The Heat Was On

Our week began with a pleasantly cool day on Tuesday but, the heat was on by Wednesday.  A couple of our guys enjoy the extreme warmth...but most of us prefer it a little less steamy!  Nevertheless, we had a productive and fun week.  Take a look!

First thing Tuesday morning brought a standing ovation for our Special Olympic medalists Bo and Sam!  They earned gold and silver medals in FIVE events between them at last weekend's state games.  So proud of them!  They wore their medals and jingled as they walked all day long, and we loved it.  👏👏

We have hummingbirds!!!!  Not one, but three have been visiting our feeder.  We noticed on Tuesday morning that about half of the sugar water was gone, so we began the lookout.  It didn't take long before they appeared.  So far, just one at a time, but we have noticed different colored markings on them, so we know there are at least three who have found us!  When we first hung the feeder, it quickly became a magnet for ants.  Kacie's mom, Stacey, sent us an ant protector, which is the part attached at the top of the feeder.  Thank you, Stacey!  It works!

It was fun to get back to bowling after an extended absence.  Here's a shot of most of our friends hanging out and you can see how well we've adapted to the changes in the bowling center's seating arrangements.  Our guys did well keeping track of whose turn it was, and scores were great!

No, Laura didn't have a headache.  This was her cute reaction to getting a strike, "Oh no, I can't believe it."

Thank you to Chris's family for sponsoring our pizza lunch this week!  Everyone was delighted to have one of their favorite lunches again!

Sometimes the music just moves you!  It's hard to hear over the pins falling, but Elvis came on the speaker with "Hound Dog" and Devin and Kate had to boogie!

We really never get tired of seeing our guys share in each other's joy.  Patrick had just scored a spare and as he headed back to his seat, Devin scored one as well.  Patrick immediately doubled back so they could congratulate each other!

It was an overcast day on Tuesday, but the temperatures were in the 70s and humidity was low.  It was a perfect day to visit the playground at WISC.  While our guys like to call bowling "exercise," climbing up and down this apparatus is a real workout!

It's kind of surprising how long they keep climbing.  Remember, these are 20, 30, and even 40-something year old bodies!  We are glad they enjoy being active.

Liz, Sam, Carol, and Lisa decided to take a brisk walk.  The paved path at WISC is flat and good for walking, and there is also a wooded path that connects to the trails at Freedom Park.

We were super busy Wednesday morning.  Bo and Liz helped shelve books in the JRES library.  We've been doing this a few mornings each week this year.  The librarian and his assistant are very appreciative and said they look forward to our return in the fall!  They even left us some library work to do over the summer!

The Arc Newsletter Crew assembled the July mailing.  Be sure to check the calendar and return the sign up sheet by the deadline date!  

The JRES 5th graders had a graduation ceremony on Wednesday morning.  Afterward, Cameron, Sam, and Xavier helped Heike take down the chairs in the gym.  We're helpful!

We had fun talking about Donald Duck who had a "birthday" on June 9.  We watched a video clip about his origins and then colored a picture which would be cut apart to make puzzle pieces.  Here, Chris consults with Cameron as Cam works to reassemble his picture of Donald Duck.

Devin focused on getting his puzzle parts back together in the right order.

Most of our guys got the puzzle back together and here's their colorful work!

We also enjoyed a visit from Dave with the Williamsburg Rotary on Wednesday morning.  He worked with us using our computers for a social studies program.  He was impressed with our guys' knowledge in this subject.  If there was a question they didn't know, or wanted more information about, Dave helped them search for answers on the internet. 😊

Chris and Sam enjoy a game of pool almost every day during Choice Time.  They were excited this week to see that the table had a brand new cover...green this time.  Sam said it "plays better" now!

During Yoga with Patti, we worked on "yin," which is a conscious effort to slow down and be in the moment.  She led us through a series of poses, which we held in "stillness" for up to 90 seconds, while focusing on breathing evenly.  This is the sphinx pose.

Here we are in various stages of half butterfly pose.  We found out that for most of us, this was easier on one side of the body than the other.  That's because our bodies might be out of balance.  So now we will be more aware of certain postures we find ourselves in throughout the day, so that maybe we can adjust them to help bring our body more in balance.  Deep, huh? 😮  All we know is posing and stretching helps us feel better!

 Over the weekend on June 10th it was Ballpoint Pen Day.  We may not have "celebrated" this, except for the fact that Coach Teri had nabbed a deal on these ballpoint pens at a sale in CW.  They looked like little drumsticks!  We watched a video clip about the history of Bic pens and learned how the ballpoint pen evolved from quill and ink and fountain pens.  We also learned that Bic is famous for their lighters and razors, too, and that they tried to make it in the fashion and water sports industries, without success.  Some of our guys thought that was pretty cool. (The stuff of Jeopardy questions in our lessons!)  Thanks, Coach Teri, for thinking of us and knowing that Ballpoint Pen Day is REAL!

Later, we used our ballpoint pens to write notes to our friends.  Everyone got someone else's name and secretly wrote them a special message.  This was to celebrate Best Friends Day which was also last week.  We did this last year and it was a big hit, just as it was this year.  Here, Kevin had shared his sweet note to Alexis and then just melted when she reached to hug him.  😍

Liz was touched by Kate's thoughtful note to her.

Laura had Xavier's name, and she wrote him a message about how friendly he is.

Bo read his note to Devin, where he noted that it cracks him up when Devin sings "John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith."  Nice details, Bo!

Next year, we are going to take pictures of everyone sharing their messages.  Even if we have to put them in their own blog post!  Friends Forever!!

We went to Eaton on Thursday for an unexpected work day.  While we had to scramble to arrange transportation, and change up our schedule a bit, we didn't mind.  It feels kind of important to be "on call" for our job!

It didn't take long to set up and start assembly of PowerSlide Doors. Sam kept the pace by unpacking boxes and passing doors to the label table.  Bo and Kate were trained at adhering labels, and they did a great job!  Xavier, Chris, Cameron, and Meemaw finished the assembly line at the nuts and bolts table.  They assembled over 150 doors in about 3 hours of work! 

Over in what we like to call the "Arc Room," Liz and Alexis carefully unpacked hundreds of light bulbs. In the middle of this picture, Kevin and Laura worked in tandem to peel plastic film off of aluminum plates.  At the back, Patrick carefully unpacked a variety of parts, being careful not to mix them up, and Devin and Drew sorted and packed plastic units we will take back to AFCC where gaskets will be attached.  We were busy, busy!

Our Executive Director, Pam, came by to meet with Jorie and get a firsthand look at our internship work.  We think she was impressed to see the variety of tasks we handle for Eaton!

Team Photo!!  We were missing Kacie and Chloe on Thursday, but the rest of us looked sharp in our Arc shirts and big smiles!  Of course, Pam wasn't "working" so she's in her pretty Executive Director outfit. 🤣  Can you spot Jorie behind Drew?  We may need to move her to the front row next time, or tell her to put on her high heels! (She runs around in sneakers but when it's time to go out for a special lunch or have a team meeting, we've seen her switch into her heels faster than the speed of light! 🤣)  Thanks, Meemaw (who's also on our team) for taking the picture!!

Back at the center, Cameron and Kate added more soil and water to our pots. We're growing herbs our MGs gave us.

We had a few extra minutes after returning from Eaton, so Chris gave Kevin, who is generally happy just watching his friends, a lesson in playing pool.  Kevin seemed to enjoy it and all of his friends cheered him for trying something new!  💚  Great ending to a great day!

We had a lot to accomplish on Friday.  There were cards to prepare for Father's Day and the Master Gardeners, rocks to paint, and strawberry shortcake to prepare.  We realized that the unexpected Eaton work day would mean postponing Flag Day and Flip Flop Day activities to next week.  So, where to begin on Friday?!

With Strawberry Shortcake, of course!  National Strawberry Shortcake Day is on June 14th, but we were at Eaton so we moved it to June 15th because there was no way we weren't going to celebrate this one.  We divided ourselves into working teams, and got busy.

Our friend Chris had found us an easy recipe for homemade shortcake.  He, Drew, Kevin, and Devin were the Shortcake Team who mixed flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and heavy cream for our simple batter.  (They also mixed up some homemade whipped cream!)

Kate, Laura, and Sam worked with Carol on the Berry Team.  The strawberries were beautiful!

Lots of slicing and dicing.  Kate said it made her hungry!

Our Shortcake Team got the pans in The Nina and 10 minutes later, golden brown goodness emerged!

Here's our Strawberry Shortcake masterpiece!  Thanks, Chris.  The recipe was awesome! 🍓🍓🍓

While all that slicing, dicing, and baking was going on, the Writing Wiz Team of Kacie, Alexis, and Liz used our computers to compose thank you notes for our Master Gardener friends.  We made three beautiful cards for them, but forgot to take pictures.  (Look for them next week!)  Speaking of our MG Friends, we will be presenting them with a significant donation to put toward future expenses to help cover their AmAzInG lessons!  Thank you, AoA families, for your generous donations to our collection for the Master Gardeners Program.  They will be appreciative of our thoughtfulness! 

We also worked on Father's Day cards to add to the special keepsakes we made with Christina at The Art Museums of CW last week.  Hope the dads and grandads like them! 

 In case the dads and grandads don't know what the "present" is, here's Devin demonstrating how to hold a thaumatrope.  The next step is to twirl the disk quickly around so that the ribbon winds up.  Then, pull outward on the ribbon so the disk spins.  Because there are pictures on either side, the illusion will appear of a ship sailing on the sea.  According to Wikipedia (and Christina), "a thaumatrope is an optical toy that was popular in the 19th century. A disk with a picture on each side is attached to two pieces of string. When the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers the two pictures appear to blend into one due to the persistence of vision."

Happy sailing, dads and grandads!  

A couple of munchkins visited with us on Friday afternoon.  Becky's granddaughter Emmy, and Lexi's cousin Sydney enjoyed painting rocks and playing games in the gym with our guys!

Not all of our friends wanted to paint rocks, so we had an open afternoon.  Some played longer in the gym, some used the computers, and some painted.  Here, Kacie worked on a special rock to give her father.

Aren't these great?!

This is a close up of Liz's rock!  LOVE!

Another week finished on a lovely note!

Before we get to next week's agenda...

🍺We want to thank the AoA families who were able to attend last week's fundraiser at Alewerks!!  Thank you for supporting The Arc of Greater Williamsburg.  We heard you had a great time! 🍺

And if you're looking for the next opportunity to attend a fundraiser, there's one on Thursday night, June 21!  The next installment of the Jamestown Jams Concert Series at Jamestown Beach Event Park features "The Originals."  The Arc receives proceeds from beer sales! 🍻 

Here's what's up for next week:

Remember, the school cafeteria is not available for lunch again until September.  Lunch from home can include leftovers to heat in the microwave, IF we aren't traveling.  We will try to do more cooking at the center as the budget allows...we know packing daily lunches can be a task! 😜

Monday:  The Arc has NEW VANS to celebrate!!!  Pam has coordinated a huge fundraising/grant writing effort (over a couple of years) that has resulted in The Arc receiving two new vans and we are going to christen them in style.  We're also going to celebrate Mr. Mason, our Transportation Coordinator, who has been with The Arc for 25 years!!!  Please join us for a reception between 4-6 p.m. at the office on Strawberry Plains Rd.  Pictures to follow next week!! 🚌

Tuesday:  We have another double outing today, so please bring a picnic lunch (no microwave meals today).  First, we will wrap up our Spring Session with the Master Gardeners as we head to Freedom Park.  They have arranged a guest speaker who is going to educate us about lavender.  Sounds like another fabulous lesson. We're going to miss them, but hope to be back in session this fall!  After eating lunch at the park, we will meet with Katey and Kiley at Studio South for our monthly yoga visit!  Please wear Arc shirts, and dress to stretch in comfy shorts (or bring a change of clothes for yoga).  It's forecast to be quite warm on Tuesday...

Wednesday:  Today begins a three week stretch with no Yoga with Patti, as she will be traveling and we will have our summer "break" in July.  So we will have some extra time to catch up on Flag Day and Flip Flop Day activities. We will prepare PB&J (or banana) sandwiches for lunch.  It's Ice Cream Soda Day, too. So we will have small ones for dessert!

Thursday:  Jorie needs us today so we will head to Eaton.  Please wear Arc shirts and bring a bag lunch!  

Friday:  We will have fun today celebrating Pink Day!  This will be our 3rd year having fun with pink.  Wear your favorite pink clothing!  It's also Onion Ring Day!  For lunch we will have onion rings, (pink) hot dogs, pink grapefruit, and homemade pink lemonade to wash it all down!  Yesterday was Seashell Day so we will do some activities with shells today, too.

We'll make the reminders short and sweet this week:

July 3-6:  The AoA will be closed for a "summer break."  The staff thanks you for this time off and hopes you will enjoy it with your families! 💖

Saturday, August 4:  Golf Tournament sponsored by our Moose Lodge friends at the exclusive River Course at Kingsmill.  Registration and info sheets are in the "e"mail!  PLEASE share with any and all golf folks you know!  This could be a huge fundraiser for The Arc of GW and The AoA!  Also, we will need some associates to volunteer on this day.  Thanks in advance! 🏌

Saturday, October 6:  9th Annual Williamsburg Landing 5K for The Arc!  We need SPONSORS and runners/walkers!  Contact Lisa, Carol, or Pam if you or someone you know is up for sponsoring.  This is our biggest fundraiser of the year!!  Again, thanks in advance.  We can't say it enough! 🏃

Have a great weekend!

Lisa, Carol, and Nan