VBS 2011: Boot Camp...TEN HUT!

A couple weeks ago our church had their annual vacation Bible school (VBS). My kids love VBS.  As a matter of fact, the community park building where we hold it each year is lovingly referred to as "the VBS building".  We are there for other events during the year...but it doesn't matter.  It is the VBS building.  And they remembered last year's VBS and were looking forward to this year's!

When I told the kids it was finally time for VBS...they were SUPER excited.  VBS is always a tiring week...but it is so completely worth it.

Getting them to pause for a photo on their first day was nearly impossible...this wasn't perfect, but it was the ONLY shot I got before they ran off!

Our VBS is divided into 4 centers...Memory Verse/snack, Recreation, Bible Story and Crafts.  Rebekah's group started in Memory Verse and Peter's started at Recreation.

The memory verse on the first day was "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong." ~ 1 Corinthians 16:13 (NIV).  And in conjunction, the kids all made cards with the verse on it for a deployed church member who was in town on leave.  (He came and visited the group later in the week, where he was presented with the cards.)

Rebekah loves making cards.  This was right up her alley.

Peter loved story time.  In this particular shot and for this particular story - he declared the guy on the right in the picture on the book to be Wolverine. :-)  Later in the week, the kids were talking about their favorite aspects of a picture of Paul.  Peter at first declared he liked the sword.  Then...he decided he really liked his shoes. 

I got to play a little tug of war...although it seemed a little one sided...

The crafts were all pretty awesome.  The kids loved them.  I think their favorite was making a water canteen (a bag that held a bottle of water).  Here Peter is making a necklace that had a cross and some beads on it.

One of the Bible versus dealt with the armor of God.  The kids got to dress up in military clothing...that of course was way too big.  Absolutely adorable. 

And there was a lot of water fun...they incorporated water into the games nearly every day.

The BIG rec day was of course Thur - where they had their annual slide-on-a-hill event.

Last year the kids were timid.  This year?  Not so much.  Peter was shy at first - but he quickly got over it.  And he hurried up the hill so quickly that half the time he was slipping/sliding/falling over because he wasn't taking the time to get  his footing.  It was hilarious.

Rebekah's class was so small (5 girls), that they got to go down the slide quite a bit.  Peter's class was a little larger, but he still got to go a lot.  He at first was going to go with one little girl whom he knows pretty well from church and is friends with.  But then...they asked the two if he wanted to go FAST or slow...Peter declared FAST!  The little girl declared slow...so they paired him up with a different little girl who also wanted to go FAST...and the two pretty much went together every time. :-)

I did go down the slide for the first time this year - but I don't have any pictures.  I had a camera card mishap.  I believe it was the USB-SD card translator that caused some corruption on the card and destroyed probably half of the photos I took.  (No worries...I took a lot.)  For the most part...since I took so many pictures the destruction wasn't a huge deal.  But my slide pictures were ravaged.  A few photos I would have liked to have not been destroyed...were destroyed.  I had some great shots of Peter and his friend Savannah going down the slide...but other than the far-away shot, they were all destroyed.  :-(

OK - enough complaining. :-)  (I need to figure out the exact issue so it doesn't happen again...this same corruption happened with pictures and my camera phone mini-SD card and the same translator...so I believe it is the translator.)  Moving on now...

VBS was a great time!  It always is.  One last funny Peter story...this week the church that runs their daycare is hosting a VBS.  We signed both kids up.  We figured why not?  Something fun to do and it was held during the day.  So no effort on our parts, but big fun for the kids.  Their theme is a soccer camp.  Day 1 Peter comes home and we are discussing it at dinner.  (We always give the kids a chance to tell us about their day at dinner.)  Peter says "Mom...that is NOT VBS! It is soccer!"  He wasn't thrilled with it.  Day 2 - he was OK with it.  Today?  He decided this morning he didn't want to participate and was walking around talking about how he HATES soccer.  LOL  William took his stuff in case he changes his mind...but...William and I felt pretty proud to be a part of something that our kids look forward too all year long.  It is apparently the golden standard of VBS in their eyes.  (Peter doesn't hate soccer.  I suspect he either doesn't like being out in the heat or he is mad that their VBS is not like our VBS.  Both of these could also be contributing factors...) 

I am sad he isn't have fun - but oh well.  We are all looking forward to next year's VBS already...that is FOR SURE!