Tubin' on down the River ....

What a fun few days we've had in North Carolina!

Our last and final thing was tubin' down the Pigeon River. As most of you are aware, most of the rivers are extremely cold even when the weather is beautiful (it was 102 degrees in SC while it was around 89/90 in NC). While 90 degrees is still hot, it's alot better than 102! But let me tell you, this river felt so good! Wasn't too cold and it definitely wasn't warm. It was perfect!

Before we decided on tubing on the Pigeon River we called a bunch of different places to talk to them about Grayson going. We definitely wanted him to go BUT there were some alot of places who said: no children under 4/5, the river was quick, the children had to be a certain weight, etc etc. We then found Asheville Outdoor Center who said any age could go and it was a leisurely stroll down the river. And as an added bonus, at the end of the river run they handed out popsicles! We were on it....(the popsicles did it) Haha...just kidding!!!

We get there and grab our life jackets and hike the mile to the top of the river (well not really the top but where this particular company puts their tubers in......but it definitely was a mile hike). We could have taken a shuttle but there was an extra charge for that service, plus why sit in a shuttle when we could enjoy the scenery and get some exercise at the same time? Another plus, Gray didn't mind it. He either rode on his Daddy's shoulders or he walked. He was extremely good and very patient for once!

Well we finally get to where we need  to be and we grab our tubes (luckily we didn't have to hike with them...now that would have been a chore) and go get situated in the water. This is where I start thinking "What are we doing taking Grayson?" "We are going to get half way down the river and he's going to want to get out of his tube" "He's not going to sit still" "He's going to fall out and I'm going to have a heart attack" along with all the other questions that run through a mommy's mind. But boy did Gray prove me wrong.

He ended up getting his own tube!

And he rode down the river, holding on and being still...with a big smile on his face. He kept saying how much he liked tubing! We couldn't believe it. I honestly thought he would hate it, cry, do something else besides like it. He liked it so much that when we got out (at the end) he asked his Nina if we could do it again.....

You guessed it....we went down it again! Nina can't say no to her grandkids!



The girls tubing together....or we tried! One minute we were together, the next...not so much.



Gray enjoying his ride down the river. By the way, those would be his Nina's feet. His tube was hooked to her tube the second time around.



I know this picture is a little blurry but I promise it's a picture of me, Brandon, Blain and Gray! This was the first time going down.

Please look closely, Brandon has a rope in his hand that was hooked to Gray's tube. Trust me, he wasn't just tubing on down by himself! But I know you are probably thinking "how could you let a 3 year old go tubing?" I'll be honest, I was nervous at first. But I always told myself that I would never keep Gray from doing something because of my nerves (unless it's something that he really shouldn't be doing) otherwise he would be a homebody, doing nothing! Seriously! I'm always nervous/worried in alot of things he does but he's a boy and I do have to let him grow up. Unfortunately! And I'm really glad we let him do this. He really did enjoy himself and I'm sure it made him feel "grown up."