Our week began on a bright, sunny Tuesday morning with a visit to the Botanical Garden at Freedom Park. Our Master Gardener friends had a delightful session planned for us! After reviewing succulent plants, which we had learned about last spring, they set each of us up to create a succulent dish garden.
The MGs generously supplied all of the needed materials, which included drainage rocks we placed in the bottom of our clear bowls.
The MGs sprinkled charcoal bits over the rocks before we added soil. They explained that the charcoal would help prevent root rot. We have to be very careful not to over-water the garden. Succulents store a lot of moisture, and don't get very thirsty!
Working with the MGs is a wonderful experience. We are grateful for the many MGs who are able to join us for each session. They give us a lot of attention and help!
The MGs couldn't stress to us enough the importance of not putting too much water in our gardens. Linda explained that we even used a potting soil designed for succulents that has sand in it to also help with drainage.
Here is a shot of our pretty succulent gardens! The decorative items were a great touch. "Krafty Karen" made the birdhouses and gazing balls. So much fun!
We welcomed Laura back on Tuesday. She had spent last week on a beach vacation with her family. She brought us some pretty new pencils, and a taste of salt water taffy! Thanks, Laura!!
It was too muggy to take a walk at the park after our MG session, so we went back to the center and enjoyed some fun in the AC, including a lively game of Bingo before dismissal.
Wednesday was another warm and sticky day, so we pulled out the pool noodles and balloons and got a good cardio workout. By the time we were done, we were trying to keep three balloons in the air, and that takes a lot of swatting!
Oh, no! The rules state you must stay seated. We'll give Dev a pass since it was his first time playing with us. We're glad he really got into the game!
Kacie, Alexis, and Liz were our sandwich team! It was Johnny Appleseed Day so these girls took orders for peanut butter and apple butter, or apple jelly, sandwiches. They prepared 20 sandwiches and every order was perfect! (By the way, we are encouraging our associates to help with taking pictures and training them to use the camera. This great shot was taken by Dev! 📷)
We cooked the potatoes we harvested from the garden at Freedom Park to go along with our sandwiches. Chris and Kate helped Nan and Carol with peeling and cutting them up, and then we made hash browns. (Photo taken by Sam!)
Sam, Dev, and Cameron were in charge of preparing our apple chips. Carol used our mandoline slicer to make the chips as thin as possible. The guys dipped them in lemon juice to prevent browning, lined them on pans, sprinkled them with cinnamon, and popped them into the Nina (convection oven) and our traditional toaster oven. We had a lot!
We didn't have enough hours to bake the apples at low temps in order to completely dehydrate them, so they weren't very crispy. But they made for a healthy and tasty side dish nonetheless!
Our hash browns were delicious, and it was probably a good thing that we only had enough for everyone to get a small "taste" of this goodness...😋
During computer lab time, Annmarie and Laura worked on a vocabulary building activity. It also involves listening and following directions!
Alexis used her lab time to do more research on one of our topics from the day, Johnny Appleseed!🍎🍎🍎
During Choice Time, Dev and Chris enjoyed a game of Uno.
Patti taught us some yoga poses that would help "adjust" our bodies so that we would be better able to handle things that might cause us to feel stressed.
She explained a little about Chinese medicine, and helped us get our "chi" in order! It was a bit tricky to understand, but we felt good when it was done!
After yoga, we read The Giving Tree, a story about an apple tree that gives and gives to a boy throughout his life (shade, a place to swing, apples to eat, wood to build with, etc.). The perception is that the capacity to give is unlimited. Thanks, Kate, for bringing in a story that fit in with our apple theme!
Our yoga work on Wednesday must have really helped us feel focused and relaxed. When we worked at Eaton on Thursday, it was smooth sailing! We counted thousands of items to help with Eaton's huge inventory of parts.
Our guys use mats to place 5-10 objects, after which they then add up the total to mark on an inventory sheet.
This group was placing 5 items on each sheet, for a total of 20 per "round" of counting.
Jorie popped in to thank us for helping. Laura and Annmarie were all smiles to pose with her!
Over in the warehouse, Cameron, Sam, and Kacie counted many, many parts.
After lots of counting, Jorie had one more job for us before we left. James brought over a huge box of parts that needed to be separated. Many of our team members got right on it, including Meemaw and Becky who help us so much!
As we got near the end, Sam and Dev climbed in to scrape the "bottom of the barrel." The box was over 3 feet deep!
Coach Teri treated us to Frosties from Wendy's after our hard day's work at Eaton! We had all 17 members in attendance, so we had to take a couple of photos to get them all, and we still had trouble fitting them in.
Thanks, Teri! We love Frosties!
Friday was a day of map skills and education. We finished our Virginia salt-dough maps by first studying paper maps and trying to locate bodies of water and cities. Alexis pointed out Williamsburg to Devin and Liz.
Carol helped Chris and Dev locate four of Virginia's rivers.
It took us a long time to paint in the rivers and cities we have studied. Everyone wanted their maps to be accurate. We displayed lots of patience, and we were helpful with each other!
One of our goals with Kevin has been coloring within boundaries. Today we drew an area representing the Atlantic Ocean and told him to paint within the blue lines. Look at his work! Yay, Kevin!!
We post a lot of pictures showcasing the concentration our guys demonstrate...here's a great example with Kacie and Dev.
Chris went a step further and added the names of the states that border Virginia. He was so proud of his map. Great job, Chris! What a fun project our Virginia maps were!
It was getting close to lunch time when we finished our maps (we had to postpone rock painting...again!). We had barely cleaned our paintbrushes when Tracy and Ellie (from Parks & Rec) came for a visit and to join us for lunch! They, and we, really enjoyed the casseroles the United Way made for us as part of their "Stone Soup" service project last week. It was veggie noodle casserole and lasagna, plus garlic bread that we added. Lunch was a hit! (No pics...😔 We get forgetful sometimes when lunch is served!) We are thankful the United Way thought of us, and we are also thankful for support and friendship from Tracy and Ellie!
We worked in groups after lunch and extended our map skills a bit more. Then we had time to create the apple mosaics you can see in our windows below. Come visit us - they are much prettier in person!
Well, September is almost gone, and it was busy and fun. We hope October will be as well. It's off to a great start next week! Here's what you need to know:
Tuesday: Bring your balls! Bring your towels! Wear your Arc shirts! The AoA bowling league will hit the lanes for a couple of games, and also enjoy pizza and apples for lunch! The weather forecast looks promising, so hopefully we will be able to take a walk after bowling and also stop by the James River on the parkway to pick up a few more rocks for painting later in the week.
Wednesday: We will celebrate Mr. Howard and Heike today with a surprise for National Custodial Worker Day! Hopefully, we will get to finally begin our flower arranging class, and then give Mr. Howard and Heike lovely bouquets! We'll also prepare a baked goodie for them! (It seems our flower arranging class hit a snafu when first we had an inclement weather day, then Trader Joe's didn't have enough flowers to donate, and after that, our guest instructor, Pam McGregor had an unexpected event to attend. Maybe 4th time will be a charm?!) It's also Yoga with Patti day, so dress to stretch! Lunch on your own!
Thursday: We will devote our morning to rock painting! Our theme will be Fall/Halloween. We'll have an early lunch on your own, and then head to the Art Museums of CW for our October visit with Christina. Wear your Arc shirts!
Friday: We'll celebrate Lisa's birthday today AND National Taco Day (yesterday) with a fun taco party for lunch! We had to postpone our ghost activities last week, so we will also have them today. For fun, we're trying a game played with rutabagas, that one of the master gardeners told us about!
AND IN OTHER NEWS AND UPDATES:
We hear that our neighbors at the Grove Christian Outreach Center are in need of men's clothing donations. Items needed are pants (casual and jeans), Fall/Winter shirts, and shoes. New or gently used are acceptable. If anyone would like to contribute, we will be happy to collect and take them to the Grove center in a couple of weeks. Time to clean out closets?!👕👚👞
🏌 🏌🏌Wednesday, October 3: We hope as many of you as possible can join us at the Williamsburg Moose Lodge at 5:45 for the presentation of the proceeds from the golf tournament! We're so excited to receive this generous gift!🏌🏌🏌
Saturday, October 6: We are THRILLED that many of our AoA families have signed up to participate in the 5K at Williamsburg Landing! This is The Arc's biggest FUNdraiser of the year, and your support is INVALUABLE to us! 🏃🏃🏃
New this year, we will be raffling off four amazing prizes. Tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20! Tickets can be purchased in advance or day of the 5k. You do not need to be present to win – so spread the word to family and friends who are unable to attend the 5k but would like to support The Arc and possibly win an amazing prize! Go to our website at thearcgw.org, click on the “Donate” button, donate equal to the number of tickets you wish to purchase, i.e. 3 tickets @ $5 = $15 donation! In the “Special Instructions” box, write Raffle and include your phone number. Good luck!
R A F F L E P R I Z E S
1. Kingsmill Resort – One (1) night stay in Resort Condo, breakfast for two (2) at Elements 1010, a round of golf for two (2) on the Plantation Course or River Course (includes golf fees). Value: $760.00
2. AMF Williamsburg Lanes – 2 hours of unlimited bowling and shoe rental for up to 20 people. Value: $400.00
3. AMF York Lanes – 2 hours of unlimited bowling and shoe rental for up to 6 people. Value: $150.00
4. Earth Fare Gift Bag – Value: $50.00
Thank you for your support! For more information call 757-229-3535.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20 - Oktoberfest at Anheuser-Busch...WOW, what a good time this is going to be! It's a new FUNdraiser for us this year. Thanks to Drew's dad and our Arc Board President, Andy Dayton, for getting it off the ground!
And last, but certainly not least...
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Thursday, November 1 - We are planning an evening meeting for the families of the AoA. More details in next week's blog, but please save the date!
WOW! This was a lot of information for one week. Exciting things are happening at The Arc of Greater Williamsburg, and The Arc of Abilities day support program!
Have a great weekend,
Lisa, Carol, and Nan
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