Friday was "Egg Day" at the Arc of Abilities and we had a lot of fun playing (and learning) with eggs. When it was over, we realized it had been an "egg-citing" day, and the last day in an "egg-cellent" week!
It began last Friday evening when Carol, Chloe, Sam, Kevin, and Chris volunteered at the Williamsburg Moose Lodge for the first of two nights of after golf banquets. The Arc of Greater Williamsburg, and our Day Support Program, are among the recipients of the proceeds from the tournament.
This was the second year for us to help our friend Patti and her friends at the Moose, and we were happy to lend a hand. The Friday night team handled raffle ticket sales and cleared tables. Here, they are all smiles with Patti!
Lisa and Nan returned on Saturday night with Patrick, Laura, Alexis, and Josie for Round 2. This team helped with taking dinner orders, issuing wrist bands, serving food, and clearing tables. They were also happy to pose with Patti, who wore her Arc shirt that night! We are grateful for our partnership with the Williamsburg Moose Lodge and always have fun when we interact with them. We were very proud of our crews and how well they represented The Arc and the AoA!
It was back to bowling on Tuesday and that was fun as usual. Everyone enjoys this relaxing time hanging out with friends.
Alexis points out the strikes and spares everyone kept scoring!
Devin celebrates his strike! He doesn't realize how easy he makes it look.
Our pizza lunch was sponsored by Laura's grandparents in honor of her birthday. As you can see, that was a welcome treat! Thanks to Grandparents Heath for your generosity.
We made a surprise stop by Blayton Elementary to see what Soup was up to in his new digs.
He was happy to see us and showed us around. Everyone was surprised to see four televisions on the walls in the cafeteria, until Soup assured them that students don't watch Cartoon Network!
We were not surprised to see Soup still using his tried and true tactics...
Could this be a group picture with everyone looking at the camera???
We made a second surprise stop after our visit with Soup. Frosties at Wendy's were a big hit on a hot and steamy afternoon!
Buddies...
First thing on Wednesday was Tai Chi. Michael worked with us on range of motion, extension of our arms, and balance. We seem to be stretching a little further each week!
This is us with the balls on our heads as we march around the room. Michael says it's for balance, but we just think it's fun and makes us look silly!
We learned a new movement this week, rotating our hip and leg. Michael took some time to relate it to a dance step in an effort to help Kevin grasp the concept.
We also celebrated Laura's birthday on Wednesday! We enjoyed a lunch of cheese quesadillas, rice and beans, and watermelon followed by a scoop of homemade chocolate ice cream which we made in our own ice cream machine that Laura's family gifted to us. Laura and everyone else is excited about that!
We had a visitor on Thursday when Becky's 7 year old granddaughter Emmy joined us for a couple of activities. We put her right to work helping us organize fraction strips for the math resource teacher at JRES. She worked just as diligently as our associates and was a big help as we rushed to finish this job before the end of the week.
We also had fraction circles to organize. The teachers returned to school at the end of the week, and our school liaison, Julie, said they were excited to hear we are planning to continue our volunteer partnership with the school in the upcoming year.
Thursday was also Peach Pie Day, but we made a healthier version. After learning a few interesting facts about peaches, such as the seed is edible and South Carolina grows WAY more peaches than Georgia, we got busy with our dessert preparation. Here, pie crust dough is wrapped around an overturned cupcake pan. The dough was then baked and became "boats" that we filled with fresh cut peaches and topped with a small dollop of whipped cream.
Each associate cut up their own peach!
We didn't get a good picture of the finished boats before they were gobbled up, but we did get this shot of Drew running off some calories afterward. We played Four Corners, which has become a new favorite game of ours.
Patrick and our visitor Emmy burned calories, too!
When Friday rolled around, it was time to crack ourselves up with some egg fun! First off, during our dance warm up we played an old clip of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers tap dancing to "I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket" and that got Bo on his feet to try tapping with Kacie. This made us 😊!
Next, we tested the fact that eggs are very strong by squeezing them in our hands without breaking them, except Sam's hand didn't exactly squeeze properly...
...which caused egg to go flying all over the place...on Carol's arm and Laura's shirt, but mostly in Kacie's hair! Can we pause for a moment to recognize what an incredibly egg-cellent sport Kacie is?! This picture was snapped while she was still in shock, but later, she laughed about it in her usual good-natured way. This makes us 😍 her even more!
It was fun checking out YouTube "hacks" for peeling boiled eggs. One of them said to peel a little bit off of each end of the egg and then blow the egg out. First, Bo stepped up to try. He did not have enough huff in his puff.
But guess who did?!
Chris tried putting a boiled egg in a hard cup (or glass) and adding a little water. He then shook it rather violently so as to crack the egg's shell in many places.
When he took the egg out of the cup, the shell slid right off! We thought this technique worked pretty well!
Our egg-citement continued when we put eggs on the floor and sought volunteers to try standing or walking on them without breaking them. Before doing this, we reminded ourselves that eggs are very strong and speculated that 12 or 24 as a group would be even stronger than just 1. We also watched this video:
We could only rustle up three volunteers, but they gave it their best shot, following directions egg-actly. So, we aren't sure why some of the eggs broke. 😲
Undeterred by already having egg in her hair, Kacie decided it wouldn't be too bad if it got on her feet, too. Which it did, at first...but she persevered and look what she accomplished!
Next up was Sam, who was really focused, but the eggs gave way when he wobbled just enough to unequally distribute his weight.
Devin was our only other volunteer. He was a willing participant but didn't quite have the balance so we didn't let go of him. He smiled and was proud afterward...as he should have been!
We still have a few dozen eggs left, so maybe next week we will try again and see if we can convince a few more of our friends to give it a try. We had five absent on Friday...maybe they will be game! (Ignorance is bliss!)
Our last and most successful eggs-periment of the day was the egg drop! Becky checked out the setup: an egg balanced on a toilet paper roll balanced on a pie tin balanced on a glass of water. The object was to slap the pie pan away, disrupting the TP roll, and sending the egg into the glass of water.
Josie whacked the pie pan and sure enough, the egg dropped right into the glass of water!
Likewise, Chris successfully performed the trick and this was his reaction at the result!
Come on, Chloe...you have to really whack it!
Show us how, Drew!
Too. Much. Fun! What an egg-cellent week, indeed!
Here's what's up for next week:
Tuesday: MYSTERY TRAVEL DAY! We are excited about this adventure. No one knows where we are going except the staff and volunteers. We think this outing will be educational and a lot of fun. You may recall that earlier this year an anonymous benefactor gifted us with a significant donation to use for outings. We would just like to note that we remain grateful for that gift, which is making today's outing (and our bowling, movies, restaurants, etc.) possible! Please wear Arc shirts and bring a bag lunch and drink.
Wednesday: Tai Chi first thing in the morning, so dress accordingly. Then, Leftovers Day! We will catch up on some unfinished projects and use some leftover food items to work with fractions while we prepare a lunch of Chicken Enchilada Casserole.
Thursday: Eggs revisited! More fun with the incredible egg, and we will prepare breakfast for lunch to include scrambled eggs and sausage. It's Trail Mix Day so we will put a spin on that by also making Trail Mix Muffins for lunch!
Friday: We welcome September and will mark National Food Bank Day by taking a collection of nonperishable foods to the Grove Christian Outreach Center. Please support this community service project by sending in donations such as macaroni and cheese, cereal, peanut butter, rice, canned fruits and veggies, and any other nonperishable food items you deem appropriate. (We will collect all week.) Thanks in advance for your generosity! Lunch on your own today!
ALSO, on Friday: It's time for the Jamestown Jams Concert at Jamestown Beach Park. The band is "Party of Four" and the jams are from the 90s. Come on out...admission is free! Food trucks are on the premises and The Arc benefits from the beer sales!
Coming soon...October 7th to be exact...our 8th Annual 5K at Williamsburg Landing! Get all the info you need for this major FUNdraiser at:
Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend!
Lisa, Carol, and Nan
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