Easter Baptism

Adam and I traveled to Omaha over Easter to meet our little nieces, Kennedy Blair and Raleigh Brook, born January 12 to Christopher and Amanda Barondeau. Adam informs me that Kennedy is on the right.

We had one quick weekend to cram in an early morning Easter service, a brunch buffet, Kennedy and Raleigh's baptism, gift opening, cake, and family photos, of course. 

I feel like this photo could be a public service announcement for teen pregnancy. Don't do it, kids!

Honestly, though, Tyler was quite the baby-whisperer. He only got spit up on once.

Mom posed for a photo with the girls in their baptismal dresses, crocheted by my grandmother.

Christopher speedily changing Kennedy out of her baptismal dress and into her formal gown. It's like Kate Middleton's Royal Wedding dress and her second reception gown, but with more cameras.

Someone is not happy with the fashion choice, but I think you look amazing.

The baptism was held at St. John's Parish on the campus of Creighton University. Christopher has one week of classes remaining until graduation, so he was undoubtedly trying to cram in as much college charm as he could.

Adam and Kennedy with Matt and Raleigh. They make it look so easy.

The godparents. Bold choice.

Now you know it's about time to wrap up the photos. You can only take so many family photos before someone will start to cry, although usually it's me.

It turned out to be a beautiful Easter in Omaha, just warm enough to head outdoors yet wintry enough for a weekend of celebratory cakes.

April Showers

Adam and I received a professional-grade rain gauge as a Christmas gift from my dad. He takes his weather very seriously, and now, so do we. We got it installed just in time for this week's endless rains.

April showers bring May flowers, right? Thanks, Dad!

The Serpent's Tooth

Issues

We're having issues, obviously, uploading photos to Blogger lately. I have a feeling that uploading directly from Picasa is the responsible culprit, so Pickles will serve as my test subject. If I can't figure out what the heck I'm doing, I may have to try a different system for uploading.

Has anyone else encountered this, and if so, what worked best for you? In addition, if anyone has any advice on file size, image resolution, and photo storage sites, please share your insights! I'm likely doing something wrong, and I'm quickly wearing out my "Dear Adam, pretty please fix the computer again!" card.

From Picasa to Blogger

Inserted from Blogger 

Maple Syruping!

Last weekend, Adam and I broke out the French press and took a trip across the border. This may be old hat to you northern Minnesota folks, but we had only the vaguest idea of how maple syrup arrived at our table. In my mind, this vat of simmering syrup generally summed up my impressions.

Since this was a syruping expedition to the Wisconsin countryside, we also stopped to enjoy the petting zoo and pancake breakfast (not pictured, but equally delicious!).

Our "sap to syrup" tour highlighted the modern conveniences of syruping, like an extensive array of plastic tubing to collect and return the sap from more than 3,500 trees, with each tap capable of producing about 10 gallons of sap per year.

Here, Adam listens to the regular pulsing of the sap as it returns, with the help of a vacuum pump, to holding bins.

Of course, you can also collect sap drop-by-drop in these blue bags if you're not connected to the tubing system. This may be an option for those do-it-yourself folks. You know who you are.

The holding bins collected the sap from the network. Not entirely sure what else happens here, as I was more obsessed with the regular flushing of the sap into different bins. Adam may know more about the physics; he sure asked a lot of questions for a Saturday morning.

The sap was boiled down in this little shed. It takes about 30-40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of maple syrup, so think about that with your next batch of pancakes!

So, there you have it. I'm probably missing a few details, but it can't be all that hard. Our neighbor has been tapping his three maples over the past week or so and we live on less than a quarter-acre in town. This might be a great hobby to take up next year. As for me, I'll just invite myself to all the local pancake breakfasts. We're in the midst of Maple Syrup Month so I will expect nothing less with my flapjacks.