Tag: vacation

Merry Christmas From our Farm to You!

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year from the Olson family!

The Christmas season is typically filled with the hustle and bustle of baking, shopping, and decorating. This year, we added a trip to the Mayo Clinic for Anna’s yearly checkup, and grain hauling into the mix. Some decorating didn’t happen, but Christmas isn’t dependent on how festive the house looks.  After all, Jesus was born in a stable, surrounded by farm animals.

I am so thankful for Anna’s positive check up. Her MRI showed no new Multiple Sclerosis activity, and her physical tests showed no major declines in strength or other issues. That was our first Christmas gift this year.  Anna and I left for Rochester a day early, due to a blizzard warning in that area. We wanted to get ahead of the storm, and avoid driving in the wide open spaces in wind driven snow. This was the third year in a row that we have spent extra time in Rochester due to winter storms. Our hotel was great when Anna’s first appointment went long, and we were late for checkout on Friday morning. They didn’t charge us a late checkout fee, even though they could have. That was our second Christmas gift this year.

On Christmas Eve Day, we started out with fresh caramel rolls for breakfast.  We all went in to our church’s candle light Christmas Eve service that evening, where we served as the greeters. I love seeing all of the families who have come home for Christmas. Having our girls home for Christmas was our third gift this year.

Our family opens gifts on Christmas Eve, following the candlelight service. I love the laughter, the delight, the joy at gifts given and gifts received. Two of the girls did the majority of the gift buying this year.  It was a fun night.

Christmas day dawned bright and cold.  It was a day of playing games with Jonathan’s cousins from town, and eating delicious appetizers and cookies.

In the midst of all the merriment, Jonathan has been out working in the single digit temperatures to load out semi loads of grain, as well as the usual pig chores. The cold temperatures always bring equipment issues, but typically things get fixed in short order. We are thankful for our dairy friends who are out in the barns every day – holiday or not. I haven’t heard any complaints about working holidays, or working in the extreme cold. This is the life we have chosen, and we are thankful for it.

So, from our farm to you, we wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

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Another Fun Filled Summer in Photos

The house is pretty quiet this week. The laundry piles are smaller, and the milk lasts a little longer. It is official. Jonathan and I are empty nesters!

This summer was pretty busy, which is how we prefer our summers to be. I’d like to share some of the fun with you in the photos below.

Most of the family was able to surprise my brother and his family at a Twins game in the beginning of July. Bruce had the honor of raising the Twins Territory flag. It was pretty cool.

The family – 14 out of a possible 19 made it!

The game: Twins won, with the help of a couple home runs at the hands of Trevor Plouffe.

A week later, Christina left for a five week stay in Costa Rica as a part of her Spanish studies. She missed out on our intense 48 hours of fun at Lake Ethel.

Jonathan likes to work hard, and play hard.

After we returned from the lake, Jonathan and Laura attended a national youth gathering for a week. They had a great trip, but were very happy to be back home again. Pretty much as soon as they returned, it was time to harvest wheat.

I took my turn in the combine for a little while.

Jonathan harvested most of the wheat, while I helped Laura get her projects ready for the county fair. Laura did the work, but I was her adviser.

The vanity Laura refinished, which is now displayed in my entry.

Laura competed in her final horse show at this years fair. She enjoys participating in the trail class the most. I think she’s pretty good at it.

Laura also brought three Boer goats to the county fair. This year’s fair was filled with a little drama. During the goat show, a severe thunderstorm rolled through and we all needed to take shelter. A few days later, another storm rolled through and we were once again waiting it out in the horse barn. 

Laura in the show ring.

For the first time in my life, I was in the ring during the State Fair line up. Can you spot my shoes?  I won’t quit my day job…


In between the county fair and the state fair, I worked at Farm Fest. Farm Fest is a three day agricultural event where vendors bring their equipment, software, expertise, or whatever they have that serves the agriculture community to southwest Minnesota. I help to sell pork chops on a stick in the Farm Bureau tent. I totally forgot to take photos this year, so you’ll have to close your eyes and imagine a delicious pork chop being handed to you by a local FFA member or Farm Bureau volunteer.  After a good day of recovery, I always look forward to the next year!

During the county fair and Farm Fest weeks, we had a visitor! Our former exchange student, who we now refer to as our German daughter, spent two weeks with us. It was great to catch up in person!

Viktoria at Alexander Ramsey Park in Redwood Falls. A beautiful park that we went to a few times while she stayed with us for a year.

While I was running around like a crazy woman, Jonathan was home being a great husband and dad. When he gets hungry for cookies, he just whips up a batch. They typically don’t last very long.


This brings us to the Minnesota State Fair. I love the fair! Laura went up with other 4-H members from our county for the 4 days of the Livestock encampment. Christina and I went up to watch the goat show, and then we walked around a tiny bit. We saved most of our fun for when we planned to go back the following week. 
Laura earned a purple ribbon in showmanship! She was pretty amazed, since this goat had been super jumpy at our county fair. He calmed down quite a bit once he entered the show ring.

We always check out the Agriculture/Horticulture building to see if Jonathan won any ribbons for his seed samples. He did! This year he received blue ribbons on both of his wheat varieties that were submitted.

Before we left, Christina and I had to find my new favorite treat. I am lactose intolerant, and ice cream really affects me, even when taking Lactaid. It was super hot, so this frozen banana on a stick was just the thing.

After our second visit to the fair, it was time to finish packing. All three girls moved to college last weekend.

Part of what we moved. I am so blessed that all three girls are in the same town. Two at one college, the youngest four blocks away at another.

We are now in the patiently waiting for soybean and corn harvest mode. There is still plenty that needs to get done before we are ready. Jonathan is loading up wheat that was sold, and will be sweeping out the grain bins when they are empty.  He will be making sure that the combine and trucks are clean so we do not have any wheat in our soybeans. I will be working on getting our house ready for family to stay. Once the soybeans are ready, I’ll be running the combine while Jonathan hauls the loads in the semi.  We plan on fitting in a few dates here and there as well.  So far this empty nest thing is looking pretty good!

Catching Up Is Hard To Do…

I cannot believe that January is almost over! Typically this month is filled with farming book work, getting tax stuff ready, and all the other end of the year stuff that comes with running a business. This year we started out a little differently…

On December 26th, Jonathan’s sister and family came from the Chicagoland area for a few days. We had a fun Christmas celebration with that side of the family on the 27th. I love reconnecting with family, and catching up on their activities.

My side of the family arrived on the 29th. We celebrated Christmas with them on the 30th, and stuffed ourselves silly (again).  On New Year’s Day we drove down to Iowa to see relatives that were gathering at my aunt’s house. It was fun to reconnect and catch up on their lives.

Mom and my sister Pam spent the night with us once again, while Sheryl’s family stayed overnight at aunt’s house. On January 2nd, everyone headed for home. That is when Jonathan and I started packing for our trip. 🙂

On January 2nd, Jonathan and I left for Fargo, ND. We had an early morning flight from Fargo to Salt Lake City, UT. From Salt Lake City, we flew to Honolulu, HI! We were going to attend the American Farm Bureau Annual Meeting, which was held on the 8th and 9th.

We were traveling with cousins Andy and Heather. We have traveled with them to Nascar races and Disney World, and they still like us, so we thought it would be fun to go to Hawaii together. We were right. We had a blast!

Our travel agent arranged for a tour company to meet us at the airport where we received a fresh flower lei, and an invitation to a free breakfast the following morning. We all thought, “Free breakfast? Okay!” It was a sales pitch of sorts, telling us about the various tour packages they have available. Since we had about 4 days before the AFBF stuff started, we gave a look at what we thought would be fun. For once in my life, I really didn’t care what the plan was. I chatted with a tour company employee while Jonathan signed us up for events. It was quite nice to be able to just let go.

(Pic: At the airport after landing in Honolulu…we had been up for about 18 hours at this point, and it is starting to show)

Our first activity was whale watching, while Andy and Heather chose to go snorkeling in an area with sea turtles. I get motion sickness really easy, so I made sure I took meds for that. Good thing! I had never been out on a boat in the open ocean, so I was a little nervous about the waves. This was a lunch cruise with a buffet of great food to eat while cruising out to the whale watching waters. At least that was the plan. The whales had a different idea. Two of them were in the harbor that morning. They think it was a mom and a juvenile calf that had followed a fishing boat for 6 days and over 800 miles! We got up close enough to be sprayed three times with whale snot.   I gave my new camera a workout!

(Pic: one of my whale photos. I have others that I am not sharing online…)

That evening, all four of us went to a magic show dinner theater thing. We met some really nice people from Australia and Canada. After that ended, we went to the Lani Misalucha show. The best part was when she did impersonations of different singers. She had some of them spot on! Sadly, no photos were allowed for our evening adventures.

The next highlight was Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial, where the weather was beautiful. The museum grounds had been improved since we were there in 2004, making it an even better experience. Three survivors were at a book signing for a few hours.

After Pearl Harbor we went on a city tour and saw the State Capitol building and the Iolani Palace. Friday night we went on a supper cruise where we would see the sunset while at sea, and watch fireworks over Waikiki. There were Polynesian dancers on board, so between the sunset and the fireworks we didn’t get bored. The night was beautiful. The fireworks had to compete with a great full moon over Waikiki for my favorite scene of the cruise.

(I’ll let you decide which you like better…the full moon or the fireworks)

         

Saturday we had some beach time, and just took it easy most of the day. Sunday brought the start of the AFBF Annual Meeting. The opening ceremony sets the tone for the entire event, with an address by President Bob Stallman. We were really impressed by what he had to say, and it made us proud to be a part of such a great organization.  We believe that there is room for all types of agriculture – organic or conventional, crop or livestock, etc. We need to work together, which is what President Stallman mentioned in his speech. The keynote speaker on Monday afternoon was Dave Barry. He was hilarious! It was a great way to end a great meeting.

(Pic: AFBF President Bob Stallman)

We also attended a luau, and went on a Circle Island Tour with a bunch of our Minnesota friends. We started our journey back to Minnesota (and reality) on the 11th, and made it home the afternoon of the 12th.  Our flight schedule took us from Honolulu to Los Angeles (no celeb sightings, but it was 5:00 am when we landed). Los Angeles to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to Fargo. Then a 4 hour drive home. This didn’t quite work with us. Thursday evening was Parent’s Night for the dance team. Laura is a senior this year, so in my mind this was a big deal. If we were to catch our flight from Minneapolis to Fargo, we would not have made it back in time.  I was bummed when we discovered this before we left, but Jonathan made a few phone calls…

Cousin Denise picked us up from the airport in Minneapolis, and brought us home. Andy and Heather flew on to Fargo as planned, picked up our luggage (we checked it in under their names in Honolulu), and drove our van to their house. Jonathan and I made it back home in time to shower and change clothes before heading into the school. It was worth making it back in time!

The following morning, Jonathan and I ran some errands, then packed our bags to head to an organic farming conference a couple of hours away. We picked up our van on the way home from the conference the following day, and kinda crashed once we got home. That was a week ago.

I still have a few loads of laundry to do, and gifts to distribute. I finally caught up on reading all my emails as of this morning. Jonathan and I both feel like we are finally back in our time zone, and that our brains have finally caught up with us.  Hopefully, we’ll get caught up on the book work this week as well.

Vacation was great, but catching up is hard to do!

Power of Bundt Cake – final installment

It has taken me a lot longer to compose this portion of this little mini-series than I anticipated.  Every time I start, I get distracted, and fail to return to the task at hand.  So, without further delay, here is our culinary adventure.

We were given the choice of what type of restaurant to dine at.  The girls chose Italian, since they like the Olive Garden.  We were taken to Fresco by Scotto on East 52nd Street, which happens to be a favorite amongst celebrities like Regis Philbin.  Sadly, no celebs when we were there.

There were 8 of us dining together, so we sat at a giant square table – two on each side.  Joe really wanted the girls to have a great New York City experience, so he had his assistant, Even, sit near the girls and give them shopping locations.  It was amusing, from my standpoint.

The waiters first asked if we wanted bottled or sparkling water. Bottled went into clear goblets, sparkling went into blue.  That way they wouldn’t have to interrupt our conversation to ask what we needed for our refill.  After the water was poured, Joe motioned for the waiter to come over, and gave him instructions on the appetizers he wanted for the table.  He also asked for the wine menu, which was huge!  I have no idea what type he ordered – the label was not in English.  While we were waiting for the wine to be poured, the waiters brought out a basket of bread sticks in many different sizes and grilled pizza margheritas.  We still hadn’t ordered our main course when the second round of appetizers arrived.  It was Meat & Cheese Antipasto…wow.  The waiters were instructed to put a sample of all the elements on each plate. We had Prosciutto di Parma, Parmigiano Reggiano, Mortadella, Fresh Mozzarella, Sweet & Spicy Sausage, Provolone and Capizola.  They brought out French Fries for the girls, just in case they didn’t like the other food.

After all of this, it was time to order our main meal.  We opened our menus, and to our surprise – the Schwan’s logo was in the center!  (The headquarters is 10 miles from our home.)  Jonathan ordered an organic Angus beef burger, two of the girls and I ordered the Ravioli Fresco, and one ordered the Spaghetti alla Chitarra.  When our meals arrived, it was just like in the movies where a long line of waiters come to the table to present everyone with their food.  Half-way through, Joe decided we should taste the Eggplant and Zucchini Pie, so he ordered that as well.

About the time we finished eating, Joe received a phone call and had to leave.  Connie asked if we wanted coffee or dessert, when a waiter came over and said that dessert had been taken care of.  They brought out coffee (which was also very good) and a dessert tray that was probably 2×3 feet…and filled with samples of many desserts to share.  There was Banana Pudding with Vanilla Wafers (my favorite cookie), two or three kinds of gelato, two types of cheese cake, biscotti, and fresh fruit.

The food was all top-notch, the service excellent, and the company was unforgettable.  We rolled out of there, and walked towards Central Park.  I was very thankful that we were walking everywhere after the feast we were treated to.

We hung out in Central Park for a short time, then thought we should make our way over to Broadway.  Connie ordered tickets for Mary Poppins for us.  We were floored!  She had us dead center – 6 rows from the front. We could see the sweat on the conductor’s brow…and when Mary Poppins got hit by a chimney sweep’s broom, we could see the blood trickling from her brow.  The show was amazing – different enough from the movie that it seemed fresh, yet very familiar.

We headed for home the following day, taking time to see my brother and sister-in-law, Byron and Lois.  They took us to Point Pleasant along the Jersey Shore. We walked along the boardwalk, ate at the amusement park, and walked on the beach and in the ocean.  A great end to a very memorable trip.

Mary Poppins!

The Power of Bundt Cake – New York City (part 3)

We decided to stay in Parsippany, NJ and take the train into the City for the two days we had to sightsee.  The first day was all on our own. The second day, we would be meeting at Chatham Imports before going to lunch with Joe and Connie.

The train ride into the City reminded us of the Polar Express, when the conductor came down the aisle to punch our tickets.  We looked to see if he punched any words in them, but he didn’t.  Our train destination was Penn Station, which is under ground.  When we rode the escalator up to street level the first time, we were all breathless.  The view was absolutely incredible.  We were in New York City.  On Fashion Avenue. Blocks from Broadway and Times Square.  Un-be-liev-able!

We pretty much walked everywhere the first day. We ate at a McDonald’s that has appeared on Travel Channel shows, walked past the theater where we would be seeing Mary Poppins the following night, and walked into Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum to purchase tickets for our sightseeing bus tour.   We figured the bus tour would be a good bet, since we could get a feel for the city without wearing Anna out.  Unfortunately, their dry spell ended that day.  We were given rain ponchos to wear while we were on the top level of the bus, but it was raining much too hard for them to keep us dry.  Jon and I ended up sitting below, where the windows were fogged over, and there was little ventilation.  Me, being claustrophobic, thought I was going to die.  Every time the bus slowed down for a stop, water cascaded down the steps from the upper deck into the lower level.  We eventually got off at a stop without knowing exactly where we were.  We were just about to call a cab, when another bus pulled up that had a plastic cover over the front of the upper seats.  It was the Brooklyn tour.  The rain showers had let up by this point, so we jumped on and had a great tour of Brooklyn.  When the tour was finished, we walked back to Penn Station to catch the train to our hotel.  We would have to be on the ball the next morning so we wouldn’t be late for our meeting.

The weather was definitely better the following day, although trains were running late through the tunnel between New Jersey and New York due to flooding from the deluge the day before.  We had to hurry from Penn Station to Chatham’s in order to get there in time. Thanks to the GPS on my Smartphone, we made it.

The office itself was pretty small, but everyone was very friendly.  The secretary is originally from Iowa, and made us feel very welcome the way Midwesterners do.  Connie brought us into the conference room, where Joe joined us a short time later.  They asked the girls a ton of questions, just getting to know them, and making sure they were experiencing the City the way they were hoping to.

After hearing more about their company, Jonathan and I were invited to have a sampling of the vodka made from our corn.  Chatham’s markets three flavors of organic vodka under the Crop label – plain, tomato, and cucumber.  We learned the proper way to taste test without getting intoxicated before lunch. 🙂   It amazed me how the tomato and cucumber vodkas tasted just like fresh from the vine produce.  We next tasted their organic gin, which is marketed under the Farmers Gin label.  I had never tasted gin before, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.  The taste of juniper was very pronounced, but when we did the “spit” part of the taste test, the flavor of lemon filled my mouth.  For fun, we were given tastes of Joe’s favorite Biscotti liqueur, which tasted just like the cookie.  We chatted for a few more minutes, then we were off to lunch.

Next… lunch!

The girls in their rain ponchos before hopping on the bus

The Power of Bundt Cake (part 2)

Now that harvest is wrapped up, and traveling is done for awhile, I can catch up on my blogging!

A few weeks after the visit from Joe, Connie, and Jim, we received a package in the mail.  It was a box from Joe and Connie, containing gifts for Jonathan and I…and Pongo, our rat terrier.  They sent Jonathan an Hermes tie, and I received an Hermes scarf.  They also sent a thank-you note with another invitation to visit them in New York.  That really started the wheels turning in Jonathan’s head!

It is tradition in our family that the graduate gets to choose the summer family vacation destination before they head off to college.  Anna chose the Iowa Speedway for the inaugural Nationwide Series race.  (She was hoping to see Joey Logano, her favorite driver. Sadly, he was not there.) Christina wanted to go to Los Angeles or Hollywood, but I was trying to talk her into staying in the Midwest.  Then we received the second invitation to visit New York.  Christina, with Jonathan’s full support, quickly chose New York City as her family vacation destination.  The first week of July we were still trying to find an open week in our schedules.  We narrowed it down to the week of July 10 – 17. That gave us about 3 days to make all of our travel arrangements, and line up help for chores.  Not to mention our town’s celebration, and my very first 5k attempt…

Jonathan contacted Connie, who was thrilled that we would be coming.  She asked what we were planning on seeing while in the City, and gave Jonathan some ideas.  Christina really wanted to see a Broadway show, and walk in Central Park.  The girls all wanted a chance to shop a little, which was no surprise.  Connie asked which Broadway show we wanted to see, which we left up to Christina.  Wicked was sold out, so she chose Mary Poppins, since we all love the movie.

We packed up, loaded the van, and headed east.  We put in a long day on that first day, getting past Chicago.  Lessons learned…take frequent breaks to stretch and get the blood flowing, drink a lot of water, and don’t eat salty snacks.

Next up – our arrival and first day in New York City.

This is me, back home after my very first 5k at Cottonwood Coming Home Days. We left the following day for New York.