Next time, bring a rope

We nearly lost MM (age 9) yesterday, right at about this point, at these rapids.
We went tubing on the James, and had just launched ourselves into the river. Everyone got out into the current, save for MM. She fell out of her tube and was stuck on the very rocky shore. Somehow Court managed to break loose and get to her, while I held on to M & S for their dear lives.

The kids & I got through the rapids and paddled toward shore, where we planted ourselves on a rock and waited for Court and MM to float to us. MM was traumatized, and a bit scraped up.

What upset her most was fearing she might need stitches for a cut on her hand. Despite Court's motherly assertions that stitches were unnecessary, MM worried. So Court told her to ask me, 'cause I'm a "doctor" who used to be a lifeguard. I examined her cut and told her she would not need stitches. She was comforted; all was well.

Once rejoined, Court and I used our PFDs to tether the kids tubes to ours. Despite our rocky start, it was enjoyable. In all it took us two hours to reach our stopping point. The kids (even MM) said they had a great time.

Next time, I'm bringing rope. We'll tie our tubes together before we hit the water.

And I'll also wear these on my feet in the river instead of these. I nearly broke my ankle on a rock and worse, my pedicure was all scraped up.

Tubing was just one of the several fun things we did during our day at Natural Bridge.