Once inside the madness began. Sharon Hunt (one of the other leaders), Pastor Jay, 6 middle school girls, and I set out to have as much fun as we possibly could. We waited in line for 1 1/2 hours for the first ride. It is the biggest, fastest, scariest ride at the park. 6 seconds of sheer terror, thrill, and excitement, was it worth the 1 1/2 hour wait? OF COURSE!!!

Then the "girl group + Jay" went to the Grizzly which is an old wooden roller coaster that reminded me of the white roller coaster at Lagoon, my childhood favorite Amusement Park. We then hit the Shock Wave, it's a stand up ride that was pretty cool. We then met up with one of the boy groups that Miles and Jesse Hunt (Sharon's husband) were part of and waited in line for over 2 hours for a ride called the Volcano. It was definitely not worth the wait, but as we inched closer and the seconds ticked away we were less and less willing to get out of line. It was a fun ride, but overall, it was over two wasted hours of my life that I will never get back. ha ha ha

Then the group went to the Scrambler... those of you who know me and the scrambler (the name explains the ride!), know that the two do not mix. Therefore, I sat that one out with my dear middle school buddy Lance Cannon, who also has motion sickness issues.
It was then time to eat dinner, where I had the worst hamburger and French fries that tasted so wonderful at the time, because I was starving, all for $8.00. ahhhhhhhh!

Then we split up into different groups and Miles took about 7 kids to the water portion of the park, where he lost all of them and spent most of the time trying to round them all back up.

We, meanwhile, rode the Drop Zone (a 305 foot vertical drop) and the Rebel Yell going backwards, that’s right going backwards. It was the craziest ride ever. Who has ever heard of a roller coaster going backwards? It was pretty fun, but I am recovering from whiplash I think from that ride. ha ha

We met back up with everyone, said our goodbyes and headed home at about 8:30pm. It was a tiring day, but one that we all had a good time reminiscing and laughing about today at church!

Oh yeah! On our way home, Miles and I stopped at a gas station to buy some water and Advil and we saw this hat that said Virginia is for lovers. Oh, I have big plans for this hat. I am going to cross out lovers and embroider "jerks." I can't wait, and then I am going to wear it when people at the store are mean. ha ha Just kidding!

We really wanted to have a positive day where the kids could just hang out and we could all become better friends and that really did happen yesterday. One thing that I was really appreciative of and I hope that the middle schoolers took to heart was that before we went in to the park, Pastor Jay asked the kids to remember that we were there representing Christ’s love, and to treat people that way. It was such a neat experience to be able to watch that come to fruition through the way that the kids all got along so well, and we never had any trouble, complaining, or irritation with each other at all. I continue to feel so blessed that God has called me to spend time with these kids. I learn so much from them every time that I spend time with them; they really are a neat group of kids.

Oh yeah, one more thing. I am also recovering from a mean case of “hoarseness” (that is the exact medical term). But after screaming your head off all day on one ride after another with 12 middle school kids, that will do it to a girl. Oh well…