Another Crazy Week


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 half of this week for another appointment for Abigail at Shriners. We did get out to dinner once – late Wednesday evening we pulled up to the restaurant just as the rain clouds dropped all manner of havoc. It didn’t matter, we were hungry and tired and we didn’t want to cook when we got home – so in we went through the pouring rain and all.
Friday finally arrived and it was the day to get the kids, our bags were packed and in the vehicle and sometime after 1:30 p.m. we finally left, after picking up Nikolai from his second week of upward bound. Our first destination was International Falls for a nephews graduation – this graduation starts the first of about five consecutive years of graduations –next year will be the first year a kid from my side of the family will graduate and it will continue every year (with two graduations some years) through Nikolai and then I think we have a short break before they start again. After our attendance at the graduation party we made our way westward to my parents – where the kids have been all week attending vacation Bible fun. We had to make it by 7 p.m. for the program or the kids weren’t going to be happy with us and thankfully we made it with about ten minutes to spare.
On Saturday my wife and I got up early to make breakfast – figuring it was the right thing to do since, my parents have been dealing with the kids all week. My parents headed in to their weekly flea market and my wife and I ended up taking a nap – something I rarely do, when I’m not at home. That afternoon we headed to town to visit her mom and they along with the kids made my birthday cake for me, it was a week late, but it was the only time that all the kids were together to celebrate with me. Once the cake was made, we headed out to visit my wife’s grandpa and enjoyed a nice conversation about his time in the service during WW II.
That evening we headed back to my parents for some cake and ice cream – a very low key party – just the way I prefer it. This year was also the first time I was at my parents for a birthday celebration of sorts in a very long time.
Sunday afternoon we headed home, we got back in time to drop Nikolai off at the college for another week of Upward Bound and then headed home. We unloaded the vehicle; I put air in the lawn mower tire and sent Alivia mowing while I went for more gas. A couple hours of mowing that evening and the lawn is about half done and that’s a good thing since once again it was starting to look like a hayfield. Hopefully we can get the lawn finished this week before the rains come back and we have to start all over again.
For the first few days of this week, it’s just Alivia and I – Susan and Abigail are in the cities, Marcus stayed at his cousins up north and Nikolai is at Upward Bound. It’s going to be a strange quiet week, but I’m certain it will go fast with my schedule busy as usual.
On Saturday evening, at least a few kids and I will be attending a geocaching event and then we will be repacking on Sunday for a quick trip north again for my dad’s 70th birthday party on upcoming holiday. There’s no doubt in my mind that the month of July is going to fly by – just like June did.
Remember to snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week and the rest of the summer! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.




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