Dad's know a lot but Grandpa's know EVERYTHING.

My Dad drove up for a quick 3 day weekend.  We drove him all over on Friday and gave him a taste of what our busy schedule looks like.  On Saturday we went to the Stamford Nature Center to let the kids burn off some energy before the rain set in.  While we were there we experienced our very own Private Tour of how Maple Syrup is made.  (We went to the Maple Sugar Festival at the Nature Center a few weeks ago and also went on a field trip to learn about it with Mikey's class but being able to ask questions and interact directly with the Maple Syrup Maker was awesome!)

 We learned that the maple syrup has to be heated to precisely 219 degrees (which is really hard to do with a wood burning stove).  Also, there are 6 different grades of Maple Syrup.  Usually Grade A is made at the beginning of the season and Grade B is made near the end.  Also, the temperatures at night and the following day need to be just right for any sap to flow from the trees.  You also need at least 12 inch circumference for each tap on a maple tree.  Those were just a few quick facts we learned among a lot of other stuff.

Katie loves coloring and painting.  Papa joined her.

Papa got to get up close and check out all the equipment. Mikey was very interested too.  Especially the part where we get to sample taste.

I spy a Katie bug.

 This tortoise named Sully was really getting his workout for the day.  He was really friendly but was serious about logging in some miles.  He was walking around the entire room for the 20 minutes or so that we were in there.  The funny thing was he was going so fast that every picture I took of him looked like to one below...all blurry.  But he was bookn' it!  Mikey is normally shy at doing certain things especially if there are a large number of people around.  He doesn't like the attention on himself.  But when the staff person got out a snake he showed no hesitation when he walked over to pet it.  I was amazed.  I couldn't even get out a quick warning to him to be careful.

Go, Sully, Go!

This particular snake that Mikey touched will be going to the Bronx Zoo soon.

Sully is 12 and will live to be 100 years old and will grow 3 times his current size.  I can't believe people had him as a pet!