March Blows In

We watched February end and March blow in, and we wondered why time flies so fast?! We're excited about March because it usually brings longed for warmer weather.  We also celebrate the anniversary of our program in March!  But first, we had a great last week of February...

Our trip to Historic Jamestowne on Tuesday could not have been more enjoyable.  The weather was perfect!  It was a little cool on the river, but the sun shined brightly all day and the crowd was small, so we soaked up the experience at our leisure.  First up, we got Access Passes for a few of the guys, then we caught the orientation film at the Visitor's Center.  

Kevin, Nan, and Xavier settled in on the bottom level of the theater in the round and the rest of us went up "high" across from them!  Great film and very nice theater!

As we headed over the foot bridge, we had to stop and look at turtles sunning themselves in the marsh.  We were not in a hurry...our goal was to savor the beautiful day!

We explained about the excavation going on and how so many artifacts have been discovered.  Kevin, Sam, and Kacie took it all in at the church.

We continued on our quest for "the" group picture at the statue of John Smith.  Now, we just say, "Pose yourselves" and they are getting good at that part!  We'll keep striving for "all eyes on the camera!"

Alexis, Kate, and Kacie were surprised to see that Queen Elizabeth has been to Jamestowne!  Remember, she does have a connection to here!

Quick!  Everyone look at the camera while the flag is still flying in the breeze! 🤣

If one of these smarties belongs to you, ask him or her why this cannon is pointing toward the river! 😉

Look at that beautiful sky.  It was a great day for walking!

We can always count on Chris to read the historical markers.  Here, he's reading the inscription on the monument, erected in 1907 on Jamestowne's 300th anniversary, that says it is the birthplace of Virginia and the United States!

Here we are enjoying our boxed lunches at the Dale House Cafe.  That's Kacie through the window.  She and Lisa ate outside on the patio.  The staff at the cafe, led by Melissa from Carrot Tree Kitchens, was great to work with and had everything ready for us when we arrived.  It was tasty, too!

Handsome fellas hanging out by the river!

We took a leisurely break after lunch.  These guys decided to sun themselves, so we called them "human turtles!"

This cross is dedicated to the early settlers who died trying to establish the colony.  The building in the background is the Archaearium.  Inside are hundreds of artifacts found at the site, including skeletal remains.  We were fascinated by some of it!

Almost all eyes on the camera!

One last try with Pocahontas...close enough,  Fun times at "Jamestown E," as Chris calls it!

On Wednesday we welcomed another volunteer from the Williamsburg Rotary to work with us using our computers.  Here, Chuck assists Drew with a counting lesson.  Drew wasn't challenged at first, so Chuck chose a tougher level for him.  Our guys really benefit from 1-1 or very small group assistance!

Later, the computer lab was full, as usual, during Choice Time!

During group work, Becky reviewed adding or subtracting 10 from a given number.  We are working on getting this group to the point of doing this entirely mentally! 

One of the poses we learned in yoga on Wednesday was Bhujangasana, or Cobra. It stretches muscles in the shoulders, chest, and abs.  It also increases flexibility and elevates mood!  Good deal!  Chloe, Cameron, and Kacie demonstrate.

Alexis, Patrick, and Devin also worked on the Cobra pose...each in their own way!  

Speaking of Patrick, look at him stretching his legs "up the wall," which is a helpful pose to try if you're having trouble falling asleep!  But we're not sure why he had one shoe on and one shoe off!

Patti said we may have grown 2 inches today and Kate is proof.  Look at her posture as she imagines a string pulling the crown of her head toward the ceiling.  Nice seated stretch!

It's hard to get pictures during yoga that show our "best sides" all the time.  So, that's it for today!  😵

We got good news on Thursday morning when we found out that Carol's son David came home from the hospital on Wednesday evening!  He spent five nights in there being treated for the blood clot in his leg, part of which broke off and traveled to his lung.  Many of our guys have known David for years, and the rest of them have met him when he's visited the AoA.  So we decided to make get well cards for him.  Carol was happy to see the kind messages everyone wrote!

Since it's a new month, we had to remove February's decorations and begin making new ones for March.  Here, Kevin carefully added gold glitter glue to make the paper coins that would glisten for our pot of gold craft.

Wait until you see these on our walls with the other decorations we'll work on over the next few days!

Funny, we said goodbye to February, but on Thursday afternoon we went back in time to Valentine's Day.  We had run out of time to enjoy some game stations on our party day, so we made up for it today.  This station involved "mending" hearts, both large and small.  Chris, Kacie, and Drew tried many combinations before getting all of them back together!

This was a game called Roll and Cover.  The object was to be the first player to cover all the spaces on your card by matching them to what was rolled with the dice.  Sam, Chloe, and Cameron were competitive!

Kevin, Xavier, and Patrick had a blast playing Cupid's Arrows.  They had to load a cotton swab into a straw and then blow it out and try to hit a target.  This takes skill!

In the candy hearts station, the object was to see how many you could stack, but Devin, Alexis, and Laura preferred to make designs with the hearts!

Can you tell what Chris made when it was his turn?

On Friday, we celebrated Chris's birthday AND Dr. Seuss's!  We had a lot of fun all day.  

Lisa and Laura actually have Dr. Seuss clothing!

Kevin brought in his favorite book and Kacie read it aloud to everyone.  Not too many of our friends knew the story Sam and the Firefly and they enjoyed hearing about the naughty firefly who changes his ways.

Here's Carol all smiles after she returned from taking our camera to Best Buy.  The power button was stuck and we hoped their Geek Squad might be able to fix it.  They couldn't, so they gave us a new one!  Sometimes it pays to invest in the "extra protection" package!  😉 

It was sunny but way too windy to go outside so we made snowballs out of some used paper and had a snowball fight!  This was fun and actually got us a pretty good workout.

Here it is live!

Later, it was back to Dr. Seuss Day so the guys picked books to read.  Patrick and Devin enjoyed reading together.

Chris, Kevin, and Sam compared their books.

Drew and Laura enjoyed being read to by Alexis and Kacie seemed to be quietly enjoying her book, too.

Kate and Cameron relaxed on the sofa in the foyer to read their books.

After everyone's favorite lunch of pasta and sauce, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Chris and ate these yummy cupcakes!!  Thanks Chris, and family, for the treat!  

We kept working with the Dr. Seuss theme during our small group work.  This group's theme was The Cat in the Hat and one thing they did was play a game of Copy Cat.  Chris was the Cat and the others tried to copy his movements.

This group answered trivia and riddle questions from The Cat's Quizzer, one of Dr. Seuss's lesser known books.

We read The Places You'll Go earlier in the day.  When groups got to Becky, they worked on map skills!

Thinking about The Cat in the Hat as well as One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, this group guessed how many goldfish were in the jar.

Kacie won and her prize was a bag of goldfish!  There were 188 goldfish in the jar and her amazing guess was 190!  Chris was runner up with a guess of 200!  WOW!

We had one more treat on Friday.  Laura brought us these fun Dr. Seuss pencils!  Thanks, Laura!  

Another end to another fun and busy week!  What are we doing next week?  Check it out:

Tuesday:  Birthday fun continues as we celebrate Drew with a special lunch at the Bowling Center!  Thanks to his family for sponsoring a lunch of each associate's choice from the League Bowlers Menu!  Everyone made a selection and we sent the order in last week for dishes like chicken tenders, cheese sticks, personal pepperoni pizzas, and cheeseburgers.  Yum!  Wear Arc shirts!

Wednesday:  It's National Cereal Day but instead of eating cereal, we will celebrate by crafting with it!  It's also Yoga with Patti Day, so dress appropriately.  Lunch on your own!

Thursday:  National Meatball Day is tomorrow so we will celebrate today by making meatball subs on a stick for lunch.  National Pound Cake Day was recently, and since Kate's mom is known for her pound cake, she's making one for us to enjoy today!  Thanks, Mrs. T!  We will also travel to the CW Art Museums

 today for our monthly visit with Christina.  Wear Arc shirts! 

Friday:  We are tentatively planning to work at Eaton today, so plan to wear Arc shirts again and also bring a bag lunch.  If these plans change, we will send an email message with an update.

Stay warm and have a wonderful weekend, 

Lisa, Carol, and Nan