US National Whitewater Center

We are all about giving our children the gifts of experience.  With that in mind, we tend to do "experience" gifts for Christmas and birthdays.  This past weekend, we cashed in one of their Christmas experiences, a day at the US National Whitewater Center in North Carolina.

 The boys were in heaven!  And I was having a mixture of heart palpitations because I was worried and "aww man" moments because I wasn't going to get to experience it all with them!  They began their day with a whitewater rafting trip.  Listening to the guide do the pre-rafting chat, I could tell our guys were a bit nervous....all the talk about falling out of the boat, going under the boat, etc., etc., etc....they were white as ghosts as they made their way to get geared up for their whitewater experience.  

 However, they jumped onboard and off they went with smiles on their faces!

 And I was breathing a sigh of relief....

 well into their trip, they were looking like professional rafters, shifting side to side and gripping their paddles accordingly....

 and no one fell out....at least, no one fell out of their boat....their were people falling out here and there but the boys were thankful they were not one of them!

 Feeling good about the rafting experience, they decided to go over and do a zipline.  Or so we thought.  Next thing we know, we receive word that they are jumping!?!?!  Nothing huge, just 100 FEET!  

 And then they graced us with a zipline ride above our heads.....

 and though ziplining was a good fit for them, the jumping, by far, was their favorite!  

 And then there were the girls....Maddox is the female version of Spiderman....she is our climber and though she be but little, she has the strength of an ox.

 Gymnastics and/or yoga was always an option as we hung out in the great green grass!  The girls really had a fun time just being outdoors and having a large, grassy area to roam about.

 MK loved the ropes course and went back for more and more of this challenge!  

 There were moments when it was just me and Maryn watching the rafters/kayakers go drifting by.....she had a great time waving to all and just having a moment to herself with mommy.

So very thankful for our time together as a family this weekend!  I love that we all, age 42 to 3, enjoyed our day spent at the US National Whitewater Center.