Goodbye, April

It seems our recent weeks have begun on chilly and/or wet Tuesdays, and this week was no exception.  It's been a cool and rainy April, so maybe all those showers will bring a warm and sunny May! 

First on Tuesday we met the MGs at Freedom Park, where we held our session indoors at the Interpretive Center.  We discussed what we had done in the garden a couple of weeks ago, and then learned about a type of plant we will plant next time:  succulents.  Here, Linda showed Alexis and Sam a portulaca plant.  She explained that succulent plants do not require a lot of water because their thick, waxy leaves can store a lot of water.

Kacie was particularly interested in the plant called Hen and Chicks!  Linda explained that the larger part of the plant, called the hen, produces numerous baby plants, called chicks!

Laura, Devin, and Patrick looked at pictures of zinnias, a colorful annual we will plant next time.  Zinnia is also the name of Devin's dog, as his friends pointed out! 🐕

The herb we learned about was dill.  For a snack, we tried dill, sea salt, and olive oil flavored Triscuits and homemade dill pickles.  Here's Cameron's face when he tasted the slightly tart pickle!

Our craft was making a bookmark decorated with dried leaves and pansies.  These were very pretty!  

We appreciate the help of so many MGs!

Imagine our surprise when the MGs said we were going to play Bingo!  It was Veggie Bingo and lots of fun.  Our gang loves any kind of Bingo game!

Chris was the first winner!  He chose a little notepad from the prize bag!

Since it was raining, and we had a nearby appointment for yoga at 1:00, the very helpful MGs arranged for us to remain at the Interpretive Center for lunch!  Here we are on our second "picnic" of the season.  They even let us hang on to the Bingo game so we could play it again after lunch! 😁

After lunch and more Bingo, we made our way to Studio South, down the road from Freedom Park, for our monthly yoga session.  Katey wasn't able to be there today, but Kiley gave us a great workout!

Yoga makes us stronger!

And it teaches us to just "be."

What a great ending to a rainy day.

We checked all day Wednesday for the sun to come out, but we only saw clouds and some drizzly rain.  So, we stayed inside and kept busy with all kinds of things.

We tried a new movement activity.  Can you guess what we were trying to do with the pool noodles?

The object was to stand your noodle upright and on the count of 3, let go of it and run to catch your partner's before it hit the ground.

Drew and Xavier weren't too sure about this.  They didn't like it when theirs fell to the floor!

We watched a short biographical video about William Shakespeare, since his "day" is April 23rd.  We then tried to talk like him by substituting "ye" and "thou" for "you" and "they," but that didn't last long!  We learned that a number of phrases we use today came from some of his plays...like "wild goose chase," "laughing stock," and "Knock. Knock. Who's there?" (It's from Macbeth!)  After that, we could say we celebrated Shakespeare!  Rumor has it that we may revisit this on Friday...sort of!

Our Rotary volunteer was a new friend this week, Stacy.  She was a whiz on the computer and worked with our guys on current events.

We planned to celebrate Pretzel Day on Thursday so we got this crew to prepare one of our favorite side dishes, Strawberry Pretzel Salad.  It needed to set overnight in the fridge.  Here, they were breaking pretzels into small pieces for the crust.

Wednesday was Zucchini Bread Day and Liz and her mom surprised us with a homemade loaf!  It was moist and tasty.  Thanks, Mrs. K, for baking it for us!  It was a nice ending to our lunch.

Our computer lab is enjoyed by friends during Choice Time.  In the background, Chloe plays a game on her phone while Chris and Sam play pool.

We had a great yoga session with Patti on Wednesday afternoon!  This is one of our favorite positions.  It's a great back stretch called Cat and Cow.  We arch our backs like cats, and then droop them, like cows.

Reaching like this stretches our spines. 

All of these positions help to strengthen our core, too.

Here we are in various stages of down dog; we were working toward our planks!

Thursday was Pretzel Day!  We learned how they are made, how they got their different shapes, and about their nutritional value.  Much better for a crunchy, salty, snack craving than chips...but for some reason, we had plenty of leftovers! 😏

We were having pigs in a blanket for lunch on Thursday, but everyone had to prep their own!

Ready to load into The Nina...all FOUR racks at once!  We 💖our convection oven!

Here's the final product with the Strawberry Pretzel Salad.  One of our guys' favorite lunches.

Once again, we headed outside and the flying disk was chosen as a game!  

We wonder if the guys realize how much running around they do chasing that thing?

We need another one!

We finished our books about magical, mythical creatures on Thursday afternoon.

We added pages on dragons, mermaids, and unicorns.

One thing we are working on is how to use a glue stick so as to make sure the corners of a picture will stick.  We have to run the glue stick around the perimeter of the picture, not just in the center.  Sam is concentrating on doing that.

We went outside one more time since it was so pretty on Thursday.  We ended up at our quiet place, the outdoor classroom.  Some of our friends chose to sit quietly and chat or meditate...but you can see Sam and Chris getting in a quick workout!

Even though we know it's always a possibility, we are a little disappointed when we can't go to Eaton to work.  Our guys really like the satisfaction that comes from that experience.  Still, we understand that things happen and sometimes Jorie has to cancel our visit, as happened this week.  Thus, we were left with a full day on Friday and no plans, so we did something we never do...watched a movie!

When we "studied" Shakespeare earlier this week, we realized that even though we had heard of some of his great works, listening to them was a little over our heads.  So, our answer to that was to watch the movie "Gnomeo and Juliet." 

It's based loosely on the famous work by Shakespeare, but more our speed, especially when we add popcorn!

After lunch the morning rain had cleared, so we met Becky at Newport News Park.  We needed to stretch our legs after watching the movie, right?!  And stretch our legs, we did!  We walked not one, but two trails, and we think it was the longest hike we've ever taken.  Our guys were troupers!

These were some pretty tall trees.

Blue skies!  

Watching turtles who were out enjoying the beautiful day, too!

Another great ending to a great week!

We expect next week to be great as well, and according to our schedule, it's definitely going to be busy!  Here's the scoop:

Tuesday:  We will make appreciation cards for Mr. Stutt and Ms. Vallone in honor of School Principals Day. Then it's off to bowling and pizza for lunch!  The weather forecast looks great so we will also take a walk at a new venue and check out a new playground!  Wear your Arc shirts, please.

Wednesday:  First, we'll take a moment to honor that classic cartoon character, Bugs Bunny, since his day was Monday and some of our guys asked if we could celebrate!  Then, it's May, so we will work on our monthly calendar and see what other "celebrations" are in store for us this month.  We'll also work with our Rotary volunteer in the computer lab and have YOGA with Patti!  Lunch on your own!

Thursday:  Tomorrow is Bird Day, but we will be working at Eaton, so we will study birds today.  We're going to put a hummingbird feeder outside our window!  It's also the first Thursday of the month, so (getting back to our regular schedule), we will visit with Christina at the CW Art Museums after lunch.  Lunch on your own AND please wear Arc shirts!

Friday:  We are expecting to work at Eaton today, so our fingers are crossed that we'll be there!  The extended forecast says it will be a very warm day, so after our day's work, we will stop for a chilly treat!  Bring a bag lunch AND please wear Arc shirts!

🌞🌻😎

Yea, it's going to be a whirlwind week!  Til then, have a great weekend!

Lisa, Carol, and Nan