A Cooler Weekend



A Cooler Weekend
By Allan Olson
So perhaps my minor complaint about the extreme heat was heard as the temperature sure did dial down a few degrees this weekend, it still felt warm but it was much nicer to be outside in or baking then in the 90 degree weather we have had.
The weekend was by most accounts not very exciting, Saturday morning was spent being largely inactive, and in fact it was so inactive I’m not sure I did anything in the morning. The afternoon was spent at the baseball game, where I along with four kids (three of mine and a nephew again) spent some time watching the Cass Lake Reds trounce the Bemidji Blue Ox team while mom and Abigail were shopping for food for the week and our upcoming vacation.
We finally got home just before 6 p.m., unloaded the van and then relaxed. That morning I had decided that with the temperatures around 20 degrees cooler it would be great timing to make some caramel rolls that I haven’t made since before Christmas. I had the frozen loaves left out on the table after we got home thinking I could be ready to make by 10 p.m. By 9 p.m. it wasn’t looking good and we finally turned the oven on to heat the kitchen up. The boys, Nikolai and my nephew Michael had volunteered to help and I had already sent the younger ones to bed, not wanting that much help that late. 
We set to our task, I got the caramel ingredients ready to go and set them aside, and I showed the boys how to roll and prepare the loaves for baking. Nikolai and Michael learned quickly and I think I only rolled out one loaf and the boys, rolled and cut the other nine. Since their task was complete, I had the caramel on the stove cooking I set about to cleaning the counters and loading the dishwasher, I kept an eye on my caramel but not close enough as it caught me off guard and boiled over the top of the kettle and onto the stovetop. A few choice words and the next several minutes trying to clean it up, I declared the caramel cooked and drizzled it on the rolls.
The boys decided that they were going to watch some television since before coming back to help. The time was approaching midnight and apparently they were tired as when I checked on them next they were both sound asleep – well I guess I get no help tonight, I thought.
My first batch of rolls were finally done around 1 a.m., long after I’m usually sleeping and I completed the process and had the pans soaking for easy cleanup and in bed by 2:15 a.m. On Sunday, morning I didn’t want to get up, once I did, I tried to finish cleaning up the stove from the mess the night before but finally had to get the person in charge of the kitchen to show how it was done. Also I made the boys wash the pans since they fell asleep on me – that will teach them for next time. Of course that was my intent no matter what I would’ve just used another excuse to get them to wash the pans.
It wasn’t long before I decided it was naptime again, I’m definitely not one to stay up late. We finally decided to head out geocaching about 2 p.m. and it was nearly 4 p.m. before we found our first cache of the day. We found our first two caches pretty easily and were unable to find the next three, and at the last cache we tried to locate, the kids located a berry patch – full of blueberries and some scattered raspberries. They were more interested in picking the berries than trying to find the geocache. Instead of just eating them mom sent them out with an empty clean container we had in the car that we had intended to use as a geocache and told them to fill it up. After we dragged them away from the berry patch and on to the next geocache, we also ended up at another berry patch, so while most of them worked on filling the container the rest of the way, Marcus and I went and found the geocache.  
We found four and didn’t find three and we decided that we were going to go take the kids swimming, our location put us south of Bemidji at a point where the most likely quietest spot would be Grace Lake, between Cass Lake and Bemidji. It was a quiet spot and the kids enjoyed swimming for nearly an hour, we found two more caches on the way home bringing our total to 406.
That evening, mom and I took on Michael and Nikolai in a game of sequence, we won two before switching teams, and then Nikolai and I won. I guess I was the key factor in those wins!
Plans for this weekend, is Rib Fest, and participating in the parade again, along with all the other great things going on this weekend. The remainder of the weekend will be spent, writing and packing as vacation starts Tuesday!
Thanks for reading, and remember to be safe on the lakes while enjoying the summer. Be sure to spend some time with kids! 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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