The Sap is Running

And so were we to the SUGAR BUSH! Saturday we went to Stanley's Olde Maple Lane Farm for a good old fashioned sugar bush. The best, best part of a sugar bush is the all-you-can eat pancakes and french toast and waffles and sausage and bacon with the best tasting maple syrup one has ever had. In fact, it was all so good, it didn't even occur to me to get out my camera and take a picture. My focus was the food!

The bucket is nearly full of sap. It pretty much looks like water when it comes out of the tree and tastes like it, too. It's just a little sweet. Not nearly as sweet as the maple taffy Clayton is enjoying in this picture. (He s-a-v-o-r-e-d his maple taffy for over three hours that day.) It takes 40 liters of sap to make 1, yes, 1 liter of syrup. And that is why real maple syrup costs so much.

After the sap is collected, it goes to the sugar shack where it is boiled and boiled and boiled until it is the wonderful liquid we all love: maple syrup. On this farm, the sugar shack was truly a shack. I've been to another farm where it was actually a really nice building...


This is just one of the vats where the sap is boiled down. There were a couple of stations and none of them really had sap in them. They just had water for demo purposes. The real maple farm (where all of the syrup we consumed came from) is in Lanark County, the maple capital of Ontario, so everything we saw was just for show...

...which didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves. Clayton is still enjoying his maple taffy.

The weather was gorgeous and warm on Saturday, so we took a ride around the farm. It was nice and relaxing. Actually, the weather was not at all cooperative for the maple season. Freezing nights and just above freezing days are the ideal temperatures for the sap to run. We've had really warm days and not quite freezing nights, so the trees are starting to bud. Fabulous for the rest of us. Not so fabulous for the maple farmers. Once the buds open, the sap turns bitter and can no longer be boiled down into syrup.
It was a great day, enjoying a truly Canadian tradition- so fitting as we're in our last month in Ottawa.

Happy St. Patrick's Day...Happy Spring!

We were all excited to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year. Even though Clayton and I constructed and decorated a leprechaun trap, we didn't catch Collin and Shawn O'Leprechaun. They created quite a mess around our house, but did leave us some gold from their pot at the end of the rainbow and some magic leprechaun powder.

After we added some milk to the magic powder and said the magic words

Leprechaun, leprechaun shamrock seen
Magic powder green, green, green!

we had a very tasty treat. The leprechauns also left Clayton a glass of green milk and instructions to wear green all day.

We've had some really warm weather, so decided to take advantage of it and go for a hike. We enjoyed a good hour of walking an NCC trail near our house. Cyle and Clayton fed the birds, who were quite friendly. I missed the bird actually sitting on Cyle's hand, but did get it flying away.
The geese and the robins have returned, so spring is officially on it's way.
We need to wish a Happy Birthday to both grandpas! Grandpa G celebrated his birthday on March 12 and Grandpa Huck celebrated his on March 19. We hope you both had great birthdays!
We're starting our countdown out of Ottawa. Like everywhere else, time seems to get so short at the end. We're cleaning out cabinets and closets and purging items we don't need/want. And we're trying to do all that we can in Ottawa before we go. It's going to be a busy, busy month!

In Like a Lion

The Rideau Canal, that runs through the city of Ottawa - well, the reason for the city of Ottawa in the first place - is made into the world's longest skating rink every year. One Saturday we made the trek into the city and spent the morning skating. It was a lot of fun. I wish we lived closer so we could take advantage of it more often.

The First Nations people had set up tepees and were giving talks and doing demonstrations. Clayton really enjoyed it.

The weather for Winterlude this year was, um, above freezing. I'm really glad that we made it down to the canal the first weekend when it wasn't too cold, but the ice was perfect. We've had quite a few thaws and the ice is pretty bad at the moment.

Levi - all bundled up!

I love skating with the stroller (a.k.a. skating walker). The boys like being pushed around and I like that it keeps me from falling.

Levi is loving eating solid foods. So far, there have been very few foods he doesn't really like. His favorite? Baby Mum Mums - rice wafers.

Any toy that is Levi's must be better than his own, right? Clayton loves playing in the exersaucer now almost as much as he did as an infant. I love it because he can't get himself out.

Levi's 6 month pictures. Oh, my baby is getting so big.

This past weekend Cyle made a quick trip to VA to look at the house we've found to rent. Once it's all final, I'll post some pictures. It's gorgeous and perfect for us. God has truly blessed us with this find.

Clayton-isms:
While Cyle was gone Clayton wanted to have a "sleepover," sleep in our bed.
He now has his "very own wallet" which he fills with "very important credit cards" and "boring old stuff." Today he told me he "needs ID."
As we were leaving church on Sunday, he said, "It's a really nice day, eh?" Cyle said, "You've even lowered your standards." It was around 10 degrees F. My little Canadian.
Last week we were waiting at a pharmacy and he said, "Let's play a game." "Okay," I said, " What would you like to play?" "Hockey," he replied.

We've had a really crazy week with frigid temperatures... Levi woke up this morning with an ear infection...Clayton's sniffling and coughing...March will go out like a lamb, I hope.