Sunday Afternoon Tromp Through the Forest

Autumn.  I love it. I’ve always liked it.  I used to love how the prairie grasses would turn rich colors in the pasture when there was enough rain in the fall, and how the shelter belts and trees around a lake would turn yellow in the late afternoon sun.  The problem with autumn in North Dakota was that it was short.  As soon as the leaves turned, the wind blew them off the trees.   When we moved from North Dakota to Wisconsin for residency, I was absolutely blown away by the amazing colors a forest creates in the fall, and even more amazed how the color lasts so much longer.  Central Wisconsin didn’t really have a thick forest, so when we moved to Northern Minnesota, I was even more excited about autumn.   This week is peak week (something I also hadn’t heard of in North Dakota) when the maples are in their prime and the other trees are starting to turn color as well.  It is my goal to be in the forest whenever I can this week!

On Sunday afternoon we tried a new hiking spot:  Bagley Nature Area at UMD.  We liked it. It was a terrific “kid” hiking place with beautiful views and a little creek.  We even found a few trees to climb, lots of walking sticks, and some birch bark for a project we have in store soon.  Even though the kidlets groan and complain and moan and have snit fits about hiking, once they are out and about in the forest, they really do have a good time.  I’m not sure why they insist on all the negative drama prior to getting to the forest.

Because I’m extremely behind on laundry (I had been doing SO well keeping up until piano lessons started!) I didn’t have a large selection of pants to wear.  In fact, I only had pajama pants to wear.  I often wear pajama pants out and about . . . the pajama pants that sort of look like yoga pants or sweat pants.  Unfortunately, those were all in the dirty laundry as well, so I ended up wearing green flannel pajama pants with big snowflakes on them.  Apparently they really didn’t look good, because my kids kept mentioning that I really needed to not wear pajamas while hiking, and Dr. Peds was in a state of disbelief that I’d actually leave the house in them.  He was so bothered that today he went to the store and got me several new pairs of pants.  That’s saying a lot, because he isn’t overly particular about wardrobe choices in the first place.