family smile center in frederick. our dental hygienist, sandy cha, took good care of him, helping him count his teeth (he has 20) and congratulating him on taking good care of them.

sandy used strawberry-flavored toothpaste to clean his teeth and flossed with a special animal-shaped kids’ flosser.

jackson’s favorite part was watching the television on the ceiling, though!

daddy was a real sport, holding onto jackson tightly while he had his exam.

at the end, jackson got to choose three stickers and a special prize from a gumball-type machine.

before we left he got a special photo taken with his friend, scuffy, and a blue balloon. just before this was taken, molly asked him to show us his teeth — and this is the face he kept making. too funny! we’ll be back in 6 months.