"My Crazy Kids"

A wet weekend Nikolai is getting better and better with each trip in the canoe, and even had some knowledge to share with his dad about what he was doing wrong in the canoe. To his delight, he ended up in the front and dad in the middle on a recent trip in a canoe. By Allan Olson The seasons are definitely changing; the weather has been windy and wet lately, and while we didn’t get as much rain last week as originally predicted, it was still a wet and windy weekend overall. I had hoped to spend most of the weekend outdoors, doing some geocaching and maybe looking for some partridge/grouse for the dinner plate, but the weather just was not very cooperative for that sort of activity. Friday afternoon was the nicest part of the weekend, and my niece, Nikolai and I spent some of it on the water, going after a geocache located on an bog/island in the Mississippi River. It took some patience with three of us in the canoe, trying to balance each other out while float...

A Family Weekend —This cache, which was stashed in a cedar swamp near Virgin Lake, required a half-mile round trip walk to access, and after about 30 minutes of searching the youngest member of our family (Alivia) saved the day and came up with the find during our family geocaching outing on Saturday, September 17. By Allan Olson It’s been a long time since our entire family went out together geocaching, so when we went last Saturday it was possibly the first time since our vacation in June. And it almost didn’t happen. Earlier in the week I had mentioned to my wife that it would be fun for all of us to get out geocaching this weekend, preferably on Saturday. In typical fashion, the week went by in a blur, with a slate full of things to keep me and the rest of the family busy. Friday night there was a home football game, and I spent the large portion of that outside in the fresh air and – of course – the rain. I made the mistake of not taking my allergy meds tha...

Hunting Preparation Nikolai overlooking the field from the best vantage point on it (at least in November) – his new deer stand that we built with lots of help over the weekend.  By Allan Olson Last weekend was all about getting ready for deer season and spending time in the sunny, fall-like weather that we were fortunate enough to experience. We got home from school/work at about 5 p.m. on Friday, packed the vehicle and four of the six of us headed north. We had one main objective of the weekend: to build Nikolai his own deer stand for the upcoming hunting season. He figures after getting three deer in two seasons that he has earned his stripes and deserves his own stand, and should be able to man it without the company of his father. On the other hand, Dad isn’t quite sure if he’s ready to leave him alone. You know that I will be in a stand close enough to get to him in a short time, if needed. We arrived at my parents’ after 7:30 p.m. on Friday an...

The Last Summer Weekend Nikolai and I took a trip with kayaks on Monday to go after a geocache. We had a lot of fun, and are ready for the next adventure. By Allan Olson Summer is officially over. The last week of August flew by, and the weekend ended in a blur of activity. We took an unplanned trip north on Friday evening to help my niece move back to our house. We got up north just in time for Nikolai and I to take a boat ride on the beautiful Rainy River with my brother-in-law, who was checking out a part he replaced on his boat. We visited until about dark, and then headed over to see my folks and visited with them until bed time. The next morning we were all up early; my parents were heading to a flea market, and we had plans as well. The kids and I helped my dad set up his booth, the girls stayed with my mom to find a few garage sales, Nikolai stayed with my dad to keep him company, Marcus stayed the night with his cousin, and my wife and I went to her mo...