The Last Summer Weekend

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 mom’s to visit. 
About an hour later I went to pick up my wife’s uncle to come over and play Euchre. My wife and I were partners against her mom and uncle, and we got defeated soundly in three games. It was a fun morning, but it went by fast. 
I headed back to help my dad load his stuff back up, and then it was time to get the trailer my niece had packed with her stuff. We went from 10 miles north of town to eight miles east of town, to my brother-in-law’s, to get more stuff before finally hitting the road for home. The rest of Saturday was spent doing as little as possible at home.
On Sunday morning my niece was here to unpack the trailer, with some assistance from us. That afternoon we went to town for a few household items – especially food for the weekend. That evening we dined on a big meal of sausage, biscuits and gravy. Unfortunately I didn’t take the opportunity to dig in to the leftovers the next morning, and they were polished off quickly. 
I decided it was time for a geocaching adventure on Monday. A new cache had been published on Friday, but it required access via canoe or kayak. The hider of the cache noted that his watercraft were available to borrow upon request, so I hit him up with that request on Monday. I have never been in a kayak before, but I’ve canoed many times, so I figured I could handle it. Nikolai had been kayaking a few times and wasn’t worried about it at all. We arrived at the friend’s home at 10:30 a.m., and with some assistance from him and his wife we carried the canoe to the nearby body of water that required navigation. 
After listening to instructions, Nikolai led the way through the swamp grass, lily pads and wild rice to begin our search for the geocache. He found the proper course through the swamp leading to the little island and climbed out of the kayak to get the cache for me to sign. Then we started the navigation back through the same mess, finally getting back to solid ground. I tried getting out after tossing my paddle onto the shore, and soon discovered that getting out of the kayak wasn’t going to be easy. I kept finding myself leaning and almost tipping; in the end I found myself floating back into the bog – without my paddle, and my hands/arms were not sufficient to paddle myself back to shore (brings an old saying to mind). 
Nikolai was still out on the water playing around, so he paddled over to help out poor old dad. He got my paddle from shore back to me and once I made it to shore, he pulled me up far enough so I wouldn’t tip over. Then he climbed back into his kayak and headed back out to play again. How he got in and out of his kayak so effortlessly I’m not sure, but he was clearly better at it than I. With a little help from the owners of the kayaks, we eventually got the watercraft back to their home, visited with them a little more and then headed for home. The kayaking adventure was a lot of fun, especially with my son.
We spent a few hours lounging around the house on Monday before I took everyone swimming. A different swimming hole was requested this time, just because they wanted to try to catch little fish with buckets. The kids swam for nearly an hour, and the dog played in the water, too, also chasing after fish. When it was time to go, the dog would have nothing of it. No matter how many times we called or what we did, we couldn’t see to get him out of the water. I called my wife to come get him, but before she showed up, my niece found something in the vehicle to wrap around him and get the big lug out of the water.
School is back in session this week. It will be weird without the kids at home all the time, but they seem ready to get back to it, and the parents certainly are ready for them to be back in school. Of course, this means that all those nights of staying up late for movies and fishing or other fun evening activities are done.
Please remember to watch out for the buses that are carrying our most precious cargo. Also 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.

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