LOL woke up early on our first full day in Vermont, then set off to do three shows on a matter of 6 1/2 hours! Our first show, at Champlain Valley Christian School in Vergennes, was an hour long chapel service for grades K through 8. When their kindergarteners came in, they sat on the floor with the LOL team and snuggled right up to them. Before the show began, the little five year old girls were all telling my class that they were princesses. Apparently every Vermont girl is a princess. Our show was technically excellent, and very well recieved. While,Aidan had some trouble with the linking rings, he handled himself professionally and got through the routine. When the show was over, we presented the principal with an LOL tee shirt. Her school has been hosting us for many years, and it just seemed like a nice gesture.
We returned to Burlington for our next two shows. On the way, however, we stopped to buy souvenirs, then had a picnic lunch at Ethan Allen's homestead. From there it was just about a mile to our next venue; Birchwood Terrace Nursing Home. The activity director there has been booking either my students' or my own shows since 1994... 25 years. We laughed about,how neither one of us has changed in that tiime. In truth, I have been telling a lot of the same jokes all this time! Regardless, the kids were again right on the money with their routines. David and Goliath had much of the audience laughing out loud. (Goliath is played by Lillia on stilts with a fake beard. Definitely one of my best cast parts ever.) After the show the students had time to interact with the residents and staff, taking prayer requests and reading devotional booklets to the senior citizens.
From there we loaded the van and drove across town to do a 25 minute show at the Burlington Boys and Girls Club. Here I did my three ball routine to fill out a show that had to cut out our various parables and Bible accounts. Being a government funded program, we respectfully adjusted our show, and focused on juggling, tumbling and some illusions. It was a fun venue, with a lot of kids and teens. It was also our most ethnically diverse audience of the tour. But the best part of this gig was that we could use their locker rooms for their showers after we were done.
Finally we headed back to our base in Essex Junction, where we had a wonderful spaghetti dinner, and a lot of laughs, including a good 15 minutes when Malakai and I cracked each other up talking about soap bubbles of all things. Again, the kids were great in attitude, corporation and unity. And they were all very, very tired.