we anticipated our trip to idaho for a long time, and finally, in mid-september, we boarded a plane at dulles at an ungodly, early hour and headed west. we ended up in salt lake city, rented a car, and after a super long day of traveling (including a visit to the golden spike national historic site in utah), we finally met up with matt, naomi, and ginger in hailey, idaho. they were the reason for our journey, and it was so great to finally see them.

we spent a little more than a week hanging out with the idaho spences. we spent a lot of quality time together. the kids got to play, a lot. and the grown-ups got to talk, a lot. we did some fishing (another post to come from dave about his super-secret adventure with his bro). we did some touring. we did some rock-throwing. we spent a great few days at the gorgeous redfish lake near stanley, idaho. we did some hiking.

but the best part of the trip was simply spending time with our family. phoebe, jackson, and ginger became good friends quickly, and really enjoyed being around each other. and that’s priceless.

and the second-best part? on the way home, we spent an overnight in salt lake city, where we were reunited with molly’s high school friend karyn. she showed us around salt lake (including a great hike up ensign peak, where we got a super view of the city) and she and molly caught up on the many years since they last met (over some awesome mole at a tasty mexican restaurant).

all in all, it was a wonderful break from the everyday. thanks to matt, naomi, ginger, cooper, camo and simon for inviting us into your home. we hope you all can come to maryland some time and soak up our sites soon. and best wishes to karyn and justin, as they prepare for their wedding in december! hope to see you both again soon (definitely in less than 15 years!).

jackson met his good buddy, garrett, last year in miss heidi’s class, when they both started preschool together. jackson loves to have playdates with garrett and he was so excited to hear that garrett’s birthday party was coming up in late august. the fact that it was held at the urbana volunteer fire department? unbelievable bonus! that’s garrett above, in yellow.

what a super party! all the kids got to practice spraying the fire hose, and then got a tour of all the fire engines, and even got to smash up a pinata! and, of course, they all enjoyed pizza, snacks and a very cool firehouse cake.

thanks for inviting us to your party, garrett! we all had a great time! happy 4th birthday, and many more.

we brought together many of jackson’s biggest loves — train rides, the circus, animals, bright colors, and his best friends — to celebrate his 4th birthday. the centerpiece of the party was a colorful cupcake tower, featuring the birthday boy on top, clowns, and of course, lots of sprinkles! (props go out to martha stewart’s cupcakes book for the yummy recipes!)

but we’re getting ahead of ourselves… we didn’t eat the cupcakes until the very end of the party!

we started festivities at the walkersville southern railroad.

jackson got to explore the engine, and then, once we were all aboard the birthday caboose …

the real fun began!

jackson was joined by his buddies jillian, aidan, lucas, garrett, collin, cayman, and zach, as well as cousins sarah and josh. and of course, little sister phoebe, whose birthday is just a few weeks away!

the kids got crafty with some markers, decorating wooden trains or stars…

games included an elephant ring toss and “stick the nose on the clown,” during which all the kids figured out how to cheat by peeking through the bottom of the admittedly cheap paper “blindfold”!!

circus-theme tattoos included elephants, seals, lions, clowns, or the ringmaster!

guests snacked on popcorn, hot dogs, twizzlers, juice boxes, and lemonade!

aunt lynnie got caught up in all the fun!

the 90-minute ride went by really fast. the views were beautiful, and the trees provided lots of cool shade from the hot sun.

some of the best views came from the upper level seats on the caboose!

the kids spent most of the trip hanging out up there together, climbing up and down the slightly precarious ladders!

molly and dave also got in on the fun!

once our ride was over, we checked out the model trains next door, then headed to casa spence for more partying!

there’s those delish cupcakes again!

pool time!

those monocacy valley montessori kids just can’t get enough of mulch!

jackson’s always a bit timid when it comes time to sing the happy birthday song. we had to literally pull him out from under the table to blow out the candles!

phoebe had such a great time at her brother’s party, she said she’s really looking forward to her first on august 1st!

(special thanks go out to our “second photographer” tom fedor for several of the shots above!)

jackson finished his last day of preschool for the 2009-10 school year at monocacy valley montessori public charter school on friday! and as we snapped on his bike helmet for our ride to school, we couldn’t help but get nostalgic about our growing little boy.

on his first day of school, back in august, jackson actually rode in his stroller. we thought the distance might be too much for him. on the last day, jackson rode his bike, as he has done many times during the school year. he’s a big boy now, in so many ways.

after saying goodbye to miss denise and miss rosina, jackson bounded out the back door, ready for summer to begin! he’d been asking us for several weeks before whether summer had started yet, and now we could officially tell him “yes!”

one wonderful thing about this first year of school has been the friends jackson has made. this is his best buddy, daniel, who spent many wednesdays at our house playing this year. we were sad to say goodbye to daniel and his mom, bibi, as they and daniel’s sister, alex, are spending the entire summer in germany with their family. we’ll be so glad to see them again in august, when both boys will be pre-kindergartners!

phoebe attended her first birthday party for a friend last weekend. leah hyland turned 1 year old, and the whole spence family stopped by for some cake. phoebe (seen above, reacting to the birthday girl) was amused by the party. she’s gearing up for her 1st birthday bash in august. it’s a bit difficult to believe that these little girls are already that old. seems like not so long ago that leah’s mom (erin) and molly both found out they were pregnant!

just for good measure (and proof that leah spent very little of her party in tears), here’s a shot of jackson enjoying a cupcake with the birthday girl. earlier in the day, jackson attended the ringling brothers circus with his grandpa in trenton, and after this shot he had a sleepover with his cousins, the Barainyaks. so it was a jampacked-with-fun day for him.

the carriage house bakery outside walkersville did an awesome job with the cake — three layers of yellow cake, strawberry filling in between, and buttercream icing! yum. jackson is still working on eating the giant piece we sliced for him.

jackson was a bit of a bashful birthday boy. he loves his friends, but he gets very shy and uncomfortable when anyone tries to sing “happy birthday” to him! here he is, modeling the #3 shirt molly made for him.

thanks to all our friends who spent the day with us, and especially to aunt lynne and grandpa, who traveled to frederick to celebrate with us. it was a wonderful weekend, and a great, low-key birthday party for our big boy!

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.

cool, damp breezes and rain didn’t stop us from celebrating molly’s birthday on friday. after a lazy morning at home, we all hopped in the car after lunch and headed down to washington, d.c.
last year, we spent the day at the national zoo, and though we couldn’t make it a repeat this year, we still wanted to visit the cool capital city.
first, we ventured to the national museum of the american indian. what an awesome place! we only spent about an hour, but we managed to see so much. it is filled with amazing, colorful artifacts and really cool hi-tech interactive exhibits. it’s quite a different place than our next stop — the national air and space museum. though that museum is awesome, too — jackson couldn’t get enough of all the planes hanging overhead (see him gazing into the cockpit at right) — it is way outdated when compared to the indian museum! the former makes the latter look a little hokey!

all the smithsonian museums close at 5:30, so we were quickly out on the streets! we headed to our favorite spot in the area — teaism, a lovely little tea shop that serves delicious tea, snacks and meals. molly loaded up on warm chai tea and ginger scones. dave chose a super-hot earl grey tea and shortbread trio, while jackson downed some lemonade and chocolate-chunk cookie! yum!

after we warmed up, we took a walk by the navy memorial and national archives, then back to the car! molly’s friend bridgette called and invited us to her place. jackson spent some QT rearranging bridgette’s furniture, and jumping on pillows. soon, we headed out with b and her beau, elijah, to a great little burmese place in bethesda. and whaddayaknow — dave had been there before, on a food shoot for the gazette! a photo of his hung on the wall!

the food was delicious — spicy and creamy — but dessert was the most fun. b & e had arranged for a little treat with a candle on top to be brought to the table (above left). not sure how or if they sing “happy birthday” in burma. but bridgette, dave and elijah did a nice rendition at the table!

it was a long day for jackson, but as usual, he was a trooper. he fell asleep in the car on the way home, and stayed asleep until about 9:30 the next morning. an extra gift for mom — a saturday sleep-in!