I have been anxious to get busy sharing camping stories, and I had originally told myself I wouldn’t write about our second trip to Four Lakes this year. Besides, it wasn’t something we really wanted to do this weekend anyway. We had purchased two sets of groupons (one groupon, one living social) to ski months before, when there was an extra discount on it since it has sold out in the past. The kids had a blast there last year, and we had even gone three times. There was no way we were going to let that groupon get wasted as the winter season comes to a close, but this time, our thoughts were somewhere else…

With all the extra gear, we didn’t really fit in the loaner car we have had for 2 weeks while they continue to look for the problem with our brand new Suburban.

Who would have known the last two weekends would be in the 60s already? It was too warm to ski.

The tow rope was soaked, so our hands would be freezing all day.

There was slush all over the hill.

We had been skiing in some really great places in the last month, so Four Lakes didn’t sound exciting.

Chuck was still not feeling well, after a full week of being sick.

In fact, all of us were wiped out, so all we really wanted to do was hang out at home and play in the yard.

But as all us parents know, sometimes you have to put on a smiley face and spread your enthusiasm to the kids to pull them over to the happy side.   Actually, spring skiing reminds me of one of my favorite and most pivotal days of all time, so it wasn’t difficult for me.

Almost twenty years ago, I was in college and interning in Colorado. I was snowboarding in the slush at A-Basin on the 4th of July and loving it. As I was getting on the chairlift that day, another person jumped in front of the chair behind me and sent it flailing. I attempted to move out of the way and let that chair pass, but the guy I was going up with grabbed on to my hand and I found myself hanging from the chair as it lifted higher into the air. It was that moment that I was rescued by one of the people I admire most in this world. Tommy came to my rescue as I fell from the lift, and we spent the rest of the day talking about what we really wanted out of life. I ended up snowboarding and learning to windsurf with Tommy in that same day, creating an all time high. What could have been a disastrous day proved to change the course of my life, as I questioned the current path I was taking as I finished my college career in engineering. How lucky was I to fall off the chairlift that day?

Every time we have gone skiing, a lesson has been learned. How great is it that something we love to do is teaching our kids such important life skills?

We arrived to a hill with barely anyone there, so there was no line to go up the tow rope, and open runs going down.

The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the warm temps allowed us to stay warm, despite our wet hands.

We were with good friends, so we were excited to spend some time with them.

The slushy snow was different to ski on, but it was actually really fun!

It didn’t take long for the smiles to spread to all of our faces. In fact, at the end of the day, we could not drag them off those slopes!

 

It is all a matter of perspective… sometimes, you just have to look at the bright side and choose to be happy. We are in a phase of life where every minute counts. We put our effort into trying not to waste any time – we learn something new every day. It’s so much more fun that way. Better yet, our kids learned that firsthand too this weekend. We were all so glad we went!