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With my boots planted in the spring mud, seated on a five-gallon bucket filled with sap, I can’t help but smile. Mom, Dad, Ryan, Mabel, Mary Kate, and Caroline are perched on nearby buckets (or laps) surrounding the cinder-block structure housing the fire and holding the pans of boiling sap. Unlike smoke, the thick clouds of steam rising off the pans are easy on the eyes and slightly sweet-smelling. 

A day boiling sap is one to be relished. With hours of watching, mixing and skimming sap there is time to laugh and tell stories, or just sit in appreciative silence. Seventy-five gallons of sap are transferred from our bucket seats to the boiling pans over the fire in intervals. As the day wears on the sap deepens to amber and careful watching begins. The turning point from sap to syrup is 219 degrees. The temperature climbs slowly: 215, 216, 217, 218 and finally 219. Dad and Ryan have been standing ready and can now filter the thickening liquid. The only thing left to do after filtering is to transfer it into jars and set it in the pantry. It will be enjoyed throughout the year with the satisfaction that comes from the memories that went into making it.

Ryan and Cole spent much of today in the shop getting ready for this year’s craft activity at Half Moon Trail! We plan for around 450 participants, so it’s quite an undertaking, but we really enjoy providing a unique experience for our guests each summer.  Thanks, Cole, for all your wonderful help!

First off, we apologize for the long delay in posting updates on the happenings at Half Moon! It was a busier spring than usual with the new cabin, and the summer and early fall has flown by like a flash! Things have slowed down a bit, and we feel we can finally start posting a little more regularly now.

Fall at the resort is beautiful, and a time that our family thoroughly enjoys. Mom (Mary), myself, and our garden crew were hard at work this past week working on the gardens.  We go through the gardens in the fall, making note of plants that did well, some others that didn’t, and things we would like to try next season.  It’s also a time that we split perennial plants that have grown too large for their current spot in the garden, which is what we are doing in the last photo below. Lastly, we put the gardens to bed for the winter. The first two photos are before and after we have winterized one of the gardens. Winterizing requires cutting most of the perennial plants down, pulling the annuals, and saving any bulbs that we take inside to replant next season. All of plants that we pull or cut are then composted, making nutrient rich compost for adding to the gardens in future years.

We’re heading into the home stretch of our spring work and tying up a lot of loose ends.  Cabin 19 was fitted with its carpet today and furniture delivery is set for Monday!  It has been a fun project, but we’re looking forward to its completion.  The pool got a face lift back in the fall with a new liner and skirt of concrete, and Ryan and Dave have finished installing the fence around the pool.  We decided to change the fence so it just surrounds the pool area, and no longer the courtyard.  We’re loving the change and hope you’ll enjoy it, as well!  We’ve a

Yesterday, Dave and Ryan pulled the docks out of the water.  This is generally one of the last things to do to get the resort ready for the winter.  They had the cutest audience, and Mary Kate even took her maiden voyage on the Bobcat!

Over the years, mom has gradually “wintered over” (is that how you say it?) many of our plants in the lodge. They don’t require much attention through the winter, but come March, we start to help them wake up a bit in anticipation of the summer. We all worked to water, fertilize, prune, and check for bugs today! Even our little Mabel and Mary Kate got in on the action. 

After the last week of temperatures well below zero, I thought everyone would enjoy a few photos to remind us that, despite our current frozen state, summer will come once again and be delightfully warm, and full of exciting adventures at the lake!

P.S. – Thanks to Justin at Bees Knees Photography for the pictures! They are good friends of ours and we were honored to have them here this past summer to take some photographs for us. If you would like to check out some of their photos, feel free at www.bees-kneesphoto.com. For those of you who would like to see some pictures of our daughter Mabel when she was a wee tot, scroll down on the first page (of the above link) and you will find a photo of her taking a bite of avocado for the first time…quite humorous!

As the sun slowly burned through the heavy steam rolling off the lake this morning, thirty to forty swans appeared on the east side. This time of year, they migrate through this area and we often see this many until the lake freezes over. Last night, the temps dropped down to about 10 degrees and made a little ice along the shore. It won’t be long and we’ll be making a rink and playing hockey!

Our little family has grown!   Much to my (Liz’s) surprise (I was CONVINCED the baby was a boy), our precious little Mary Kate (we’ll call her by both names) was born on Thursday evening, August 6^th, at 8:05 pm.  She weighed in at 8 lbs. 4 oz. and is a chunky little babe.

We brought Mary Kate home on Friday afternoon, and she made her debut during the pool contest.  She is extremely loved by Mabel, and we just adore her mushy little self.

An entourage of help arrived the Monday before Memorial Day weekend to help us tie up loose ends before officially opening the resort for the season.  We were so blessed by everyone’s hard work and long hours they put in.  There was sanding, painting, power-washing, planting, cleaning, repairing, and lots of laughter that happened between sunrise and when we all fell into bed each night.  We couldn’t have done it without all of the help.

To thank everyone, we hosted a “We Are SO Thankful for You!” barbeque the evening before we opened.   Pictured below are many, but not all, of the wonderful helpers, many of whom have come for many, many years!