Morganne's birthday celebration and snow fun!

As per her request, we went to Arni's for Morganne's 5th birthday dinner.  Nana and Grandad joined us and helped make the night a lot of fun.  I can't believe she is 5 years old!!!

 



 

Her "big" birthday present this year was a brand new bicycle.  She absolutely LOVED it.  We are so thankful for a bigger house so she could take it for her first spin!

 

Finally we had the perfect snow fall to make a snowman.  We've been waiting 2 years!  The girls had a blast and Mom and Dad joined in too.  Family fun at it's best!

 

 Kaelynn helped a lot- when she wasn't trying to eat the snow she was gathering!

 

I was the target of most of the snowballs!

 

This one cracks me up...  She threw as hard as she could, but the snowball actually ended up inside her jacket hood, which she then couldn't find and needed Daddy's help to retrieve it.  So cute!

 

 Love this picture.

Family outing to Maple Creations!

One of Morganne's favorite pre-school teachers invited our family out to their annual farm open house to see how they make Maple syrup and enjoy some VERY yummy breakfast food.  It was cold but good weather outside and we all had a blast, especially since good friends Rebee and Livie got to come along. We also truly enjoyed getting to meet Ms. Julie out of school and the rest of her family and friends.  Can't wait to do it next year!

 

Here Mr. Doug (Ms. Julie's husband) teaches us about how they spike the trees and collect the sap.

 

 Meeting "Francis" the Mule ;c)  She hauls the sap from the fields to the barn.

 

Morganne and Livie

 

 Maple sap looks very much like water with only a slight sweet taste.  It takes about 48-50 gallons of Sugar or Red Maple sap to make a gallon of syrup!

 

 The evaporator hits a certain temp and it "unloads" the syrup through a filter.

 

Doug showing us the steam from the Sap pans and the Syrup pans in the evaporator.

 

 Doug's partner, Michael, setting up the jugs to fill with freshly made syrup!

 

 Livie trying to blow out the steam.

 

Filling the jugs for sale.

 

 Watching and listening intently!

 

 We've worked up a hunger, so now we are running to the house to try some of this delicious syrup!

 

Oh the spread of good food!  New found favorite: cinnamon rolls placed on a waffle iron and served with maple syrup carmel fudge topping!  W.O.W.  So good!  I think Morganne had 3rds....  (Justin and I did too!)

 

 Ms. Julie flipping pancakes!

 

 

 Now it's time for some fun on this awesome property!

 

 They had an INCREDIBLE tree house built that the girls really enjoyed. 

 

 After many hours of fun and just sitting and talking while the kids played it was time to leave.  Well, our poor little mini van just couldn't quite make it up the tiny hill and needed some help. ;c)  The stuff memories are made of....  It was a great day!  We all slept hard for naps later.