"My Crazy Kids"

Video-Game Challenged 10-27-10 CLT By Allan Olson Wii-challenged I am. I admit it. Video games and I are not a good mix. Many kids who have never played video games could probably beat me, or close to it, the first time they played. Nearly a year ago, I played the Wii for the first time at my nephew’s birthday party. I know, what’s my rush, it’s only been out for a few years. The brief time I played it, I had so much fun, and it was even better watching the kids do it, since they made it look easy. So my wife and I bought one, along with some games and extra remotes. Man, does that add up quick! We figured it would it be fun for us and the kids, especially during the winter. Like with any new toy, we all enjoyed playing it frequently for the first few months. And now, nearly a year later, it has turned into a couple times a week, largely used for Netflix instead. This past weekend, the kids wanted to play, so we set it up and all of us played against each other in a variet...

Deer hunting a favorite amongst sportsmen Published 10.20.10 CLT Hunting Guide By Allan Olson Every deer hunting party has its own quirks and adventures along with tall tales, embellished stories all with some truth weaved in. My hunting party is no different. I’m afraid that if I took the time to write all our tales and then embellish them some more and then edit them to reflect me more “accurately” it would take too much time and room. I could be considered by some a privileged hunter, all the property I hunt on is private land consisting of over 300 acres owned by dad the seasoned most veteran hunter of our group. The land is intermixed with woods and fields along with some adjacent state land that we occasionally trek through. To say that it is free of faults and the acreage is always accessible is not the case. During a review of our permanent stands earlier this month we discovered that one of the favorite stands (Old Faithful as its nicknamed) is going to require a good...

It Happened Last Night Published 10.20.10 CLT By Allan Olson It’s funny how kids have no concept of time, yet keep asking about the time and how long is it to do this or that. With my younger kids, it’s often about the fact that it happened last night. “I went to grandma and grandpa’s last night,” my daughter Abigail has informed more than once. Or another line is, “I did it last night,” or “Iast night it did.” I’ve often wondered how I can get inside her little brain and find out what happened last night in her sleep. “Uncle Brian took me to Walmart last night,” she’s said. No, he didn’t, I reply. “Uh- huh, last night he did,” she said. Sometimes it’s futile to argue with a four-year-old, so I just shake my head and walk away. My wife asked our youngest daughter recently to “Come here.” She replied, “Just a minute.” Well, I dare say, we’ve both told her that a time or two, but does she really know what a minute is? And do we tell her to move her minute faster, or recognize ...

Adventures in Bath Land: Published 10.13.10 CLT By Allan Olson Giving baths at my house is always an adventure, primarily because you never know how it’s going to go. As a young child, I remember having a tub full of toys in the bathtub while taking a bath, so when we had our first child I was adamant about him having toys as well. Over the years these toys have been tossed and replaced and tossed again. The oldest kid now thinks he’s too big for a bath, so he insists on a shower. As for the other three, it varies on the day if they get a shower or bath. Last week I threw all three in the tub. I know better than this, but I wanted to get it all done with at once. The last thing I said was, “Don’t make a mess, I’ll be right back.” “Okay, we won’t,” they all replied. “Yeah, right,” they were probably thinking as I walked out the door. Now the tub toys are virtually non-existent. They get a cup (or three) and a washcloth each. I listened to them from the hallway while...

Help them find a cure for CF published 9.29.10 CLT By Allan Olson Over the last several week’s I’ve used this column as a humorous outlet of my children’s crazy antics and what a recently passed grandmother meant to me and now I hope that our readers will see what just one of many families has experienced. My kids are full of energy, love and stamina sometimes too much for their parents but they are and hopefully continue to be given a clean bill of health at each doctor’s visit. These kids enjoy life to their fullest ability that their age and strength allow. Sadly, this is not the case for every family. Many families have lost loved ones at a young age to any number of fatal diseases. This weekend marks the ninth annual Cystic Fibrosis tournament on Break on the Lake Resort on Cass Lake. This tournament on Saturday has been held not just as another fund raiser for another disease but it’s being held to help raise money to find a cure for CF. Twelve years ago on Oct., 23...

One Long Day Published-10-6-2010 Cass Lake Times By Allan Olson Everyone has those days that they maybe shouldn’t have gotten out of bed – I think mine was Sunday. We left Bemidji at 6:45 a.m., on our way to International Falls to get some minor service work done on my washer and dryer at my brother’s store. Then the fun began. We were just past the fairgrounds when the first challenge appeared in my path as a doe and fawn decided they wanted to cross in front of me. Brakes firmly applied, I narrowly escaped any damage to the vehicle or the deer. “We almost hit a baby deer,” my daughter Abigail said, after I explained the sudden stop. Since all was okay, we continued on our journey. A short while later we arrived in Blackduck and stopped to grab something quick to eat. I come back to the van and, of course, I hear those ever-famous words every parent dreads when traveling with kids: “I gotta go potty,” Alivia said. Grudgingly, I take her into the building to take care of...

Band Aid Power Published 8-18-10 Cass Lake Times By Allan Olson Band-Aid Power ... It never ceases to amaze me how quickly a child can get over an “owie” of any proportion. With four young children I think I should have invested in companies that sell Band-Aids or diapers. I couldn’t even begin to count the number of boxes we’ve gone through in the last seven years. Nor do I want to know the amount of money that literally was thrown in the garbage after each was done being used. I’m not sure which of my kids has the biggest obsession with a Band-Aid, but it seems like they disappear as fast as we buy them. I’m certain we’ve bought every size and kind of Band-Aid on the market ... from the big assorted packs to the waterproof to the neon colors and everything in between. Every time we go to get a Band-Aid for a kid, we have to dig through the drawer to find a stray one that got out of the box. Currently we have the Band-Aids in the bathroom above the medicine cabinet wh...

Turn the Radio On. Published 9.15.10 Cass Lake Times By Allan Olson Growing up I remember I had a choice of one AM station or one FM station and that was it up until my middle teens. Today living here I can’t even count the number of stations I could possibly listen to. My truck has six pre-sets and if I can’t find something to listen to on those stations then I turn it off. My son, Nikolai wanted a radio in his room last year for bed time so we agreed and gave him an old alarm clock. Somewhere in that time he set what station he wanted to listen to. I walked in their one night and asked what are you listening to? “The news,” he said. Okay, I walked out without further thought. Well after a couple nights of hearing the “news” I stood and listened, he had somehow tuned in Minnesota Public Radio. I said “why are you listening to MPR,” he said, “because I like it.” I couldn’t think of a reason for him not to listen, so I shook my head and left. Well, after several months of t...

Wanna Be My Best Friend? Published 9.22.10 Cass Lake Times By Allan Olson Most everyone either has or wants a best friend. Someone they can share their thoughts and secrets with, or just hang out with, and have a good time and not worry about what they think. I’m not exactly sure I can determine when this started, but my youngest three children have this need to be someone’s or everyone’s best friend. I think my stubborn, angelic two-year-old is perhaps the worst. She came to me one day and said, “You wanna be my best friend?” Perplexed, I really didn’t know how to answer her. “Um, sure,” I said. Well, I hadn’t had my de-briefing on the latest happenings with the kids, and was totally not prepared to answer her question. “Daddy’s my best friend,” she told the siblings. I think I realized my mistake then. Isn’t that what we, as parents, want? We want our children to be our best friends. We want them to confide us so we can hopefully prevent them from doing something un-...

Turn the Radio On. Published 9.15.10 Cass Lake Times By Allan Olson Growing up I remember I had a choice of one AM station or one FM station and that was it up until my middle teens. Today living here I can’t even count the number of stations I could possibly listen to. My truck has six pre-sets and if I can’t find something to listen to on those stations then I turn it off. My son, Nikolai wanted a radio in his room last year for bed time so we agreed and gave him an old alarm clock. Somewhere in that time he set what station he wanted to listen to. I walked in their one night and asked what are you listening to? “The news,” he said. Okay, I walked out without further thought. Well after a couple nights of hearing the “news” I stood and listened, he had somehow tuned in Minnesota Public Radio. I said “why are you listening to MPR,” he said, “because I like it.” I couldn’t think of a reason for him not to listen, so I shook my head and left. Well, after several months of t...

I want to be like . . . Published 9.9.10 Cass Lake Times By Allan Olson It seems that one stage that is hardest to get over for many people is that they want to be like someone else rather than just be themselves. Many kids – especially teenagers – want to be “cool” like some of their older peers and lose track of who they really are. The same can be often be said of kids in the younger days of growing. At our last vacation we had a nephew, Ben, of the ripe old age of 10 camping with us. Since we live a couple hours away and my kids don’t often see him, it was great for him to spend time with us. But watching him and then watching my oldest son Nikolai, the old age of 7, and another cousin, Mike of the same age, follow the oldest cousin around. Of course, since Ben was older, the younger two looked up to him and wherever Ben went, they were sure to follow. When we arrived at our vacation spot, I noticed he was trying to tan like his older sister so he was walking around ...

Nursery Rhymes from a child Published: 9.4.10 CLT By Allan Olson I’ll be the first to admit I’m lousy at remembering nursery rhymes, a person would think that with four kids I should have them down pat. Well, I don’t if it’s not one of the few basics Mary Had a Little Lamb, Twinkle Twinkle, or Itsy Bitsy Spider I’m not likely to know most of it. I will recognize it but that’s about it. I remember my grandma was able to spout off nursery rhymes like an old church hymn, I could’ve sworn she knew them all and more. So we took a brief trip to Itasca State Park recently to pick up my oldest son who was staying at the park with his cousins and aunt and uncle and as I was riding shotgun I started listening to my kids in the backseat rolling in laughter. Marcus who just turned four was reading to his sister’s “Mary had a Little Lamb” from a book that just happened to be left in the van. He got his sister’s on a laughing fringe by his speed reading through the verses. I couldn’t tell...

“I’m not four” Published 8-25.10 Cass Lake Times By Allan Olson Last weekend we celebrated my twins fourth birthday. It was a relatively small affair in comparison to previous parties. That morning when my youngest son Marcus got up, I wished him happy birthday and after that it was a point of laughter and discussion the remainder of the day. “How old are you today?” I asked him. “Three,” he replied. No, I told him you’re four – it’s your birthday. “It’s not my birthday,” he said. Okay, I thought, let’s try a different approach. I realize that denial is common when you get older, but I thought he was a little young for that, so maybe he was just confused. I told his sister happy birthday over an hour before when we got up and she was fine with the whole thing. She was four and she wanted to eat her “Pinkie Pie” birthday cake. I asked Abigail how old she was – with Marcus right beside her – and she said she was four. Turning to Marcus, I said, ...

"The Bunny doesn’t belong to us . . ." Published 8.4.10 Cass Lake Times By Allan Olson In the world of raising kids it’s sometimes amazing as to what children understand and what they say. A couple months ago I came home from work late and my littlest children had already been put in bed. So like most nights that I’m home late I go to their rooms and check on them. I’m a firm believer in the fact that my children are perfect angels and very beautiful but only when they’re sleeping. So I headed to my girls room expecting to find them fast asleep. Well I was half right. As I opened the door, to check on them I saw that my youngest daughter was done for the day and soundly sleeping. However, my oldest daughter, Abigail, was not even close. For a change she was being quiet, as she is normally my free spirit and usually my loudest of the four children. I spotted her with her little hands resting on the bunk bed rail with her chin on them gazing out the window. She t...

My Toy's are bigger Published 7.28.10 Cass Lake Times By Allan Olson A common argument among most kids and for that matter even many adults is who has the biggest toy, atv, truck etc. My house is no different I’ve heard my kids argue about every topic from the biggest flower, cup, blanket the list is practically endless. Usually if these arguments get too heated mom or I will step in and solve the matter which usually results in the item being taken away. The way we were raised is that if you’re going fight over it then nobody gets it. Does that make them happy? No, but that’s okay. With adults too often we let our emotions get into play and say things or do things we could possibly regret afterwards. Recently my soon to be four-year old twins Abigail and Marcus were arguing about something that is definitely at least in my opinion out of the normal arguments. Marcus recently went to visit the clinic for what we thought was a bug bite that wouldn’t go away. The docto...

Role Play in the eyes of children Published 7.14.10 Cass Lake Times By Allan Olson A dictionary defines role play as this: to assume the attitudes, actions, and discourse of (another), esp. in a make-believe situation in an effort to understand a differing point of view or social interaction: This is the meaning defined in a dictionary but it means nothing to my small children. Sitting outside watching my youngest three children play together I find that they truly define what role play is all about. They tipped over their play slide and proceeded to treat it as a “jungle gym” in my view. Yet, in their little imaginations run wild it’s a “horsey”. It’s a little strange looking for a horse only standing about four feet tall with a platform and a slide. But if that’s what they want to view it as I fine as long as they aren’t fighting. Their role play turns into a family by their definition. They have a mom, dad and daughter. Now I’m not sure who’s who as there are two girls and ...

Kid’s they’ll drive you crazy or you’ll die from laughter Published 2.17.10 Cass Lake Time By Allan Olson It’s a wonder how my parents or anyone’s parents ever survived their children’s younger years. I’m in what could easily be considered the beginning of a long stretch and many nights I wonder how I’m going to survive the next 16 years. I can be myself sometimes a little; well we will just call it what it is forgetful. Well the story goes like this, a couple weeks ago my wife and oldest daughter (3) came back from town with valentines and candy for this last week’s parties at their kid’s respective schools. We put the candy and valentines in our room failing to lock the door foolishly thinking nobody would get into them. At the same time as all of this was going on we had a houseful of company celebrating my oldest son’s (7) birthday. My daughter decided like she does with most things to go seek those missing items out on their own. A short time later she reappears with the ...

Printed July 14, 2010 Cass Lake Times "Loss of a Loved One" By Allan Olson I lost my Grandmother recently. A woman loved by all, she was the last of her siblings and was a mere 88 years young. She left behind a legacy of love and a large family of five kids, 13 grandkids and 20 great-grand kids. She was preceded in death by her husband of 52 years, several siblings and in-laws, two children along with one little great granddaughter called home too soon as an infant. She was someone who would feed us until we couldn't eat anymore and then try to stuff us with more. "Come on eat up," she would say. As a young child I remember waking up to the sound of her and grandpa chatting, the radio on to the local Roseau AM station and the sound of a pan being pulled out of the cupboard for hot cereal. Every morning was either hot cereal - usually Co Co Wheat - or other morning’s cold cereal choices of Cheerios, Rice Krispies and a few others like, Mini-Wheat, Shredd...