"My Crazy Kids"

Two of my aunts working hard at making fresh lefse for our family reunion later in July. By Allan Olson This past weekend was a little different than the previous one (which I spent celebrating my big 4-0). Instead of laying around, eating cake and doing as little as humanly possible, this time I was busy.  It all started on Friday, when I had originally planned to do some of the weekend’s work. Instead, just as I was about to retire for bed on Thursday evening a niece sent me a message asking if I could come to Duluth on Friday to take some senior photos of her and the big grand piano at the music camp she was attending.  Like most family, I do what I can to accommodate – in particular for my nieces and nephews. In most cases this would have been pushing it too far, since I already had my day planned and now would have to change it to get up early and spend a day on the road. But since it was Duluth and I do have other relatives I could visit whil...

Pic: Oh, the fun things we do at milestone birthdays! By Allan Olson Typically, I’m not a birthday party kind of person. I haven’t celebrated my birthday with any kind of party in a long time. My wife says the last was for my 25th, but even that was a long time ago now – 15 years, to be exact. Yup, that’s right, I’ve officially shut the door on my 30s and have started the downhill slide into my 40s. At least that’s what the calendar says. Personally, I don’t feel any different than I did last week. I have just a few more day’s worth of knowledge; that’s about it. Since I was told I was going to have a party, I also decided that I was going to do something for me for my birthday – go geocaching with no kids. Now don’t get me wrong; I like to go geocaching with my kids, but not every geocaching adventure is for them, and frankly, they are all getting older as well and don’t always want to hang out with “the old man,” especially geocaching all day. So about a mo...

Alivia showed off the bass she caught using her dad’s pole during their first time out on the boat this year last Wednesday, June 7. By Allan Olson This past week – and not just the weekend – has been nothing but adventures for us as we continue this journey through life together as a family, with all of us trying to learn as we go. I really wanted to go fishing this week, since I bought a license nearly a month ago and have only fished from the dock once and nothing else since. It was really past time to get the boat out. Finally, on Wednesday night after work, that time arrived. I bought bait, and I told Nikolai to get the poles ready, along with the life jackets, net and whatever else we needed. Well, mostly. I got home thinking about supper, but nobody else was hungry, so just I had a couple pieces of toast and called it good. We went to hook up the boat, and of course found that the trailer tires were low on air. I plugged in my little compressor, an...

—It was the last day of classes for 2017-18 for these kids. In the fall, I will have a sophomore, two seventh graders and no more elementary students, as my little one will enter Middle School as a fifth grader. By Allan Olson Okay, maybe I’m being a little too pessimistic, but this summer I was really hoping my calendar would not fill up quite as fast as in the past. Oh, how foolish I was in my thinking. So now it is time to prioritize weekend plans. Last weekend was one that had to be on the priority list, since it was my nephew’s graduation (the first on my side of the family) as well as a birthday party for my mother-in-law. There was no rearranging those plans.  This weekend is one of the few weekends that there is something happening in town – the Chippewa Triathlon. That’s where I will be on Saturday. On Sunday, we move Nikolai back into BSU for the Upward Bound Summer program, so again there will be no rearranging of plans.  The following...