Thanks to Groupon, we found a great deal on Four Lakes lift tickets. Given the unpredictable nature of weather in the Chicago area, we seized the snowy day on President’s Day last Monday. Judging by the crowds of people, we weren’t the only ones with that idea. It was near anarchy at times on the tow ropes, but we were still excited to be able to ski one more time this season.

Inspired by the Olympic snowboard cross, Derek rented a snowboard for the day. He spent much of the time on his kiester, but after watching him work at it until he mastered it (always with a smile on his face), I decided that D stands for Derek and determined!

The other boys spent their time on the terrain park, again inspired by the Olympics, racing down and jumping the jumps. I wouldn’t be surprised if they wanted to try flips next season.

Ruthie hit a milestone this day as well. Not only did she look cute as a button on the bunny hill, but she ended the day skiing down the incline by herself.

When we first arrived, she was clinging onto my pole for dear life as we descended the hill. I decided to chuck the pole and try holding hands instead. Well, this led to letting go for short spurts and before I knew it, she was skiing with no help.

She became so confident that when we got off the tow rope, she exclaimed, “Alright, Mom, this is my hill!” And lest I cramp her style in any way, we would get going down the hill and she would yell out, “I’ll meet you at the bottom!”

Here she drew a picture of Mommy and Ruth skiing with cool goggles. That would be the steep incline of the bunny hill next to us.