Halloween Fun!

We were excited all week since Halloween was on the calendar!  It's a party we plan for and look forward to all month.  The fun began on Tuesday morning when Mr. Howard stopped by with his "girlfriend" to dance with us.  He hung her back on the wall in the hallway after the dance! 😂

At bowling we celebrated Alexis's birthday!  Thanks, Lisa, for our pizza lunch today and thanks Liz and Alexis for making the cupcakes.  We do enjoy our birthday celebrations!

A few friends gathered as Alexis read the cards everyone made for her.  Such thoughtful messages, too.

We are all smiles here, but our hearts were sad as we posed with Dallas, our friend at the bowling center who ALWAYS makes our experience superb.  He informed us that this is his last week at AMF Williamsburg before he transfers to the York Lanes facility.  We are going to MISS him so much.  

Tuesday was one of those true fall days where the weather is perfect.  With temperatures in the mid 60s and lots of sunshine, we just had to visit the playground at WISC after bowling.

Up and down our friends go...

racing each other...

time and again!

This group took a walk as far as the high school before turning around!

We had all 17 in attendance on this gorgeous day!

Halloween finally arrived on Wednesday and our costumes were amazing!  Here, a couple of "good" witches posed with Morticia and a pumpkin in a tutu!

Mickey, Jesse, and Woody represented Disney, of course!

Our own Air Force officer fit right in with a biker and Jeff from the Wiggles!

Here's David Beckham with a couple of his favorite snack foods!

And it wouldn't be a costume party* without representation from the NFL!

(*Note:  We also had Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, but she must have been in the rest room when we were photographing everyone because later, when inserting these pictures, we realized she was missing.  You can spot her below in our yoga video!)

Our guys enjoyed a visit from the preschool class at JRES.  Their costumes were as cute as ours!

David Beckham and Spiderman hit it off!

Woody met Woody!  It was fun having the littles visit with us!

When he was a toddler, Sam and his family lived in a house on Fort Monroe that was haunted!  His mom wrote an account of their time in the house where doors wouldn't stay shut, window shades flew open, folks snored very loudly when no one in the family was asleep, and a coffee table snapped in two one day when the snoring got so loud that Teri yelled, "That's enough!"  Kacie concurred with Sam's family's experience and shared some thoughts about the paranormal of her own!

We followed that very interesting story with a haunted house craft activity.  Our creativity was inspired by the story! (Here's Dorothy, working on her craft!)

We also made some goodies for our party.  Kacie and Chloe decorated Rice Krispie treats to look like friendly monsters.

Liz found this cute idea online and we thought it was a great one!

So cute!! 

Everyone prepped their own mummy dogs this year for lunch, but we forgot to take a picture before they were devoured.  Luckily, Drew still had this one unbitten on his plate!

After three weeks of preparation, we finally mastered our "Thriller Yoga" routine with Patti.

It was kind of silly, but a lot of fun!

We continued our Halloween party on Thursday because we didn't have time to do everything we planned on Wednesday, like musical chairs.

And bobbing for apples!  Not everyone wanted to try, but those who did wanted their pictures in the blog...so here we go! 🍎🍎🍎

Dev won musical chairs so he got to go first!

Liz make it look really easy!

Alexis made it look easy, too!  Lucky!

Kacie was next and plucked one right out of the middle of the tub!

Sam went "by the rules" with his hands behind his back.  It's a little more challenging this way, and he had to persevere, but he eventually got a big, juicy apple!

Devin needed an assist to figure out how to hold the stem with his teeth...but look at that proud and happy face!

We love how Chris's big smile surrounds his apple!

Xavier put a completely different spin on getting an apple!  He just plucked one out of the tub with his hand.  And he enjoyed eating it, too!

Kacie used the water from the apple tub to water our outside plants.

We took some time to make cards for our friend Dallas, who is leaving the Williamsburg bowling center, and wish him well in his new endeavor at the York bowling center. 

Some of our friends bowl in Williamsburg on Friday nights with Special Olympics.  Here's a picture of a few of them giving our cards to Dallas.

Heike stopped by on Thursday!  We were happy to hear that her recovery is going well.  She still has considerable pain in her shoulder, especially when trying to sleep, but hopefully physical therapy will help with that.  She thinks she may be able to return in early December.

Bicentennial Park called us for a walk on a beautiful afternoon before our visit to the art museums.

Laura and Devin, walking pals!

Our November lesson with Christina centered around the exhibit on Navajo Weaving.  We learned that the process of weaving is very involved and time-consuming, and that no two woven pieces are ever exactly the same.  Here, Christina asked us to look at the exhibit and find a favorite piece.  She then had us share what we liked about it.

Next, we tried our hands at a weaving activity.  This was challenging!  The over-under-over-under technique is something we are going to work on during the next month, as Christina sent us back with plenty of supplies to finish our small samples.

Chris demonstrates how much focus it takes to master the pattern of over-under.

It was rainy and kind of dark Friday morning, which makes it  perfect for a disco ball dance party!

The rain eased off and some of our friends went for a walk during "recess" but others chose to have indoor fun.  Alexis and Devin tried out the Foosball table.

Drew, Sam, Kevin, and Chris enjoyed a game of indoor corn hole!

We made a little snack since we had run out of time on Halloween.

Witch fingers...yum?!?!?

We took down all of the Halloween decorations.  We will decorate for Thanksgiving next week, since it is less than THREE weeks away!

No, Chloe isn't climbing the walls!  She was reaching up to remove all of the left behind "sticky stuff"' we hang things with!

Mr. Stutt popped in to visit.  We can't remember the last time we saw him.  He said this school year has him "hopping."

During Choice Time, Xavier played several rounds of Concentration with cards that have pictures of our adventures on them.

Kevin's mom recently loaned us a dehydrator machine.  We had a few apples left over from yesterday's bobbing activity, so we sliced them up and put them in.  After about 5 hours they were partially dehydrated.  We thought they tasted pretty good, too!  We'll keep experimenting to see if we can find a fruit or veggie that will dehydrate during a day's time, since we can't leave the machine on overnight.

We ended the week with a science lesson.  First, Mystery Doug (video series) taught us about different kinds of spiders, including showing us the largest one that has been discovered so far.  Next, we completed an activity where we used string to make our paper spiders run away from us, instead of us running away from them!  

It took teamwork to get the spider to "run."

It was a lot of fun!

With that, our week was over!  October is a memory and November is here.  Hard to believe how quickly 2018 is zipping by!  Here's what we're up to next week:

Tuesday:  We hope for nice weather today as we are making a return trip to the American Revolution Museum in Yorktown.  When we visited in September, we covered most of the inside so now we will visit the farm and encampment area on the outside, and also visit the nearby battlefields.  Please bring a bag lunch and wear your Arc shirts!

Wednesday:  Today we welcome the Rotary Club volunteers back who will work with us in our computer lab, which they generously donated to us last summer.  We'll also have Yoga w/ Patti, so dress comfortably!  Lunch on your own.

Thursday:  We will welcome visitors from the James City County LEAD Class.  Their topic is "A Bridge to Lifelong Learning" and they are here to see how The Arc of Greater Williamsburg, through our Arc of Abilities day support program, provides an opportunity for adults with disabilities to continue to lead stimulating and productive lives once they age out of high school programs.  Mexican Chicken and Rice Casserole w/ Side Salad for lunch! 

Friday:  It's been a while, but we are headed back to Eaton for a work day, so wear your Arc shirts!  We're also celebrating Elizabeth's birthday!! 🎈🎂 Her family is providing Subway sandwiches for lunch!  Thanks, Kline family!  What a special treat! 

Friday Evening, 6-8 p.m. - Please join The Arc of GW and Colonial Folk Art & Juxtaposition Gallery for an Open House featuring several "Arctists" who will have their work on display, as well as items for sale.  Proceeds will benefit The Arc.  Light hors d'oevres and beverages will be available.  The AoA's very own Alexis and Kate are among the featured Arctists!  The Gallery is located at 110 Bacon Avenue, and parking is tight, but the lot across the street at Chesapeake Bank will be available.  Hope to see you there!

Update on the previously scheduled Family Meeting:  We have decided to postpone this meeting for the time being.  Families, please check this blog post each week for updates!

Have a great weekend,  

Lisa, Carol, and Nan