A little more info on Matthew and Dh's trip -
They went to Pigeon Forge and they stayed in a hotel with an indoor and outdoor pool.
Monday they checked in, went to lunch, went horseback riding, went to Duff's for dinner, and then went to the Comedy Barn (a show). Lights out was to be at 10 and they didn't get back from the Comedy Barn until 9:45. Then the teacher let them swim until 11:30 since they had all been so well-behaved all day. (Even DH!
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Tuesday they had swim time in the morning, then they went to lunch (fast food) and then they went to NASCAR speed park and they all got wristbands to do all the activities as much as they wanted. They were there for four hours. Chaperones even got wristbands so DH had a blast too. Then they went to Dixie Stampede (dinner show). Then they got more swim time.
Yesterday they had some souvenier shopping time and then they headed home. They stopped for lunch on the way home.
One of the best parts of this whole trip...IT WAS FREE! Free for the students AND free for the chaperones! The only money they spent personally was on souveniers if they wanted them. Matthew bought me a golden retriever statue. It looks a lot like Shadow. But the best part is that he bought it with his own money and by himself. He was in the store with another chaperone and he picked it out and paid for it all by himself. This is a big deal for us because even though he is usually pretty outgoing he is always shy in stores and has never gone and bought something by himself! So this was big!! He didn't even buy anything for himself but he did remember me!
The class participated in a program this year that focused on community service and learning the value of community service. As a class, they did some sort of community service twice a month (cleaning up trash on the side of the road, cleaning the fire department, mowing and yard clean up for the elderly in the area, etc.) Individually they had to do one hour of community service each week. Matthew did mowing for a neighbor, cleaning for a friend, worked at the campground to help them out of a bind without getting paid, volunteering with Special Olympics, etc. The kids also had three goals that they had to meet each week. Parents and students set these goals in the beginning of the school year. Each goal was to help the student become a better person overall. If the kids met their goals and put in their community service time they got this trip as a reward. Isn't that neat??
Seems like it was forever!!!
