Asher and Amy take on the Provo River

You read that right. 

I decided I should take Asher on an adventure.

He loves to take on scary rides, so I figured

a real outdoor adventure would be a good fit. 

We headed up the canyon in the afternoon.  It's about a 30 minute

ride from our house and Asher filled all 30 minutes with conversation.

He told me about friends, and the sports he likes,

school, and his goals for the new school year.

It was fun to just sit and listen.

We got ourselves

a double tube to ride down the river at High Country Adventure.

On the way up the canyon on our shuttle an employee of HCA was

telling us the "rules" of riding the Provo River.

Go around the islands in this order: Left, Right, Right

Get out before the bridge! It is dangerous. People (or a person) have died.

He was funny but serious about following the rules and repeated himself 

several times.  I could see Asher's wheels spinning.

I think he was a bit nervous about what we were about to encounter.

We were the first two in the river.

It was 50 degrees.

Our bums were numb within 5 minutes.

We also ran into the edge of the river within those first 5 minutes.

There were low branches which I tried to lift over Asher but 

my reach wasn't long enough and a branch knocked him square in the head

and took his hat off into the river.

It wasn't the best way to start our 90 minute adventure.

He was nervous and very cold.

I tried to reassure him that he was safe and made

sure to be diligent about keeping us away from the edges after that and following all the rules.

He really started to relax after we made it safely around the bridge.

And a fisherman even found his hat and gave it to us. 

I was constantly getting in and out, in and out and I was soaked

I didn't get cold until the last half hour. The sun went behind the clouds

 and there was a breeze blowing up the river. When we got back to the car it took several tries 

for me to turn the key. We sat in the parking lot for 15 minutes with the heat on high.

Then we had some Subway sandwiches and headed for home. 

It was a fun day.

 I think it was good to show Asher he could trust me to keep him safe (well, after the stick to the head thing).