Beautiful Day

For Wayne, Cole, and Heather the beginning of sap season brings an excitement big enough to rival Christmas morning. The anticipation of tapping the trees and hanging the buckets begins in February. Once the trees are finally tapped, all three kids begin and end each day with "checking the buckets" to see how much sap has collected and to get a fresh sip straight from the tree. Next door, Marvin's lines and vacuum pump gather hundreds of gallons, but these simple, old fashioned buckets are full of drop after drop of magic for the kids.

Saturday was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. Perfect for a walk out to the woods to see how the sap was coming along.
This was pretty early in the day, so not much had collected. We knew it was going to be warmer later in the afternoon which would cause the sap to run faster.

It doesn't get much fresher than this.

Several times during our walk, Cole assumed his favorite posture.

Wayne and Heather would not wait for him.

Cole, clearly the middle child.

Wayne helps Heather get a taste.

Wes is building some new Dr. Seuss style contraption for boiling sap. I don't quite understand how it's going to work, but I'll show it to you soon.