Another Weekend of Fun Summer

Another Weekend of Fun Summer

By Allan Olson.

There is something about this summer that’s making the days fly by extremely fast. I think it all comes down to one thing: we’re having too much fun!

Speaking of flying, that is something I got to do last weekend for the first time in at least 10 years. I didn’t travel anywhere out of town, just took an aerial tour of the area between Bemidji and Cass Lake. The plane was just a simple 1960s two-seater, not meant for anything fancy other than a pleasure cruise or a personal/business travel for the pilot and a passenger.

Of course I wasn’t the only one who took to the sky on Saturday morning. I mentioned the possibility to Nikolai to see if he was interested in going up in a plane. He was thrilled at the opportunity to take to the wild blue yonder. Since my niece is back, she was also thrilled at the possibility of taking a flight.

We arrived at our destination and learned that our plans might have to be postponed to thunderstorms in the area. Thankfully, the storms passed quickly and our flights were on.

My niece, Makaylah, was the first one in the air. She was grinning when she left, and grinning even more when she returned.

Nikolai headed up in the plane shortly after his cousin returned. He took the time with the pilot to inspect the engine and other pre-flight steps before venturing up toward the clouds. He was cool, calm and collected before takeoff, acting as if it was a normal occurrence, even though this was his first flight – ever.

When they landed, I looked at him again. He walked away from the plane like it was something he’s done many times. “How was it?” I asked, my excitement for him (and for my own upcoming flight) patently obvious.

“It was good,” he said.

“Good? Is that it?” I pried.

“Alright, it was awesome,” he said, with a little more enthusiasm this time. Much to my surprise, he didn’t even click a single frame on the smart phone that I sent up with him to take photos. Later I learned that he was too busy flying the plane to bother with photos!

As a parent I didn’t know how to feel about either of those two going up in the air – I was excited and nervous at the same time. In all, it was a great experience and created a memory to last a lifetime for all of us.

That evening, I decided to make caramel rolls. In the heat of summer, I figured those loaves would rise rather quickly. I was wrong. I didn’t factor in the very high humidity level. At just before 9 p.m. I realized that I needed to get those rolls going or I was going to be up all night. I turned the oven on to assist the process and soon I was in business. The project started with Nikolai and Makaylah helping me, but Nikolai felt that he knew everything and didn’t like taking instructions from someone older and has made rolls less often but has a little more knowledge of the baking process. Soon Abigail took over his spot, and that was the beginning of a much more entertaining evening.

Even though the clock was turning from p.m. to a.m., she was still full of herself.

While waiting for the rolls to bake, I started watching some of the videos from the terrible flooding in Duluth.

Here is the dialogue of Abigail’s time watching those videos:

“What happened?” Abigail asked.

“They got too much rain too fast,” I said.

“I guess Cael (a cousin) can’t play outside anymore,” she said.

“I guess they can’t walk there,” she said matter-of-factly, looking at a buckled sidewalk.

“That is so sad.”

“I love Duluth.”

“How are they going to fix that?”

Makaylah finally gave up on the roll process at 12:30 a.m., after she and Abigail each sampled a roll hot from the pan.

“When are you going to bed?” Makaylah asked her.

“When I get bored of this,” she said, continuing to watch the videos.

“Dad, watch this,” she said to me. “Wait,” she said as I came to see what she wanted me to see. “Yeah, I love that part,” she said, watching an ATV driving through the deep flood waters. I tried to get back to my job taking care of the rolls and the cleanup. “Wait for the other part coming up,” she said. “Oh, that is so awesome,” she said, watching a large group of people getting a ride on a trailer.

She watched the same videos for over an hour, making several of the same comments and others that I didn’t get written down. She finally got bored with it, but still wasn’t ready for bed. I decided that since she was keeping me awake and entertained, I was going to let her stay up with me.

I pulled the last pan out of the oven at 1:30 a.m. and we both headed to our beds. She was still wide awake; I had all I could do to keep my eyes open.

Of course, there was a predictable price to pay the next morning after Abigail didn’t get enough sleep. Can you say, “CRABBY ABBY!” She took an early nap and, thankfully, woke up much happier.

This weekend should be another fun one. We are preparing for a family reunion with some relatives we haven’t seen much in the last few years.

Please be safe on the lakes – wear your life jacket, keep the kids safe, and remember to take a picture to preserve a lifetime memory.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week. For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com.