Over the holidays we took the girls tubing. They had a blast! The first time we went it was just Leah (and two parents, two grandparents, and two great-grandparents). We got to the top of the hill and Lenny sat down on the tube. He asked Leah, "Do you want to go with me?" She said "No" as she's looking uneasily at the snowy hill. He asked again. Again she declined. Then I said, "Do you just want to watch Dad go first?" and she said "Yes". So Lenny took off down the hill. He wasn't even to the bottom before Leah said, "I want to go" and started climbing into the little tube. She insisted that she wanted to go by herself so we stuck her in the tube and sent her down. She did wonderfully and when she got to the bottom all she could say was "Again! Again! Again!" It surprised me how much she liked it because she is NOT a thrill-seeker. Great-grandpa Mark got a kick out of how six adults can be amused by two inner tubes and one three year old.
After that first day, Leah was hooked. She kept asking if we could go tubing and we were lucky enough to get another snowstorm and some new tubing snow. Grandpa Scot loaded up the suburban and we were off. This time it was Grandpa Scot, Grandma Edie, me, Leah and Abby. The ratio had changed quite a bit: three adults, two kids, two tubes. That changed things. From past experience I expected Abby to not enjoy herself at all. For most of the time she wasn't acting very amused but by the end it seemed like she was having a good time. She didn't laugh or smile or hardly make any noise but when I'd set her down she'd climb back into the tube. We sent her down by herself a couple of times. It was funny to watch. And she and Leah were able to go together and they didn't flip or anything! I'm sad that I wasn't able to get a picture of it.
I think we have a new family hobby! Thanks Grandpa Scot!
