what better way to celebrate the 4th of July than to go blueberry picking? well, to be honest, we tried to go picking up in thurmont on july 3rd, but were turned away! apparently, their bushes were all picked out?! so instead, we headed in the total opposite direction, to a new blueberry farm in southwest frederick county.

this time we called frog eye farm before we headed out, and asked if there were enough blueberries to pick (smart, right?)! and the farm’s owner assured us there were enough gigantic blueberries to pick for ages! and boy was he right. some of these blueberries were the largest and juiciest we’d ever seen!

we left grandpa kurt at home to work on the bathroom renovation project, but grandma joined us! she was intent on picking the very best berries, as these are her favorite fruit! jackson was helpful, as always.

it was seriously humid and super buggy, but the kids powered through!

jackson couldn’t stop picking! even on our way back he kept drifting over to what he thought was a good bush to pick (and eat!) some more.

nice berries, dave and marcia!

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!

after their long cross-country trip this summer, grandma and grandpa met up with us at wintergreen in virginia for the annual spence family reunion. from there, jackson camped with them in the RV for two nights as they made their way back to maryland. we picked up jackson at cunningham falls state park, with a cookout and campfire. fun way to wrap up the summer, just a few days before school started!

the second leg of christmas 2009 was spent in doylestown, with the spences. we arrived late on christmas eve, just before santa paid a visit. we had just enough time to write out our note to santa and leave him milk and cookies, and carrots for his reindeer in our new plate set (thanks aunt amy and uncle nick!).

it was a special year at the spence house for christmas, as dan, cassie, and alex white joined us to celebrate the holiday for the first time in many years. we were all so glad that they could be there, so we marked the occasion with a big family photo.

we all woke up early to open our presents from santa. phoebe seems really excited about that bib she got!

jackson could hardly believe his pile of presents! what was in that giant box?? (a playmobil circus tent, just what he asked for!)

aunt naomi was more than happy to pal around with phoebe for the weekend. they’d never met before, but were fast friends!

despite the sour expression, jackson did love all his presents this year!

jackson didn’t really want to open any other presents once grandpa and daddy got the circus tent set up.

cassie and alex enjoyed the show, even though they had to wake up early to see it!

matt had a good time buying presents for dan. driving goggles? where does he find this stuff??

grandpa liked his new shirt (“Grandpa since 2006″) — he plans to wear it in florida.

portrait time again! dave, jackson, molly, kurt, phoebe, marcia, matt and naomi

it’s always great to have susan and her mom, chris, over for christmas dinner. the ladies looked lovely yet again!

nine years ago (christmas 2000) we took a photo similar to this one of all the babcock grandchildren. and my, how they have grown since then (see original photo below)!

(clockwise from top center in both photos) alexander, matthew, daniel, david and cassandra

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!

having a great time with grandma and grandpa!!