VBS

OK, I will admit it....I have always been drawn to the signs in front of any church offering VBS. When they were little it meant "free" daycare and a few hours of sanity, as they have grown I have come to see it as a "free" taste of camp that I can't afford to send all of them to. The crafts are great, the staff (volunteers) genuinely like being part of VBS, and the message is always a wholesome one. The kids were THRILLED to find out that a closeby church was having Vacation Bible School this week. In past years they had always gone to one by our old house, but there was no way I was willing to make the drive this year, especially with the price of gas!

VBS kicked off with a free family dinner and carnival Sunday evening. I couldn't believe how nice the set up was and that it was all free. Cade and Sophie were so excited because there was free cotton candy and sno cones, they thought it was so cool they could get as many as they wanted free! We had hotdogs, chips, cookies and drinks for dinner. The kids got to play 6 different games. The boys favorite was the dunking booth and both Cade and Jacob managed to hit the target and dunk the youth director. Cade was so excited about the hip pack with binoculars that he won. Everyone standing in line was shocked at their aim, especially since most of the older kids couldn't hit the target. Grant missed on his 3 tosses (he must be saving his arm for the county baseball tournament).

The rest of the week the kids have been able to go at 5 PM and have dinner for $1 each. Monday was subs, Tuesday was bbq, Wednesday was taco salad and tonight was hotdogs. There is always a couple of side items, chips, fruit (grapes and apples) and something to drink. I certainly couldn't feed them at home that well for $1 each! Following dinner they go off into their groups and do crafts, watch videos, sing songs and listen to bible stories. The theme this year is the Serengetti so most things are animal/safari related. VBS runs from 6 to 9 PM.

They are having an absolute ball and really look forward to going each night. Cade and Jacob want me to find them another VBS to go to, I think they might be disappointed if it isn't a GREAT as this one has been!

Hannah has stayed every night and helped in Sophie's class. Sophie loves that her big sister is there and Hannah likes helping and meeting new people. She is very outgoing and mature beyond her 13 years. The teachers seem to appreciate her staying and come up and hug her as soon as we get to the church each night.

A friend from Grant's baseball team has invited us to their VBS which is the second week in August and is held in the morning. We might check it out, especially if it happens to be the week my mom goes back to work(she is taking 4 weeks off to be with my dad...this being week 1), because their church is only about 5 minutes from my parents house. It would be great to drop them there and then go and visit with my dad for a bit!

Anyone remember the Seinfeld episode "the summer of George"? Maybe this will be our "summer of VBS"!