Saturday February 20th 2010 Maple Sugar Festival at the Hudson Highlands Nature Center

When I was in 4th grade I remember going on a field trip to a tree farm. We went out into the woods & learned how to tap a maple tree to collect the sap to make maple syrup. This was about the time I was obsessed with reading Little House on the Prairie books. In the book, "In the Big Woods" Laura helped her father tap trees & boil the sap to make maple syrup. I thought the whole darn thing was super cool!! When we left we were given a small tree. Seriously, it was just a little stick. That tree is still in my parents front yard today & Scott trims up the branches every time we go back home. It's amazing to see how big it is!! I don't have a picture to post right now, but I'll add one later!! My point in explaining this memory is that on Feb 20th Scott & I took the kids to our nearby nature center for their annual Maple Sugar Festival. We tasted the difference in store bought Syrup & Maple Syrup. Tasted Johnny Cakes (nope they are not flap jacks/pancakes). The kids made a few crafts, listened to a couple of stories by the campfire & Scott competed in a wood tapping competition!! We walked out in the woods & learned about the native trees and the tapping process. Maximus led the way with our tour guide (a combination of surfer/snowboarding dude) & asked so many questions that we had to tell him to slow down a little. Maximus loves the outdoors & nature & it was awesome to see him answering questions & walking alongside the guide talking his ear off!! Fortunately, our guide thought he was the coolest 7 yr old. Brian asked him if he was really just 7 yrs old. He asked Maximus, "hey lil dude are you sure you can't do my job?" Maximus was focused & serious the whole time & even at that moment he just looked at the guide & said no. Brian said..."You will someday!"WOO HOO!! Scott won! His wooden medallion said, "I tap the fastest" wood.Our adventure into the woods to learn the maple tree tapping process! After an hour of walking in the woods & learning a lot about trees we finally tasted the sweet clear sap. For the record Maci was done after 5 minutes of walking in the snow & wanted to go home!! Maximus & his new friend Brian!