Lugano: Wednesday

(Read to the end for a moving story.)

Tuesday was our Science/PE day. We took the Funicolare up the peninsula in the middle of Lake Lugano to the top of Mount San Salvatore. Check out the view that our 8th grade boys managed to spruce up. Awww.
The hike down was actually quite the killer, which I never thought I'd say of a DOWNhill hike, but 1,500 steps will do that to me. My job was to catch all the stragglers at the back and keep them moving. For the second half of the day, it was these two lovely girls. We had such great conversations, and I'm really grateful for our time together. Check out our view along the way as well.
Everyone was especially thankful to reach the bottom and the lake. The ferry ride back to the parking lot was invigorating. Rachel played captain the whole way. (Okay, not really, just for a few seconds.)
Once back at the Youth Centro, nobody wasted any time getting into swimming suits and jumping into the lake to cool off. After that it was back to devos and games of Minute to Win It. I'll try to add a video as well.
The one downside to this day was that I scratched up the van I was driving. Ahhhh, I know! It was just a block from the Youth Centro, and I was immediately upset. (Even yelled at the kids for squealing and had to apologize for it later.) As I walked back to the corner to check out the damage to the wall, SJ (in the last picture) offered to walk with me. Sensing my depressed mood, he reached out to pat my arm.

"It's okay, Miss Custer. You don't need to be sad. Remember, you're worth more than a van."

"Are you getting back at me for saying this to you all year long? That you're worth more than your grades?"

"Uh-huh. Is it working?"

Made everything all better again.