Heather Axner (for now): Bridal Shower

Today Mia and I went to Heather's bridal shower.  Heather is Dave's cousin through his mom's sister, Judy.  We are especially excited/tickled about this shower and the couple's (Justin & Heather) May wedding because now that we are in Massachusetts, we are only 15 minutes away from them! But being in MA doesn't just put us closer to Heather & Justin, it also puts us closer to Dave's other cousin (one of Heather's brothers), Joshua.  Joshua is married to Jennifer and they have 2 little girls, Emma is just a tad younger than Mia and Evelyn is a tad older than Gavin.  Since this was a girl's only event (and since Gavin doesn't just sit for hours well) I just brought Mia and we had a lovely time reconnecting with family we hadn't seen for awhile (and the food was great too!!).

Here are Emma and Mia the only other 2 times they ever met:

             

. . . and here they were at the bridal shower.  They really connected well and quickly.  I hope, since we are so much physically closer, that we can keep them in touch better. 

but back to the bridal shower!

This is Mia waiting for the future bride to show up.

The girls helping Heather & Justin open their presents

All 3 girls (almost) looking at the camera

Eating cupcakes!!!

Tap the Maples

On one of the first warm-ish days of March, we went to see how maple syrup is made at Blue Hill's Maple Sugar Days Festival on Brookwood Farm, in Milford (detail for my future reference).  I had always wanted to do this but always seem to forget that the tapping season starts so early.

Mia peaking in the bucket collecting maple sugar water

lane of maples 

There were 5 or so stops with demonstrations (increasingly more recent) showing how maple sugar and syrup has been made throughout history.

trying our hand at tree tapping

Taking a rest on a rusty old tractor

There was also a greenhouse with seeds to plant and coloring to do but since the outside was painted red Mia claimed, "this is not a greenhouse, it is red".