Physics lab?

After trying to extricate himself from making a bad choice yesterday and inserting himself into a conflict between two teachers, Vincent and his Brown School classmates headed to the local Six Flags amusement park - located next to the fairgrounds and near the airport on the South Side - called Kentucky Kingdom (the same amusement park where a girl lost her leg in a roller coaster accident last year) for a day supposedly devoted to physics and math calculations. Vincent and his teammates did, for example, time the "Chang" roller coaster (pictured above - no relation) several times, gathering enough information to calculate its speed (they were already told the distance). Somewhat like the Main Street Math Walk last month, this event was supposed to incorporate practical physics. Students took on a range of other problems, which they had tried before. But instead of doing the calculating there, Vincent and his teammates planned to do that Sunday, during an already busy weekend when he has other things to do. Instead, they rode more rides. But the park - on a beautiful somewhat cool but sunny day - was packed with kids on end-of-the-year school field trips, physics and other. So Vincent skipped most of the big rides, and rode in the kiddie rides. He was in the ferris wheel when his classmate opened the door (luckily no one got hurt and for better or worse no one got in trouble). He said some people looking for water rides - a couple of which are open even though it was 50 degrees here last night - ran half naked through the park. Our first summer all together here we (once without me) went to Kentucky Kingdom twice, having gotten season passes. We still haven't been to Indiana's Holiday World or metro Cincinnati's King's Island or even the water park across the river in Clarksville, Indiana. Stephanie and Vincent and their sides of the families tend to love amusement parks - including these classical amusement parks - more than my side of the family and I, though I have been with Stephanie and Vincent to Cedar Point in northern Ohio (back when we all lived in Ohio) a couple of times. Vincent has Tuesday off (Election Day in Kentucky), and so he only has three more days of school (but a bunch of projects plus his on-line Algebra class this weekend). He did mow the lawn today.