A Lovely Springtime Week

What a delightful springtime week we had!  The weather was perfectly "coolish-warmish" with lots of sunshine so we took advantage and enjoyed time outside at the Musical Swings, on site at AFCC, in Yorktown, and at New Quarter Park.  We enjoyed our inside time, too, completing our service work activities, visiting Mike at the Watermen's Museum, and working at Eaton.  It was just a splendid week!

Tuesday

We always look forward to the first Tuesday of the week when we go bowling and have pizza for lunch.  That was the case today, but before arriving at the lanes, we stopped at the Musical Swings exhibit in Colonial Williamsburg.  

It's a temporary attraction (through May 17), and what a joyful noise we made!

When we stopped by last Friday after lunch, there were a lot of visitors here, so we decided to postpone our visit to this morning around 9:15.  It was a good decision, as we had the swings to ourselves for about 20 minutes!

There are 10 swings and each one plays notes from a different classical instrument.  It's both fun and soothing!

The swings are big and comfortable, too!

Enjoy the beautiful music we made! 🎜🎝

Here's a little more! 🎶

Next, it was off to Bowlero for a fun couple of hours bowling strikes, spares, and everything in between!  Shout out to Alexis today for the high score of 150!

We missed Tessa and Kate today.  Hope they feel better soon!

A quick stop by Domino's and we were that much closer to pizza for lunch!  Many, many thanks to an anonymous donor who contributed to our pizza funds for a couple of years.  We appreciate your support, and wish you all the best!

We had lunch and Choice Time, then listened to our read-aloud and checked last week's blog.  We also finished a thank you card for our WOTM friends who sponsored our anniversary lunch at Old City Barbecue.  💜💚💛

Speaking of our WOTM friends...guess what?!  It's time to think about this year's 11th annual golf tournament!  Moose Patti is already hitting up all of last year's sponsors and aiming for some new ones, too.  If you have any contacts, please pass them along to Lisa and she will let Patti know!  Please mark your calendars for Saturday, August 1 at Williamsburg National Golf Course and join us to play or volunteer!  Thank you for your support!  Patti plans to surpass last years fundraising record of over $14,000, but she will need our help!

Wednesday

Service Work Wednesday only consisted of flower arranging and volunteering at Grove today since the JRES Library was closed for Spring Break.  As usual, Allison was here to work with the gang on the flower arrangements for Commonwealth Senior Living, and as usual, they turned out lovely.  Lots of roses in the mix today!

Sara enjoys making arrangements, and she's good at putting pretty colors together!

Alexis used scissors to snip some small leaves off the stem of a rose, being careful not to prick herself with a thorn!

Gail also enjoys arranging the flowers, and she likes all the colors, especially purple!

The group that worked at Grove this morning was busy assisting Peggy and Joel with several tasks.  First, they filled food distribution bags with nonperishable food items.  After that, they placed mangoes in trays and kale bunches in bags before placing all of that in the refrigerated section of the Gathering Place Free Market.  We missed Ursula and Tom who were traveling.

 

We know Peggy is a great baker, and today we found out she is a great candy-maker, too!  She made chocolate-covered peanut clusters for us and they were sooo good...even better than the candy store in CW!!  Thank you, Peggy, for a treat so sweet!  The only thing sweeter is you!

Even though it was cool outside, the sun was shining and we enjoyed a lengthy recess on the playground at JRES since the school kids are on Spring Break.  Yes, we are a little tall for the equipment, but that didn't stop us from getting good movement through climbing, swinging, and sliding!

  

Did we mention we love to slide?!

We even had our own version of Musical Swings!

Our last activity today was a lesson for National Zoo Lovers Day.  We learned that "zoo" is a short form of "zoological park" and that many zoos provide breeding programs for endangered animals.  There are approximately 350 zoos in America and over 175 million people visit them each year!

Sara shared that when she lived in Oregon she was a volunteer at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.  She helped to educate visitors about marine wildlife!  

Part of our lesson included checking out the live webcams at the San Diego Zoo.  We saw tigers, pandas, elephants, and other animals enjoying a beautiful afternoon in sunny California!  This reminded Liz of the time she visited the San Diego Zoo when she was 9 years old, and she found a picture to show us of her and her brother Stephen on their trip!  We love when our friends have connections to what we learn!  Thanks, Sara and Liz!

Thursday

We were excited for 2 things today:  going to see Mike at the Watermen's Museum (it has been a while) and having lunch at Burger King!  (We're easy to please!) 

Our time with Mike today was all about spring.  He asked us what came to mind when we thought about spring, and we took those ideas and wrote/illustrated them on paper vines Mike had made ahead of time.

Mike also showed us a simple way to make paper flowers, which we needed to attach to our vine.  We were making a pretty decoration and we knew just the spot in our room where it would go!

There is always music when we hang with Mike!  Today he introduced us to a new member of his Shanty Grass Band, Steve.  Steve plays an instrument called a harmonium, which has a keyboard on top and bellows, which are pumped by hand, on the back.  Steve played beautiful music on the harmonium.

Michelle gave it a try!  

It wasn't long before we were singing along with Mike and Steve.

"Sweet Caroline!"

Steve also plays the piccolo.  We enjoyed his talents!

One more springtime activity we did with Mike was for Lisa.  Aww!  He had us write why we love her on paper rose petals and then he put them together to make a big rose.  Lisa will cherish these touching thoughts during her retirement years!  Thanks for this thoughtful gesture, Mike!

As always, we had a great time with you today, Mike!  It was fun learning, crafting and singing with you and Steve, and we can't wait to hang our flower vine on the teal wall at the center.  Thanks for all you do for us! 

Before heading for lunch, we took a nice walk around Yorktown.  Kasey was hanging with us today and she was interested in seeing what kinds of restaurants and shops are here.  She's new to our area and has been to Yorktown once before, but now plans to visit again...we highly recommend it!

After our walk it was time for lunch at Burger King!  This BK is located on the way to Yorktown, and much like Old City Barbecue, each time we would pass it on our travels the gang would ask if we could go sometime.  Well, that day finally arrived!  We didn't get many pictures, as it was hectic...but the staff at Burger King was AWESOME and we enjoyed our lunch very much!

Sorry Abraham is a blur!  He was just so excited at the drink machine!

Annmarie is our Burger Queen!

Back at the center we had Choice Time, listened to our read-aloud, hung our beautiful flower vine on the teal wall, and ended the day with time in the gym.  It was a fun day!

Friday

We had a very productive morning at Eaton where we unpacked and consolidated a lot of items, including light bulbs.

Devin and Patrick filled tubs with large yellow lenses that were stacked high on a pallet.  Gail folded the paper that was between the lenses and boxed it up to be reused.  Abraham, Xavier, Thomas, and Laura repacked and consolidated many small parts so we could fit more in each tub.  Drew and Kevin sorted many small parts.

Eaton's Mark and David chatted with the lightbulb crew.  Liz, Sara, Nan, and Alexis were removing lightbulbs from the packaging.  Bryan made sure they had a steady stream of bulbs to unpack, and Erik helped put the fragile bulbs in between bubble wrap in smaller boxes.  Xavier, Bryan, Erik, and Kevin (hard to spot behind Erik) took tubs to the trash and recycle bins outside before we wrapped up for the day.

After Eaton we enjoyed lunch outside on a gorgeous day at New Quarter Park.  We were happily surprised to see the tables were not covered in pollen!

We took a walk and also made a short video to send to Kate, who has been under the weather for a couple of weeks.  We miss her, and hope she feels better soon.  (Tessa was out this week, too.  She was hanging with her mom, Michelle, who is a teacher on Spring Break!)

We had time to spend at the playground, too.  We were surprised that young children weren't out on such a perfect day, but that meant we could enjoy it instead!

We returned to the center for an abbreviated period of Choice Time and then ended the week with a game of corn hole.  It was too beautiful of a day to stay indoors!  Team Spring won, 36-25, but we all helped and cheered for one another as we always do!  Great ending to our week!

The gang set up the game, picked the teams, and played all on their own today.  Gail seemed happy to be the sole girl on Team Spring!

We hear it's going to warm up quite a bit next week.  This week was perfect and really felt like spring.  We'll probably feel summer vibes next week.  Here's a look at our schedule:

Tuesday:  It's National Gardening Day which is perfect because we kick off our spring sessions with the master gardeners today!  We'll plant the spring harvest with them, and then (hopefully if pollen permits) have lunch at the park followed by a walk.  Please bring a bagged lunch.

Wednesday:  Happy Birthday to Bryan today!  His family is treating us to a taco bar and key lime pie for lunch.  Yum!  We will also do our flower arranging service work and have a visit from our therapy dog friends this morning. After lunch, Bryan has requested a game of birthday corn hole!  Thanks to Bryan's family for today's lunch!

Thursday:  This morning we will travel to Williamsburg United Methodist Church for a science-themed experience with the Women's Circle group.  We'll have lunch at the center and then a lesson for Titanic Remembrance Day (yesterday).  Our guys are always fascinated by the Titanic story.  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is offering Domino's Pizza or Deli Sub.

Friday:  We will send a crew to work at Pet Supplies Plus, so please wear PSP shirts.  It's National Cheeseball Day, and earlier in the week it was National Grilled Cheese Day...so the gang asked for a cheeseball AND blueberry grilled cheese sandwiches (one of our faves) for lunch! PB&J will be offered, too.  That's what the cooking crew will work on while the others work at PSP.  We'll also celebrate that today is National High Five Day!

Have a great weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang

Hello, April 2026!

 

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!

We also worked with Joel and Peggy, and Tom (Ursula's husband), but he was working in another room and missed our photo ops.  It was nice to see so many food items to put in the bags today.

After we filled the food distribution bags, we helped with a new project called "Express Box."  We put one of the food distribution bags in a box along with some other items.  Community neighbors can stop by GCOC and pick up an Express Box during times the Gathering Place free market may be closed.

Thank you, Ursula, for baking chocolate chip and S'mores cookies today!  They were very good!  We always appreciate your and Peggy's thoughtfulness.  💖💖💖

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!

This group had some silly riddles to try and solve, which they did with a little help from Kasey, Nan, and Carol.  BUT, they were also in on the word search situation.  It was a prank for the other group - none of the words were in the puzzle!  After we watched the puzzle group struggle a bit, these guys yelled "April Fool's" and we all had a good laugh, especially watching a couple of the word search guys ball up their papers and toss them in the trash with a grunt!  It was a fun and funny day!

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.

This is a sampling of some of the coloring we completed this morning.  We have a little more to do, plus the cutting and pasting for the posters.  Please join us at the meeting on April 14 to see how nicely it all comes together!

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!

We ended the day doing a good deed!  Kayla, shown here between Alexis and Drew, is one of Tracy and Katrina's coworkers at Parks & Rec.  She's in charge of organizing this weekend's Easter Extravaganza to be held at AFCC on Saturday.  When she arrived with a van FULL of tables, tents, and supply boxes, and only Tracy and Katrina to help her unload...well, we sprang into action!  Many hands made light work and Kayla really appreciated our help!  In fact, she returned with more supplies on Friday and Bryan and Abraham helped again.  Our guys rock!

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:

Online T-Shirt Store

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