Interesting very intersting Pal I think you have done a really good job of explaining all the videos.It reminds me so much of last year(the videos were crazy then too )And Anna I thought you were gonna post your VBS pictures on here?My camp starts in 4 days !

*hides face*
ahhh it looks like this year's Chadder is the worst yet.....
but then again, I don't think anything could be worse than the Crocodile Dock one, IMO

the VBS I volunteer at is July 18-22 this year and I am excited for it!

Interesting very intersting Pal I think you have done a really good job of explaining all the videos.

Thanks. I'm glad someone posted. I think one episode a post is enough, but I didn't want to triple post.

Today we had a crew leader and a student were fighting over a stuffed armadillo. The God Sightings today were supposed to be a time when God loves you no matter what. So that group's sighting was: God loves (name withheld to protect the student) even when he steals the mascot. That particular crew leader (Jr. High student) came up to me and said something like "I feel like I have to keep paroling my crew." I really wanted to say "I feel like I have to patrol you." He was messing around a little with the armadillo, etc.

Chadder's Mystery of the Missing Pandas Day 4:
The inspector believes he has seen two pandas. Chadder begins swinging back and forth to get down. The rope breaks and he falls. Jane and Moose find him. Jane thinks he dressed up on purpose. Chadder explains it was an accident and he needs to tell the inspector the truth. Jane points out that this would hurt Pops. Jane and Moose dress up like pandas, and the inspector thinks he has seen pandas 3 and 4. Chadder tries to tell the inspector the truth, but he sees Jane and Moose behind the inspector trying to discourage him. He doesn't do it. We see Larry come out of the woods after this. Chadder goes and talks to Pops. (the discuss the point of the day God loves us no matter what). Pops cleans him up. Chadder goes to see if he can help Jane and Moose. When he finds them they have a net and say they aren't going to let him ruin things. Moose shows Chadder his "moves," which I believe were supposed to be kung fu like. He ended up hurting himself. Larry, in a panda suit, comes out and tells Chadder to run and find the inspector while he deals with Jane and Moose. He traps them in their own net. Chadder sees the inspector getting into his car. The only way to reach him in time is to take the zip line ...

Questions:
Is Chadder brave enough to zip to the inspector?
Will Moose and Jane ever tell the truth?
Will the missing pandas ever be found?

Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion.

I never really did like the Chadder videos. They seemed just a little to childish to me.

Does anyone else find it really strange that LifeWay and Group, which I think are the two biggest VBS curriculum providers, chose pretty much the EXACT same theme for their 2012 package?

Annnnnd. Today is Day 3. The final day of Summer Fest. After two days of heat and 5 hyper 1st graders (have I mentioned I didn't have a helper?), I'm ready for it to be over. I'm going to miss my kiddos though.

Yesterday was one of my girls 7th birthday. We sang happy birthday to her over popsicles. It was a good end to the day...

Thank goodness for the After Party. Three hours of capture the flag, ultimate, movies, and dodge ball. This has been an amazing three days.

First off, sorry I haven't posted in awhile!! You'll see why I haven't though, soon enough.

And Anna I thought you were gonna post your VBS pictures on here?My camp starts in 4 days !

No, I said I would pm people that were interested in seeing them. See, I'm not sure how the parents would feel about me showing the pics of the kids for the whole world to see. Plus, I still have a few to get off the computer at church that others took. (I was gonna add those to my facebook album too)

Have fun at camp!!!

Thanks. I'm glad someone posted. I think one episode a post is enough, but I didn't want to triple post.

Thanks so much for writing them out each day!!! I've enjoyed reading through them!

And again, guys, I'm sorry I didn't post til now, but here is my (very valid) excuse:

1) Last week was fully taken up by VBS
2) Saturday I was gone ALL DAY at my cousins' house.
(we were gonna celebrate the birthdays of two of them, and the high school graduation of one of them. I was dropped off WAAAYY early because my parents and sis had a wedding to go to... I could have gone along but didn't know the people so didn't care to. Anyway, I ran errands with my cousins for stuff needed for the party, and that cut into internet time. And then people started showing up, so... yeah)
3) Sunday I had church, and went to a friend's dance recital
(skipping ANOTHER thing to go to it)
4) I got grounded (because of not getting everything done around here last week cause of VBS) so have been without computer and tv since monday at 5pm and only just got them back almost an hour ago.
5) I have been at the playhouse every night this week helping out with rehearsals for the summer kid's show (School House Rock Live Jr, this time)

I will try my hardest to get details to you all soon, I swear!
But I want to check over some of the details with church friends first (don't wanna tell you guys wrong), and think up the best way to phrase it all.

Also, keep in mind that this coming week I will not only be at the playhouse EVERY NIGHT for dress rehearsals and performances, but I'll also be trying to pack for camp. (I leave next saturday) PLUS I'll be at Six Flags with church friends ALL DAY on monday.

I really do want to tell you all all about it. Honestly! But this is my busiest month of the year (unlike most people, who's schedules are just slowing down). I will get around to it when I can. SORRY!

edit:
Lia, you only have it for three days?! And I thought mine goes by too fast with FIVE! Wow...

edit again:
I love how all of ours are back-to-back! It makes me miss mine a bit less, hearing about all of yours!

Today was the last day of pandemonium ... er, I mean PandaMania.

Chadder's Mystery of the Missing Pandas Day 5:
Chadder zips down the zip line to into the inspector and ends up wearing the inspector's glasses. The inspector starts wandering off and Chadder goes after him. We cut to Jane and Moose who are getting a talking to by Pops and Patty. Jane didn't see the problem because the inspector was happy and the paradise was saved. Pops and Patty pointed out that the time could have been used to look for the pandas or fix up the place. Princess shows up. Chadder and the Inspector come and the inspector demands an apology and to see the real pandas. Larry, dressed as a bush, appears and says he can explain. Princess accuses him of being the panda purloiner (okay so that wasn't the word she used but I thought I'd go with their theme of working "P" words into things as much as possible. ). Larry turns the tracker on and it goes off because Princess has put the trackers from the pandas in her bracelet. Princess runs and they all chase after her, following her perfume. However, Larry goes in a different direction. Princess runs to the zip line but the handle is at the bottom. Then she discovers a python. Pops and the inspector distract the snake while the others hold Jane's hair blanket for Princess to jump. Princess took the pandas, choose whom she thought would be the worst volunteers, misdirected the other volunteers, cut the phone line, and tampered with the tractor and the paint sprayer because the pandas are messy and it was too much black and white. She asks "Why can't pandas be just a little bit pink?" She wanted to sell Panda Paradise and make a Princess Palace instead. They find the pandas in her room. The inspector gives them one hour to get the place cleaned up before he releases the pandas. Chadder's friends show up to help. Because Chadder was honest and the pandas were found, the inspector decides to overlook the problem. Princess was sent to her room as punishment. We see her apologizing to a stuffed panda.

For those of you who would like to learn more about Chadder and his adventures, Group does sell a DVD of 10 years of Chadder's Adventures.

Thanks so much for writing them out each day!!! I've enjoyed reading through them!

You're welcome. I'm glad you are enjoying them.

Larry, dressed as a bush, appears and says he can explain.

the images that come to mind on this line alone are hilarious

thanks for your outline of each days plot for Chadder! now I know what to expect!

For those of you who would like to learn more about Chadder and his adventures, Group does sell a DVD of 10 years of Chadder's Adventures.

I smiled, yet rolled my eyes when I saw this. I'm not sure if I'll ever get one or not, but thanks for the info!
........................
As for Hometown Nazareth... so much time has gone by, that I might goof it up even further (than I would have closer to the time it actually happened) if I attempted to explain it!

I might still try it at some point. And if I do, I'll just edit it into this post. I hope that's alright with everyone.

OH!!! There IS something I can tell you, though! We know which VBS theme we'll have next year!! What is it gonna be? this one.

I'm really excited about it, and can't wait til June 2012!
..........................

As it is, my mind is full of homesickness for camp. (I got home saturday night)
I know I can't talk of VBS, but if you like, I'd be happy to type up a whole novel length post about camp in here.

I mean, that's not totally off-topic or anything...

our VBS is coming up: July 18-22! it's going to be epic!
the training is happening this week...I am so excited!

Pandamania, here we come!
I will post updates here when things start happening

it's been more than 24 hours - I hope it's ok to post again.....

today was day one of Pandamania VBS! it went very well I only have 4 kids in my crew, but I have an oepn space so if they get any extra kids, they can put one in my crew
it was really hot out, but thankfully no one fainted we had very wet games, so that was nice
Chadder's Adventure was, IMO, the lamest one thus far it was honestly a baffling, confusing, weird plot, even though I already read Pal's description of all 5 days. hope tomorrow makes more sense

so, further up and further in, tomorrow is day 2!

I've been a crew leader at my church's VBS since I was sixteen (except for the summer we did Crocodile Dock and I was a substitute crew leader the first day and then unexpectedly promoted to snack lady). Prior to age sixteen, I was a junior helper at the craft table, and before that an attender. Our VBS this year was the week that straddled the end of June, beginning of July. This year the theme was, "Home Town Nazareth." It was a little different than other summers. We cut out the Chadder segment and extended craft time. So the day would go Praise Time (Songs and announcements) then the 12 tribes would rotate through Games, Mary's House (an interactive drama), and Marketplace (crafts and snacks). Then we would have closing Praise Time with songs, then a chance to do God sightings and review the memory verse and thought for the day. We wrote the God sightings down on paper sheep and taped them on the wall each day. So at the end of the week we had a herd of God sightings.

I was a crew leader (or this year tribal leader). I was from the tribe of Asher and our talisman was the date palm. Our cheer was, "Kind, peaceful (my word), exquisite (a seven-year-old came up with that. I was impressed), generous, loyal ASHER!"

During market place, the kids were given 3 gold shekels. They had to spend one for snacks (healthy snacks this year, nuts, fruit, wheat thin crackers) and 2 to spend on different crafts (carpenter's shop, bead shop, olive oil shop, rock quarry etc.) Then we would have closing Praise time with songs, then a chance to do God sightings and review the memory verse and thought for the day.

It took more adults than usual to run VBS, since usually there is just one craft lady and maybe a helper. This year, there were 10 adults each in charge of a separate craft who showed up each day. And each played a character ("Hulda" the bead maker was new to town and hadn't met Jesus and asked the kids what they knew about him).

Things I liked about it were that kids who wanted to spend a long time on one craft were able to. The artsy ones could come back to the same one over 2 or 3 days if they wanted and get it just right. They seemed to enjoy the market place when they could just explore and be kids and not get rushed through everything the way kids are so often now. I kept having to remind the younger kids in my group to save out a shekel for food, since the 5-7 year olds would get a little over excited and want to spend all three coins on crafts.

VBS went well last week
no one was hurt, thank God!
Chadder was as bad as I thought it would be, and it was very confusing
but other than that it was a good year.
Pandamania wasn't my favorite theme, but it wasn't too bad

now, further up and further in, we're off to "Sky" next year!

@ Liberty Hoffman, I'm glad things went well with your VBS. I didn't miss Chadder much this year. In past years, I could barely stand watching it once each day as a crew leader, I'm not sure how the volunteer manning the station was able to stand it over and over each day. Well, the youngest kids like it anyway.

Well, I ended up helping out at VBS by accident this year. I wasn't actually planning on it but...it just happened.

Let me explain. While I was driving back from a friends house my mom called me and asked if I could stop at church and pick up something from her office (she does administration work) so of course I agreed. Upon entering I found one of our church members struggling to move a hundred bamboo sticks into the elevator, and there were props and sets and papers everywhere. Of course I offered to help her set up. Two hours later and we had transformed the sanctuary into a panda jungle complete with a bridge, stream and forest...it was pretty awesome!

When we were leaving she mentioned that we were short of crew members and asked if I could help out. Of course I couldn't say no.

Monday was the first day of Pandamania (as I like to call it, Pandamania Insania) and we had more than 100 kids. There are five kids in my crew and they all decided that they loved me for some reason.

I really liked the games and the Wild Bible stories, but like others have said, I was not a fan of Chadder's theatre. I tried to pay attention but what was going on made no sense to me. It was just rather odd. However, the kids liked it, so I guess that's all that matters. I am quite fond of my little crew. They absolutely LOVE Fez and Amanda the Panda, which is cute.

Also for the games yesterday I was blindfolded, handed a spray bottle, and led around by a four year old and a five year old. What a nightmare! Haha, not really...it was fun!