"My Crazy Kids"

Weekend Plumbing The kids on our Grace Lake fishing adventure – during which we caught absolutely nothing. But hey, it was still great just being outdoors with my kids on the last Friday evening of August. By Allan Olson I did not spend the last weekend of August geocaching or fishing. Either would’ve been more enjoyable than the task I faced on Sunday. The kids and I did take the boat out on Friday evening, this time venturing further from home to try out Grace Lake, which I was informed was a great little lake to catch a ton of panfish. We tried several different spots over the course of two hours, fishing along the north shore of the lake, both drifting and anchored, but the only thing we managed to catch was weeds. It was nice to be out on the lake with the kids, but not as much fun as it could have been if we had caught a few fish. I had really hoped to get back out on a lake closer to home on Saturday or Sunday, but neither the time nor weather present...

Geocaching Weekend Nikolai and I at the annual Northstar Geoseekers geocaching event that was held in Blackduck over the weekend of Friday, August 19 to Sunday August 21. We had a great time together and a rare father-son only weekend. By Allan Olson This past weekend was one I’ve been looking forward to all year – the Northstar Geoseekers annual get-together. This year the weekend-long event held in Blackduck. The major difference between this year and last was that I was not in charge of hosting the group’s weekend event, which made it even more fun. On Sunday of last week, several puzzles (31, to be exact) were released for geocachers to solve by the week’s end. The puzzles were in the shape of a duck – quite appropriate, considering the town hosting the event. I had all but two solved, and made a couple trips to Blackduck with the goal of getting the honors of being first to find.  On Wednesday evening I loaded the kids in the vehicle with their bi...

Birthday Celebration Weekend Mudding was all part of the fun last weekend up in Lake of the Woods country. Sharing in the mudding adventures were: (front, l-r): Abigail, her friend Cher and myself, along with (back) my nephew Jayce and Marcus. It was a great afternoon in the summer sun! By Allan Olson Wow! That pretty much sums up the entire weekend! It was a crazy whirlwind of fun that left me worn out by Sunday night. We kicked it off Saturday on morning by packing the vehicle and heading north to Lake of the Woods. We had decided to have a birthday celebration for Abigail and Marcus at my wife’s family farm on the Rainy River on Sunday, and at the same time we were going to celebrate two cousins’ birthdays as well. We were packed and on the road by 9 a.m. Saturday. We headed out to my brother-in law’s home to drop off the canoes that we had borrowed. While there we ended up swapping Alivia for another cousin, then headed into town where I dropped my wife at...

Marcus helped drive the boat to shore on Saturday evening after a couple hours of fishing. As a father it’s great to have my kids out fishing with me; now if I could just keep him from talking so much in the boat! He hasn’t quite figured out yet that fishing is a “quiet” sport. By Allan Olson Who knew having a boat could be so much fun? I certainly didn’t. The weekend was busy spent close to home except for attending a birthday party for Smokey Bear on Saturday we stayed away from town as much as possible. Friday evening we spent laying around the house, I was tired and didn’t feel like doing much of anything, until later in the evening when we did some re-arranging in the girls room for a new dresser that was given to us by a family member. Aside from that, most of the evening was spent watching the opening ceremony for the 2016 Olympics, although I can say that after over two hours of watching it, I don’t really remember much of it and we tuned into something else ...

A working weekend The girls and I with our painted faces during Summer Fest. By Allan Olson This weekend was another one of those crazy weekends, a “which way do I go,” sort of weekend. With the weekend technically starting on Friday night, I was in town covering all the fun and festivities of the Cass Lake Summer Fest, enjoying the night with my girls all the way up to the fireworks. We even took some time to get our faces painted – something unusual for us. I also gave them some a few funds for some games and a treat, and that evening we enjoyed a nice cool snow cone. We ended the evening taking in the fireworks and enjoying the show with some friends.  On Saturday the whole family attended the parade. I was left alone for the remainder of the afternoon, covering the Miss Cass Lake pageant and other fun activities of the day while Susan and the boys headed off in search of supplies and the girls went over to a friend’s house for some fun. In the end,...