Fun Indoors and Outdoors!

Our week began with the threat of rain, again, but the showers held off on Tuesday long enough for us to travel to Newport News and visit the Mariners' Museum.  Like last summer, admission was only $1, and we got a bang for our bucks.  Every display and exhibit is very well done and we found a lot to interest us.  

Sam, Laura, Kacie, and Chris can be seen checking the information about a couple of displays, while others are nearby.  There were more people at the museum this year than last, but we still had easy access to everything we wanted to see. 

These dishes found among the remains of the Civil War Ironclad, Monitor, captured the interest of this group.  They couldn't believe they look a lot like today's dishes, but are over 150 years old!

From this display, we learned that during the Civil War, spies from the Union Army Balloon Corps were sent up in hot air balloons to check out the Confederate troops.  

We all posed for a picture "below deck" inside a recreated portion of an ironclad ship.  Claustrophobia, anyone?

Patrick, Alexis, Devin, and Liz noticed some skulls and found out from this display that the remains of two sailors were found inside the turret of the Monitor when it was raised from the ocean floor off the coast of North Carolina.  The men were never positively identified and their remains were buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

This is another recreation in the museum's Monitor Center.  It represents the rusty turret that was recovered and which is being painstakingly restored at the museum.

Here, the gang posed in front of the turret on the deck of a replica of the Monitor, which was built at Newport News Shipyard.

Sam read about the replica.

We were excited to catch the 3D film Oceans 3D:  Our Blue Planet in the museum's Explorer Theater.  Drew opted not to wear the glasses, but he still enjoyed the film!  The theater seats about 40 and it was almost full, so this was the best pic we could get without imposing on others' privacy.  

The film took us on an exploration of our largest and least explored frontier, and the cinematography was phenomenal!  We loved seeing dolphins, walruses, sharks, coral reefs, and so much more, and we learned about a fascinating world of life "beneath the waves."

Thank you to the Daytons for sponsoring our admission and lunch at the museum cafe!  This was a very special, and generous, treat!  We turned our order in early and when we arrived, it was ready for us.  There were exactly three tables left when we got there, too.  Just enough room for our friends to enjoy a fun lunch bunch with each other!

During our walkabout, we met a museum staffer who let us take turns holding this sword from the early 1800s.  It's real...not a replica!  She also told us that back then, boys as young as age 5 would join the Navy!  They served mostly as errand boys or did cleaning and cooking chores!

Getting our orders from Patrick and Kacie before gearing up and jumping out of this plane...

These girls went around a corner and then we heard shouts of, "We found Neil Armstrong!"  Yay to them for connecting a recent lesson to this exhibit at the museum!   

If you haven't been to the Mariners' Museum lately (or ever), we highly recommend it!

We enjoyed visiting with Patrick's mom, Sue, on Wednesday morning for a while when she joined us for our dance warm up.  We should have turned on the video camera...she has moves!!  Xavier was more impressed than he looks! 😉

We decided to try something new as a side dish for our chili dogs on Wednesday.  After learning what quinoa is, we cooked some so we could make a healthy salad!  If you are a fan of quinoa, let us know, and share your favorite recipes with us.  This seed (often mistaken for a grain), is super healthy and very tasty.  Devin and Laura were excited about it, but Drew wouldn't be convinced until he tasted it.  (Note:  He liked it!)

Kacie and Kate put together a fresh dressing using olive oil, lemon, garlic, honey, and balsamic vinegar for our quinoa salad.  Yummo!

At this table, Liz, Alexis, and Chris prepared spinach, tomatoes, and cucumbers to add to the salad.

Trust us, this picture (even with a filter) does NOT do it justice!  It was sooo good, all who tried it agreed!  In fact, it was so good, we forgot to take a picture of our chili dogs. We will definitely be cooking with quinoa again!

Since Wednesday was the first day of August, we had to plan our activities for the month.  We come up with fun days to "celebrate" and then everyone helps make slips to place on the calendar.  

We also freshened up our bulletin board where we post the calendar.  Doesn't it look nice?!

We were back in our room this week for yoga.  We sit up as tall as we can and listen as Patti explains what's next!

Laura and Sam like to station themselves over on this side of the room, but Patti makes sure to engage them, too!

This is a great pose that helps to loosen up the hips, but also brings release to tight shoulders.  From here, we twist over to the left, trying to touch our right foot to the floor.  We then repeat on the other side.  Sometimes the simplest moves can yield the best results in yoga!

We have been blessed AGAIN with a gift for the program!  Thank you to Laura's grandparents for providing us with a new silver cart!  We are so happy to have one that the wheels don't fall off of!  Your generosity will be put to use every day.  Laura gave it a test spin around the room, and we're happy to report that all wheels remained in place!  (Our previous cart was a yard sale find that Carol brought to the AoA, and was several years old.)  

We can't thank our AoA families and friends enough.  You are so good to us!

Friendship Day is observed on the first Sunday of August, but we fit it in on the first Thursday!  Here are a few glimpses of "friendship" from our day.

Devin and Xavier smiled for the camera when we caught them (kind of) singing along to "Never Had a Friend Like Me" from Aladdin.

Patrick and Alexis couldn't resist dancing together to one of Pat's favorite songs, "You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story.

We broke into groups to make "Why We Love" posters for each other.  Here, Laura, Patrick, Chris, Kate, and Kacie look over the finished products.

Here's a close up of all the things our friends love about each other.  There were lots of beaming faces when we completed these!

Kate and Laura enjoyed sitting together as we watched a short video on making "friendship soup."

During their Choice Time, Alexis and Liz have been working on a large birthday card for a mutual friend who is turning 30 soon!  What great friends!

We've captured these dancing friends before.  Drew and Sam just enjoy the moment!

We spotted a mother cardinal at our bird feeder this week!  She's pretty quick and we never got a great picture, but here she is sitting on the pole!  (Sorry about the work truck in the background.)

We also celebrated Ice Cream Sandwich Day on Thursday by making our own.  Cameron appears to have baking experience.  He readily volunteered to help make our from scratch cookie dough for homemade ice cream sandwiches!  He is a whiz at measuring!

One lefty (Lisa) helped another lefty (Laura) apply cooking spray "generously" to the baking sheets.  

Under the watchful eyes of Alexis, Drew, and Chris, Kacie spreads the cookie dough onto the pans.  We then baked it in The Nina, spread ice cream on one side, topped it with the other side, and popped it into the freezer for a few hours.

Our homemade ice cream sandwich looked like this before we cut it into smaller serving sizes.  It was a big hit!

We forgot to sing "Happy Birthday" to Nan on Tuesday when we were so busy having fun at Mariners' Museum.  We made it up to her today by lighting a candle on her ice cream sandwich and serenading her with a two days' late rendition of the birthday song!

Someone suggested we paint Lexi's Gdad a rock as a thank you for the bbq he brought us for lunch last week.  Pretty cute!  We'll have to add thank you rocks to our repertoire more often!

Cards are still our specialty, though.  Here's the inside of the one we made for the Daytons after they treated us to a visit and lunch at The Mariners' Museum.  Writing the letter was a lesson for us on Thursday afternoon, as we brainstormed what we learned on the trip.  Our friends remembered a lot of interesting things!

We looked forward to Friday all week.  We had indoor fun at the museum on Tuesday, and today was to be outdoor fun at Sam's neighborhood pool!  But when we came to AFCC at 9 a.m., it was raining cats and dogs!  We had to sing "Rain, Rain Go Away" with our fingers crossed...

  It must have worked, because the weather cooperated by 11:00,  and we made the most of our day at our 3rd pool party of the summer!

 We only had 10 in attendance on Friday so it was easy to gather them for a group photo!

The friends really enjoyed each other's company.  Here, Alexis and Patrick helped Devin get into a float.

Sam and Kacie's smiles speak for themselves!

You can see, we pretty much had the pool to ourselves, too!  Kate, Xavier, and Chris didn't mind!

Laura found a dragonfly, but it was too late for us to help it...

Our friends had fun with a number of toys and floats.  Sam was pretty good at balancing on the crocodile, which is trickier than it looks!

Later, he tried to help Kate balance herself on the slippery reptile!

All that fun in the pool works up an appetite.  Thanks, Coach Teri for hosting us at the pool and providing a fabulous lunch of subs, chips, watermelon, and cupcakes!  We loved our relaxing day!  

Whether indoors or outdoors, we had a lot of fun this week!  There is more fun coming up next week, too.  Here's what you need to know:

Tuesday:  It's Bowling Day!  And we have a TREAT for lunch today.  Kate's family wants to "change it up" so they are sponsoring a Choice Lunch!  You may choose pizza, hot dog, or chicken tenders for lunch today, and fries are included!  Thank you, Thompson Family!  And let's hope the weather cooperates for a nice, long walk afterward at Freedom Park, where we will also check on the garden and hide some rocks!

Wednesday:  We have a lot going on today.  It's Dollar Day, so we will work on our money skills, and it's Lighthouse Day, too.  We will take a look at some of the prettiest lighthouses in America and make a fun lighthouse craft.  We also have a visitor coming today, college student Courtney, who is working on observation hours for a course, but we will give her hands-on hours!  😉  AND, it's Yoga with Patti, so dress to stretch!  Lunch on your own!

Thursday:  College student Courtney will be back to observe again today, so we will let her join us for some cooking experiences.  We'll make Chicken Caesar Salad for lunch with rice pudding on the side since it's Rice Pudding Day.  It's also Book Lovers Day so bring your favorite books to share with your friends, and read, too!

Friday:  Believe it or not...it's Pool Party #4 today!  We will head to Ford's Colony where Liz and her family will host us for an afternoon dip in the pool!  We will have lunch on your own at AFCC before leaving for the pool, so don't forget to bring your lunch!  It's also National Lazy Day...so before we have lunch and head to the pool, we will be "lazy" at the center...

Many thanks to all of our volunteers at the golf tournament on Saturday!  Look for a special edition blog post all about it!!

Have a great weekend,

Lisa, Carol, and Nan