Hello and Goodbye Summer



—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 weekend, I finally reach the top of the hill and begin my descent down the other side. I was informed that there will be a birthday party hosted by my wife and eldest brother (he just wants revenge) and so, again, there will be no rearranging of those plans. 
Okay, that gets us to the fourth weekend of June. There’s a small geocaching get-together scheduled at a state park west of Grand Forks. I want to go, but that puts it at five full weekends booked in a row. I’ve already been informed that if I go, I will take a kid or two (or more), but my wife will not be going. We will call that weekend a maybe, with a leaning towards… I need to give it up. 
That brings us to the end of June/beginning of July. Oh, look! A family reunion on my wife’s side that’s been planned for well over two years. I will be going up to help her and the kids get set up for camping that Saturday, then retuning Nikolai to BSU on Sunday while the rest of the family stays there for the duration. Work obligations will keep me from attending most of it, but it’s still a weekend that’s booked. 
July brings Rib Fest (work obligations), followed by a family reunion for my family (a one-or two-day affair, TBD). There is nothing booked (yet) for the last weekend of July, and the first weekend of August also appears open. The next two we have weddings – one on each side of the family, with one in the metro and one to the north. Can I just skip them both, or do one and not the other? Okay, probably not, so both of those are on the books. 
The last weekend in August is also free, currently, but guess what? We haven’t booked a family camping trip yet, the one that the kids have asked for  – this one will be close to home if it does get booked; 1-3 hours away, max. We also haven’t planned a birthday party for Abigail and Marcus, which also falls in the last full week of August. Oh, and then there’s the kids’ fall sports – volleyball and cross country at least – which have yet to be plotted into the family schedule.
So it’s going to be a very busy summer, and while it might sound like I’m complaining a little, I also hate sitting at home on a nice day. So if my calendar is not full, and the weather is not trash, I plan to be either fishing/canoeing and/or geocaching.
On Monday, the kids shifted into full summer mode, sleeping in as late as possible, while mom and dad shuffled off to work. We will also need to make sure to schedule in dental/medical and other appointments in with everything else we have going on. The kids will only get to enjoy the sleep-in mode for this first week. Nikolai won’t get to sleep in at BSU, and the other three have been signed up for summer school. They aren’t happy about it, but I think they will survive for the whole nine days.
Last weekend, as already noted, was busy. Up north for my nephew’s grad party Saturday evening, I hid some geocaches while my wife was busy making a cake for her mom’s party. Sunday we all had a good time at the party, enjoying all the different cakes that were set out, along with all the other food.
We made it home in time for me to run to my brother’s to grab my lawn sweeper; now it will be fun to figure out how to assemble it, as the lawn is ready to be mowed for the second time this season.It will be nice to get the clippings cleaned up with the sweeper after mowing.
In case you didn’t catch it, my plans for the coming weekend are to take in the Chippewa Triathlon and to move Nikolai into BSU for six weeks. Maybe we will get out fishing this week yet, perhaps after the triathlon.
Rest assured, no matter what our activities are this summer, we will be taking photos to document our busy lives. I encourage everyone else to do the same! 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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