Three buddies after swim time. Relax parents...we made it. As anticipated a six hour drive evolved into nearly nine...and we're not sure where all that went. Took one wrong turn in Asheville (that was five minutes out of the way), took a restroom break at the Tennessee Welcome Center which might have been 30 minutes. had lunch in Johnson City, TN...that counted for another 45 minutes, stopped for a snack and bathroom break somewhere in Virginia...another 25 minutes...oh well - you get the picture. But we're here safe and sound and the boys are in great spirits. Well, a few are not happy about USA's tie in the World Cup.
After checking into the motel we immediately let boys go swimming and that was a great way to get some physical activity in after a long day of driving. And they were noisy! Very noisy. Part of that was the acoustics of the indoor pool and of course the other part was all this energy. After swimming we walked over the Cracker Barrel for a late dinner.
We had an important milestone today...six genuine compliments from independent observers! That is a record. I told boys that they have to "earn" desserts and special treats and they earn those by having complete strangers come up to us and tell us how well behaved they were. On some trips this never happens. Several years ago in Colorado the closest the boys got to a compliment was an elderly couple coming up to us after a meal and said, "You know, for a big group they weren't all that bad." Well, that didn't earn them a treat.
But today, day one, the boys received SIX compliments. SIX!! That is a new MTA record and I doubt will ever be matched. It might be impossible to squeeze in that many treats in one trip but we'll try. And of course, they could get more compliments tomorrow. We would love it.
After checking into the motel we immediately let boys go swimming and that was a great way to get some physical activity in after a long day of driving. And they were noisy! Very noisy. Part of that was the acoustics of the indoor pool and of course the other part was all this energy. After swimming we walked over the Cracker Barrel for a late dinner.
We had an important milestone today...six genuine compliments from independent observers! That is a record. I told boys that they have to "earn" desserts and special treats and they earn those by having complete strangers come up to us and tell us how well behaved they were. On some trips this never happens. Several years ago in Colorado the closest the boys got to a compliment was an elderly couple coming up to us after a meal and said, "You know, for a big group they weren't all that bad." Well, that didn't earn them a treat.
But today, day one, the boys received SIX compliments. SIX!! That is a new MTA record and I doubt will ever be matched. It might be impossible to squeeze in that many treats in one trip but we'll try. And of course, they could get more compliments tomorrow. We would love it.
New friends at Cracker Barrel in Waynesboro. It's very late now and I'm assuming all the boys are fast asleep. I'm getting ready to head that way. I can't promise a blog post every night but depending on my energy level and what time we get back to the motel...I'll try. And I'll post as many photos as I can each evening as well. For whatever the wi-fi connection signal here is great but the upload speed is slow...so what few photos I took today are making their way oh so slowly to the flickr site. Make sure you check those out and keep checking because the photos I'm posting now might not all be up there for an hour or two which means...while I'm sleeping I hope.
That website is: www.flickr.com/photos/mindstretch. You can see the photo stream or click on albums to see them by trip days.
Do note that just because I don't have a photo of your son in today's set doesn't mean he's not having a good time. It's just not always easy to get every boy during a day. But I'll try and you can be sure we still have all 23.
Stay tuned for more news and photos. Tomorrow we're spending the day in Shenandoah National Park.
That website is: www.flickr.com/photos/mindstretch. You can see the photo stream or click on albums to see them by trip days.
Do note that just because I don't have a photo of your son in today's set doesn't mean he's not having a good time. It's just not always easy to get every boy during a day. But I'll try and you can be sure we still have all 23.
Stay tuned for more news and photos. Tomorrow we're spending the day in Shenandoah National Park.
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