DC Blizzard 2009

So Clark's 2nd snow in his first 2 weeks was a 24 inch dump in 18 hours. Our walk around the block looked like another world. Love this first pic of my beautiful Cherryl Anne. Good times.
click the picture for more images

Clark and his many faces

Some chillin' time with Dad after a nice warm bath. A different expression in every picture .. awesome.
click the picture for more images

Clark hibernates with Papa & Grandma

Dad & Christine sneak into DC just before 24 inches of snow dumps on us ... wow. So nice to have the surprise time together before Christmas. Excellent weekend watching them get to know their first Grandson.

click on picture above for more images

Clark meets Noni!

Our little man's arrival 2 weeks early gives us some unexpected and welcome time together before Christmas. Awesome weekend watching Mom get to know her first Grandson.
click on the picture for more images

Clark ... hello I'm 1 week old

don't you just want to eat him up? Well, that's how Cherryl and I feel anyway. The little man has perfected the snug as a bug in a rug sleep, milk chuggin', poopin' and peein' on Mommy & Daddy in week 1. LOVE HIM.
click the picture above for more of week 1

Welcome Robert Clark 12/2/09

Born at 11:30am on Wednesday 12/2/09 ... 7lb 4oz and 19inches. How we have been awaiting your arrival little one. Clark was very busy checking his beautiful Momma out for his first minutes with us. Incredible blessing from God this little dude is.
click on the picture for more of day 1

38 weeks

Little did we know here how soon we would be headed to the hospital!

36 WEEKS

36 Weeks of baby anticipation last Friday, 11/20 and we are still smiling! a few days after this pic was taken Cherryl feels early contractions for the first time and falls asleep with a little grimace on her face ... still beautiful. Very excited for the next few weeks :)

Click HERE for all of the munchkin watch pics

A shower for Baby A last weekend hosted by the dream team of Tricia, DJ, Kristine, Liza and Michelle. Along with help from the Aunties and Super Chef Nanay Lily. We had a fantastic time. THANK YOU LADIES!

Click HERE for more pics

Munchkin Watch 32 Weeks

32 weeks of kickin' happening these days ... wow! Little butthead is baby name now since we moved head down to do the last 10 weeks of growing. Mom is more beautiful than ever and her back is aching more and more lately ... but she is hanging in there with a smile regardless. Cheerios, Chicken Tacos and Chocolate milk are keeping Mommy and Baby happy. Cannot believe we are inside 2 months from our little one's arrival!
click the picture for a link to more belly images

Brooklyn Baby Shower

Ashley, Josh and Katie hosted a baby shower for Cherryl and I at their Brooklyn home last weekend ... what a GREAT time. A taste and smell competition of 12 mystery baby foods, a hilarious pin the baby on cherryl's belly contest and many incredibly generous gifts from our wonderful family. and wrap it all up with a fantastic spaghetti dinner ... awesome time. Thanks Ashley & Josh!

click on the picture above for a link to rest of images

Frank Lloyd Wright Pope Leighey House

been meaning to check out this out since the move to dc ... only 10 miles south of us near mount vernon, va.
One of the earliest examples of a Usonian House, Wright designed and built this home in 1940 for a $50 a week copy editor named Loren Pope at a cost of $7,000. in 1946 Loren Pope sold the home to Robert & Marjorie Leighey for $17,500. 1964 the Leighey's donated the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and it was dismantled and moved to Mount Vernon, VA. Nearly 2 decades after the relocation the house developed structural problems as a result of unstable soil and in 1990 it was dismantled again and moved 30 feet away to firmer footing ... at a cost of $750,000.
very simple L shape design and incredibly durable materials ... nearly 100% cyprus interior and exterior that never has had a need to be treated for weather or termites as it has a natural terpentine in the wood. great design and illusion on the interior make 1,200 square feet feel much larger.
very cool to compare Fallingwater and now this home for the opposite extremes of Wright's residential work.
click on picture above for a link to all the images

28 weeks of baby growin in that belly! mom feeling great these days despite lower back aches and the stretching round ligament that is letting up. 2 more doc appts at 3 weeks in btwn and then every week down the home stretch. tons of kickin and general moving about ... think we saw our little one flip to head down last week as kicks are now up high. this month putting together bedroom where our little wild one will be. days are flying!

click on picture above for more of mommy belly

2 year anniversary weekend in middleburg, va. stayed at the red fox inn housed in the same incredible structure since 1730's ... it was originally called chinn's ordinary, at which george washington would stop in his surveying days moving about the shenendoah valley in his 20's. beautiful weekend all around with my beautiful wife.

click on picture above for link to more images

24 Weeks! Pretty sure my Cherryl Anne is the most beautiful with child wife of all time ... OK, well perhaps I'm biased. Feelin' great these past 4 weeks ... a few trips to the gym together for her eliptical time and my crossfit. Captain Crunch Berries are the hit for momma recently ... a bowl for breakfast, dinner, whenever ... delicious. Her palate for fruit is definitely refining ... safeway Nectarines no good lately, Balducci's are the winner. Plenty of kicking from our little one, mostly right before bed ... last night kept Cherryl up off and on all night and had her stumbling to/from the bathroom half asleep with a bang to her shin on the corner of the bed for the 2nd night in a row, ouch. Who'd a thought we needed to Cherryl proof the furniture before the baby was even born. This month we have a closet made in the bedroom to make room for our new family member. 3rd trimester here we come!

click on the picture above for more munchkin watch pictures

Anderson farm ... home of the $75 tomato. Self watering flower pot, check. Organic growing soil and fertilizer, check. Heirloom pineapple tomato plant seedling and german johnson tomato plant seedling, check. Evil, ravenous, veggie feeding, flying squirrels taking out all but one perfect specimen from our first round of 2009 tomatos, double check. Where's the red rider bbgun when you really need it? With a leavenworth prison style tomato cage now shielding our crop the cost per tomato will hopefully drop ... i'm looking at a dozen or so little green tomatos right now in various stages of maturity. And for now we'll enjoy the perfect summer flavor of the one lucky tomato that made it. The thing must've weighed a pound before slicing and held more moisture than any tomato I've ever seen. We paired it up with basil grown from seed also in the back yard (apparently squirrels don't have a taste for this) and some tasty mozzarella de bufala ... perfection.
Our next batch of red fruit goes into an olive oil soaked mess of country bruschetta. oh yes, feed on.
Click the picture above for a slideshow of images

Cherryl Birthday ... Vietnamese @ Present

A 28th Birthday for my beautiful Cherryl and fantastic Vietnamese for us all. Deeeelicious! Here was the menu:
http://www.presentcuisine.com/
Autumn Rolls, Baby Clams, Jewel Green Papaya, Crab & Shrimp Fried Rice, Cow on the Open Field (Shaken Beef), Country Road Duck, Duck in Tamarind, Whole Fried Rockfish, House Made Ice Creams.

Click the picture above to link to a slideshow of images

20 week Ultrasound

God's miracle of human life before our very eyes ... incredible. Saw our little baby's working heart, even a closeup of the 4 ventricles working together ... get chills thinking about it.

Started the sonogram with our first images being a little flexing arm. Had thought to this point that we were having a little girl, but after the 'gun show' am thinking we may have a growing little boy showing off already. Love it.

Click on the picture above for a slideshow of more sonogram pics from weeks 10 and 20

munchkin watch at 20 weeks

mommy has got her mojo back! no more 3 hour naps after work. Recent food fav's are chicken shawarma a la lebanese taverna and pan fried spam with rice, wow.

Munchkin Watch

Week 16 and Mom has felt the first fluttering of little feet in the middle of the night ... definitely not gas this time ;)

Topeka with Mom

June 2009 Cherryl & I had a perfect T-town weekend visit with Mom and our road trip companions Molly & Jason. Mom has done so much work and the house just looks better and better each time we visit. But the big WOW this time is the garden ... so incredible. Several different kinds of tomatos, amazing greens, asparagus, broccoli, peas, zucchini, carrots and on and on ... all interspersed with beautiful flowers. Well done Mom! On the menu for dinner, Chilean Sea Bass on the charcoal grill, thanks Jason ... a killer potato gratin dish and delicious greens from the garden. Topped off with a show stopping Gooseberry Pie that Grandmother Clark would be proud of and homemade Coffee Toffee Ice Cream. My mouth is watering just thinking about it again ... let's eat!

Click on the picture above for link to a slideshow of images

Brookridge West Reunion

Many hundreds of holes of golf Grandpa, Dad, Ben, Aaron and I logged on the Brookridge West Wycliffe Nine from 1988 - 1993. It was here that Dad and Grandpa taught us to love this game. 16 years passed during which time we would drive by the course and talk about how much fun it would be to play there again one day. May 2009 as Dad was driving with Grandpa's military service memorial flag to deliver to Grandma he spots that the Wycliffe 9 is now open to the public and we swiftly make plans for our reunion. Every hole and every look are just as we remember with very few exceptions and one thing is certain, Grandpa is with us every shot of the way. Good times.

Click on the Brookridge West picture above for link to a slideshow of images.

our wedding - dc to portugal

here are some of our favorite images from our wedding and honeymoon ... click the link below for the slideshow
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=111220854584&h=cIUZg&u=_6mLu&ref=mf

december 18th here we come

friday, 4.10.09 the munchkin watch begins!

pretty psyched the day we found out our little one was on the way. cherryl as excited as i've ever seen her just after we decided that no, further pee tests are not necessary because there are definitely 2 solid lines there ... wooohaaa!