great america

So we had our Stuco trip to Great America this week, which was also my first trip to Great America. Somehow I managed to convince Lucas that he should come along for the ride (pun intended). This is what I learned:

1. Theme parks are a rip off. I guess I should have known that, as I have suspected it all along, but still. We passed up several roller coasters because Lucas was carrying a backpack and they wanted him to pay a dollar to store it. At each ride. And due to the immense heat we spent half the day in the water park, where we ended up paying to rent a tube just so we wouldn't have to wait in lines all day.

2. Students are funny. We had one kid who came and didn't like roller coasters at all, so I'm not sure what he did all day. One of my students was adamant about the fact that she was NOT going to ride Raging Bull, but she got talked into it. Peer pressure is one of the more amazing forces of nature.

3. People do things that normally would repulse them when in close quarters. For example: while floating on the Lazy River (at Six Flags or elsewhere) you may in fact brush up against other people. You may in fact have physical contact with their arms or legs or sometimes even their feet, and there isn't anything you can really do about it if you are sunk into an inner tube. I don't typically enjoy touching strangers, but sometimes you just end up doing it, and it's not as weird as it would be if you encountered them elsewhere.

4. I am so glad I am no longer a teenager. Being a teenager is trying and traumatic, and I'm pretty sure I was either very sheltered or very naive during my teenage years, because I got off easy. I see all of these kids just trying to learn how to be themselves, and learn who they are so that they can be themselves, and it's such a painful process it makes some of them want to give up. Thank goodness for the company of youth groups. I love our Student Community. It feels to me like one of the most accepting environments I have ever encountered. We have such great kids.

5. I really am getting old. I remember taking my own youth group trips to Six Flags in St. Louis, arriving when the park opened and staying until it closed. We didn't get there until after lunch and Lucas and I were wiped by about 7:00. We both admitted our pathetic-ness.