After the Storm

We were back and then we weren't.  What a week!  Thanks to everyone for being understanding about our flip/flop with the inclement weather "policy."  Let's hope we don't have to deal with this kind of weather any more this winter...Meanwhile, we were in session for 3 great days.  Here's what we were up to!

It was a beautiful afternoon on Tuesday when we visited the James City County Police Headquarters in observance of Law Enforcement Appreciation Day!  Our friend, Investigator Lesa, along with a couple of her colleagues, gave us a great tour.  Of course, before we went, we got our "appreciation" together for them...

First, we made cards.  The gang split into groups for this and enjoyed creating cards using some nifty 3D stickers, and wearing the police hat Kevin brought in!

Next, we baked cookies...three kinds!  (With a sample for ourselves at lunch, of course!)

These guys carefully transfer the freshly baked cookies to the serving tray.  We hope the officers enjoy cookies as much as donuts! 😉

We forgot to take a picture in front of the headquarters building.  Perhaps that was because we parked in the wrong lot and had to meander quite a distance, and through a snowy yard (the sidewalk was icy still), to get to the front door.  By the time we got there we were just happy to be inside!  

The first room Lesa showed us was a Community Room.  Just like at the Rec Center, this room can be reserved by county residents for meetings or training sessions!

We went outside to check out a monster truck and a squad car!

Closest thing we got to a group picture. 😏

Here's Chloe being "deputized" by Officer Woodhouse!

This is where evidence is locked up.

Investigator Pennycuff explained CSI processing to us.  He's also the head wrestling coach at Jamestown High School and he recognized a lot of our friends!  

See the screens on the wall in this room?  This is where the officers participate in role plays and can actually do training in a virtual reality type of game which is broadcast on the screens.  Investigator Lesa said that is fun...and intense!

We ended the tour outside where an officer (whose name we forgot) explained how the police also patrol our local waterways in these boats.

We couldn't go over to see the boats up close because of this icy slush.  We really enjoyed this tour and learned many interesting things about our hard-working, dedicated, and brave police force!

After closing again on Wednesday because of predicted slick roads, we opened on Thursday and had a big make up day ahead of us!  We had to "celebrate" all the days we missed:  Save the Eagles Day, Bird Day, Drinking Straw Day, and Spaghetti Day!  January is loaded with fun days!

First up, these fellas took lunch duty and prepared spaghetti sauce, garlic bread, and salads.

Meanwhile, we studied our national bird, the eagle, with some reading and then enjoyed checking in with a live webcam from Florida.  These babies were born just a couple of weeks ago!

One of our activities for Drinking Straw Day included "experimenting" (aka, playing around) with color changing straws.  Here, Bo blows bubbles with his!

We made our own fidget gadgets out of straws, which can be seen on the table here, and are being toasted by these friends!

Chris tried to attach his fidget straws to his color changing straws...how did that work for you, Chris?!

For Milk Day, we reviewed what a powerfully nutritious food milk is, and then tried dairy, lactose-free, and soy milk, with or without chocolate or strawberry flavoring, for lunch.

We celebrated Spaghetti Day with one of our favorite meals, only this time we had the option of trying pesto sauce, which didn't turn out to be as popular as red sauce!  

Since it was about 60 degrees warmer than it was a week ago, we took a walk to check the pine cone bird feeders...they looked like they had NEVER been slathered with peanut butter and bird feed!

It was too wet to walk to the outdoor classroom so we took advantage of the black top and tennis court.

Our visitor is Kate's cousin, Katie, who owns a yoga studio and invited us to come for a class!  

Snowball fight!  Get 'em, Becky!  (She's from Ohio and knows a thing or two about snowball fights!)

We ended the day by breaking into small groups to do more thinking work on the topic of birds.  So much fun to see our friends work together!

We were revved up on Friday for our Eaton work day!  Take a look at the multiple tasks we worked on, with many of our friends doing two or three different things. 😀

This group worked on an assembly line where they completed photo cell plates.  This involves attaching two differently wired pieces to the plate, and attention must be paid to orienting the wires correctly.  Kevin, Kate, and Bo did that part, while Devin unpacked the plates and Laura packed completed parts and took inventory.

Josie inserted windows into power slide doors and Alexis, Nan, and Chloe added four labels to each one.  In the background we have volunteer Nancy (Meemaw) applying gaskets to the windows that go in the doors and Chris and Kacie helping to organize the flow.

At this very busy table, Bo, Alexis, Kacie, Chris, and Carol tightened the nuts and bolts on the power slide doors.  The tightening takes place after others have inserted the nuts and bolts loosely around the windows on the doors.  

Tightening the nuts and bolts by hand can be slow-going and tires our hands/wrists after a few minutes.  We have trained several associates on this job and they take turns.  Our volunteer Nancy also tires on this job so she wondered aloud if there might be a power tool available since we were at the Eaton plant.  Jorie got wind of Nancy's musing and next thing we knew, Nancy was whizzing though the tightening process with this gizmo!  (Ask and ye shall receive?!)

Kacie and Laura enjoyed getting gaskets ready for application. In the background, their friends are busy as bees.  It seems we didn't get a closeup of Patrick or Cameron, but they can be seen in the background in this picture.  We want to point out that they are our go-to guys for correctly and quickly placing the nuts and bolts on the power slide door windows!  

Alexis applied gaskets to a part we have never worked with before.  The challenge was to line up the gasket so it wouldn't overlap the edges, but would correctly surround the ring in the middle.

There are hundreds of boxes of parts at Eaton and one of our new jobs is to unpack them.  Devin, Drew, and Xavier persevered in their efforts to get these large parts out of the plastic covering.

We were also tasked with preparing The Arc's February newsletter today, so we brought it with us.  In between other tasks, Kate and Bo had time to put return address labels and stamps on the envelopes.

Jorie, the Eaton comptroller and our good buddy, was impressed with our efficiency!  It's hard to express what this partnership with Eaton Corp. means to us!

After such a productive day, where we all felt the satisfaction that comes from working hard, all we can ask is, "When can we do this again?!"  In this video clip, Lorenzo, our new friend at Eaton, helps keep the pace rolling along and Owl City provides the soundtrack!

Jorie informed us that there will be training meetings taking place at Eaton over the next two weeks, so we loaded up the vans with work to take back to AFCC.  We will most likely head back to Eaton for another day's work near the end of the month!

After all that hard work, we were delighted to be reminded that, for Halloween, Drew had given us a stack of coupons for free Frosties.  So, off to Wendy's we went!  YUM!

We were also delighted to find out we had enough time once we returned to AFCC to end the week with Bingo!  Check out our prize table!

We packed a lot into our three day week.  We're looking forward to a full four days next week, and here's what you need to know:

Tuesday:  It's Bowling and Pizza for Lunch Day!  Wear your Arc shirts!  We will also enjoy some trivia games when we get back in the afternoon, since we missed Trivia Day during the snow hiatus.

Wednesday: Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day so we will spend some time studying his mark on our country's history.  We'll also enjoy yoga with Patti, so dress to move and stretch!  Lunch on your own!

Thursday:  Everyone loves Winnie the Pooh so we will participate in some activities centered around him, since it's Winnie the Pooh Day!  We missed National Sticker Day on January 13 (Saturday), so we will also have fun celebrating stickers... Lunch on your own!

Friday:  Time for another cook-off!  This time our two teams will compete with each other in a chili cook off (chili for lunch)!

We are excited to report that our friends at the Williamsburg Moose Lodge made a $1,000 donation to our field trip fund this week!  We will be creating thank you notes for them and their Sports/Activities Committee next week.  We appreciate how hard they worked to hold a golf tournament back in October that resulted in this generous donation!

We are also excited to THANK our generous families for all of the paper products that have come in since we mentioned our Wish List!  You are the best!  From paper products to Bingo prizes to pizza and so much more, YOU are there for us. 
💙💙💙 

Wishing everyone a great weekend,

Lisa, Carol, and Nan