Storyland

In August we took our maiden trip to Storyland. We've been anxiously waiting for Anna to get old enough to make it through the day without melting down from lack of nap. She had a great day riding the rides with Mimi and the Eastmans. It was a cloudy, slightly drizzly day, not too hot, so it wasn't crowded which was great.

Owen's birthday

Owen celebrated his first birthday in August. At the risk of sounding cliche, HOW TIME FLIES?! I can't believe my baby is already 1. Here are some pics from his birthday. It was a beautiful day with nice weather.

Random summer picture

Anna and a sunflower in our yard. This sunflower seed came from my bird feeder - there was a bunch more but I mowed them under - next year when I put the bird feeders away I will let them all grow.Anna drying off in Freedom , NH
Anna and Owen in Pocasset - getting ready to leave the beach for lunch
Erika and owen staying dry during the bumper boats

eggs and tomatoes

Anna loves picking the cherry tomatoes from the garden. She eats them mos of the time but some times she just squirrels them away... A recent trip down the road to Shirley and Pete's for fresh eggs. Lulu had to get out to make sure the eggs got home safely.

"New" ride

I scored a new bike for Anna this week. It is purple and has princesses on it. What else could a girl ask for ...

Father's Day

Owen had a hard time keeping his eyes open during a walk on father's day weekend. Feeding the ducks is a tiring pastime.
We spent father's day enjoying the nice weather and a good swimming tide in Hull this year. As Owen napped Erika , Anna and I went out on Pa's new sea kayak (even though you really can't see our f aces that is us). Anna and I also had fun swimming in the chilly water and catching hermit crabs.

More

Pa and I boiled sap to syrup again this weekend. We started late so ... we ended late. Still fun but next time (next year) an early start is in order. This time around we gathered more sap , by adding 2 buckets , so the process we longer and in the end we had a higher yield. The sap was from the same tree but the weather was much different between the two weeks of collection. What a difference in the end result.

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2011

Happy St Paddy's Day from 10 Prospect Street

Backyard sugaring 3/12/11

Usually a lot of snow late in the season is not a good thing. But this year all the lingering snow got my attention. I noticed the maple in my back yard dripping a lot of sap. So I decided to see if I could make syrup out of it. I was hesitant at first but after a week of collecting the sap and a nice sunny 5 hours on Saturday the end result was truly worth it.

Once I tapped the old maple sap came gushing out. I used what ever I had around the house to contain it. I read some articles and the book Pa bought me and prepared myself for an experiment on the weekend.

When the sap came out it resemble water. Colorless , odorless, tasteless - really just like water. As you boil , the color , taste , smell and viscosity all changes.

I was lucky to have Pa there all day to help out. It was a first for the both of us - and we each had equal parts of turning the sap into syrup.

3/12/11

There are really only a few steps to this process. Tapping the tree , collection/storage the sap, straining the sap prior and during the boil and bottling.

3/12/11

Once the sap is boiling there really isn't too much to do - a lot of waiting. Luckily ,Pa and I had good weather.

3/12/11

We are nearing the finish line. 4 plus hours stirring to sap to make sure it doesn't boil over. We had to keep it at 220 degrees. at this point you can smell maple syrup in the air.

Once finished , we bottled it up, into two 8 ounce salad dressing containers. 8 gallons boiled off to 16 oz! Tasting the warm syrup was an awesome feeling. Not bad for two first timers. Maybe this is the start of a new hobby.

Anna and Owen

Anna loves being a big sister. Here a few photos taken recently of Anna and Owen. She can't wait for the day Owen walks and can play with her. Owen 7 month and almost 3 1/2 years old!!

Random shots

Here are some random shot for our followers ... hard to believe people still follow but just incase here ya go