"My Crazy Kids"

Left: Abigail sprawled out on the pavement, exhausted from walking on the Leaf River Trail on Saturday, April 21. Right: Marcus and Alivia holding the final stage of the LaSalle Recreation Geocache on Sunday, April 22. By Allan Olson This past weekend we finally got time to play in the great outdoors, and the conditions were perfect. I didn’t have to fit “much” snow, no mosquitoes, no ticks and it wasn’t 90 above or below zero – it was just right, and it proved what a difference a week makes. The sun was shinning for the majority of the week last week here in our part of the state, and while it was still cool at night, the warmer daytime temps started making a difference in the amount of snow and in the ice conditions on the lakes. As for me, I was excited that I could finally head outside and play once more. About midweek I started making plans for a geocaching adventure on Friday that would add four miles to my feet by trekking across the ice to ...

Nikolai and I taking a break on Two Points after the walk across the ice. By Allan Olson Oh, what a busy weekend it was indeed, with the daylight hours flying by over the two cool wintry days. We started the weekend off with a bang – with a broken bone for yet another child of mine. Seriously, I’m starting to wonder if my children are fragile or just unlucky, because I’ve only had one broken bone in my entire life and that was just a finger; already two of my kids have two or more separate occasions wound up in casts and one has broken four metatarsals at one time. Knock on wood – the oldest has suffered no broken bones thus far. On Friday morning, as usual, I drop the kids off at school. Abigail and Marcus took off running into the school, racing each other. I have no idea why or how this competition started, it’s just something they do. I’ve known full well that one of these times, one of them will get hurt, but I figured it would just be a scraped knee o...

Photo---My kids love getting their photos taken by Image Bob, and since he was setting up for Day #2 of a photo shoot at the school, Abigail decided to get her photo taken with him. By Allan Olson Oh joy, yet another cold weekend with snow still on the ground! I’m sure most everyone is the same camp I’m in on that – we need some warmer weather! That doesn’t mean I want to see 90 above, but if we could get some air warm enough to at least get rid of the snow and ice, it sure would be an improvement. In the last week I think there’s been one “almost okay” day, but nothing really to give us a hint that spring might finally be here. And judging by this week’s forecast, it’s not looking like there’s going to be much improvement. I got a couple hours more sleep than usual on Saturday morning, and then, since my wife had to go the shop to work on some dresses, I decided to take her in, thinking I would do my errands and then head home for a few hours until she was r...

Photos – One of the photos I captured of my great-nephew on Saturday during a photo shoot. By Allan Olson Easter weekend was an amazingly fun one, filled with family and good times – just the way life should be. It was the first time we have headed north for a weekend since Christmas – already a long three months ago – and it was also the first time we have seen my parents since they got back from their annual sojourn south. They were in our town once since they’ve been back, but it just so happened that we were all out of town for state basketball at the time. We headed north on Friday evening, as soon as my wife was able to escape her office. The kids and I had the Yukon packed with everything we needed for the weekend –or so we thought. The kids are all old enough now to remember to pack their own stuff. We just tell them how long we expect to be gone, and how many items they need – and occasionally set a max allowed – and it’s their responsibility to get ...