News Flash! Oktoberfest is here!! For the first time ever, Anheuser-Busch is sponsoring a FUNdraiser to benefit The Arc of Greater Williamsburg! It's today, Saturday, October 20, so if you have always wanted a behind the scenes look at the brewery, AND you enjoy good food, music (live), games, and hanging out with family and friends, this is for you!
This week we got to share about our Arc of Abilities program with several new folks. Our network of friends and supporters is growing, and with it, opportunities for us! We're always excited to talk about the Arc of Abilities! Here's a glimpse at our week:
This week we got to share about our Arc of Abilities program with several new folks. Our network of friends and supporters is growing, and with it, opportunities for us! We're always excited to talk about the Arc of Abilities! Here's a glimpse at our week:
It was bowling and pizza on Tuesday, and a few other stops as well! First, we made our way to the garden at Freedom Park so we could pick some pineapple sage. We plan to make the pineapple sage pound cake we sampled with the master gardeners last week. Since the garden is near the bowling center, and we had time before our 11:00 bowling league, we thought we would visit the garden and get the pineapple sage and some more zinnias, too. However, about the time we unloaded the vans...it began to sprinkle and then rain a little harder. So, we hightailed it back to the van and only got a little bit wet!
We weren't able to pick any zinnias, but we got the pineapple sage!
How's this for a fearsome foursome? Dev, Kevin, Alexis, and Liz all ready to give it their best shot!
We are working with Drew on keeping his head up and looking toward the pins before throwing his ball. Today, Dev personally coached Drew before every turn!
Lefty Laura in action!
Cameron and Kevin waited patiently for the pizza to arrive!
Alexis and Pat said "ta-da" before calling their friends up for pizza and a side of Fuji apples! It was a good lunch today! Thanks to Lisa's friend and former coworker, Gerri, for sponsoring today's lunch! We appreciate you believing in our program!
After bowling, we had to go to the hospital! We have some sad news to report: our friend and custodian Heike took a tumble during the storm last Thursday night and injured her shoulder. She required surgery and will be out for 6-8 weeks! We sent Alexis and Nan ahead of the rest of us after bowling to pick up some balloons and a card, which they then took up to Heike in her room at the hospital. The rest of us stopped by the hospital to pick Alexis up (and hide a few kindness rocks) and went on our way. We wish Heike a comfortable and speedy recovery...she's in a lot of pain. We will keep tabs on her throughout her absence.
We were delighted that the sprinkles from the morning went away and by the time bowling was over, it was a rather nice afternoon, and perfect for a walk around town to hide our Halloween-themed rocks!
Can you spot the jack-o-lantern rock Patrick hid?
Then, imagine our surprise when we were about to cross the street and a gentleman in an SUV stopped for us AND shouted out, "Thanks for hiding the pretty rocks!" Wonder which one he found?!
We kept on walking and ended up on campus, where we found this statue of James Blair. We learned that he was the founder and first president (1693-1743) of the College of William and Mary...and not just some guy the new middle school is named after!
Next we ran into this friendly student named Lila. Actually, she spotted us first, thinking "is that an Arc clan headed this way?" She's an Arc volunteer and saw some familiar faces before singling out Kevin. She's his reading buddy during the Arc's Literacy Program which meets on campus every other Wednesday evening!
We told her all about our day support program...because we love to talk about it! Tuesday was a great kick-off to our fun week!
On Wednesday morning we sent Sam and Patrick to represent us at Grove Christian Outreach Center to make a donation of men's clothing! Here, they pose with Diana, who says GCOC is grateful for our donation! Come to find out, they could also use women's and children's gently used clothing, in addition to men's, so if you're in the mood to clean out your closets, please keep GCOC in mind. We are happy to be the drop-off location and will make sure all donations are delivered! Thanks, everyone!
We continued to tell our AoA story when Wisteria, Lauren, and Chandler from the Mariners' Museum visited. They plan in-house and outreach programs for the museum, and after our visit in the summer, thought our group would be a good fit for their goal of improving access to all. We are very excited about this partnership. Wisteria shared that beginning in mid-November, admission to the museum will be $1 for everyone, ALL the time! That will make it very affordable for us to visit often for hands-on lessons and adventures.... and there are many, many waiting to be discovered at the Mariners' Museum. The Mariners' team will also be able to visit us at AFCC for presentations. We look forward to the possibilities!
We also had time to make more decorations on Wednesday. Kate shows the jack o' lanterns she was working on. We looked at ideas for faces and then got creative.
We added stickers, too. We hung them on the walls in the big room and the kitchen. Our place is looking ready for a Halloween party!
Here are the posters we were recruited to create for Sam's neighborhood Halloween Party. We think they look great, especially since we choose a "scary" font for the writing! Thank you, Coach Teri, for the privilege of making these for your neighborhood association. We appreciate the donation to our pizza lunch fund, too!
Practice for "Thriller" Yoga continued with Patti on Wednesday. We worked on our "goonie" and werewolf moves.
"Goonies" are what Patti calls the extra dancers in the Michael Jackson video. Looks like we have these moves in the bag!
"Thriller" Yoga involves plenty of stretches, lunges, and balance work, too.
We can't wait to try it to the music on Halloween!
We finished Wednesday with a Mystery Doug video lesson that helped us understand why leaves change color in the fall.
We had a number of things to get done on Thursday morning as we prepared to welcome visitors from Anheuser-Busch at lunch time. They were coming for a "meet and greet" with us ahead of the Oktoberfest fundraiser. First up, Sam and Chris gave The Nina a good cleaning.
Cameron and Kevin were tasked with browning some ground beef. They were actually preparing it to go in the freezer. We will use it next week for lunch on Wednesday, but we're so busy before then, we needed to get a jump on it!
Our guests from Anheuser-Busch were treating us to pizza for lunch, but we got to treat them to dessert. It was an easy choice of what to make...Thursday was National Chocolate Cupcake Day! Alexis and Kacie enjoyed working with Dev to bake the cupcakes.
This group worked on coloring and decorating individual letters that we would put on the board to welcome our visitors from Anheuser-Busch.
We work and then we play. It was a little chilly outside on Thursday morning, but sunny, too, and the air was fresh! Cameron enjoyed making baskets.
So did Devin and a few others.
Look at Sam's form!
Kevin and Annmarie bounced the ball back and forth.
Kacie was walking around the blacktop when she spotted a Kindness Rock! She was very excited! By the way, we noticed when we checked Williamsburg VA ROCKS on Facebook that some of the rocks we hid earlier this week have been found! Fun!
We were delighted to welcome Drew's dad, Andy (our Arc board president) and four of his coworkers from Anheuser-Busch for lunch on Thursday...of course, Andy provided the pizzas, but we would have been delighted to see them anyway! They were visiting ahead of Saturday's Oktoberfest just to meet some fabulous Arc clients and get to know us a little better. Here, we pose with Sam, Kristin, Lesley, Lacey, and Andy.
Thanks for lunch, Andy! We loved it. Dev, Patrick, and Alexis said reading about the NFL teams on the boxes was a bonus!
We squeezed in some time to use the pineapple sage we picked at the garden earlier this week for making Pineapple Sage Bread. We got the recipe from the master gardeners, and we think we nailed it! Laura and Liz were on this baking team. We enjoyed a small slice of the bread on Friday morning before our trip to New Kent.
We were pretty excited on Friday morning to make the drive up to beautiful New Kent County to visit Rock Steady Boxing /APEX PT. Lexi's cousins Kelly and Scott, along with their partner, Kristin, are the owners of this recently opened clinic, and wanted the Arc of Abilities to be the first participants in their community outreach and education program.
Rock Steady Boxing is a fitness class/program designed to help those living with Parkinson's disease improve and maintain balance and muscle movement and strength, among other benefits. Coach Scott specializes in neurological rehab, but for our guys, he was just a FUN fitness coach who let us try some things we've never tried before. First, he led us in warm up exercises.
After our warm up, Coach Scott told us we would be visiting six stations, each designed to help us with things like coordination, fine-motor skills/dexterity, balance, aerobic endurance, and focus. Here, Cameron and Annmarie put on the gloves and punched until their hearts were pumping.
Becky, Dev, and Kacie listened to Coach Scott's directions on using the free weights. (Drew is in there, too.)
Kevin persevered, but bopping this bag was quite a challenge!
We have done this type of eye-hand coordination activity before at AFCC, but the challenge today was controlling the balloon in a smaller area of space. Xavier, Chloe, and Liz did a good job!
Patrick and Devin also gave it all they had when they tried the gloves!
Look at the concentration on Drew's face as Carol helps him with a balance activity.
Here's a video of us working at each station!
Coach Scott even found out that Alexis and Kevin have birthdays coming up! We got to sing to them! Thanks, Coach Scott, for a fun, high-energy class! We love your enthusiasm and ability to motivate!
After our class, we walked over to the Colonial Kitchen & Market, where Kelly and Kristin joined us for lunch. The staff at the restaurant was ready for us, and set us up in this charming room. They got all of our orders correct and the food was excellent, as were our manners!
Even though we had an active class with Coach Scott, we couldn't let this beautiful day get away from us without a walk. We explored the area around New Kent Courthouse. In this picture, Chloe, Dev, and Sam checked out a room in the very small New Kent Historical Society.
We walked a long loop past several county buildings, including the courthouse, and ended at this small house that dates back to the mid-1800s. It sits behind the restaurant and inside, it's like a museum. We read about life in New Kent many years ago.
Our trip to New Kent rounded out a busy week that found us meeting many new friends and sharing our story with them. We look forward to the opportunities our friendships will bring!
Here's what's coming up next week:
Tuesday: We will head to Freedom Park for our final session with the master gardeners for this year. It's been a great fall and we look forward to seeing what they have planned for us today! After lunch at the park, we will travel to Studio South for a yoga session with our friends Katy and Kylie! Please wear Arc shirts, comfy pants/shorts (you can change before yoga), and BRING A BAG LUNCH!
Wednesday: We're going to have a belated Pasta Day celebration today with a fun pasta craft and spaghetti and salad for lunch. It's also our last day to practice "Thriller" Yoga with Patti, so dress to stretch!
Thursday: We're celebrating Pumpkin Day a day early, and we have a lot of fun activities and educational lessons planned, including learning about the history of the jack o' lantern! Lunch on your own!
Friday: It's birthday time! We will celebrate Kevin today and are lucky to be treated to Chick fil-A sandwiches for lunch! We will end the week fun activities and games.
Note #1: Lisa will be out this week, Wednesday-Friday, and Becky will "sub" for her! There will not be a blog post for this week, but families will receive an email on Monday (Oct. 29) with a few details for the week of October 30. For now, keep in mind that Tuesday, October 30 will be a bowling and pizza day, and we will be celebrating Alexis's birthday! 😊
Also, we will have a Halloween Party on Wednesday, October 31, and associates are welcome to wear costumes. Patti will be here for "Thriller" Yoga after lunch, so plan to bring a change of clothes if it would make yoga more comfortable! 🎃🎃🎃
Note #2: The Family Meeting previously scheduled for Thursday, November 1 has been postponed until further notice. We overlooked the fact that The Arc's Costume Ball is on the night of November 1, so we don't want any families to have to choose...hehe! We will let you know when we figure out a new date!
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Lisa, Carol, and Nan
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