Tubing

Thanks to Nick for jarring my memory on this one.

Last summer, our Sunday school class had a social at the lake.  We had a class around a fire pit and then went to the marina's restaurant for lunch.  After lunch, we settled in for some boating/swimming.  We had the kids in lifejackets and they were having fun just jumping off the pier into the lake.  After an hour or so, the baby got tired and My then 4 year old wanted to try tubing.

The tube was a huge triangle.  These are more stable than just the round tube and it has a bottom so you don't slip through.  I got in with her and put her between my legs.  Leaving the pier, everything was great. 

As we entered the open water, the boat started picking up speed.  It was fun.  Then the bouncing started.  I had never been tubing before, so I was completely unaware of this phenomenon.  I immediately wrapped my legs around my daughter.  We bounced higher and higher and I wrapped my legs tighter and tighter.  The jubilous laughs soon turned to shrieks of terror.  The people in the boat never looked back. 

What seemed like an eternity later, the people in the boat turned around to see if we wanted to go faster.  The only way for the dragee to communicated with the dragger is hand signs.  The boat, of course, did not slow down for the communication of faster or slower, so I had to let go with one hand to do it.  There I am, a death grip on the handles holding me into the inflated wedge and a death grip on my daughter with my legs.  So while bouncing into the air at high speeds holding my daughter, I had to let go with one hand and give the thumbs down sign. 

In a testament to the strength of the human psyche, my daughter looks back fondly on this day as it being very fun.  She did get to ride the sea doo with me and that wasn't as scary even though we got air there too.