Happy Birthday, Bryan!

Just as we expected, it was a warm week and we were feeling summer vibes!  Luckily, it wasn't as humid as it will get, but we definitely felt the warmth as we worked with the master gardeners, visited with the therapy dogs, hung out with our WUMC friends, worked at PSP, and celebrated Bryan's 30th birthday!  We also visited the Board of Supervisors for a thank you presentation, and a surprise for Lisa... Here's a look at our week:

Tuesday

We began our spring sessions with the master gardeners on what felt like a summer morning.  It was a perfect day to kick off our time as April 14 is National Gardening Day!  The sun was out and so were the bees and butterflies, and it was great to reconnect with our MG friends.  We even met some new ones!

Our first task was to clear the beds of the winter growth.  We put on gloves and starting pulling everything up except the potatoes and herbs.  Pretty soon, the compost wagon was full!

Later, Erik and Kevin accompanied Rick to the compost bin to empty the wagon.

Patrick, Erik, and Devin helped Karen tidy up the Fairy Garden with fresh soil and a few new knick knacks, while Karen's husband, Steve, hung our "Happy Gardening Day" banner.

Once the beds were cleared and new soil added, we planted lettuce, collard, and kale plants, and carrot, arugula, and beet seeds.  There might be a tasty salad in our future!

Thank you MGs for a great start to the spring sessions!  We really appreciate everything you teach us, and the wonderful friendship, too.  Happy National Gardening Day!

We ate our lunch while still at the garden and then we had a surprise.

We did not realize that today was Free Scoop Day at Ben & Jerry's!  Thanks to Laura's mom, Lisa P., for letting us know.  Since we were at Freedom Park, and Ben & Jerry's is at the outlet mall, it only made sense for us to stop by for a scoop on this summer-like afternoon!  Thanks, Ben & Jerry's!

One of the gentlemen working at Ben & Jerry's recognized several of us from the Night to Shine event!  Ben & Jerry's was serving ice cream that night. 

 We love a sweet ending to a great day!

After hours on Tuesday found a number of our families joining us at the James City County Board of Supervisors meeting.  We were there to thank them for their support of The Arc of Greater Williamsburg and the Arc of Abilities for 10 amazing years at AFCC.  Many thanks to our families for their support tonight!

Devin opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and did an excellent job.  Here, he was meeting Ruth Larson, who represents his district on the Board of Supervisors.

We stood on the stage with our posters and banner, and Annmarie passed out cards to each supervisor, but it was hectic and our photos aren't great!  (Sorry to have cut off Board Chair, John McGlennon.)

After our thank you presentation, Lisa was also surprised, and touched, when she was given a Community Citation presented by Chair John McGlennon to honor her 42 years of service in education and the nonprofit sector.  Lisa says thank you to Pam and everyone involved in coordinating such an honor.  It was a very special moment!

Wednesday

Today began with the news that Nan, who thought she was battling the flu, was actually developing AFib and had been hospitalized overnight.  She immediately began responding to treatment, and is home now and itching to get back to us for her last couple of weeks.  We'll see, Nan...we'll see!  Nan sends a heartfelt thanks to everyone for their prayers and good wishes, which made a difference!💗

📣📣Shout out to Carol and all of the gang, including Allison and Kasey, for keeping things rolling along today while Lisa and Alexis were with Nan. 📣📣

First, look at this week's flower arrangements.  There wasn't a large donation of flowers this week, but they still look beautiful.  Allison is a miracle worker, and we appreciate her for working on them today so we could enjoy time with the therapy dogs!

As always, we had a great visit with our therapy dog friends!  Today we read books about nature and Earth Day during our reading rotations.

Our dog handler friends and Carol planned a surprise to say good-bye to Lisa, not knowing she would not be able to be here today.  They brought cookies and lemonade, and Kent played his guitar while Carol sang.  

We were able to FaceTime with Lisa who was at the hospital with Nan so they could see everyone and hear our singing.  Lisa would like to thank our therapy dog friends for their thoughtful gifts of a plant and book, and their best wishes on her upcoming retirement.  She was sorry to miss it in person, but is thankful for the FaceTime opportunity (Thanks, Liz). 💖

Our next joyful event for today was celebrating Bryan's 30th birthday!  His parents provided us with an amazing taco bar, including homemade guacamole, and delicious key lime pie for dessert. 

Thank you very much, Dave and Karen, for a wonderful celebration for Bryan's "Big 3-0" celebration!  The tacos really hit the spot and the key lime pie was tasty and refreshing!

Happy Birthday, Bryan! We hope all your wishes come true!

Everyone enjoyed a game of birthday corn hole!  What a fun time celebrating Bryan!

Thursday

It was hard to believe it had been a month already since we had a great time with our Williamsburg United Methodist Church Women's Circle friends, but here we were again.  And what a blast we had with today's science themed activities!

Stations were set up for demonstrations, experiments, hands-on activities, and sensory time.

We enjoyed making a sensory bottle and planting herbs in small pots!  What fun to get to take them home, too!

 

Thank you, Gayle, Jeannie, Lynn, Nella, Ann, Linda, and Linda!  (Yes, two Lindas!)  We really enjoyed the science stations with you today!  We appreciate all the supplies you provided so we could make take home projects.  We learned a few things, too!

After we returned to the center, Lisa left to spend time with Nan at the hospital and we enjoyed lunch and Choice Time.  Kasey joined us for the afternoon for our read-aloud time and Titanic lesson, but we didn't get any more photos.  We also had a visit from a local reporter who saw us at the Board of Supervisors meeting and wanted to check us out!  Not sure what may come of that, but we'll keep you posted!

Friday

We had a busy morning!  The PSP Crew did their thing at the pet store, and the Cooking Crew did theirs at the center!  

There is usually a lot of product to place on the shelves at Pet Supplies Plus.  Our team must pay attention to details for this job!

Kate and Liz stocked the shelves with food treats.

           Sara stocked pet toys.

Looks like Erik and Thomas were taking care of health supplies.

Bryan worked with Roxanne to pack individual pet food bags for animal shelters.

🎝 Take me out to the ball game! 🎝 Pet Supplies Plus has plenty of baseball clothes and toys for your furry friends!  Great job, PSP Crew!  Thanks, Roxanne, for working with us on vocational training today!

Meanwhile, back at lunch central...

Lexi called Nan on FaceTime and we were all smiles to say "hi" and find out that she was coming home today!  She's doing very well and hopes to be back next week...she's motivated to see us! 😉

You're a tough one, Nan!  We have missed you but have sent lots of love and prayers.  So glad you are feeling better and coming home today! 💖💖💖

After the FaceTime call, we started lunch preps.  Everyone on the cooking crew did more than one job today, but these are the pics we got.  Xavier unwrapped and sorted silverware from packets that were recently donated.  Tessa and Devin washed apples and blueberries.  Gail peeled Cuties, Laura and Annmarie baked cookie bars, and Lexi put soft butter on the bread for our grilled cheese sandwiches.  Earlier, Gail had also helped prepare the cheeseball for National Cheeseball Day!

Kevin and Devin went to the JRES Cafeteria to get ice, and Lexi took their picture.  Abraham cut the cookie bars into serving pieces, and Annmarie was busy making runs to the fridge to bring us various items, including strawberries.

Some of us colored decorative pictures and others did brain work in between other tasks.

The room smelled great when the PSP Crew returned.  Our cheeseball, crackers, blueberry grilled cheese sandwiches, and cookie bars were very good, too!

After lunch we had Choice Time and relaxed with a yoga segment with Jaime.  Lisa and Lexi left to bring Nan home, and took the camera, so no more pics today...but if you close your eyes and think "Namaste" you can probably picture us stretched out on the yoga mats!  A calm ending to another busy week!  

Here's what we have planned for next week:

Tuesday:  We are going to visit Christina this morning at The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg.  The forecast looks nearly perfect (very spring-like) for a walk after our visit and lunch at the park, so please bring a bagged lunch.  We're celebrating National Exercise Day which we missed since it was on Saturday this year! 

Wednesday:  It's Service Work Wednesday, so please wear Arc shirts.  We'll work in the JRES Library, volunteer at Grove, and arrange flowers for CSL.  Marisol and the corgis are coming for a bonus therapy dog visit, too.  We're also celebrating Kate's birthday today!  Sandra is providing her specialty Colombian pork and garlic rice for lunch, and we'll also have Wicked cupcakes!  Kate has requested a dance party so we'll even burn off a few calories!

Thursday:  It looks like another pretty day so we are planning to head to Yorktown for our first visit of the season.  We'll ride the trolley, walk/explore, play corn hole, and celebrate National Picnic Day, so please bring a bagged lunch.

Friday:  It's an Eaton Work Day, so please wear Eaton shirts.  We'll return to the center for lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is offering Corn Dog Nuggets or "Special" of the Day.  After Choice Time we'll end the week with a lesson about Arbor Day and a game of Musical Chairs/Hallway Jammin' Walk.

Enjoy the weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang

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!

We want to give a plug for Mike's band, Shanty Grass, that will be performing at Billsburg Brewery on April 18 for the 12th Annual Tartans & Tie-Dyes event that benefits Relay for Life!  This coincides with James City County's Revolutionary Rhythms weekend at Jamestown Beach Event Park, so you can hit up both since they are across the street from each other!

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