Happy Trails, Devin!

It's time for us to bid farewell to another friend this week.  Devin T. and his family are relocating to warm and sunny Arizona.  Devin is one of our charter members of the AoA, just like Chris was, and he and his family will be missed.  We spent the week having fun and making him feel special, and saying our goodbyes...more on that later.

This "week" actually began (for blog purposes) on Saturday evening.  Once again, the AoA was on the move after hours, doing our part to serve our community and represent The Arc of Greater Williamsburg.  We took a crew to the Williamsburg Moose Lodge to assist our dear friend Patti and the Women of the Moose (WOTM) with their St. Patrick's Day Dinner.  Here are Sam, Chloe, Patrick, Alexis, Laura, and Dev B. with Nan and Carol before we began our shift.

We stationed Laura at the front door with Shelly, and they took dinner orders, collected payment, and greeted guests.  We're sure Laura charmed everyone!

Patti assigned Nan and Chloe to sell raffle tickets.  Here, she explains to Chloe how to separate the tickets so she could give one to the buyer and put one in the box.

Sam, Patrick, Dev B., and Alexis were assigned to kitchen duty with Lisa and Carol.  Here, Patti trains us on the assembly line method of plating food.  Also shown is a new member of the Women of the Moose, Barbara, who worked with us, too.  

Right before we began working in the kitchen, Dev and Sam chatted with one of the Moose members.  He made it a point to tell Patti how personable these young men are!

We were proud of our guys for their work ethic on Saturday night.  Besides being sociable, we had to hustle.  Patrick and Alexis did a great job cleaning off plates, among other things!

The Women of the Moose support and treat The Arc and the AoA throughout the year in many ways.  For example, the Golf Tourney at Kingsmill is coming up in August, and in April our WOTM friends are treating us to a visit to the alpaca farm in Toano!  We are always happy to help them with events like this dinner.  It gives us great experience and allows us to show our excellent skills!  Thank you, Patti, and WOTM, for giving us this opportunity!  

We celebrated our 3rd anniversary again, with a big trip to the Virginia Air and Space Museum in Hampton on Tuesday!

We saw many "cool" things, like this lunar module that went to the moon!

We weren't always overly interested in exactly what we were seeing, but it was fun to get up close!

Volunteer Pam W. was able to join us on this trip!  Here, she helped Kacie and Laura learn about planets that orbit the sun.  In the background, Carol and Cameron checked out another way to learn about planets.

Devin and Annmarie were all smiles in this pretend airplane! 

This looked like a good place for a group picture.

Devin and Patrick checked out the very important role Hampton Roads has played in the history of aviation. 

Nan explained to Liz and Alexis some of the changes she has observed in aviation over her lifetime!

We didn't get any pictures, but we enjoyed the IMAX film, "America's Musical Journey," very much.  It highlighted the history of American music, with an emphasis on jazz and rock and roll, and our guys tapped and clapped along to the beats!  Next, we enjoyed lunch time!  The staff at the Cosmos Cafe prepared delicious lunches for us of either turkey sandwiches or hot dogs and everything was ready as soon as we arrived after the movie!  All of the staff members at the VASC were professional, courteous, and helpful!

It was chilly and windy on the observation deck, but we made the trek and got this great group shot for our efforts!

When we climbed aboard this AirTran jetliner, Dev and Nan took on the roles of flight attendants.  Dev made sure we knew how to buckle our seat belts and Nan checked that our seat backs were in the upright position!  Ready for take off!

We had several pilots today, including Liz, who seemed excited to take us to a mystery destination!

Hopefully Dev and Alexis would land us safely!

For those who like it a little quieter, there was the inflight movie playing on the other end of the plane!

We got one last group shot near the exhibit about the International Space Station.  We tried to send the crew a message on Twitter (there was an invitation to do so), but we couldn't get a connection.  We'll have to try again some other time.  We had a fun visit to the Virginia Air & Space Museum!

We welcomed Abraham back on Wednesday, but this time it was for a full trial day.  Guess what he loves to do?!  Yep!  He's a dancer!

Bo, Kacie, and Liz shelved books in the JRES media center and also stamped some new books that were about to hit the shelves.

Our Rotary volunteer and friend Chuck came to work with us in the lab.  He helped Alexis and Patrick with a math activity.  Some of the problems required working out on scrap paper!

Chuck also worked on math with Laura and Annmarie.  Their program was slightly different, but it still required them (and Chuck!) to think!

Abraham enjoys using computers, as Sam found when he invited him to join a game of Hangman.  Abraham also enjoyed doing jigsaw puzzles on the computer.

The weather could have been better for the first day of Spring, but it didn't stop these guys from going outside for a few minutes of hoops.

We are proud of the posters we made for the upcoming Spring Children's Party in Coach Teri's neighborhood!  We made four of them.  Our guys color pictures and help design placement.  Carol and Becky got everything glued in place.  Thanks, Coach Teri, for trusting us with projects like this, AND for making a donation so we can do something "fun" in the near future!  😍

Patti gave us a great yoga workout and then presented us with a generous donation from her Karma Yoga class, which she teaches when she's not with us.  The class wanted to made a donation to a worthy cause, and they picked us!  Thank you, Patti, and yoga friends, for choosing us!  We are touched by your donation! 💙

During our education group time, Laura was sent on a scavenger hunt to find a magazine in the foyer that had colorful pictures on it.  Success!

Drew had to find pool balls with the numbers 3 and 5 on them.  He remembered the two numbers and successfully found both of the balls!

This group worked on a word puzzle and had to find 20 words hidden within a "word maze."  It was a challenge, so they helped each other.

One of the words in the maze was "Arbor Day" which our guys were not familiar with, so we learned something new...which we try to do everyday!

March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day and our guys were interested in talking about Down syndrome and learning about how the chromosomes are affected.  We discussed the need for treating people with Down's syndrome as the unique individuals (and people first!) that they are, and enjoyed watching a video that highlighted friendships between young people with and without Down syndrome.

A large part of our day on Thursday was spent baking desserts for the Family Dinner Meeting we were having in the evening.  Each group was proud of their contribution!

This group made M&M cookie bars that are super simple, with only 4 ingredients!  

These friends made double chocolate cookies!  Never too much chocolate, right?! 

This crew took things to another level with their raspberry/almond/oatmeal bars...made completely from scratch!  Fancy!

We had a great time sharing a meal and good conversation with our family members on Thursday night at the Family Dinner Meeting.  We appreciate all of those who were able to join us as we shared memories, updates, and future plans!

Our associates decided to sit at their own table.  They gave the pasta and salad, catered from Sal's by Victor, rave reviews!  We're already looking forward to our next Family Dinner Meeting!

Friday morning arrived, and so did Devin T. for his last day with us.  Despite our sadness at losing another friend, we managed to have a great "Devin Day" and make lots of lasting memories.

We took pictures with Devin and his friends who were here today.  Kate, Alexis, Kacie, and Drew posed first during our dance warm up.

Here he is with Xavier, Laura, Dev B., Sam, and Liz.

One more, with Kevin, Bo, and Annmarie!  There are lots of good friends who will miss Devin!

Heike will miss Devin's hugs!

An energetic workout after lunch (pasta leftovers from the Family Dinner Meeting) was necessary because we were planning to have Frosties later as a send-off for Devin. We rocked a 15 minute aerobic routine with a highly motivated trainer that we found online.  It had great music and was fun!

Since Devin is moving to Arizona, we studied The Grand Canyon/Copper State for our education lesson on Friday.  We learned that Arizona was the 48th state to enter the Union, its state bird is the Cactus Wren, and the average daily temperture is a dry 106 in July!  Becky assisted Devin in coloring the pretty Arizona state flag.

Our guys like to learn about the states.  We just wish it didn't coincide with one of our friends moving away!

Devin is moving to Gilbert, Arizona.  We checked out a website about Gilbert and got a kick out of watching this video.  It shows residents dancing all over town to one of our favorite songs, "Can't Stop the Feeling" by Justin Timberlake.  It's so cool that Devin, who LOVES to dance, is moving to a town where everyone dances!! 😍😎

There were a few tears as the end of the day drew near.  Devin comforted Kacie, who couldn't contain her emotions when we read what his friends wrote to him on his good-bye cards.

As we all know, Devin must adhere to a soft diet.  In all the years he was with us, he never minded that we ate a variety of food choices while he always had his cuisine of yogurt, applesauce, and pudding.  But his favorite treat is a Frosty from Wendy's, so we ended Devin Day with "Farewell Frosties."  Thank you, Nina (Sam's grandmother), for making this possible.  We continue to enjoy the Wendy's gift cards you gave us last Christmas. 😍

Kate, Kacie, and Liz pulled up the song "So Long, Farewell" from The Sound of Music and sang to Devin!

Good-bye, Mr. Happy!  We wish you and your family the best.  You will be missed by the Arc of Abilities!

When we come back next week, it will be an adjustment as it will be sink in that Devin and Chris are not with us anymore.  Just like they are moving on to new and exciting adventues, so too, will we.  But as we look back on past blog posts during our memory lane walks each week, their pictures will pop up and we will smile at the good times we had with them!

Here's what you need to know for the last week of March:

Tuesday:  Abraham is visiting once again, and we're going bowling today!  Come prepared for friendly competition and pizza and apples for lunch!  We're grateful this week to Lisa and Lexi's friend and neighbor, Teddy, for sponsoring our lunch!  She enjoys hearing about the AoA!  We hope the weather will cooperate so we can check on the garden and take a walk at Freedom Park, too!  Today is National Spinach Day and maybe we can harvest a bit more!  Please wear Arc shirts!

Wednesday: We didn't have time for our Goof Off Day activities since we were busy saying good-bye to Devin on Friday, so we will include Bingo and Pie Face Showdown (by associate request) in today's activities.   Dress to stretch for yoga with Patti!  Lunch is on your own, but if we were able to get into the garden on Tuesday, we'll have a side of spinach salad. 

Thursday: Pencil Day, Crayon Day, and Scribble Day all take place around the end of March, so we will incorporate "art" into our activities today.  It's Something on a Stick Day so we'll have corn dogs for lunch since Corn Dog Day got by us on March 16! The weather forecast looks great so if it holds, we will go to NN Park after lunch to celebrate Take a Walk in the Park Day, which is officially on Saturday.

Friday:  We're off to Eaton for a work day, so please wear your Arc shirts and bring a bag lunch!  We hope everyone will be in attendance, since we are down a couple of good workers with Chris and Devin gone. 😕  Come on, team!👏

Please keep our friend Chloe in your thoughts as she was involved in a not too serious, but scary, car accident on Thursday.  She is a little banged up, but she'll be ok.  We missed her on Thursday and Friday and hope to see her back with us on Tuesday.  💛

Enjoy the weekend,

Lisa, Carol, and Nan