A day with the girls


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 to pay for them so she could her save her change, but she had found a model plane that she insisted on purchasing with her own funds for her brother. That was the only sale that we made it to; after that one we headed back into Cass Lake to get ready for the fundraiser.
I purchased some poster supplies, borrowed a marker which didn’t work, and then purchased some new markers so Abigail could make the poster. I continued getting things set up, and she helped with whatever was needed for the next few hours. She helped with the pop, chips, hot dog buns, raffle tickets and collecting money over the next few hours of the event, and afterwards she helped pack up and put things away, too. The six hours we spent there went by in a blur. There was literally nothing she wouldn’t help with; the only thing she didn’t do was grill the brats. Abi and I were the only ones there from beginning to end, but we did get help from others in between, including from one high school student who just happened by and offered to help.
Once we got everything cleaned up and put away, we gave the money to our friend to help him with his medical expenses. Then I took her and the young high school student that helped us out to the Dairy Queen and bought them both a cool treat for going above and beyond the call of duty. Neither of them (or anyone else that helped) had to be there, but they all gave up some time to help someone in need.
Abigail and I left Cass Lake around 4 p.m. and I spent about an hour at home before heading out again – this time with Alivia. Our destination was Deer River, to meet my sister-in-law at 6:30 p.m.  I’m pretty much a stickler for being on time, so I allowed time to spare, and was nearly at my destination when my brother sent me a text that they were just leaving Aitkin, where they were visiting for the weekend. We found a place to pull over, and I looked at the geocaching map since we had time to spare. I picked out a couple different caches, and off we went in search of the first one. We searched and searched for the first stage, to no avail. 
So we tried for the next one. This time we found the first stage with no problem (except for some wet feet) – but unfortunately we were unable to locate the final stage. That meant we were 0-2 on the evening, and time was running out. We headed back into Deer River, grabbed some grub from A&W, and before we were both finished eating, they arrived. My sister- in-law transferred her stuff into our vehicle, and off we went, finally getting home after 9 p.m.
The next morning my wife, sister-in-law and the girls all headed down to the Twin Cities for Abigail’s Shriner’s appointment for her back. They got good news – her curve is not progressing and is improving slightly, but she needs a new brace, so they are heading back in a couple weeks to get the new brace.
The boys and I stayed home. We didn’t go out fishing, we didn’t even leave the house. We stayed home and did some work, watched some movies. Nik – who’s recovering from a dental surgery for the removal of four wisdom teeth – and myself dozed off and slept through parts of the Ninja Turtles movie. That evening we watched two more movies before calling it a night around 11 p.m.
In all, Sunday was a relaxing day, but I’m looking forward to making use of our boat on a regular basis. Thankfully, the evenings are getting longer so hopefully our opportunities will increase, but Nikolai will be moving to Upward Bound, so it will be just me and the younger ones until he gets home on the weekends.

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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