This was a photo I snapped at Minnetonka Orchards that came out better than I could’ve imagined.  We were walking along a nature trail and Ben was running ahead of us with his best buddy “Pup” tucked under his arm. I’m going to enlarge it and frame it for each set of grandparents for Christmas.  This picture is just begging for an inspirational, profound quote below it.  But I am at a loss in finding one. I have been digging through books of quotable quotes and aphorisms and coming up blank. 

It evokes so many feelings and makes me a little misty too - but I just can’t put it into the right words. Is it the “path of life, the unknown, independence, destiny, follow your dreams, the road less traveled….” Peter took one look at it and said, “We need to send this with him when he goes off to college someday.”  Which got me even more misty - no, he’s never going to grow up and leave us!  *sigh*

Anyone have any appropriate quotes? Or should it be  left for interpretation?  (Thank you Cribsheeters for indulging me).

Ah last Saturday was the ideal fall day in Minnesota, warm, blue skies, trees tinged with color. So where do one’s thoughts go? A family outing to the apple orchard of course! Cider donuts, pick your own apples, hay rides, petting zoo, pumpkins patch. An autumn tradition. We packed up our diaper bags and headed east to Aamodt’s Apple Orchard in Stillwater. Apparently,  so did the rest of the Greater Twin Cities area. I should’ve known better. The place was a crowded parking lot. We turned around and headed to another locale. A little quiet corner - a gem of a place down the road Axdahl’s. You get most of the highlights (pumpkin patch, hayrides, haystacks and animals). Lots of great memories and photos without the crowds.

But my fall fun meter was not satiated. I took this past Monday off too, yet another gorgeous day - and we headed west to Minnetonka Orchards. WOW! Idyliic, rolling hills, pastures, red barns, nature trails, a wooden train to play in, tractors, goats, a pony - it was like we were in some Grant Wood painting.We basically had the whole place to ourselves on a lovely, lazy Monday. (I know it’s crowded there on the weekends too). 

Here is an extensive list of local orchards - I had no idea there were so many in the area.

We’re always in search of more outdoor fun before the snow flies. Do any Cribsheeters have other orchard/leaf peeping drives/fall fun recommendations?

I’ll admit it: Both our kids have been dosed with Benadryl on long trans-pacific trips in the past to get them to sleep, with uneven results. So this story today caught my eye.

Drugmakers now say kids younger than 4 should not take over-the-counter cough and cold medicines because of possible mis-use. The meds safe if taken according to recommended doses. But parents have been known to overdose while some kids take a swig when parents aren’t looking, sending some 7,000 kids to the emergency room each year with everything from hives to wooziness. Some pediatricians have long said honey and chicken soup are just as effective. The FDA had earlier banned such meds for kids under 2.

Here’s today’s story from Josephine Marcotty.

Cribsheeters? 

In today’s Star Tribune Gail Rosenblum features homemade Halloween Costumes.

Here is the Photo Gallery.

As always,  some cute and clever costumes from M. Stewart.

Or for the time/sewing machine challenged you can just get out your credit card.

Any easy ideas that you’ve done yourself for cute Halloween costumes? Please share. Personally, I’m at a loss this year.

We arrived at my mother-in-law’s in Red Wing last weekend to be greeted with this sign on the refrigerator door:

Oh boy. I know my growing family consists of big eaters, but what (less than subliminal message) was she trying send us? To go slow on the apple crisp? Cut back on the yogurt?

Turned out it wasn’t a direct comment on our voracious eating habits. Phew!

But it did provide lots of food for thought. The poster was for a charity walk Betty helped organize on behalf of nine area churches as part of CROP, or Communites Responding to Overcome Poverty, an effort to alleviate hunger in developing countries.

And so our family joined more than 200 people gathered Sunday afternoon in downtown Red Wing. Together, we walked 3.6 miles in all, the average distance a woman in the developing world walks for clean water for her family each day.

A quarter of the $12,000 raised this year will stay in Red Wing and go to the area food shelf. The rest will go to Church World Service for CROP.

Baby on a mission

In these uncertain times in our own country, it was a sharp reminder that we still have so much. And there are so many others out there who don’t.

Click here for more on CROP walks and here for walks near you, including one in Minneapolis coming up Oct. 12.