Day 1.065: Sapped!

I think it's fair to say we've all been a bit tired today. Obviously we all know why Exile #2 and I had failed to get enough sleep, but it's less clear why the kids have been off their best form. It hasn't stopped us filling the day. Exile #2 had a breakfast meeting (while the rest of us had breakfast). Then, when she got home we did some chores around the house. After lunch, we went to Five Rivers to see how maple syrup is made.

The girls drilled holes to put a tap in (admittedly to a small piece of long-dead pine rather than a live maple tree). Then we saw some real taps in action - the moving pictures show how quickly the sap is flowing - just as well since the process of getting from sap to syrup reportedly involves a 40:1 volume reduction.

We saw the evaporation process in action and (all-importantly for some) sampled the finished article. As we were finishing the maple tour we ran into friends of the girls from school and hung out with them for a while threading in some adult conversation amongst the childhood angst and trying to prevent E5N1 from eating random things picked up from the ground inside and out.

We picked up Japanese take-out on the way home - Exile #4 tried some sushi and claimed to like it (her tastes are definitely more cosmopolitan than her sister's at the moment) but she refused a second helping. We were happy to eat the rest of it while they had tempura and teryaki instead.