Another Chilly Weekend

Another Chilly Weekend
By Allan Olson

Brrr! I’m beginning to wonder if this is October football weather instead of May baseball weather. Last week I stood and watched the home team play their first baseball game of the season and it felt like I was in the deer stand, I was so cold! Thankfully, it’s finally starting to warm up after a chilly weekend.
After school on Friday we headed up to the north country around Lake of the Woods, for a birthday party for my brother in-law at the family farm. Prior to the party, we picked up a geocache on the way to the farm. It took a little bit of walking in circles, but once we got headed in the right direction it was a quick find. 
With a breeze coming off the river and the below-normal air temperature, it was definitely a “cool” party – but that didn’t stop the kids from running around and having fun. They decided to play tag after just running around the huge yard for nearly an hour – I got tired just watching them. The safe was the picnic table, and the goal was to not get tagged. All of the kids played, and even the birthday boy, who just acts like a kid sometimes. For the most part, I just watched. On occasion I would try to slow down and/or block some of the older kids from getting to safe, trying to help out the younger ones.
My nearly two-year old nephew was on one side of the picnic table, and I decided I was going to get a reaction out of him; hopefully something other than crying, which is his normal response when I pick him up. I was on the opposite side of the table ran and jumped on the bench, onto the table, then on the other bench and landed in front of my nephew. His reaction: boring. Another reaction surprised me, though – it was from Abigail. “Wow, dad! You can still do that!” I looked at her, and thought to myself, “Am I that old?” And before I get lectured – yes, I know I set a bad example by climbing on the table – even before my daughter and nephew decided to climb on it, too.
The temperature warmed up mildly on Saturday, and the kids played outside again with a couple of cousins at my parents’ place. My wife got called over to her mom’s to help with final alterations or repairs or whatever they’re called to her niece’s prom dress; the rest of us hung out at the farm. That afternoon we finally hit a few geocaches in town that we have been trying to find time for over the last year. 
At the first cache we started looking, and then, of course, Abigail said, “I gotta go potty.” It seems that kids always need to go potty at an inconvenient time – I learned afterward that she drank a bottle of water on the way to town. So I buckled everyone up again and we headed to a nearby store to take care of business. We were back to the cache about 10 minutes later, and Nikolai was quick to find it. We located that one and then it was then time to pick up mom. 
We had one more treasure to find in town – a multi-cache (meaning it was more than a one-step process). This cache was at the big walleye as you roll into town from the east – or at least the coordinates were. Since our program doesn’t have a manual entry to find the location, we walked around the park and weren’t getting any closer. I called my cousin who had found it previously, and we soon left the park after he informed us that it wasn’t in the park. So we all piled into our vehicles (a sister-in-law and niece were helping as well) and went the wrong way once, twice, and finally on the third try we went in the right direction, and then we went past it and had to turn around! Once we got to the correct location, it was a quick find for a couple of the kids to earn another smiley.
On the way back to my parents’ that afternoon, we hid another geocache less than two miles from their house, and on Sunday we hid another one close to my wife’s parents’ home. We have now located 260 caches and have hidden five.
After a quick shower and change of clothes, it was again time to head back to town, this time for one of those fancy affairs – the high school prom. My niece informed us last week that since we were going to be in town, we needed to go to her prom. I said no, but she wouldn’t take that for an answer, and since I’m the favorite uncle, I had better go – this time. “Oh, and by the way, you have to take pictures, too,” she informed me on Friday evening at the party. The things I do for my niece! I think some more watching of my kids soon will be in order as payback.
Late Sunday afternoon we headed for home, and on arrival we unpacked the van, put our stuff away and started to figure out this week’s plan. Before we knew it, it was time for some food and bed.
This weekend my brother and his family are coming for the weekend, so it’s bound to be loud, busy and fun – I can’t wait! Maybe we will even find a geocache or two while we’re out and about.
PLEASE BE SAFE ON THE LAKES/RIVERS THIS WEEKEND!
Thanks for reading, and remember to watch out for school buses on the roads; they are carrying a precious cargo – our children. Also please exercise caution when venturing out on the lakes. Thanks for reading, and have a great and safe weekend. For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com

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