9 July update - Cedar Point

We travelled from Charleston to Cedar Point this morning. We said farewell to our host families who were most complimentary of our boys' behaviour. I think we almost take this aspect of our boys’ upbringing for granted as the comments we have received from the host parents have been overwhelmingly positive in terms of their manners and behaviour.  The river rafting guide also commented that he has never had such a respectful group of boys on the river. “They sing so good because they behave so good”!!
We had a 5 hour bus trip today with two rest stops or “comfort breaks” as they are called here.  The boys slept and chatted on and off about their experiences over the last couple of days whilst being hosted.  Mostly about “girl issues” and toilet issues! Amazing what boys will share whilst travelling on a bus!!
The rides of the Cedar Point amusement park could be seen from some distance away and the atmosphere on the bus was fairly humming, with the boys standing in their seats to see what level of excitement their immediate future held for them.  Judging by the height of some of those rides you can only imagine the level of excitement.  As the mother of the group I tried hard to caution them, but to no avail!  The bus doors opened, they received their tickets and meal vouchers and they were off!
I made the “sacrifice” to photograph reactions instead of ride today – saving my body severe physical and emotional trauma in the process.  You will be able to view some of the reactions to the Dragster in particular in the photographs I have posted; a 20 second ride that takes one on a twisting vertical journey up and then a twisting vertical journey down.  The whole dictionary of emotions that crossed the faces of those waiting to ride and be blasted off from 0 to 135 miles per hour in a few seconds was an education – the G forces do amazing things to ones face!  Prayers, tears and one poor soul even vomited BEFORE the ride.  One of our boys was seated in the front of the carriage and was calmly smiling and telling the boys shouting encouragement from the side-lines, ”I have got this”, then face the ride and mouth “Oh F…k!” The adrenaline high after the ride was equally as amusing to watch – fist pumping, whooping and a flood of words all ending with exclamation marks – “Wow!, Awesome!” etc…

We met at the busses after a 5 hour stay at the park and headed off to our supper venue, TGI Friday, a restaurant that boasts “here it is always Friday”.  We had a lovely pre-arranged meal of sandwiches, spicy chicken wings and potato skins with sour cream, followed by an amazing cheesecake.  We were given the privacy of the whole upper floor and the boys also sat outside on the deck overlooking the lake enjoying the cool of the evening.

We made our way to our hotel – Sleep Inn (we wish!) and found our rooms amidst much excitement, for, across the street was a WALMART!! The boys dumped their bags and were off for the second time today with the warning to look “Left then right” before crossing the road.  The boys are all tired but happy after a day with much activity and adrenaline – the next time we will feel something similar will be in Cincinnati.