Last year, I made a post about our trips to the Camillus Ski Association hill that was practically in our back yard. We did this for a few years, but neither Tam or I became outstanding skiers. Last week, Tammie's son, Derek was up visiting and I took him to the old ski hill for a moment, before we headed for Green Lakes State Park in Manlius, NY.

Derek and I also went to a skating rink in Downtown Syracuse. Neither of us had any interest in skating, but it got me to thinking of skating in the past with my family. We used to skate at a park in Camillus, but a couple of years, my parents created a skating rink in our backyard. My dad brought out these old skates that he probably borrowed from Hans Brinker and stormed across the ice with all of his 200 plus pounds. Fortunately for us, he remained on his feet. I can't tell you how much that Tam and I enjoyed skating over the bumpy ice with my parents. I look out over that yard now, and realize how many wonderful moments I had growing up and how much my sister was an integral part of that.

This was the ski hill where we first learned about snowplowing and how to get up from a terrible fall. We had a lot of those.

The best part of these trips for me was warming up with some hot chocolate after the falling had stopped.