Love, Learn, Play: Drowning in Maple Sap!

Well- sugaring season is in full swing! For the last few days the weather has been just perfect (below freezing at night, above 40 and sunny during the day) and the maple sap is flowing like crazy. Despite boiling for a couple of hours every night since Sunday, we were literally drowning in sap- our outdoor freezer was full, every cooler we own (and one of Uncle Brad's!) was full, and the buckets on the trees were full- so Jon had to take a half day off of work yesterday so we could get in a good long boil and start turning this sap into some maple syrup!! We started boiling at 1:30 in the afternoon and didn't come inside until 8:30 at night. During that time we had a constant flow of friends and family coming over to hang out in the sugar shack. When Jon built the evaporator earlier this winter, he had hoped that it would become a warm fire for our family and friends to gather around and I think it has exceeded even his wildest dreams. It's kind of the happening place to be :)

But as much as I love breathing in the sugary steam while sitting next to our loved ones, watching all the kids ride lap after lap on their bikes only to come running in when its marshmallow time- I think the thing I've loved the most about our sugaring season is watching the boys help daddy every step of the way. They've helped chop down trees and split fire wood. They've tapped the trees, hung the sap buckets, and emptied the sap buckets- sometimes directly into their sweet little mouths! They've hauled firewood into the sugar shack, poured sap into the pans, sat under the sugary blanket of steam keeping warm by the fire, and tasted their syrup every step of the way. And now a days, with the lure of all the fancy technology and dozens of different kinds of screens that kids are so fond of sitting in front of for hours at a time, I can help but love, love, love watching my own boys outside getting their hands dirty while working the land they live on. It makes my heart smile to sit back and watch them following in their daddy's footsteps- literally and figuratively- and loving it every step of the way!

Whole family in the sugar shack- even Rigby!