Spring break in Canada

The kids and I came to Canada for their Spring Break. We left Monday to arrive in St. Thomas on Monday night. Tuesday, the girls went with Grandma to get their nails done - how pretty.
We also had a 'congratulations on your retirement' lunch with Grandma Diane.

Wednesday was jam packed with visits to Aunt Erma and Uncle Wendell as well as Jen, Trent and Kyle. There were very tired kids on Thursday morning when we left for Tavistock.

We spent the morning at the Tavistock Preschool and the Tavistock Public School - visiting with friends and our favourite teachers.

Thursday lunch was McDonalds at Mommy's old work. It was wonderful to see so many friends join us.

Thursday afternoon we dropped by Cambridge to see the Semplonius' and then back to Tavistock to visit with the Danens.

Thursday night we had a sleep over with our cousins Logan and Ainslie. The kids can't wait to do it again.

Happy Easter from Erin!

Here is an Easter craft that Erin made before the Spring Break at her school.

Peyton's class

Here is a picture of Peyton's class at school. He is one of the oldest in the class.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here is some artwork from Peyton and Brooklyn. Peyton was painting with a Green Pepper - how creative. Brooklyn painted a leprechaun.

Ready for the Rain

Spring is coming quickly and we already had some rainy days. Peyton is all ready for them with his bright yellow rubber boots and raincoat.

More Maple Syrup running today...

The Maple Syrup Man

Recently, we had friends here from Canada who have made maple syrup from trees on their farm. Brad picked up some 'taps' when we were in Canada at the beginning of March as we have 4 maple trees in the backyard. Last Monday, Brad 'tapped' the trees. He used the bright orange Home Depot buckets to catch it. It was a very cold night but the next day was beautiful - great for collecting sap. Brad flew to Minnesota on Tuesday so I was on 'sap' duty. He left me a 2L Tupperware container to put the sap in and then I was to put it in the fridge. On Tuesday after school, I checked on the sap buckets. OH MY!! We had almost 10 gallons of sap in less than 24 hours. I found more buckets and buried these full buckets with the lids on in the snow to keep them cold.

Our experience intrigued the neighbors. A couple doors down, the family also tapped their trees.
You know you live near Canadians when.....

Brad arrived home on Friday and proceeded to boil the sap in a propane powered turkey cooker in the driveway. Almost 3 days of boiling and we have about 2L of maple syrup in the fridge.

I am very proud of Brad's work and it was a great experience for our kids too!