Speaking of repurposing...

I was able to fashion a semi-authentic Robin costume from 3 shirts Zeke has outgrown. I was planning to sew the green pants from new fabric when Zeke came downstairs with a pair of green pajama pants that have never fit right. He had the idea to make them into cut-offs "Robin wears shorts on hims legs" and I took in the waist band a few inches so they don't fall down while Robin/Zeke runs across the yard (to make the cape catch wind). Zeke and I are both pleased with this foray into superhero couture.  Alas, he went to bed in the costume, so photos will have to wait 'till morning. 

So much more learning went on around here today-

Yesterday's trip to Camp Lazarus' maple festival was cancelled due to high winds and freezing temps, but today seemed sunnier and calmer so we ventured down the maple activities at Slate Run Farm. Despite the long drive and frigid temps the 3 girls said it was their favorite part of the weekend (see above for Zeke's favorite part). We saw the syrup tubing connecting the maples on our way into the park, then we walked passed some trees with metal sap buckets and peeked under the lids to see the clear sap slowly dripping in. Kids had lots of age appropriate suggestions to answer the question "Why are there lids on the buckets?" from Stella's "evaporation" to Georgia's "so the animals don't eat it."

 We stood by a huge vat of steaming sap (more evaporation) and were warmed by the wood fire that kept it going. In the house we tasted sap (2% sugar) and syrup (66% sugar) and maple gingerbread cake (loved by all, brought the recipe home). We also tasted sorghum molasses. I didn't even realize sorghum grew in ohio-or I guess I thought we only grew an animal feed variety. Up in the barn we saw 2 huge cows and two average sized cows, turns out the smaller ones were pregnant, Farmer said the bigger ones are so obese it interferes with their fertility. When I told him I was in the fertility business he also told me the sheep were out in a bigger pasture because regular exercise helps them do better at lambing time. 

Back home we were treated to a long afternoon of dressing up dolls and playing lightbright thanks to the generous hand-me-downs of 2 friendly families.

For bedtime Georgia picked a book about trees from yesterday's library run. After reading it I finally understand why trees have a ring for each year of their lives-and it was a great review of the whole sap process. The kids were all way more interested in photosynthesis than I had anticipated and Zeke acted out the difference between how we "make" food and how trees "make" food. Stella got to do more explaining about evaporation and erosion. I want to stay home from work tomorrow so we can make bark rubbings like the book suggested.