A busy weekend

A busy weekend
By Allan Olson
Last weekend flew by, even though it was a four-day break from routine for some people, including my children. Since we already had four kids at our house, we decided adding a couple more wouldn’t matter.
Two of my oldest brother’s kids ended up spending the entire four days at our place while their parents worked at the store. Since the youngest is older than Nikolai, it wasn’t a big deal – it was play time. The kids already had hours of play time together before I even got home on Thursday, and of course, there was chaos in their wake. The visitors walked into an ambush, being greeted by four kids armed with rubber bands when they came in the door. From what I was told, my brother and the kids quickly joined in the foray and returned fire. Sounds like fun! That evening we all enjoyed a light meal, followed by a personal-sized pie, your choice of pumpkin or banana cream.
On Friday, we attended the grand opening of the store. I didn’t set the alarm clock, since the event was at 9 a.m. and I figured I would hear them or at least wake up in plenty of time. When I finally opened my eyes it was already 8 a.m.! We yelled at the kids to get ready to go. They all grabbed a bag of cereal and everyone was out of the house by 8:30. Once the grand opening was out of the way and some cake was devoured, we went off and found a geocache and then headed home.
Susan and my niece spent the day working on rabbit cages and nearly had them completed that evening for a Saturday delivery. Yep, we added four rabbits to the household. I’m not thrilled about it, but my wife and kids are. I was told that eventually we will try some rabbit meat. Well, that might make me more supportive of the whole idea, but we shall see. 
The rest of Friday was largely spent doing not much – at least for me. That evening, my rolls were ready to be made, and my niece decided that she wanted to learn to make them. I gave her the quick version – I put the dough on the counter, gave her the rolling pin and told her to roll it out. Once that was completed, I explained the next step in the process, and after that, she was good to go. While she was doing the rolling and cutting, I got the caramel and the pans ready, and soon it was time for the oven. Eventually the rolls were baked and cooled and ready for sampling. The only kid that was allowed a roll that evening was the one who made them. The rest I informed that they would have to wait until morning.
The breakfast spread on Saturday morning was like a buffet of the best food available for the sampling. My wife, with some assistance from our niece, made kolaches with egg and sausage stuffed in them, and several flavors of scones. Everything was scrumptious. After breakfast we headed out for a rummage sale with a van full of people; we finally made it back home just after noon. I spent the rest of the day doing very little, while my wife helping get the rabbits settled into their new home and the kids went about their usual playing and causing destruction – and they did spend a little time talking to the new rabbits, too. Our company departed that evening, and everyone was tired out – even the kids. Before hitting the sack, though, both the girls had to go out and say goodnight to the rabbits.
Sunday was a very uneventful day. We didn’t do any baking or cooking; all of our meals were leftovers from the weekend, which made it easier to get caught up on dishes. Perhaps(?) the weather will be nice enough this week so we can get to the big 600 geocaches by Sunday – we only need another 15.
Please be safe on the lakes and in the woods – wear your life jacket and your orange jacket, keep the kids safe, and remember to take a picture to preserve a lifetime of memories. Also please watch out for the buses that are transporting our children. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com.
Nikolai, Trevor and Marcus all went in search of a geocache at a park in Bemidji; Trevor spotted the cache after the rest of us had walked by the location.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Hunting Season to Remember

Image
A Hunting Season to Remember By Allan Olson The orange clad army headed into the woods this past weekend in search of the mighty white tail to attempt to fill the freezer with some tasty venison and I was no exception to this party. I too was clad in orange and out on the mighty hunt. Every year there are new stories to tell, old ones to bring up and memories made, some deer seasons for me, after over 20 years of hunting have faded into the background, one year blurring with another, not remembering which year I shot what deer or if I shot a deer. Of course there are a few years  stand out more than others and some are just a blur altogether. However, I find it hard to believe that anything will top this year’s remarkable deer season. This year, I had the honor of bringing Nikolai with me. Not just to sit in the stand, but to actually hunt, he was going to have the ability of harvesting a deer also. Recently he completed his gun safety certification and he wa...
Read more
Image
Thank you for being our friend Frey Olson May 19, 2018 - April 26, 2024 By Allan Olson 4.26.24 Thank you for being our friend, thank you for making us your forever home, if we could’ve saved you, we would’ve. Losing our four legged friends is never easy, in our house they aren’t “just a pet” they are our family. Frey, our nearly six year old English Mastiff came into our lives in August of 2018 and crossed over the rainbow bridge to be with others before him on April 26, 2024. Frey was our gentle giant, he was our protector, our laughter and most importantly I think it’s more than safe to say, he was Alivia’s best friend. Have you ever seen a teenager and a Mastiff sharing a twin size bed - or perhaps more aptly put the teenager getting what’s left of the bed when he’s in it. Or perhaps a giant of a dog, staring at her from the doorway of the bedroom saying, “it’s bedtime,” while she’s playing a game or watching something.  He was taught to react to “who’s here” or the alert of the...
Read more

Thankful for Family

Thankful For Family By Allan Olson published 11-24-10 Cass Lake Times Eat until I can’t eat anymore is the plan for me this Thursday. This is likely the case for many others as well. The food that will be prepared is just one of many things to be thankful for this week. I can honestly say I’m thankful for a lot of things in my life. I’m especially thankful for my beautiful little family. Do I always feel overwhelmed with joy while dealing with the everyday tasks of working and raising four children? I would be lying if I said yes. My children are great kids. They are great at making me smile with their questions and antics. However, they are also great at driving me up a wall. Asking them to help clean a room sometimes and it’s like you put them in a torture chamber by daring to ask for a little help cleaning up the mess they made. Other times they are willing, eager partners ready to help with whatever task you need them to. Of course, there are also those times when ...
Read more