Birthday Celebration Weekend

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 her mom’s to finish the cake decorating before we eventually headed out to my parents’ home. Since they weren’t home when we got there, I decided to turn on the Olympics and watch them for a bit. However, I quickly found myself bored and needing to do something. I decided it was time for a Ranger ride. 
I started out taking Abigail and her friend Cher for a ride. We headed down a forest trail, splashing through a few mud holes before eventually returning to the house. Then I gave the boys a ride and got them wet, too, before we headed back to the house again. 
I decided that since everyone had some fun, we could do a little work, too. There were some dog and gopher holes that needed be filled in the yard. After checking with my dad to find a good place to get some dirt, the kids and I headed out for a load. We threw some dirt in the back and then drove around the yard looking for holes to fill. A couple of trips later we had filled several holes and decided we were ready to play again. It was time to head out mudding once more. 
This time I had all four kids on board at the same time. I hit the puddles a little faster this time, hoping to really get us soaked, but the previous trips through the puddles had already displaced most of the water, so we only ended up getting a little wet, although more than once we ended up eating some mud. It really was a fun afternoon.
We had lunch with my parents before we headed off to the next fun activity. I had told the kids that if I couldn’t go fishing, I would take them swimming, and since the waves on the big lake were too active for my dad’s boat, swimming moved up on our agenda. We headed north to Zippel Bay State Park, and as soon as we parked the kids charged for the open water. I thought about joining them, but really didn’t feel like it, so I stayed dry on the shore and just watched them have fun. They enjoyed the water for at least 90 minutes, and I was able to go find the two geocaches in the park before our adventure was over. Then we headed back to my folks’ place for supper and sleep, but not before we ended the day with S’mores. It was a very busy day, full of fresh air and fun.
On Sunday we held the 10th birthday celebration for Abigail and Marcus, as well as two cousin’s birthdays. Coincidentally, it also marked 10 years for me working at the Cass Lake Times.  My wife is great at planning kids’ birthday parties, and came up with a “minute-to-win-it” themed celebration this time. The kids that participated in the crazy games had lots of fun. My only contribution was to make sure that we got there, and I did help with set-up and clean-up. 
One of the games was using your feet to pick marbles out of a bucket of water. I decided to make it a little more challenging by adding some ice to the bucket. A few people did the challenge, but there was so much to do that not everybody did it. However, I decided that since I added the ice, I should give it a try, and after a minute I was happy to put my feet back on the warm ground, because that water sure was cold.
The birthday party was a whole lot of fun. We got everything cleaned up and headed for home, finally arriving sometime after 8 p.m. I was beat, but I managed to stay awake until 11 p.m., finishing off the day by watching some more of the Summer Olympics at Rio.
This weekend, some of us will be hanging around in the Blackduck area for our annual geocaching weekend with a group of friends. We are looking forward to a good time, and it’s very likely that by Sunday evening I will once again be exhausted from so much fresh air and fun. But it will be worth it!
Enjoy your summer, and be sure to snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit. To our law enforcement officers and other emergency personnel, be safe, and thank you for all that you do!

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