Fun in the sun – and the mud

Fun in the sun – and the mud

By Allan Olson

What an insane weekend! Our activities could be summed up in one word – FUN! At the beginning of last week, we were planning another quiet weekend, with hopes of perhaps finding some geocaches, but instead it turned out to be a crazy weekend with a full house.

Late in the week, my wife’s sister called and asked if they could crash our place for her daughter’s 16th birthday party and a weekend getaway. We discussed it briefly, considered the current state of cleanliness of the house and decided, why not? Personally, I enjoy having guests rather than being one.

It was really warm on Friday afternoon; the snow was finally melting and water was running down the driveway. Nikolai had been giving it his best effort over the last couple of weeks to get the water to drain out of the yard, but when the big melt hit on Friday it was time for dad to step in and help out. Together, the two of us really got the water flowing, mostly following his original routes, which were leading the water in the right direction – downhill! Marcus even assisted us with this task – at least for a little while.

The girls they weren’t interested in helping divert the water; they were more interested in playing in the mud. While they didn’t cover themselves from head to toe like they’ve done in the past, I know Abigail did shower and change once, and then got muddy again. She was dancing in the mud, singing about how much she liked playing in the mud. All I could do was shake my head and laugh.

Our company arrived on Friday evening (all except the birthday girl) and we had a fun time playing Euchre and enjoying a beverage or two. By midnight, we were all tired and ready for bed. 

Some of us worked on the water problem off and on all day Saturday. The rest of the company arrived (including the birthday girl) and after lunch, we shared in cake and ice cream. Some of us then enjoyed a nap, and some of our company departed. That evening it was more Euchre , with my niece and I taking on her grandma and my wife. I think we won more games than they did, but in truth I really don’t remember.

We figured we would finally get to go geocaching on Sunday. The plan was to hit the Blue Ox Trail on the east side of Lake Bemidji. For some reason, I thought the trails were plowed off or at least would be largely free of snow – wrong on all accounts.

I was the only “adult” dropped off on the trail, along with seven kids ages 5-16, and one dog. After one look at the trail, I figured my shoes and socks would be soaked by the time we were done; surprisingly, they were only damp.

I was still trying to figure out where we were at when my wife yelled, “You have to backtrack 500 feet to get one,” and took off in the other vehicle toward the pick-up point. Apparently she told the kids in the other vehicle that there was one in 40 feet or less, and so the kids were already scrambling to look for it. Marcus made the find, while my oldest niece and I were looking at each other, still confused. After about 10 minutes of working on it, my nephew got it out. I had given up; it was really stuck in the snow, and took more patience than I had to get it out.

We ventured toward the next cache, which was located about 500 feet in the opposite direction from our pickup point. The kids were scrambling around on the side of the hill; Abigail was standing on a rock. “Look around there,” I said, not knowing that her cousin had already looked there and had no luck. “Okay,” she said. She turned around and showed that she already had it in hand, and started laughing.

After posing for a group pic, we were soon on the hunt again. After nearly two miles of walking and many caches later, everyone was getting tired and wanted to be done (and a couple of the girls needed to use to the potty). Looking at the map and finding our location, I realized we were in a bad spot to quit – there was no pickup point for a long ways in either direction. So we trudged on – literally.

The next mile was mostly snow-packed, thanks to the dense tree cover that delayed melting. Thankfully, it was mostly still frozen enough to prevent sinking through. Still the kids were getting more tired and hungry.

Mom was done with her errands and she was headed in our direction with another niece. That meant we were also getting closer to food! After starting shortly after 10 a.m. we finished the 3.3 mile hike at about 1:30 p.m., after experiencing various extremes in temperatures, from feeling chilled to sweating. We logged a total of 27 caches.

I think every person on the trail wound up with wet pants, shoes and socks, but most importantly we all had fun. Those of us who are exercise-challenged will be feeling the pain in the morning. Still, it was great to finally get outside and enjoy some fresh, clean air and warm sunshine!

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