We'll Miss Heike!

We had another fun and busy week, and it culminated with a sweet farewell/birthday party for our friend (and former custodian at AFCC), Heike.  She transitioned into a new job with the county, but we'll always wish she was still "taking care" of us!  In other news this week, we learned all about Newport News Shipyard during a visit to The Mariners' Museum, welcomed another year of literacy fun with our therapy dog friends, had a delayed celebration for National Popcorn Day, and finally got in a work day at Pet Supplies Plus.  There was more, so read on to see how we spent the 3rd week of January!

Tuesday

It was very chilly when we arrived this morning, with visions of a big snowstorm to come this weekend on our minds!  We kept our eye on the forecast all week...and managed to focus on our tasks at hand.  Today:  A visit to The Mariners' Museum for a lesson about an important industry in our region - Newport News Shipbuilding.

Wisteria, seated near Carol, and Erika, standing, gave us a great overview of the history of Newport News Shipbuilding.  But first...we were thrilled to find out that Erika is having her first baby, a boy, in April!

The shipyard was founded by Collis P. Huntington in 1886, and in 1891 it delivered it's first "ship," a tugboat named Dorothy.  Collis Huntington's philosophy was "We shall build good ships here.  At a profit if we can.  At a loss if we must.  But always good ships."  After he died in 1900, his nephew continued to operate by the same philosophy and the shipyard remained steady in business and as an employer, even through tough times in history, such as the Great Depression.

One takeaway for us from today's very interesting presentation was that Newport News Shipyard played a major role in the growth and development of what became the city of Newport News.  It even built the Hilton Village neighborhood to house its growing workforce!  

The shipyard also helped to build The Mariners' Museum in 1930 by providing workers.  This slide shows the president of NN Shipyard at the time, Homer L. Ferguson, who cofounded the museum with Archer Huntington (adopted son of Collis).  The Mariners' Museum and NN Shipyard continue to maintain a strong partnership to this day.

After the presentation, we went on a scavenger hunt through the galleries to find objects related to Newport News Shipyard.  Among the items we found were the hull plate from the tugboat Dorothy and Collis P. Huntington's desk.  

The Mariners' Museum is a stop on the Virginia 250 tour, which "encourages exploration of Virginia's rich history in celebration of America's 250th anniversary."  We got our passports stamped after our visit.  There is so much history to see in Virginia!

Our time at The Mariners' Museum is always educational and fun.  We had a great time this morning!  Thanks, Wisteria and Erika, for helping us gain an appreciation for Newport News Shipbuilding and its importance to Virginia and Hampton Roads!

Our engaging time at the museum ran longer than usual, so we had a late lunch and Choice Time, and then finished the day with a lesson for National Disc Jockey Day.  We watched a video clip about some DJs who were known for being fast talkers.  It was both interesting and annoying!  Haha!

This guy was once considered the fasted talking human on earth!

We took a few song requests to end the day.  Abraham got his groove on for Thomas and Devin's request of "Surrender" by Cheap Trick!

Wednesday

Talk of the potential big snowstorm this weekend was still on our minds as we focused on our Service Work Wednesday at the JRES Library and arranging flowers for Commonwealth Senior Living.  We didn't go to GCOC today because it was Therapy Dog Day!  What a fun morning!

Cheers to our Flower Power Crew this week:  Bryan, Kate, Allison, and Michelle!  They got right on the task and finished just as the therapy dogs were arriving.

So pretty!

Gail, along with a few others, worked at the JRES Library this morning where they also checked out lots of great books on the topic of "winter" for our reading time with the therapy dogs.  They did a great job!

We were blessed with 7 therapy dog handlers and 8 dogs today!  A few of our AoA members were absent, so we only had 2 in each group.  Everyone got lots of time and attention from our handler friends and the pups!

Lucy was under the weather, but Vicky brought Aubree and they read with Kevin and Kate.  One of our newer friends, Jennifer, came with Joey and they read with Thomas and Bryan.  Carol S. and Casey were joined by Allison as they read with Liz and Drew.  Kent, with Leo and Tavish, read with Erik and Gail.

Another newer friend, Lisa, brought Lola and they read with Xavier and Michelle.  Alexis and Laura read with Carol D. and Darby, while Abraham and Devin read to Nan, Marisol, and Tucker.

After a couple of reading rotations, we all gathered our groups in the main room where we played a snowman matching game.  This was challenging because of small details that we had to be very observant to!

Some of the snowmen had the same colors on their hats and scarves, but the stripes may have been different colors.  Others had same colored hats, but the button may have been different.  Everyone chipped in to help each other find the matches!

Yay!  Abraham and Devin made all the matches, much to Vicky's delight!

Before Allison left today, some of us gathered for a "so long (for now)" picture.  She's having knee replacement surgery on February 3rd.  We worried that if the winter storm is bad, we might not see her next Wednesday, which would be her last week for a while.  Allison, we hope to be here with you next week and the snow storm is long gone by then!  We'll even take another "so long" picture.  But just in case, we wish you all the best with your knee surgery, and we know you will do your best to bounce right back to doing all the things you love, including helping us!  💖💖💖

After lunch we visited our soon to be new home at 438 McLaws Circle.  Pam, and the entire Arc admin staff (Kellie, Caroline, Sue, and Kasey) were there to greet us and give us a tour and update about the planned renovations.

There will be a wall or two knocked down to make larger spaces, doors and windows added or moved, and a kitchen put in that will send us over the moon!  We're getting very excited about moving into our new forever home.  It will still be a number of weeks, as permits continue to be needed and then construction...but Pam says things are trending in the right direction!  Thanks, Pam for the updates and the tour....and the snacks!  We can't wait to be down the hall from you guys every day!  (Then it won't be so quiet in here!)

Thursday

It was sunny and pushing 50 degrees when we arrived today, causing us to wonder if a big snowstorm could really be coming!  We learned that the predicted snowfall totals had gone down a little, but that we might get ice, too.  We're not too keen about that, but it was still a little too early to know for sure.  So, we carried on and had celebrations for Popcorn Day and Popeye the Sailor Man Day, and even played corn hole outside!

National Popcorn Day was on January 19, but we don't mind delayed celebrations when they involve snacks!  Today we watched a video that featured the founder of National Day Calendar, Marlo Anderson (in the Celebrate Every Day shirt), who said Popcorn Day was his favorite day in the whole calendar!  Since we've used the National Day Calendar for ideas to plan most of our activities and lessons for almost 10 years, it was fun to see the founder up close.

In the video, Marlo visited a shop called Popcorn Girl, in Las Vegas, and we were surprised to find out her shop creates over 70 flavors of popcorn!  We thought Bacon Cheeseburger, Banana Pudding, and Green Apple sounded interesting!

We also celebrated National Popeye the Sailor Man Day, which was on the 17th.  Popeye loved spinach, and we're cooking with spinach this week, so it seemed like a good idea.  So, we set up a popcorn bar, and after everyone made their mix, we watched Popeye cartoons!

Thank you, Gail, for popping the popcorn for us this morning!

Our entry wall needed a decoration so it seemed like a good time to go with a snow theme!  We turned ourselves into "Snowmies."

Close ups!  Some of our snowmies were absent, but we will get everyone up here eventually!

Despite being on snow or ice storm watch, we were able to go outside this afternoon to play corn hole!  It was sunny and 59 degrees, and we really enjoyed it!!  We played Snow Guys vs. Snow Girls, and couldn't believe there was snow, ice, and seriously cold weather on the way!

Congrats to the Snow Guys on their win today!

Friday

It was another nice day as we ended our week with work at PSP and a farewell/birthday party for Heike!  The forecast was pulling away from a big snow over the weekend, too.  We were a little disappointed, but party mode eased the sting.

First, we had to do our work!  Carol took a group to Pet Supplies Plus for our first work day of 2026, and they were busy!

Devin and Liz say even dogs like treats, so they are always happy to stock them for the pups!

Annmarie paid close attention to detail as she placed dog shampoo mitts on the correct pegs!

Xavier also had to be attentive as he was placing dog toothbrushes on the pegs!

BB

Later, Annmarie joined Gail to stock things on the reptile aisle.  Gail was holding a cat feeding container that belonged on another aisle.

Thank you, Roxanne and Scott, for another great work day at PSP.  We look forward to 2026 being our 5th year of working with you!  (We started in January, 2022!)

Our crew at AFCC was working equally as hard.  They had to prepare lunch so we could celebrate our friend Heike's farewell and birthday!  Heike began a new job as a supervisor for Parks & Rec way back in October, but it took until today before we could coordinate a celebration for her.  It was worth the wait!

Our menu was Spinach Salad with Quinoa and Tomatoes, Fruit Cups, Garlic Bread, and German Chocolate Pie.  Erik sauteed the diced chicken.  Laura and Drew whipped up the pie filling with Laura using our brand new mixer!  Tessa cut our napkin rings apart so Lexi and Kate could color them, and Patrick and Lexi prepared quinoa in the oven.

Tessa also assisted Nan with prepping grapes for the fruit cups.  Nan cut up apples using Lisa's Ulu knife (acquired on her trip to Alaska), and loved it!  Patrick microwaved chocolate for the pies, and Kate and Thomas assisted with the salad.

Everything came together right before Heike arrived!  It was a delicious lunch, perfect for a farewell/birthday party!

Once the PSP group returned, we finished decorating the room in colors of winter!  Here, Heike is seated next to Gail.  We are always on the lookout to see if Heike has changed her hair color, and today, we were delighted to see that its pink and purple highlights matched our winter decorations perfectly!  Time for a joyful time of lunch and fellowship.

Heike's birthday in on February 17, so we made today's party both farewell and birthday.  Of course, she promises to continue to visit us, even after we move to McLaws.  She has Fridays off, so that shouldn't be too hard!  Heike, we hope all your wishes come true!  We appreciate your love and friendship over the past 8 years, and we look forward to keeping in touch for at least 8 more!

By the time we finished celebrating with Heike, we had Choice Time and then ended the week with yoga with our favorite online instructor, Jaime!  We didn't get to it in December, so we did Jaime's "Grinch" episode and everyone really enjoyed the story and the stretching! (Patrick, so sorry to have cut off your left side, but what a great stretch with your right arm!)

Soon it was time for the weekend!  We checked the forecast one more time and realized that it's going to be very cold, but there might not be a lot of snow.  There may be some ice, and there may be some rain...  The forecast has changed all week!  We hope it's not too bad, and no one loses power.  We also hope to be back on Tuesday because we have some exciting trips planned for next week.  Here's a look at our schedule:

Tuesday:  We will welcome a new friend, Mike, for a trial visit this week.  He's interested in getting on the waitlist to join us.  We have an exciting trip planned for today, too.  Our therapy dog friend Marisol (and Tucker, the corgi) have arranged for us to take a tour of the Swem Library at William and Mary!  After that, we'll return to the center for lunch, Choice Time, and a lesson for National Opposite Day.  Lunch on your own. JRES Cafeteria is serving Walking Taco or Pizza.

Wednesday:  We'll cook today as we celebrate Blueberry Pancake Day!  It's also Service Work Wednesday, so please wear Arc shirts.  One group will arrange flowers and the other group will head to GCOC to work in the Food Pantry.  After lunch, we'll watch the original Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie.  Blueberry (or plain) Pancakes w/ Sausage Links and Fruit for lunch.

Thursday:  We're headed to tour the Simulation Lab at Riverside Hospital in Newport News this morning!  Lexi's cousin Kelly suggested this adventure, and tells us we're going to be very interested in the machines and demonstrations we'll see!  NOTE:  We hope to depart from the center as soon as everyone arrives, but no later than 9 a.m.  Riverside could only accommodate us beginning at 9:30 a.m. and we don't want to be late.  We'll return to the center for lunch and activities for National Puzzle Day.  Please bring a bagged lunch.

Friday:  We will go to Eaton for a work day, so please wear Eaton shirts and bring a bagged lunch.  It's National Have Fun at Work Day, so we'll have extra Choice Time and then visit Wendy's for Frosty treats, courtesy of our friend Laura who has been saving a birthday gift card just to share with us!  Thanks, Laura!  This will be a sweet ending to our week!

Everyone stay safe and warm this weekend!

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang

Celebrating a New Partnership!

One of this week's highlights was starting a new partnership with the women at Williamsburg United Methodist Church, who welcomed us on Thursday for the first of a series of monthly activity sessions.  We enjoyed playing games with them to kick off the partnership, and we look forward to returning in February!  We also visited the American Revolution Museum, volunteered at GCOC and made flower arrangements for CSL, tried a new recipe, worked at Eaton, and got a kick out of celebrating National Hat Day.  Another busy week in the books!

Tuesday

We were glad to see Lisa was back after her bout with the flu last week.  We're thankful, but baffled, that no one else came down with it...even Alexis, who lives with her!  

First thing this morning, Gail updated our crayon boxes!  We recently received a very generous donation of Amazon gift cards from Mr. Rodney, who works with Michelle's mom, Susan, at C&F Bank.  It was the second time Mr. Rodney has blessed us with gift cards, and we appreciate it very much!  We haven't used all of the donation yet, but we did get fresh crayons and colored pencils, and some new utensils and supplies for the kitchen, including a new hand mixer.  Thank you so much, Mr. Rodney, for your support of the Arc of Abilities.  We appreciate you!  (We also made a thank you card, but forgot to take a photo!)

Next, we looked at the website for the American Revolution Museum and watched a video to prepare us for our visit to see the folk art exhibit called "Fresh Views of the American Revolution."  It's been 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, and our country is gearing up to celebrate this year.  We learned that an Italian artist named Oscar de Mejo was very interested in our war for independence, and some of his original pieces were on display at the Rev Museum.  The artwork had also been in Yorktown for America's bicentennial celebration in 1776.

To our surprise, since it was not stated on the website, we learned upon our arrival at the museum that the exhibit was being "worked on" and only a few of the pieces were on display in the the main hallway.  Later, we found out that by being "worked on" museum staff meant the exhibit was being moved from an exhibition room to spots on the walls!  We were disappointed.  We had to settle for seeing just a few of over a dozen pieces of de Mejo's work.

de Mejo's American Revolution art featured historical depictions of many events from the war, but in each, he had added whimsical, unique, or statement elements, and we were going to point them out!

Other art from the exhibit, by more contemporary artists including some local students, was also on display and we enjoyed looking at it.  We pointed things out to each other and it was fun to see what our friends found interesting!

Liz noticed in this print that a group of patriots was holding a meeting at Bruton Parish Church, which she attends!

Fortunately, a docent named Mr. Sadler was volunteering today.  He helped make our visit more worthwhile by telling us several cool stories about the "everyday" people in the photos on this wall.  All of them had a part in the war, often having interacted with George Washington himself (though not in battle).  When these photos were taken, each of them was at least 100 years old, which is amazing considering the time in which they lived! (The war had been over for decades.)  Their stories were very interesting, and Mr. Sadler told us much more about them than the museum signage revealed.  We always enjoy when volunteers or museum staff tell us "more of the story."

  

While at the museum, we also watched the "Liberty Fever" movie, and talked about how hard it was for families to be split in their decisions about the war.  Some wanted to fight (Patriots) and others remained loyal to the crown (Loyalists), which meant sometimes family members fought against each other.

All in all, it was an enjoyable morning.  We even got a Virginia 250 Passport for each of us, and had it stamped today.  We'll hang on to them and hopefully visit a few more stops and get a few more stamps before July 4th!

Things took a turn for the silly when we returned to AFCC for lunch, Choice Time, and then a lesson for National Rubber Ducky Day!  We watched a video about a professor named Charlotte at a college in Washington.  She holds the Guinness record for most rubber duckies!  Click on her pic for a link to the video if you'd like to see her huge collection!  The video is from 2019, but we verified that Charlotte is still the world's record holder!

We colored some rubber duckies and used them to make a "duckoration" on our teal wall!  

Wednesday

Our Service Work Wednesday got off to a great start when our crew of Liz, Laura, Alexis, Michelle, and Gail volunteered at the JRES Library.  We're going to miss working in the library, and having a place to check out books, when we move to our new building! 

We'll continue to arrange flowers for Commonwealth Senior Living once we move.  Today, Drew, Erik, Michelle, Alexis, Gail, and Allison got the job done!

There was food prep today, too.  (This is a "service" for ourselves!)  Michelle and Thomas prepared individual servings of grapes for our lunch.

Thomas and Drew arranged bread slices on the baking pans so we could toast them in the Nina.

Our lunch was going to be hot pastrami sandwiches with sides of grapes, chips, and a pickle spear.  We were celebrating National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day!  This was a new celebration for us.  Keep reading to see if we liked it!

We made a chipotle honey mustard (using chipotle peppers) to spread on our sandwiches.  Some of us chose regular mustard, but most went with the spicy!  We also made cole slaw, but forgot to get a picture.

Once the sandwiches were assembled with pastrami and sharp cheddar cheese, we wrapped them in foil and Tessa placed them on the oven racks.  (The oven was cold.)  We then heated them through so they would be hot pastrami sandwiches.  Meanwhile, we watched a video and learned that pastrami is a type of deli meat (beef) that is cured and seasoned, and kind of peppery.  It likely originated in Romania, and is now piled high on sandwiches in delis everywhere.

There was unanimous approval for our celebration of National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day!  We may have to celebrate it again next year!

Our Grove crew was busy this morning in the food pantry with Peggy, Joel, Ursula, and Thom.  When they arrived, these tables were empty.  Devin, Liz, Bryan, Xavier, Laura, Annmarie, Kate, and Kevin helped unload the palette and get the assembly line set up.  That's quite a workout!

Kevin was Thom's right hand man today as they worked together to place the packed bags on the storage shelves.

So lucky are we!  This week Peggy baked brownies for us!  She and Ursula really do spoil us with their home-baked goodies.  Thanks, Peggy.  The brownies were deee-licious after our pastrami sandwiches!

That's it for pics from today.  After lunch we had Choice Time and then welcomed visitors who came to see what the program is all about.  We played games on the computer after that and then it was time to go home!

Thursday

It was a joyful morning as we headed to Williamsburg United Methodist Church to begin a new collaboration with their women's circle group, Sisters in Grace.  We have worked with these sweet ladies before at our center, where they have volunteered a few times over the years to work on craft projects with us.  Today, we joined them at the church for what will be a monthly activity.  The theme this morning was Fun and Games, and playing games with them was definitely fun!

From left to right, our WUMC friends are Barbara, Gayle, Nella, Jeannie, and Linda.  They gave us a warm welcome!

There were several games for us to choose from, so we had a couple of rotations.  It was great to see many conversations taking place as community was built between the WUMC women and our AoA members.  There was a lot of laughter, too!

Tessa, Michelle, Erik, and Jeannie played Candyland.

Rita led a game of Concentration with Thomas, Alexis, Patrick, and Drew.

Kate, Xavier, and Gayle played Connect Four with Linda.

Nella was learning to play Trouble with Devin, Liz, and Kevin.  Gayle joined them, too.

Nan joined with Barbara to play Go Fish with Annmarie, Bryan, and Laura.

Our last game of the morning was a favorite of ours, Bingo!  Today, we played a version called Friendship Bingo to celebrate making new friends with the WUMC women's group.  We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw the prize table.  The group was very generous and the prizes they selected suited our guys perfectly!

Thank you Gayle, Jeannie, Nella, Barbara, Linda, and Rita (who joined a bit later) for a wonderful Fun and Games morning!  We enjoyed getting to know you and playing games, too.  Your generous selection of Bingo prizes made our day!  We're already talking about next month's visit and really looking forward to the theme of Music!  We love to sing and dance, so it will be another amazing time, we're sure!

We returned to AFCC for lunch, Choice Time, and a follow up history lesson after our trip to the Revolution Museum on Tuesday.  We watched a short video from a series called "Historically Correct," in which a teacher from New Jersey explains, in accurate but also fun and funny ways, about history.  We watched the episode about the surrender at Yorktown, and we aced the pop quiz!  Click on the pic if you'd like to watch the video and give it a try!

Oh, yeah...National Hat Day was fun!  We shared the stories of the hats and caps we chose to wear, and had extras for those who needed one.  Sports, nature, movies, the Wild West, and even jesters were represented!

Friday

Thanks to a snow day back in December, we had not been to Eaton in over a month, so we were ready to head for a work day this morning. Luckily, we haven't lost our skills' touch!

Our PowerSlide Door Crew consisted of Kate, Devin, Nan, Alexis, Liz, Bryan, Xavier, Kevin, Erik, and Carol.  In a little over two hours, they assembled 156 doors this morning!  

Our Sorting/Packing Crew consisted of Gail, Patrick, Abraham, Drew, Thomas, Michelle, Tessa, Laura, Annmarie, and Lisa.  We are estimating that they unloaded, sorted, and consolidated/packed over 8,000 small parts we call lids and rectangles!

Everyone was sooo busy, and the time passed quickly!

We even had a surprise visit from Jorie!  It had been almost a year since we last saw her.  She told us she will be working back at this Eaton site a few days a month, so we might get to see her more often.  It was great to catch up with her!

What a workout we got at Eaton this morning!  After we returned to the center for lunch and Choice Time, we ended the day making and getting birthday cards in the mail for Cameron, and having a lesson about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  We enjoy history, and especially biographies about famous people.  After our video, we did a scavenger hunt activity to learn more facts about Dr. King's life.  We were surprised to learn that he was arrested 29 times!

Next thing we knew, it was time for the weekend!  It was a jam-packed week but we can't complain.  It's good to stay busy!  

Here are our plans for next week:

Tuesday:  We'll kick off this week with a trip to The Mariners' Museum where we'll have a lesson about Newport News Shipyard with Wisteria and Erika.  The forecast looks sunny, but chilly, so we will return to the center for lunch, followed by a celebration of National Disc Jockey Day, and a game of corn hole!  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is offering Beef Soft Taco, Taco Salad, or Pizza.

Wednesday:  Today we'll welcome the therapy dogs and handlers for a new year's session of reading and games!  We'll also arrange flowers for CSL.  After lunch, we've been invited to take a walk-through with Pam and Arc staff of our soon to be new home at McLaws Circle!  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is serving Asian Chicken with Veggies and Rice or Flatbread Sandwich.

Thursday:  We're going to have fun celebrating National Popcorn Day (Jan. 19) and National Popeye the Sailor Man Day (Jan. 17) by snacking on popcorn and watching videos from Popeye's You Tube channel!  We will also make preparations for tomorrow's party.  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria lists Domino's Pizza and Assorted Wraps for today's selections.

Friday:  It's Pet Supplies Plus Day, so please wear PSP shirts.  We're also welcoming Heike back for a delayed Farewell Party and an early Birthday Celebration!  While the PSP Crew works at the store, the Cooking Crew will prepare a lunch of Quinoa Salad with Chicken and Spinach, Garlic Bread, Fruit Cup, and German Sweet Chocolate Pie for dessert.  We'll end the week with a new episode of yoga with Jaime, so dress to stretch, too!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang