Easter Picnik

The kids and I are down in Delaware for Easter, and having somewhat less than usual to do I was a little bored and downloaded the new version of Picasa, which now includes the photo editing functions that were on Picnik.  That might not mean much to anyone reading this, but for me it was super exciting and meant that I immediately went to town applying fun effects to my pictures.  So here is our Easter, in plain old pictures and in fun, effect-laden pictures, side by side for your enjoyment.  We started yesterday by dyeing some eggs.  It was Eli’s first time doing this and I only gave him one egg to do, which was about his speed. 

Brian did a bunch, and mixed colors, and ate several along the way. 

The Easter bunny came today and the boys had a blast doing an Easter egg hunt. 

Then Brian and I got to work making hot cross buns.  He’s a great kitchen helper!

While we did that, Eli played “roll the lemon” with grandma and grandpa. 

And then after a (short) nap and a walk, we ate out hot cross buns!

Fun times!  Videos are going up on vimeo, check it out!

And he’s off!

Yesterday Calvin took the training wheels off Brian’s bike.  He also has a little balance bike that he has been doing really well on, so we thought he’d be ready.  This afternoon, we tried it out!  Starting is still a little tricky because he tries to put both feet on the pedals and then go.  But once he gets going, he can really ride!  He can stop, turn, ride off the driveway, and ride back on.  We are so proud!

This is him coming back. He started on a driveway up the street, rides into the street, and back to where Eli and I are standing (in the Hortons' driveway):

Yay Brian!  (Now it may be time for a bigger bike…)

Maple syruping

Today was a big day for us!  We took a break from the incessant house preparations and went to the Genesee Village and Country Museum.  It’s a little historical village staffed by people in period costume showing how they did things back in the olden days, specifically, making maple syrup.  We saw how the trees were tapped with metal spiles and buckets:


No picture, but the boys also got to drill a hole in a log and hammer in a spile… it was pretty cool!  Then we saw how they tapped with wooden spiles that they were carving right on the spot:

They hollow them out using a red-hot poker.  This was a really old-fashioned way of doing it!  The sap drips out the wooden spile and into a hollowed out log below.  Then children carry it in buckets back to the sugar camp.  There was no sap today because it has been so warm that the sap ran a month ago, but they had buckets of rocks for the boys to try carrying.  They would have made good farm hands!

Even Eli wanted to try; they had to shorten it to the max for him. 

I held a lot of the weight of it.  I didn’t want to crush him!  At the sugar camp we saw how they boiled down the syrup and we got to try some maple taffy on snow. 

We walked around the village:

I thought it was very cute, like a little colonial Williamsburg.  We had maple teacakes (cookies) and rosewater currant teacakes, and wow, I need to get the recipe for that!  They were great!

There was a chocolate-making demonstration here also and we got to try some hot cocoa.  It was just wonderful, and so nice on a rainy day.  I would have gladly paid for a mug of it instead of a thimbleful, but unfortunately they were only selling Swiss Miss. 
We also saw lots of cooking:

Blacksmithing:

Coopering:

And a jail:

Haha, not really!  This was the pharmacy; all the open buildings had this kind of railing to keep you from wandering in. 

Only about half the buildings were open, but it was more than enough for us.  We spent about 3 hours walking around (it’s surprisingly big) and couldn’t have done a minute more.  We stopped in Scottsville for lunch to get some food in the little guy (and us) before he passed out.  Not that he ate much, as usual, but it was a nice way to end a fun morning out. 

Annual Pancake trip

Well, we foolishly decided to go ahead with our annual trip with the neighbors to the Maple Tree Inn for pancakes and fresh maple syrup.  We were supposed to get a little bit of snow, but the way things have been this winter we figured it would be on the low end, about an inch.  No problem.  Well, it ended up being quite the blizzard, one of the bigger snow dumps we’ve seen this winter.  Following the Hortons, we could barely see their car:

It was really very pretty but at the same time quite terrifying; we almost bit it just at the end, within a few yards of the Maple Tree Inn.  (“Whee!  That was fun!”  said Brian.  I disagreed.)  Fortunately, we got there in one piece!

And, (go figure), there was no wait at all!  So we were soon eating pancakes to our hearts’ content. 

(Looks happy, doesn’t he?)

Calvin with the Hortons… somehow he managed to sit far away from the kids!

Me and the boys… pancake time!  We went downstairs to see the evaporator, but it was not going.  Also, Eli was terrified of the room full of antiques, and the evaporator too.  I really don’t get it. 

And we went to see the griddle in action:

All of us:

And then it was time to hit the snowy road back home! 

Snow again, for a day.

We have been seeing green grass for most of the winter; it snowed heavily for a short while Saturday morning so we took the opportunity to play in it. Eli is sporting his new winter hat that Mom made.

I apparently put Brian in a hat that was made for him when he was 1. That explains why it wasn't covering his ears.

The boys weren't too interested in the snowmen I made, which is just as well, as they toppled over in a "Calvin and Hobbes" style catastrophe later that day as the sun came out and the snow melted away. Fun while it lasted though!

In the snow

Well, I was starting to think we might have a winter with no snow at all, but it finally came!  Calvin and Brian built a cool sledding track in the backyard.  I tried to take some pictures of the kids, but they were moving so fast!

So finally I gave up and took some video:

And we finally, finally got to make a snowman!

He wasn’t too big, but it’s the best we could do with the crumbly snow.  We were so glad to have some winter fun at last!

A day at the zoo

The three cousins at the zoo... Emme was there too, of course, but she did not participate in the total craziness of these guys.

They spent a lot of time climbing things; rocks, trees, a statue... climbing, climbing, climbing!

Brian rode a camel!

Eli's favorite was the petting zoo!