Vacation Bible School: Day 1

We just loooooove Vacation Bible School, around here.  Love it!  It involves staying up late for a week straight (as our church elects to hold it in the evening so that even those who work can participate), good snacks, and someone dressed up as a big cartoon character.  This year's curriculum involves a gigantic dog.  Really, what's not to like?
 
Back before my surgery, I signed up to work during VBS.  Then I sort of neglected to inform all the Powers That Be that I wasn't feeling so hot.  So tonight I showed up to discover that yes, I was still fully expected to do several hours of kitchen duty every night.  Ohboy.  It wasn't so bad.  We made popcorn tonight so mostly I just stuffed popcorn into little bags.  And it was so hot in the kitchen (with several pots of popcorn going at a time) that when I saw someone pouring a cold drink from the fridge I asked for one, too, without asking what it was.
 
It was Pepsi.  Full strength, all-the-sugar-and-caffeine Pepsi.  Guess whose migraine is gone (for the moment)?  *cue the cherubim singing the Hallelujah Chorus*
 
Now the kids, they get to have some real fun.  First everyone gathers in the sanctuary for singing and such, then the different age groups split out to the various "stations" for different activities.  Monkey happily slid in with the 3-and-4-year-old group and made friends with the closest child and was happy as a clam.  Meanwhile, I'm standing in the back having an important discussion with the other kitchen staffers about whether or not we have enough cups, and Chickadee was running back and forth between her class and me, wanting "hugs" and "another hug" and "maybe I could just hang here with you" and "my sensors have detected that your attention has shifted away from me for a minute and that must be rectified."  Yeah.  So I slipped away down to the kitchen as soon as possible.
 
I only got to see the kids when they came to the station near the kitchen, of course, but I was able to witness a few choice tidbits:
--Monkey sitting backwards during the puppet show for a full two minutes or so, and not understanding what everyone else was laughing about (um, son? didja hit your head?)
--Monkey finding an unravelling thread on his carpet square and commencing trying to pull the entire thing apart
--Chickadee reading the bible verse on the placard VERY LOUDLY ahead of the teacher leading the group (see, I really can't win... he does dumb things and she does smart things and either way I'm left wishing I was elsewhere)
--Chickadee picking Monkey up against his will and carrying him into the kitchen to see me (where they both got sent back out; surprise!)
 
Later I was informed--by a pair of teachers who could not control their laughter during the retelling--that Monkey latched himself onto one of their legs during a game, and had to be removed bodily after some failed negotiation.  I was mortified.  No, no, they assured me... it was funny, it's okay.  He was enjoying himself.  Um, okay.  More money in the therapy fund.
 
We got through the evening, and returned home well after bedtime.  For me, it's all worth it because they're exhausted and actually go right to sleep.  But I'm guessing I won't be so patient if Chickadee is still clinging to me at the end of the week... nor will the teachers likely find it quite as amusing if Monkey is velcroing himself to them every night.  We shall see what the week brings.