Why we don't sit in the front of church

Do you ever have one of those days where you feel your child should be a wild thing rather than a child? Today, was one of those days.
Last Sunday our ward got split so today was our first day in our new ward. Our time got changed to 1:00 pm, which is Owens naptime. So off we head to church with a little tired Owen. Now I must point out that Owen gets rowdy and more hyper as it nears nap or bedtime.
Our ward is now much smaller now so the overflow wasn't open when we got to the church building. The only place we could find a place to sit was in a pew towards the front of church. We have NEVER sat in a pew and probably never will again. I had brought our usual bag of books and toys to distract Owen. He was doing ok but toddlers only have such long attention spans so he was starting to get restless. We were in the water portion of sacrament so it was silent and Owen was getting fussy. Lee set him down and he was off like a bullet running towards the front stage. On the side is a ramp to go up, a railing and then stairs on the other side. I told Lee to go grab him and he heads up there as well. Well, Owen thought it was a game and whichever side Lee started to head up, Owen would hysterically giggle and run on the other side. By this time a few giggles were going up in the congregation. Owen is enjoying this game and is at the screaming and laughing point. He then takes off in between the chairs on the stage and Lee is chasing him down. It actually was quite funny to see. Finally Lee gets him and they leave. After about 10 minutes they head back in. We were kind of packed in tight so I told Lee to just go sit with Owen in the back. But after about 2 minutes Owen comes running up the aisle screaming for "mommy". I let him sit with me and he was busy playing with a car for a few minutes. But, he unfortunately got sick of that pretty quick and took off towards the stage again. This time Lee wasn't around so I had to waddle up to the stage and Owen begins the hysterical laughter running around game. I pinned him down and off we went. I took him out to Lee and we decided to move to the back (at this point the overflow was open). During this time Owen and Lee would come in for a few minutes until Owen started going berserk and then they would leave again. I could see Lee and Owen out in the hall running around. A few minutes pass. Lee walks by and mouths "where is Owen". Like I know, he was supposed to be out there watching him? Next thing I see is Lee take off outside and running as fast as he can across the grass. How Owen got outside without Lee knowing or seeing is beyond me, but I wasn't in the hall. I could tell Owen was tired because he was being so out of control and naughty. At one point I looked in the hall and Owen was literally dragging a folding chair down the hall.
Lee is usually pretty good at watching Owen and calming him down, but I guess today was just one of those "off" days.
Normally Owen is not even close to being this naughty at church. I really think it was due to his nap and that he was so tired. This is the 3rd year we are back at 1:00 church. I hate it so bad. If this trend continues, we just may become inactive until next year when we go back to 9:00am!