"My Crazy Kids"

My kids and I with my annual birthday cake. By Allan Olson I’m not sure about anyone else – but as far as I’m concerned the rain and the winds need to settle down for a while. I last took my boat out on opening weekend – one day for a few hours – and then only thing we caught was sunshine. Since then the weather has either been rotten or my schedule (work or personal) has had conflicts. So hopefully the month of July will settle down and we will get some time for fishing in. So last week, my wife and I were home all week with no kids – none whatsoever – we had no worries about what havoc they were or weren’t making at home. So it would’ve been the perfect time to head on a road trip somewhere –just the two of us. Of course, that didn’t happen. I had meetings all week and my wife was up to her neck in dresses at the shop and they kept coming in. Of course, for her it wouldn’t have been as bad if she wasn’t doing two weeks’ worth of dresses in one week, since she will be gone ha...

By Allan Olson Being home alone is certainly a different contrast from the usual hub bub of our home – and by home alone – I’m referring to a fate that is fast approaching- empty nesters. While my youngest might be only in the fourth grade class this fall, my oldest is entering the high school and it didn’t seem that long ago – that he too was in the fourth grade class – so I’m certain that the next eight years will fly by fast. The house became empty on Friday – with three of the four kids headed north with their Grandma for a week of fun with grandma and grandpa and vacation bible school. That afternoon, Nikolai was picked up from his first week of Upward Bound – at which he had a great time. So over the weekend our house wasn’t totally empty. I tried getting him to go out fishing Friday evening, but he wasn’t really interested and in reality the wind probably would’ve kept us from going out – until about 8 p.m. when things calmed down. He suggested Saturday – but I alrea...

Saying goodbye to Nikolai for the week at his dorm room at Bemidji State University. Time is flying by and soon a college dorm will be in his permanent future and not just a six week stint.   By Allan Olson It was a great weekend to be outside, my only wish is that some of it could’ve been spent fishing. Friday I took the kids to our secret little swimming spot and apparently interrupted someone else’s swimming adventures. The kids enjoyed playing with their dog and we were only there for an hour, which was more than enough to see that the winds had no intentions of dying down as they were crashing into the beach. That evening I met a friend to take some photos of the evenings strawberry moon –unfortunately the cloud cover took care of the full moon photos but the clouds did provide a little bit of a break to allow me a quick shot of the partially covered moon. Saturday morning, Nikolai and I were up early to catch the Chippewa Triathlon Race – we spent the ...

Abigail enjoyed some light reading after we worked at a fundraiser for a friend’s medical expenses on Saturday, June 3.   By Allan Olson Saturday was a day spent with just my girls. The night prior, my wife and I discussed who would go and help me with a fundraiser for a friend, and she thought Abigail would be the logical choice. I was a little hesitant, because she can be a little scatter brained, but I trusted my wife’s judgement. On Saturday morning I informed Abigail that she needed to get food and get dressed, we were going to find a rummage sale and then she was going to help me with the fundraiser. She was excited about the prospect of a rummage sale, and so was willing to help with the fundraiser. She was making the poster, she informed me. We drove around and finally found a rummage sale, and she was quite pleased with the bargains she found – some ceramic statues that she needed for her collection, along with a couple of other items. I offered...