The Arc of Abilities gang brought in the month of June with a fun week of activities, outings, cooking, and of course, dancing!
Before heading for bowling on Tuesday morning, we learned a few simple exercises that would help strengthen our hands, wrists, and forearms. We think working on this will help improve our game as it will give us better control of the ball. Once at the bowling center, the support and encouragement for each other began and the scores seemed to go up! Chloe took time to work with Xavier on swinging his arm to improve the speed of his ball while Meghan and Josie strategized about how to roll the next ball.
Meanwhile, a couple of lanes over, Kacie celebrated a roll that did not hit the bumpers and Devin was joyful over getting a strike. We never get tired of seeing their reactions!
When lunchtime rolled around, we took a break to enjoy the delicious pizza and some fresh slices of apple.
During Tai Chi on Wednesdays, we continue to work on deep breathing, circular movements (performed v-e-r-y slowly and keeping our eyes on the ball), and, always, balance. Michael knows our friends well now, and is able to provide some individualized instruction to help each of them reach their potential.
We make a lot of cards and it seems our guys never tire of putting their best effort into their creations. Here, we were making some to thank Lexi's Gdad for making the barbecue for our luncheon last Friday. These photos show the concentration put into making the cards, as well as the creativity that goes into them.
Making cards also gives our friends opportunities to work on creative writing...or in some cases, creative coloring. For Devin, we are thrilled that he is beginning to use many different colors as he strives to color within the lines. We didn't get a picture, but his smile is priceless when his friends give him cheers for a job well done. Our guys recognize that each of them makes progress on their own timeline...and they love to celebrate each other's improvements!
Our associates lead busy lives, and many of them enjoy the variety of activities sponsored by The Arc of Greater Williamsburg. With the Arc's "Spring Fling" set to take place on Saturday, we had to put in some extra dance time so they could "practice their moves" before the big dance!
And on Friday, we had to have a Donut Dance Off after celebrating National Donut Day!
It's all about balance...which is why we had this for lunch! No, we didn't order out from Panera. We made it ourselves using the convenience of rotisserie chicken, since it was also National Rotisserie Chicken Day! Yes, it was as good as it looks...
Always thinking about how to best use our time, we even combine dancing with reading when we show music videos that include lyrics!
We made our second visit to the Abby Aldrich Folk Art Museum at Colonial Williamsburg on Thursday afternoon. Christina, our guide, shared tales of George Washington. We were surprised to learn that he may have initially been interested in courting the widowed Martha Custis because she was an insanely wealthy widow! However, it appears that they truly loved each other as they were together for the rest of his life. It was also interesting to learn that he adored her two children (he adopted them), enjoyed spending time with them and loved buying them lots of toys.
We also got to see George Washington's seal, which is safely encased in this glass box. It was cool to think that we were that close to something he had used and touched!
In the Education Room, we made bookmarks. Our guys were creative in this endeavor as well, using the paper in various ways (cutting, tearing, layering) to design their bookmarks.
We learned about olives on National Olive Day! Only about 1/3 of our friends would try them, but everyone learned about the cultivation and nutritional value of this little fruit. We made olive and cheddar balls...but even that couldn't entice some of our friends to try them! Someone....(Carol!)...asked if we could make some cheddar balls without olives (what?!)...and they were a big hit. Oh well, maybe we would have had better luck broadening everyone's horizons if we had celebrated National Escargot Day last week!
Meghan liked them!
The school year is coming to an end and so will our classroom volunteer time. Hopefully, some of the teachers will leave us some tasks we can work on for them over the summer. Here's a glimpse into what it looks like when Kacie and Kate work with their young friends.
What happens when you're about to sit down for lunch and the fire alarm sounds? You rush outside of course, wondering where the fire is because you just know the school wouldn't have a fire drill in the middle of lunch period! That's right...they only do that when a naughty student pulls a fire alarm!
We missed our friend Sam who was out all week with tummy troubles. When we found ourselves with a little extra time on Friday, someone suggested we make cards for him, and once again, that personal touch came through. Sam's friends spent quite a while crafting special messages to him, that we knew he would enjoy reading!
It was a good week at the Arc of Abilities!
Here is some of what we have planned for next week:
Tuesday: Due to a glitch in the Master Gardeners schedule, we will actually be going bowling again this week. We are thankful to Sue Grimes, Pat's mom, who is sponsoring our pizza lunch this week! Please wear Arc shirts. Hopefully, the weather will be good and we can take the hike we didn't get to take last Tuesday when it was raining!
Wednesday: Dress for Tai Chi! Lunch on your own. We may volunteer at the JRES Book Fair, too! It's Chocolate Ice Cream Day...does anyone have an ice cream maker we could borrow?
Thursday: Lunch on your own. Reminder, school ends for the summer next Thursday, so there is only one more week of buying lunch from the cafeteria!
Friday: We will prepare a lunch of Chicken Pasta Salad and also celebrate Iced Tea Day, which is on Sunday!
The t-shirt store is "open" until Monday, June 12. One of the associates asked if they could wear Arc shirts every day...and of course, they could! It would sure make getting dressed a lot easier each day! Here's the link:
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Lisa, Carol, and Nan
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.