"My Crazy Kids"

- A few family members gathered around a tree planted in memory of my grandparents in Roseau on Sunday afternoon. By Allan Olson This summer feels like it’s been the busiest on record for several years. Every summer is busy as we try to jam a year’s worth of fun into a few short months, but this one takes the cake. This past weekend there was a gathering with my family at my grandparents’ homestead near Roseau. For all of my life, the farm has been the traditional gathering place for all relatives to congregate for a fun time during the summer and on holidays in the winter. For myself and my brothers, it was a treat to go spend time at their home in the summer, eating ice cream, cookies, caramel rolls, playing games and more. The gathering place was the same as it has always been last weekend, with cousins gathering from all around Minnesota and a few other states. The friendly jibes and rivalries between some of the cousins picked up right where they left off...

Daughter Abigail was quite vocal with her displeasure about being forced to leave the house on Sunday for geocaching with me after spending Saturday at a horse show with a family friend. Staying home might’ve been an option if the right tone had been used, but it quickly became “not an option.” She ended up smiling and hanging out with me on the trail – and occasionally throwing pinecones at me. She slept until after noon on Monday. By Allan Olson Ever feel like you have too many irons in the fire at one time? That’s me on a fairly regular basis, and this last week was no exception. Sometimes I’d like to just skip it all and sleep until noon like my kids are doing this summer. Okay… probably not, but it might be nice once in a while. Friday and Saturday were both busy days for me, covering all the summer festivities in Cass Lake. When I got home on Saturday I laid on the couch and took a brief nap before getting up and going to work on the girls’ room. M...

As per tradition on our family camping trips, we always take a family photo somewhere, and I was not about to let this trip pass without the requisite group shot. By Allan Olson It was all about family last week. My wife spent the first three days of the week at her family reunion with all but one of the kids. She enjoyed the luxury of an older RV borrowed from my parents that while not pretty, was functional – in particular, it had three beds and working AC. It sure beat sleeping in a tent, or in my case the vehicle, since she was sharing it with her mom (the third bed was more kid size). The couple of nights I used it wasn’t bad. At least I didn’t have to worry about waking anyone when I got up, which was always earlier than the rest of the family. The reunion started on Sunday, but I wasn’t there so I really didn’t get to see much of it. Unfortunately, I also didn’t get to up in a private aircraft because the weather was too fickle before I left and I was ...

One of the highlights of my week was finally being able to visit the Pennington Bog – a place I’ve always wanted to visit – on Thursday, June 26. I was given a tour by a naturalist working with the Chippewa National Forest. – Photo by Allan Olson. By Allan Olson I’ve never been very good at sitting idle. In fact, I find I’m likely to cause more problems if I’m not busy with something, and keeping busy is something that has not been a problem for me the last few months. The latest weekend was no exception. I had been after the kids all week long to get their rooms picked up to the point where I could clean the rugs while they’re out of town at a family reunion. I guess they didn’t take me serious until I came home from work Friday evening to find their rooms still not clean. Now granted, they weren’t too bad, but they still left more work than I was willing to put in to them. It wasn’t my mess or my room, and I certainly was not going to clean it for them. The...