After a comfortable night sleeping in a church basement, the LOL team woke up to our busiest day of the trip. Student work teams prepared breakfast and did the cleaning up afterwards. Then we got in the vans to go to the country's smallest city: Vergennes. Vergennes, Vermont is the home of Champlain Valley Christian School, which goes from preschool through eighth grade.
For the first time ever, our GPS got us there without any mishaps. Upon arrival, I learned that the pastor of the school actively pushed for Google to get the school 'on the grid'. Thank you, Pastor.
The show was spot on again (this was the case all the way through the four days.) This was Emily's turn to do an eighth grade solo. From a family of dancers and actresses, Emily is a natural on stage. She combined modern dance, gymnastics and juggling for one of the most unique solos any of my students have ever created. Other highlights of the show included the class's machete medley: eight kids taking turns juggling 20 inch knives with a variety of tricks like stealing from each other, half juggling and under the leg throws.
After returning to the base, and another meal prepared by a work team, we headed across town to Birchwood Terrace Nursing home. I personally have done dozens of shows there when I was in the Burlington area more frequently. It was the facility where one of my uncles lived in his later years. While this might become redundant, the kids show was spot on, but this time with one significant exception. Zeb fell off the balance board and came down hard on his knee. He would be sitting out the Memorial Day parade the next day. The good news, though, is that it was just a pulled ligament, and he was able to do the final show of the trip.
Judah did his eighth grade solo in this show, and did a superb job. He is one of the few young jugglers to understand that 'you're only as good as your three ball routine'. So, instead of a routine that progressed from easier to hard props or higher numbers, he developed a three ball routine that was outstanding. After the show the students had the opportunity to visit the residents and pray with them; it was a beautiful thing to watch.
From there we went straight to the Boy's and Girl's Club of Burlington. In exchange for using their showers, we did a 30 minute juggling demo. It was not our normal program, but everyone had a lot of fun. My daughter, Rose, who is one of the eighth graders in the class, did her solo. Because it was an outdoor show, she was able to juggle fire balls and fire torches along with more traditional props like clubs and tennis rackets. She was, if I may boast about my girl, superb throughout the entire routine.
Finally we got to take showers in their locker rooms, head back to the base, eat again, have chapel and head to bed. May I add that this class is the best ever when it comes to settling down and going to sleep at night.
DAY THREE COMING SOON