SX23 Day 1

We were rip-roarin' and ready to go with DAY ONE of Summer Xtreme 2023.  You can see Maddie along with the rest of the cast above, or at least most of them, as they've time traveled back to the wild, Wild West.  They're putting on their best tough faces in case they have to duel or something.  

Of course, there's more than skits to Summer Xtreme, but this is a big part of it, and this year we really went hand-in-hand with the game segment where Josh and his co-hosts were battling the villain who messed up the timeline, a guy named Manhead.  

The skit was perfection.  Seriously, I've been doing these for twenty years or so, and this one was so immaculate in its execution.  It was a ten-pager, so it was certainly more challenging.  But the cast was on top of things in a mighty way, and so was Mom, getting these costumes together for days one, two and three. With a cast of nine actors, that made twenty-seven different costumes!

We had balloon decorations outside, and they looked really great.  The whole service was fantastic, with praise and worship doing a fantastic set, and then of course the game segment with Josh and others getting involved in the first of a few very messy games.  Today's involved popping balloons over people's heads using small nerf guns with sandpaper on them, with the balloons filled with shaving cream.

Meanwhile, Maddie and the cast were rehearsing in the office.  Maddie was snapping a few pictures along the way.

And I was all over the place as usual.  I was down the hallway taking pictures of the younger kids as they were getting a visit from the older students of Edge Martial Arts.  This is a tradition for Summer Xtreme pre-schoolers that goes back a ways, including a visit where Maddie got involved in 2012.

After service, today's visit was to the local movie theater to see "Super Mario Brothers."  Maddie was helping with a group of kids and getting to sit in the theater too.  You can see her in the picture below, part of a sea of blue t-shirts.

So I think that makes this year the first one where she's hanging with a group of kids and helping them along.  It's an important job, one that keeps that child-to-leader ration lower too.  We've traditionally had a 5-1 ratio with leaders.  Anyway, she's hanging with Mrs. Sharon, a volunteer that's been with us since nearly the beginning of Summer Xtreme, a legend!

We had a good first day, although the dismissal part was a little rough with the car line.  Still, everyone got out and home, or at least we did eventually.  I dropped Maddie off at Free Chapel Youth tonight, and she went to church with a few of the others before I came back to get her so we could all get home, and get a good night's rest.  Two more days to go!