We said goodbye to March (and 1/4 of the year) this week and welcomed April with lots of good fun. Over the weekend, Alexis, Liz, and Thomas joined Patti and our WOTM friends to run Bingo Night, which was a first for Thomas. Our regular week began on Tuesday with a trip to see Wisteria at The Mariners' Museum. We did our service work on Wednesday, celebrated April Fool's Day, and enjoyed a visit from Marisol and the corgis. On Thursday we worked on special cards and posters and also had a lesson about Easter. By Friday, we wrapped things up with a work morning at Pet Supplies Plus followed by lunch outside, despite the pollen. Check out our delightful week...
Saturday
We appreciate Alexis, Liz, and Thomas for helping Moose Patti, Allison, Shelly (shown here), and our other WOTM friends for March Bingo Night. It was Thomas's first time and he knocked it out of the park!
There are a lot of players at Moose Bingo Night, and they are serious about their games! We thank them all for coming out for a fun time that also helps WOTM raise funds to support so many good causes, including The Arc of GW and the Arc of Abilities. They sponsored our recent 10th Anniversary lunch at Old City Barbecue!
Tuesday
This morning we traveled to The Mariners' Museum for a great lesson with Wisteria about the beginnings of the United States Navy. We learned that it coincided with the founding of our country and the Revolutionary War!
There were a lot of school groups at the museum today, and spaces were full, so we gathered in one of the galleries for a brief overview about our Continental Navy coming to be during the Revolutionary War "through innovation and sheer perseverance." The colonies had to build their own ships in order to go up against the greatest Navy at the time, that of Great Britain. Virginia, being the largest colony at the time, led the way and built many of those ships.
We learned that John Paul Jones is celebrated as the "Father of the American Navy." He was a Scottish-born naval officer of great skill, who ended up in the Continental Navy helping the Patriots (along with the French Navy) win our freedom from King George. His leadership, bravery, strategies, and victories against the British, plus his innovations with naval warfare, helped to establish his legacy as the "Father of the American Navy."
This is a depiction of a Colonial shipyard.
This is a model of the Raleigh, one of 13 frigates ordered by the Continental Congress. It was built in New Hampshire, but the ones built in Virginia were very similar.
The rest of our tour highlighted the growth of the Navy over the next hundred or so years and we enjoyed seeing how the ships changed over time. We also saw a model of the first submarine (submersible) which was used by the Confederacy during the Civil War. Unfortunately, it sank, but was recovered in 2000 and is undergoing conservation in Charleston, South Carolina, much like the USS Monitor is doing here at The Mariners' Museum.
We thank Wisteria for this interesting tour! It was very cool to learn that our United States Navy got its start at the same time as our country did, 250 years ago!
From the museum, we decided to have lunch at Newport News Park since other groups were using the tables at The Mariners' patio. There was some pollen on the tables, but it wasn't too bad. We ate and then took a walk before returning to AFCC for Choice Time and a check of last week's blog. It was a happy spring outing!
Some silly nuts!
More silly nuts!
Wednesday
We had a lot going on today! From service work to a bonus therapy dog visit to a silly April Fool's prank, we felt like the day zipped by!
Our early bird service work was in the library where Sara, Gail, Michelle, and Alexis shelved books under the watchful eye of Mr. Nonnemacher. They work there from about 8:45-9:00.
DJ Liz kicked off our April Fool's Day dance warm up with a clever prank. She told us she had found a great April Fool's Day song so we all put on our listening ears...and then it turned out to be...a Christmas song! Silly Liz!!
After dance warm up, we were busy with Allison arranging flowers to deliver to Commonwealth Senior Living. Trader Joe's donated an abundance of colorful blooms, and our arrangements turned out beautifully. Kasey was back today, too. She helped us update the calendar and room decorations.
Liz and Abraham make a good delivery team when we dropped off the flowers on the way back to the Rec Center to return the vans after dismissal. If we have leftover flowers, we leave them with CSL, too.
We also updated the calendar for April. We complete a lot of tasks for this - gluing labels on our calendar squares, resetting the calendar numbers, and finding and printing pictures to represent our activities are shown here.
Ta-da! April is ready to roll with a lot of fun in store!
Our Grove Christian Outreach Center volunteers were happy to see Ursula is back! She's zipping around on the scooter while her foot/ankle heals, but she was as busy as ever helping us in the food pantry!
Therapy dog handler Marisol enjoys stopping by for bonus visits each month (in addition to the regular therapy dog group visit). Today, she had special books to share. One was called The Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings. It teaches the importance of self-acceptance and was given to Marisol by her grandmother in 1962! The other book was one Marisol wrote when she was a preschool teacher called Pink Piggy, Sweet Piggy about a very kind pig. Alexis read that one to us. Marisol also shared her collection of bird nests and even showed us some snake skins! She has collected nests for over 30 years and some of them were partially made with hair from her dogs and horses over the years, including Tucker, Nellie, and Louie! Marisol said she always brushes the pups outside and lets the hair fly off in the wind to be found by birds! Thanks for stopping by today, Marisol. Our time with you was very interesting AND fun! Please tell the corgis we said "thanks" for the (chocolate) Kisses, too! 😉
Here is Alexis reading the book written by Marisol.
Something silly we did today was get pranked by Lisa for April Fool's Day! She told us she baked a new chocolate chip cookie recipe and wanted our feedback on the taste. We told her they were good, even though we kind of thought they were not exactly sweet. (Note from Lisa: These guys are very polite!) Liz made a comment that they were "different" and others thought they tasted a bit like cheese or bacon! Turns out, they were made with instant cheesy mashed potatoes and black beans! Thomas had an unusual reaction to being pranked! After the trick, Lisa gave us a legit chocolate chip cookie. It was good, and sweet, too!
Lisa had one more trick to play. First we watched a Mystery Science episode about our funny bones and learned it's really a nerve that causes that weird feeling when we bump our elbows. Next, we had brain work to do. This group had a word search on animals. You can see how focused they were on a type of puzzle that they generally enjoy doing. They usually have no trouble finding hidden words, but today they couldn't find any!
Thursday
This morning we got busy right after our dance warm up working in our "Card Factory." This is what we call it when we have lots of coloring to do in order to make posters or send cards of thanks, cheer, or congratulations. Today we were working on cards and posters for the James City County Board of Supervisors Meeting on April 14. Pam has asked us to prepare cards and posters, and to attend the meeting at 5 p.m. as The Arc gives thanks to the county for their support over the years.
We take "Card Factory" work very seriously, as we know the importance of thanking those who support and help us.
It was another beautiful day to spend time outside walking, shooting hoops, tossing a football, and striking yoga poses with Kasey!
Here's a bonus outside picture of our lovely Laura! She had on a pretty Easter shirt for today's lesson, which was next on our agenda. Lisa told her to stand by the tree and smile like a model. 💜 (Thanks ChatGPT for removing the parked cars from the background!)
Back inside, for our lesson on Easter, we learned lots of interesting facts from our video.
After the video we worked in groups to complete a vocabulary activity. We apologize sincerely for not getting a picture of the group with Sara, Annmarie, and Laura, and Kate was absent today. They also wish everyone a Happy Easter!
Friday
We began the morning with a visit to see our friends, Mr. Nonnemacher and Ms. Ortega at the JRES Library. Tomorrow is National School Librarian Day and we had cards to deliver. We're not sure how much longer we'll be at AFCC and able to work in the library, but we wanted them to know how much we have appreciated the opportunity for all these years!
Gail, Michelle, Liz, Alexis, Sara, and Laura (she had not arrived yet) regularly work on Wednesdays with Mr. Nonnemacher and Ms. Ortega. We will miss them!
Carol took a group to Pet Supplies Plus to meet Kasey for a work morning, and the rest of us stayed at the center to prepare bagged lunches. We were celebrating Peanut Butter and Jelly Day with plans to meet the others for a picnic.
Another item in our bagged lunch was mandarin oranges. Gail peeled them for us. Abraham, Bryan, and Drew worked on dessert, which was a snack cup of chocolate Easter pudding, complete with cookie dirt, coconut grass, and candy eggs! Later, we added a bunny Peep!
Laura prepared a bag of fresh veggies for each of us. Nan and Liz assembled the PB&J sandwiches, and Tessa and Gail filled bags with cheese balls to round out our lunch. Kevin and Xavier added items to each bag and soon we were ready to go!
Working up an appetite at PSP were Michelle and Kevin, who reminded Kasey how important it is to check that the products are matched with the correct bar code before being placed on the shelf!
Erik, Devin, Alexis, and Sara worked from multiple carts full of products as they carefully checked the placement. We're sure they were working up an appetite, too!
Roxanne was at Hailey's school for Career Day, so we got to work with Ryan today. There are lots of Easter items available at PSP that your furry friends would love to find in their baskets! Stop by before Sunday and check them out!
We changed our plans and decided to meet at WISC for lunch since there is a nice bathroom and we hoped the tables in the covered area might not be too covered in pollen. Plus, instead of walking to see the horses at CW, we wanted to stop at the Musical Swings near the library (more on that below). The PSP group arrived at WISC sooner than the rest of us, and they got a close up look at the osprey nest. No birds were spotted today, but the nest is much larger than it was a couple of weeks ago!
We were WRONG about the covered tables having less pollen, so luckily we had our wipes and were able to clean them off! We didn't get a picture of that, or of us eating, but the cleaning wasn't so bad, and the bagged lunches really hit the spot! Especially our sweet, little dessert cups! Aww!
After lunch we headed over to Boundary Street where the Musical Swings are set up for a few weeks on the lawn of the Williamsburg Community Building.
We had hoped to swing on them and make beautiful music together, but they were very crowded on such a pretty day with lots of kids! (This photo was taken early Saturday morning when no one was there.) We decided we will stop by on Tuesday morning before bowling and hope no one else is out that early!
We returned to the center and spent the afternoon relaxing with our friends and enjoying Choice Time. We also welcomed a new family to check out the program since they may be interested in joining our waitlist. After that, it was time to tidy up the room and prepare for dismissal. We have a lot going on next week. WJCC Schools are on Spring Break, so the JRES Cafeteria will not be available, but on the flip side, we can use the gym every day! Here's how our schedule is shaping up:
Tuesday: We're going to stop by the Musical Swings on the way to bowling, so we plan to leave AFCC at 9:05! We'll enjoy bowling after swinging, and then pick up pizza for lunch which we will eat at the center due to the pollen. We'll also catch up on our read-aloud chapters and check the blog from last week.
Wednesday: You know the drill: It's Service Work Wednesday, so please wear Arc shirts. Note: Don't forget the online store is open through Sunday for ordering new shirts! Here's the link:
We'll also work on a banner for National Gardening Day which we will celebrate with our MGs next week, and we'll have a lesson for National Zoo Lovers Day. Lunch on your own. No JRES Cafeteria this week. Microwave available.
Thursday: We're heading to the Watermen's Museum today to spend time with Mike. It's been a while since we've seen him, so were excited to go! But we might be a little more excited to have lunch at Burger King, so please bring $10. There is a BK on the way to Yorktown that the gang has been asking to visit forever, so a week without the JRES Cafeteria seemed like a good time!
Friday: We're off to Eaton for a work day, so please wear Eaton shirts and bring a bagged lunch. The pollen will probably still be an issue, but we might be able to eat lunch at New Quarter Park and enjoy a walk since the weather is supposed to be nice. Backup plan will be lunch at the center with gym and corn hole time!
We hope everyone has a wonderful weekend,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
