Hello May

Spring rolls on and we welcomed the month of May this week with beautiful weather, the addition of a new associate, a couple of fun outings, a special treat from our friends at James River Elementary, and a surprise visitor.  And that's just for starters!  Enjoy a glimpse at our week...

It was Bowling Tuesday and the gang continued to enjoy each other's accomplishments with lots of cheers and high fives...is that why it takes us forever to finish two games?! We're not complaining.  Friendship rocks!

Yay for Josie's first strike ever!

What Nancy?  That's two strikes in the same game?!

Kate picked up a spare and if you look closely you'll see Chloe watching what became a spare as well!

Our friend Becca from Parks & Rec joined us this week and here she gets to know our newest associate, Xavier.  We welcome Xavier and his mom, Leah, to the Arc of Abilities family!

After bowling we took a walk at the Rec Center's path along Ironbound Road.  Don't we look fabulous in our Arc shirts?  Thanks to everyone for trying hard to remember to wear them on our outing days!!

We couldn't pass up an opportunity to visit the playground.  What a gorgeous spring day it was!

Michael surprised us on Wednesday with a new spin on our Tai Chi workout - "Tai Chi Chair!"  He explained that this was another way we could work on flexibility and balance, and we liked it.  It's not as easy as it looks to extend your arms and raise your feet off the floor at the same time, but we persevered - as usual! 

We got the giggles when Michael asked us to try the same move while squeezing the ball between our knees!

Michael thanked Sam, Alexis, Meghan, and Nancy who were able to come to his outdoor class at Veterans Park last Sunday.  It was quite warm so he held the class under a shady tree, and our friends made it look so easy...because it is!

We also had visitors on Wednesday when Erin and Devin from the Arc Board of Directors stopped by to see us in action.  What they didn't know is that we put visitors into our action!  Here, they joined us in a game of hot potato in the outdoor classroom!

It's been a while since we highlighted the options our associates have during Choice Time.  In this picture, Josie is singing along to her favorite Taylor Swift song.

Nancy and Kevin generally enjoy jigsaw puzzles.

In this shot, Alexis, Devin, and Drew enjoy listening to music on Drew's iPad...when Devin suddenly switches to a silly singing voice and Alexis captures him on video.  

Patrick keeps up with the latest baseball scores and stats!

Chris and Sam enjoy a game of pool!  Sam will be traveling next week and Chris will miss this daily ritual between the two of them.

Meanwhile, Meghan and Kacie enjoy some girl talk while Chloe relaxes with a book.  All is well in the world during Choice Time!

Wednesday afternoon was beautiful in the Community Garden.  It was also National Garden Meditation Day and many of our friends chose to relax and enjoy the setting,  But for a few of them, there were chores to be completed and they volunteered for the challenges!

Alexis rakes some debris in a tight spot.

Chris made several trips to the compost pile.

Meghan emptied coffee grounds into the compost.

WOW!  Thursday was so much fun!  It began in the JRES cafeteria where we were invited to the Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast.  We were welcomed and thanked for our dedication to the Thursday morning work we do.  While we were enjoying breakfast, the guy in the red shirt showed up...and next thing we knew we were meeting a real-life NFL player!

This is Mike Leach, who played for The Tribe at W&M before spending 16 years in the NFL where he played for Tennessee, Denver, and finally, the Arizona Cardinals.  He shared fun stories of his playing days, answered a lot of questions, and then posed for pictures!  Our guys were delighted by this visit and asked the best questions!  Mike's children attend JRES (he retired to Williamsburg) and he said he would be happy to come back again sometime.  

Mr. Howard, who is the "quiet" custodian (as opposed to Soup the Showman...lol), arranged this visit so of course, we made him one of our signature group thank you cards.  Once again, we are reminded of how much our program is accepted and valued at JRES.

Our fun Thursday continued after lunch when we visited the Abby Aldrich Folk Art Museum in Colonial Williamsburg.  We looked for examples of art that incorporated flowers, and found them in oil paintings, on porcelain, carved into wood, on textiles, and stamped onto silver.  Our hands-on part of the visit included creating stencil designs.  We will be visiting the museum on a monthly basis for a series of lessons! 

Meghan, Kacie, Josie, and Alexis were interested in hearing that some of these porcelain dish pieces were actually found in the ground around CW and are over 200 years old!

Here, our fabulous guide, Christina, works with a group on their stencil designs.  She made sure to ask about topics we might find interesting for our future visits.  Her rapport with our group was beautiful.  We are blessed by opportunities like this!

 Friday was, compared to the rest of the week, a "quiet day at home."  Yes, we celebrated Cinco de Mayo, but we enjoyed a slower pace as we made several thank you notes and just enjoyed hanging out with each other.  We helped Teri celebrate her birthday and then she treated us to the revealing of two family trees!

Dressed in the colors of Mexico, Alexis and Kacie enjoy dancing to Mariachi music during our morning dance warm up!

Our colorful cafeteria decorations for Cinco de Mayo!

What a treat when Bo pulled out his ukulele to serenade Teri with "Happy Birthday!" 

Liz was tickled to find out that someone down her family line is a relation to the actor who played Goober on The Andy Griffith Show!  Teri also told Liz that one of her great, great, great uncles was best buds with President Theodore Roosevelt and had a hand in helping Teddy create our National Park System!

Here, Patrick is very interested as Teri explains that his lineage includes a connection to a current living "famous" person...albeit someone in England.  Patrick has a famous relative in a British band called Wilkinson.  Makes sense, as Pat's family enjoys live music every chance they get.

Later, Teri informed Patrick that another of his distant relatives once played ball with Shoeless Joe Jackson of the NY Yankees.  Pat's friends were excited for him to learn this news as they know how much Patrick LOVES baseball!

What another great week at the Arc of Abilities!

Here's what's up for next week...

Tuesday:  We will work at the Botanical Garden with our master gardener friends.  Please wear Arc shirts and bring a bag lunch!

Wednesday:  Dress for Tai Chi!  Kate and the Thompson family gifted us with an over-sized toaster oven last week...THANKS, Thompsons!  So we will put it to use today as we prepare a chicken casserole for lunch!

Thursday:  Volunteer Day at JRES; lunch on your own.

Friday:  PB&J Buffet for lunch!

Finally, we have a special drumming event coming up on May 19th...we will be making our own drums this week!  Please look for a letter about this coming home with your loved ones on TUESDAY!

Have a great weekend,

Lisa, Carol, and Nan