A Sunday Road Trip Adventure

After getting all our "work" done yesterday, today we reserved for adventure. We piled into the van for a Sunday road trip!

First stop - la Trappe Fromagerie. Always family favourite, especially when like today the cheese factory was in full operation! We watched the cheesemakers for a long time and got some waves from them even though they were hard at work.

Lunch was squeaky curds still warm from the factory.

After lunch we headed to the Parc National de Plaisance for some fresh air and exercise. While the wind was cold, we were glad for it because if it had been any warmer we would have sunk into the knee-deep snow with each step.

After all that hiking, we were starving, so our final stop - Chez Ti-Mousse Cabane à Sucre - was a hit. We feasted on baked beans, egg soufflé, ham, pancakes, and much more. We enjoyed a two-horse open sleigh ride, inspected their fancy evaporator, and ate some maple taffy on snow.

A great (and tiring) road trip was had by all. I think everyone will sleep well tonight!

Happy Sunday everyone.

Beer, Barns & Books

It was a fantastically productive Saturday. Daddy and the boys brewed a hoppy beer. The boys and I mucked out the barns. We all relaxed and I read a whole book - for fun! Three "B"s for the win. A great day was had by all.

 

Lucky Leprechauns

 Our three leprechauns are the cutest but also the most mischievous. They really enjoyed their St. Patrick's Day party and movie night. A great start to what I hope is a fantastic weekend.

Moving Up in the World

 Alistair spent the week in a big kids' classroom while the daycare rooms are being deep cleaned. He is convinced that he has gone to kindergarten. Permanently. Not sure how he is going to react when his teachers tell him it is time to move back to daycare until Fall. He loves being a big boy!

Blue Bird Sky

The sky today was the most brilliant blue. There is still a lot of snow on the ground but it is hard to mind so much when it is so gorgeous outside.

Keeping the Nunchucks in Check

The boys shattered our old fish tank during the Christmas holidays with homemade nunchucks. The goldfish have been living in a white bucket ever since. Today they were upgraded to the Goldfish Hilton. Now if we can just keep the nunchucks in check, we should be back in business. Sadly our sucker fish did not live to see fish paradise.

 

Brushing the Dust off my Mixer

Oh, trusty mixer, how I missed thee. I'm making a comeback with candied jalapeno and cheddar bread.

 

A Veggie Maternity Ward

There is very little that brings me as much joy as planting seeds. I cleared out the lettuce graveyard and turned it into a maternity ward for onions, herbs, and peppers. I can't wait to see sprouts!

 

Drip Drip

On this gorgeous sunny Saturday, nothing could keep us away from the maple forest after we finished mucking the barns. Indeed, the sap has started flowing! We found some hefty ice chunks in our buckets. Alistair is big enough this year to really engaged and helpful with mapling - even if he can't quite see into the buckets yet.

Insanity

The last month has been insane. I have worked every single daytime, evening and most weekends for the past three weeks. Except, of course, for the two days I had the stomach flu and thought I was going to die.

I submitted the third of three grants worth 1 million dollar combined today. Finally. I am beyond exhausted. I feel a bit like my poor banana plant who was a victim of my neglect over the past month - not dead but not great. And it didn't even fare the worst. The kids and dogs all need haircuts badly, the barns need to be mucked immediately, and my lettuce all died. Like completely, totally dead. In all honestly, I feel pretty fried right now too. It has been a month of pure insanity.

On the one positive note, I was awarded $220K in grant funds as the lead researcher in the past two weeks (three separate successful grants). If only being awarded funding didn't come with more work!

Working

While I continue into the third week of 14-hour workdays during grant season, Ian travelled for work this week. For some reason his work looks very different than mine.

Maple Season Starts

It is the sweetest time of year. We put in our maple taps today. This is the perfect picture that I took right before Seamus swung around holding the drill and hit Alistair in the nose with the drill bit. Sigh. If only real life were more like the pretty pictures.