Typically we plan our vacation dates around Chris's work schedule. Didn't I feel important when we had to plan around MY schedule this year!? That's what happens when you commit to directing the preschool program at your church's Vacation Bible School, an event which happens to be tucked tightly in between your two big family trips of the summer. I needed to be back in town to help decorate, gather and organize final materials, and do all the prep required.
And there was a lot of prep required. This was my second year on the job, so I thought that I'd have an easy go of it. And truth be told, some things were easier than last year simply because I knew what to expect. Other things, however, were much harder this year primarily because SO many people got sick. It was as if we were on a cruise ship that got hit with one of those crazy contagious viruses and must return to port because everyone is so sick.
I kid you not: we had twice-daily texts and email strings to review which volunteers had dropped out for the day, which could move around to new jobs and which stations had holes that we needed to scramble to fill. Alyssa proved to be a lifesaver on this front - not sure what we're going to do when she's not in charge of registration next year! We even ended up dropping a station for our four-year-olds because our leaders were out (ok, so it was that plus the fact that their crew leaders were overwhelmed with the schedule and all the stairs, but you get the idea).
And we planned a water station for the 2's and 3's that required changing them all out of wet suits afterwards. We knew that would be a challenge, it was just more so because of other things that popped up during the week. And it was worth it, because they loved it.
All that aside, it was a good week. We invited friends from our neighborhood this year so Sam had one of his best buddies in his crew. He loved the science experiments and the songs and especially the games. Our Children's Director does an amazing job of working on-theme activities into the daily bible lessons. Sam learned about types of storms and how they push us off course, and even used nautical flags to decode secret bible messages!
Annabelle was in my program so I had a much closer eye on her all week. She enjoyed her crafts and still likes to play with her "walking on water" flip flops. I'm so thankful that she willingly and happily lets me pop in and out of her class all morning! Some moms are not so lucky and must creep and crawl around to avoid being seen!
Our decorations crew really outdid themselves this year, don't you think? I particularly loved the entrance to our preschool Fish Tales room.
This was my favorite snack of the week, from the "walking on water" day.
From the same day in preschool games. They "walked on water" using bubble wrap!
Did I mention how much money the kids raised this year? Over $1200 to go to a local mission organization, Blessings In A Backpack. Which is awesome, because its also a group that our kids work with hands-on throughout the year. On Thursday they had raised enough water that the got to see The Captain get splashed with water. By Friday they'd raised enough to splash Ms. Patti (sorry, I don't have the video of that one!).
The kids loved their week, including the fact that mommy had to stay after every day which meant lunch at church and time on the indoor playground. I was exhausted by the week - partially because I was also packing to go out of town. So when one of the directors walked up to me on Wednesday and handed me dinner to "just pop in your oven" for the night, I literally almost cried. God knew what I needed.
Right...did you catch that? Packing again. I literally did laundry and sorted through to see what needed to be re-packed. Home for 11 days, during which time I worked twice and ran a preschool VBS. Vacation #2 well-earned, right?
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