FLASHBACK: Sugar Bushes: Sand Road Maple Camp

It's maple season! We've had some great posts in the past about sugar bushes so will be re-posting some.  If you've had a wonderful sugar bush experience we'd love to hear about it! By Rebecca

Today we took the kids on our annual sugar bush trip. We go for pancakes, running around outside, real maple syrup and maple sugar candy.

Sugar bushes (or camps, or shacks or pancake houses or farms depending on where you go) is nothing new for me. I grew up in Eastern Ontario, near Quebec and was surrounded by them. School trips were always planned and I went to a prom at one. Seriously. I've written about this and my love for maple syrup in the past.

I am excited that my children get to relive my love for the sugar bush (and they certainly share my love for maple syrup). There was a huge maple tree on the property of one of my homes growing up. It flowed with sap each year. We would sometimes put a bucket on it for fun, but there wasn't enough to make syrup.

My grandfather, a farmer, tapped some trees on his property and would boil the sap and make syrup. It was a dark syrup as I remember it and it was delicious. We would dip buttered bread in it or pour it over bananas. Maple syrup over white rice is still a favourite snack of mine.

This picture was taken at the sugar bush today, but my grandpa had a pot just like it!

Today's trip was to the Sand Road Maple Camp. It's near Moosecreek, about a 50 minute drive East of Ottawa. It's worth the drive.

First, the drive doesn't seem that long (although, remember we are often taking drives like that with the kids!) and once you get there the food assures you that it was worth it.

Oh, the food. We decided on the buffet for all of us. $14.95 for each adult and $4.95 for the kids. If you prefer you can order off the menu, single items etc. But since our kids love pancakes and the trimmings, plus they got juice, it was worth it.

The choices were pancakes (of course!) with unlimited delicious syrup, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, baked beans (these were amazing), sausages and bacon. Not just any bacon, but deep fried smoked pork jowls. I know. But it was so so good! ( I don't have a good picture of the food because we were eating it plus when I took pictures of the kids, I dropped my phone in my beans!)

My 2 year old ate beans and a huge pancake. My son had nearly 2 pancakes and some bacon. When I asked him how he was liking it, he simply said 'it's AWESOME!'.

As for the syrup, it was wonderful. Had that traditional smokey, sweet flavour a sugar bush syrup should have. Incredible. I left feeling very satisfied.

The ground was a little muddy, and the weather turning so we didn't stay too long after but did walk around for a bit. There is only a small play structure for the kids, so don't expect a lot of play time that way, but mine were happy to walk around exploring the trees for a bit.

Naturally, I also left with maple sugar candy.

Go to enjoy the drive, stay to enjoy the amazing food!

The camp doesn't require reservations, is open Tuesday-Sunday 9-4 and until April 25. Take the drive and enjoy!

Rebecca blogs about family and motherhood, is a self-professed foodie, and dabbles in online engagment and community giving.  She has a strange love for maple syrup that can possibly only be matched by her love for chocolate and coffee.

More Eco-friendly ideas from Pinterest!

by Gwen My love of Pinterest continues! It is such a great spot to see the many things others are sharing and pinning that I would not have otherwise seen. If you haven't joined yet, try it out! It may quickly become the way you choose to spend most of your spare time :)

Here are 3 of my faves from the past week: 

How to deodorize your home naturally - Any time you have an unpleasant scent in your home—fish from last night's dinner, burned food odour...you want to get rid of the smell fast. This is a natural way to freshen up and make your place smell amazing. Image credit: One More Moore

Avocado-Chocolate Pudding Recipe - I have personally made this dessert and it is delicious! So delicious that you won't believe it is actually good for you. Avocados are super healthy and super delicious and serve as the base ingredient in this delicious treat. Image credit: Forgiving Martha

Walnut Boat Craft - Spring is in the air which means plenty of rainy days and plenty of puddles to play in. The kids will love this simple craft made out of empty walnut shells, toothpicks and a few other items you most likely have around your home. Play with the boats in puddles or indoors. Image credit: hiphiphoorayblog.com

Check out my last set of eco-friendly Pinterest picks where you will learn How To Make Reusable Non-Toxic Dryer Sheets and More! 

Do you have a favourite eco-friendly pin? If so, please share it in the comments! 

Gwen is a mom of 2 and owns/operates Nayla Natural Care, an online store that specializes in carrying the best organic, natural and eco-friendly products.

More video fun with Devin Super Tramp

by Karen By now, it's no secret that Lara and I are pretty enthusiastic about technology and we share the love with our kids. A couple of weeks ago, Lara showed me these videos that had recently been kid-approved by her children. They are fun to watch with catchy music and your kids will be in awe at what those crazy adults are doing!

With the nice weather we've been having recently, don't these inspire you to get outside and have an adventure!?

Have you discovered any fun videos recently you'd like to share? Tell us in the comments!

Organizing tip: Keeping kids toys organized

by Karen Don’t be fooled into buying a big toy box for your little ones…smaller, manageable containers are so much easier for children to handle.  Large toy boxes are just a dumping ground for all things large and small and make it impossible to find anything.

Invest in some small, medium and larger Canvas or Rubbermaid type bins to house all those toys that seem to accumulate over time.  Find containers that are opaque  and have manageable lids for little ones to be able to pry off.  Categorize your toys into bins, mark the bins for what belongs inside, or paste pictures on the container for the non-readers, and cleanup will be easy for both the child and parent.

Although I have teenagers now, I still have those see-through containers filled with the better quality toys that stood the test of time (such as Lego) and they are easily accessible for when small children visit!

Karen is the mother of a large and busy family with  2 sons in their twenties, 2 teenage daughters and a 17 year old foster child!  As the wife of a retired RCMP officer, she has moved this family 8 times! She recently joined the team of Smart Space Organizing as a professional Organizer because she loves helping others tackle their organizing challenges!

Games for kids: Bean toss

by Rebecca Sometimes the games we play seem so simple it's silly - but these are the things that my kids love (which makes me happy too!)

This game was made with coffee stir sticks, recycled paper and an empty box. I just set up targets and taped them to the coffee stir sticks, then to the inside of the box.

Using our bean bags (I bought them from My Stow-n-Tow for Christmas!) we would stand behind the 'line' and aim, trying to hit the targets. It was a lot of fun, although, probably even funnier since I seemed to have terrible aim!

To make it more challenging, we would take a step back the better we got.

Don't have bean bags? Use a mini stuffed animal or rolled up socks!

Have fun, get creative and PLAY!

Rebecca blogs about family and motherhood, is a self-professed foodie, and dabbles in online engagement and community giving.  She has a strange love for maple syrup that can possibly only be matched by her love for chocolate and coffee.