Easter! And no snow!

Little Bunny Foo Foo (and her side-kicks)

hopping through the forest, scoopin' up the plastic eggs,

and eating the candy insides.

Maple Sugaring Days

The girls and I tried a whole new event this year!  So rare for us to break tradition, but really pleasant.  We went to the Maple Sugaring Days event near Houghton's Pond.  Nothing too fancy, but perfect for us.

The perfection began with a trolley ride from the parking lot to the event site.  The girls have seen trolleys around town and were thrilled to get on one themselves.

They immediately homed in on the important things: kettle corn and horses.  The horses were all rescue draft horses.  Their real job is working on a fossil-fuel-free farm, but on this particular day they were giving wagon rides.

This was actually very exciting for me.  As far as I can remember, I had never been in a horse-drawn carriage.  (Feel free to correct me, dear reader, if I am wrong, but I cannot remember an instance.)  I gladly shelled out for the ride around the field, the girls and I piled in the wagon, and away we went.

Afterward, the horse on the right fixed Chandler's hair for me.

He gave her a very slobbery kiss right on the top of her head, while managing not to nibble her or scare her to death.  Somehow she didn't even notice, which was fine with me.

Then we planted some seeds and...

...moved on to traditional pastimes like hula-hooping.  

At the very end of our afternoon, I was able to entice the girls into visiting the maple sugaring displays.  I don't think they were terribly impressed, but there wasn't much to see either.  It is a very long, slow process, especially when done traditionally over a log fire.

Never mind.  They love maple syrup and now they know a little bit more about where it comes from.  And the horses.  We can all get excited about them.

Thank you, Evacuation Day

Boston has this special holiday, Evacuation Day.  I can't even be bothered to find out why we're evacuating - snow, floods, the British, come to take their revenge?  All I know is that every Spring, the schools are closed for no good reason.  

This year, we took it as an opportunity to go to Drumlin Farm.  The sun bothered to come out, so we had our official First Hats Day.

Lots of animals were making their first appearance as well.

This fella had been around for days, but we did see some twin lambs that were only several hours old.

I'm trying to build up the girls' endurance, so I marched them around some fields.  They did not thank me.

Frances ran off in protest (yay, endurance-building; mom wins!), so I took Chandler's picture for a bit.

When Frances returned, the girls practiced their cowgirl skills.  Frances has it down.  Hi-ho, Silver!

Look at this beauty!

I'd say this box of dirt is the girls' favorite part.  They can contentedly shovel dirt from one place to another for a long, long time.  I bring a book to pass the time.  I wonder if our condo-mates at home would mind a big box of dirt in the garden.

Eventually, we had to go home.  One more stop at the big logs, before I dragged them away.

Not a bad Evacuation Day afterall.