problems getting packets thru on router/wireless access point

[dub20]

I have a freebsd router [5.2.1] setup at home running ipf/ipnat.
everything seems to be working fine for getting out to the internet, and
accessing the box from the outside.
I'm trying to also make this system a wireless access point. Following
the steps in the handbook, i installed a wi0 card, and bridged it to the
internal interface on the router.
Everything seems to be setup probably, and my ethernet connections still
work fine. But I cant get to the internet using a wireless nic on my
laptop.
The laptop is able to connect to the network, and I can even ping
-other- systems on the network [connected thru ethernet], but I cant
ping the server or access the internet. The server isnt able to see any
wireless clients.
At first had ipfilter set default to block, i recompiled the kernel on
the server with default to pass, but that didnt seem to change anything
for the wireless.
I've had this setup working before on a 4.x system. 

when i run tcpdump -i wi0 on the server and try to access a website from
a wireless client, i get:
10:22:51.155344 arp who-has 192.168.1.1 tell 192.168.1.11
but pinging one of the other wired clients from a wireless client gets
the expected icmp echo request and reply.
Im scratching my head on this one. Im having a hard time finding
information pertaining to systems that are combining a firewall router
and wireless access point into one system.

network layout

dsl modem
   |
   |
freebsd router and WAP------
   |                       |
   |                       |
  wired                  wireless clients  
  clients   
  

any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated. and if you could
please CC me, I'm not on the list. thanks