Photo cut: Since the cache was nowhere to be found,
the kids decided to have some fun and climb all over this huge root cluster.
They tore chunks out of it, kicked it and just had general destruction fun. I
figured it was better they did it out here than in my house, so I let them have
at it.
By Allan Olson
I was left to my own defenses for four whole
days this past weekend. If a kid asked a question, there was no, “Go ask your
mom.” I couldn’t pass the buck. I was even in charge of meals.
I picked up the kids from school on Thursday,
and we arrive at home to an empty house – well, mostly empty. Bob (the dog) was
still there to greet us. My wife had absconded for the remainder of the week
with my sister-in-law for their annual migration to a friend’s home in the large
urban area to the south.
That evening, the kids played outside on their
bikes and I sat outside and watched them. I put some air in their bike tires
(about the limit of mechanical ability) and just watched them do some of their
“tricks,” as they call them. Since I was required to feed them, too, they
enjoyed a meal of leftovers. Once the kids were in bed, I made sure Friday’s
meal of hotdogs and brats and snacks were cooked and ready for the cooler in the
morning, since I had decided that we were not going home before the football
game.
After school on Friday, the weather turned
rotten and I almost went home a couple times, seriously thinking about skipping
the game. Thankfully, the rain took a break and we went to the game. I took my
photos and the kids played. When the rain decided to return, I decided to leave.
I rounded up my children and we headed for home. My final message to them before
I went to bed was: “No television before 7 a.m., and don’t bug me for food
before 8!” It was the weekend, and I wanted to sleep in. Well, I think I heard
the television a little before 7, but I fell back asleep and when I finally
opened my eyes again, it was almost 8:30. Amazing. Then Abigail was in the room;
she decided that she wanted to watch something on my television. I didn’t care
and handed her the remote. We all had a simple breakfast of cold cereal, and
then we lazed around for a while before I decided it was time to go
geocaching.
We headed out at about 11 a.m. in search of a
cache that hadn’t been found in a couple years. I took the wrong road and ended
up at a dead end, still 4,000 feet away. I took another road and found trees
blocking my path. “Well, who wants to go for a long walk and climb over some
trees?” I asked. Abigail and Marcus said yes; Nikolai and Alivia said no. I had
the tiebreaker, so I said, “Let’s go.” It was nearly 5,000 feet (almost a mile)
to ground zero. We walked and walked, and finally came to a point where we would
need to cross the swamp to find the cache. I decided there must be another road
in there somewhere, so back to the vehicle we went.
I finally found the right forest road going in
off of Highway 2, east of Cass Lake, and I could drive all the way to within 100
feet of the cache. Unfortunately, it was gone. I took some pictures of Lydick
Lake while we were there and then we headed to another cache on a forest road
off of Pike Bay Loop. Once we finally found the right area and climbed over a
few large trees, we found all that remained of that cache was an empty jug. By
that time it was raining, and I decided it was time to head for home. Back at
home, the kids played while I whipped up some French Toast for lunch/supper. It
was already after 3 p.m., and I didn’t want to make another meal
later.
We didn’t do a whole lot that evening, aside
from making a pumpkin cake and caramel rolls. The kids watched television a bit,
and I did make them clean up their messes, and soon it was bedtime
again.
There was no sleeping in until 8:30 a.m. on
Sunday; I was awake a full hour earlier. My morning was spent working on stories
for this week’s paper, and before I knew it, it was lunch time. I am a big
believer in keeping things simple when it comes to me and cooking, so we had
sandwiches. Then we went out geocaching again. This time we managed to find a
cache that hadn’t been found in two years. We went after a few more to end the
day, and we found four more. By then it was getting late in the afternoon and
time to get kids home, fed and make sure they took a shower. Supper was simple
again – they dined on leftover French toast and whatever other leftovers they
could find.
In all, the weekend was pretty uneventful; there
were no major fights or other catastrophes that I couldn’t handle. This weekend,
well we are adding two more kids and a couple of adults to the mix – and it’s
only a three day school week – so it could/should be somewhat more interesting.
We’ll probably eat better, too.
Please be safe on the lakes – wear your life
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.
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