Before sharing our awesome week, we have an announcement to make: Lisa (along with Nan and Alexis) is going on vacation until May 23, so there will be no blog posts for the next two weeks! At the end of this post is the info you need to plan for the next two weeks. The next blog will be posted on June 1.
We began the second week of May on Tuesday at the Mariners' Museum where our friend Wisteria shared more stories about the Titanic and had some artifacts we were able to see up close!
Laura and Patrick checked out a spoon that is a replica of the ones that would have been on the Titanic. We were surprised that it looked a lot like the spoons we have in our own homes!
Kacie is smelling "cream" soap, which is what the first class passengers would have been given. It was very fragrant.
The flag Kate is holding represented the White Star Line, which built the Titanic.
This was a cool artifact. It's an actual piece of coal from the Titanic. It was recovered when the remains of the Titanic were discovered several years ago.
These were newspapers that are dated the day after the Titanic sank. We noticed how the numbers reported were "in the ballpark" but not exactly correct. We thought it was still pretty good reporting considering the newspapers got the word out within a day and it was over 100 years ago (with no internet!).
We were proud of how much background knowledge our guys had since we had prepared for this lesson by reading a book and having discussions. Wisteria enjoyed talking with them and answering their well thought-out questions!
After our Titanic lesson, we went to the Explorers Theater to watch Sea Rex 3D! It was a great movie about the prehistoric "dinosaur-like" creatures who lived in the oceans millions of years ago before dinosaurs (and mammals, including humans) roamed on land.
It kept our attention and when it ended, we were glad to know these creatures are no longer in our oceans! Some of them were a bit scary...
We got lucky with the weather and enjoyed eating lunch outside on the museum patio. It was warm, and just a little breezy, and not very humid.
We followed a path down to a small dock and got this great group shot!
When the weather is this nice, we really enjoy our walks. We were headed to the Noland Trail, and that reminds us: it's tick season! We have talked about checking ourselves for ticks, so families, please help with that. A couple of our friends have already found ticks on themselves. We will do our best to stick to paved trails for now, but ticks are in grass, too. 😔
From Bridge 2, we saw a lot of turtles, and a catfish, in the water.
Some of us who were more alert also caught a glimpse of two herons having what looked like a fight. They were way too quick for us to get a picture of the confrontation, but you can see one of them flying off in this shot. The other one is in the trees to the left.
Can you spot the baby turtle on this log? He (or she) seems to be headed away from Mom! Luckily, all of our guys kept us with us on Tuesday!
On Wednesday, we celebrated Teacher Appreciation Day by being extra nice to Lisa, Carol, and Nan! (Becky was out of town.) The Arc calls them "instructors" but that is just another word for teachers, right? First up, this group of friends decorated the board.
Later in the day we all shared kind thoughts about our instructors, and we're pretty sure they felt the love!
Abraham brought them a surprise gift, which was definitely not expected...but very appreciated!
We made pies to celebrate our teachers...and to enjoy ourselves! Cameron, Drew, and Chloe were Team Lemon and they made a tasty pie that used real lemon juice!
Sam, Liz, and Laura were Team Coconut Cream and they also created a very tasty pie filled with luscious coconut!
Thanks to all of our associates for giving us a great day! We love you guys and appreciate how "extra nice" you were today! Thanks to Kate, for taking extra pictures for us today, too!
It also made our teachers' day when we worked in the computer lab. They are so excited at how proficient everyone is becoming, and how beautifully some take the time to teach others. 😍 Today we made thank you notes for Coach Teri for bringing us a taco lunch last Friday.
Kacie spelled words and Drew typed them.
Bo and Patrick drafted a very kind note.
Working in small groups, we created these five letters for Teri, complete with inserted pictures we found online and formatted to fit our messages. We seriously need to work for Hallmark! 😜
Down in the lunch room, our Rotary friend Chuck worked with us in small groups on math skills. Today, we focused on questions about money.
Even after creating great cards for Coach Teri, we still had it in us to make one more. This is Coach Devin, who shares his gym and PE equipment with us, chats with us in the hallway, and contributes to our feeling of belonging at JRES. We think a lot of him, and wanted him to know it on Teacher Appreciation Day!
Look at us working on balance with Patti during yoga on Wednesday!
She challenged us with a number of balance poses. We had to make sure to do them on each side, too! Devin is steady in tree pose while behind him, Carol gives Kevin an assist as he extends a leg out in front. That's what friends are for!
"Wow," Patti said, as Sam held his balance like this for several seconds!
Kacie, Cameron, and Kate look fabulous in starfish pose!
Liz was amazing in warrior 3 pose, and even more incredible was that she balanced with her eyes closed!
What a busy Thursday we had! It was National Lost Sock Memorial Day! We talked about being familiar with socks that go missing, and then we had fun with sock games and a cute craft.
Here, this team is seeing how quickly they can hang socks on a line using clothespins! Needless to say, they aren't very experienced with this task!
They were good sports for trying, though!
At this table, the object was to transfer water from the first bowl to the second bowl by soaking it up in socks and then wringing it out. Whichever team got the most water in the second bowl would win.
They did fairly well with this one, and most rounds ended in a tie!
Our last game involved giving each team an identical set of socks to place end to end on the floor in an effort to make the longest Sock Snake.
This team's snake measured a little over 18 feet.
This team was a little more exact in the placement of their socks, and they ended up with the longest snake at 19 1/2 feet!
We also made some adorable "Socktopuses" which took a little longer than we anticipated and ran over into our lunch time. That may explain why we forgot to take any pictures of us making them or posing with the finished products. Luckily, Alexis lives with the blog writer, so they got a picture of Lexi's at home. It's very cute, but imagine how cute 15 of them were! We had fun with Lost Sock Day!
Speaking of lunch, everyone chipped in again this week to create a tasty casserole. Many hands make light work...at least for the cooking! Doing the dishes is another matter in our one-sink kitchen, but we (mostly Nan!) make it work!
Chloe, Kacie, Alexis, and Drew prepared the noodle, soup, and mixed vegetable portion of our dish.
Cameron, Kate, Patrick, and Bo handled the sauteing of the chicken and the addition of a delicious mix of spices.
Under Bo's watchful (and hungry) eyes, Liz topped the casserole with a breadcrumb and Parmesan cheese mixture that she, Sam, Dev, and Laura had prepared.
Nan worked hand over hand with Kevin to help him cut cucumbers for our fresh garden salad.
Also under Nan's watchful eye, Annmarie cut more cucumbers. Our guys are making strides with some of the skills they are a little nervous to try!
As usual, lunch was as good as it looks! Great job, everyone!
We worked off some of that casserole with a session of afternoon Bocce. Coach Teri came and set it up for us, and continued to give us pointers and positive reinforcement.
Everyone is focusing on improving their game, and it shows. They also take time to help one another!
Coach Teri, seen here between Cameron and Xavier, made a remark that the gang can "almost do it all by themselves!" That may be true, be we enjoy having our coach at practice! Thanks, Teri. This is a game our guys can enjoy for many years to come!
We ended the day on Thursday with the Sock Game. Each sock has a set of identical trinkets inside. We spin the spinner to see which one the players have to try and find by only feeling around with their hands...no peeking. Kacie and Alexis were looking for a little spring. Kacie found it first, but Lexi was close behind. We love their intense looks of concentration!
You're allowed to use your other hand to feel the outside of the sock, as Dev does here while he tries to locate a little wooden pig.
Annmarie raced Xavier to find the ping pong ball. She was victorious! What a wacky ending to a fun day!
💙💚💛💜 A great part of the day on Friday was spent working on Mother's Day things. We learned about the history of (arguably) the best holiday of the year...LOL! We also made what we think is our best video yet. Kate had the idea to create a tribute to our moms using the Meghan Trainor song, "Mom Song." So, this is for all the moms AND grandmoms in our village! 💙💚💛💜
Learning about trains was very interesting, and what we worked on after we made that awesome video. First, we found out that the closest Saturday to May 10 USED to be National Train Day, but Amtrak "discontinued" it in 2016. We already had plans to watch a cool video about trains, so we celebrated it anyway! In this video, we learned about types of trains, how they are powered, what the horn signals mean, how tracks are built, train safety, and much more. It was fascinating!
Taking advantage of the beautiful weather, we spent some time outside on Friday morning, too. Laura, Sam, Xavier, and Kevin played with the flying disks.
As always, basketball was popular!
For Mother's Day, we made our moms a "Love Kit" with items in it that represent the many reasons we love them so much. Bo and Kacie are seen here decorating their bags.
Patrick did a nice job on his bag, signing it "From Your Son." 😍
SPOILER ALERT: Here are the bags before we filled them with the objects shown. A few of our favorites were: A battery so mom can keep going and going and going, tissues, to thank her for all the times she dried our tears, marbles to replace the ones we've caused her to lose, and of course, hugs and kisses to remind her of how much we love her! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
These guys love their moms and their grandmoms very much!
We ended the day and week with a game of Mother's Day Bingo, just to remind US of how special our moms are.
Laura looks diligently for the square that said, "Daughter." 😍
And with that, the end of another great AoA week! As mentioned at the top of this post, Lisa is going on vacation next week and also a couple of days the following week. Here's what's coming up for next week (May 14-17) and the week after (May 21-25), as there will not be a blog post for the next two weeks. 🙋
Tuesday: We will travel to Freedom Park for a session at the Botanical Garden with our master gardener friends. Weather permitting, we'll enjoy lunch outside and take a short walk. After that, it's off to Studio South for a yoga session with Kiley! Bring a bag lunch and wear Arc shirt with comfy pants or shorts! Thanks to Tracy Newsom from Parks & Rec for filling in for Lisa today and next Tuesday!
Wednesday: Today we will work in the computer lab and have volunteer support from a Rotary friend. We'll also learn about Mark Twain, as Monday was National Frog Jumping Day and he wrote a funny story about a jumping frog! Dress to stretch for yoga with Patti, too. Lunch on your own. Thanks to Becky for filling in today and the rest of this week, as well as next Wednesday, by coming for the WHOLE day!
Thursday: We're celebrating Dance Like a Chicken Day and Fruit Cocktail Day with movement, art, and cooking activities today. Chicken Caesar Salad and Fruit Cocktail Delight for lunch.
Friday: Time for a birthday celebration as we honor Xavier today! We'll have educational activities related to Endangered Species Day and also learn about Armed Forces Day. Lunch on your own, but gluten-free (and VERY yummy) cupcakes for Xavier's birthday!
Tuesday (May 21): It's Bowling Day and that includes pizza for lunch! Thank you to our dedicated volunteer, good friend, and Drew's grandma, Meemaw, for sponsoring our pizza today! We appreciate everything you do for us, and this is an extra special treat! Weather permitting, we'll also take a walk and visit the playground at the Rec Center. Wear your Arc shirt!
Wednesday (May 22): Today's activities will center around Buy a Musical Instrument Day and Memo Day. Dress comfortably for Yoga w/ Patti. Lunch on your own.
Thursday (May 23): Lisa returns today! We will celebrate Tracy's birthday (hopefully she can join us again) and have lessons centered around Don't Fry Day (sun safety) and Memorial Day, both of which are this weekend. We'll also have a delayed celebration of Strawberries and Cream Day! Lunch on your own.
Friday: Eaton Work Day! Please bring a bag lunch and wear your Arc shirt. We'll also stop for Frosties after work, to celebrate a great work day!
💙💚💛💜 Happy Mother's Day weekend to all of our dedicated and loving mothers and grandmothers. The Arc of Abilities LOVES you very much! 💙💚💛💜
Remember, it's time to think about signing up for the WOTM Golf Tournament and the Williamsburg Landing 5K for the Arc! We truly appreciate your support!
AND, the first Jamestown Jams will be Friday, May 31 at Jamestown Beach Event Park. It's Motown Night and the band is Trademark! 5:30-8:30! The Arc of GW will be manning the beer sales and earning proceeds. Should be a fun night!
Thanks again to Tracy and Becky for filling in while Lisa and Nan are away!
See you back at the blog on June 1.
Lisa, Carol, and Nan
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