Hot, Hot, Hot

So, May is still Springtime, we thought?!  It sure was hot, hot, hot this week.  We survived a couple of hours outside on Tuesday (it was worth it for the chickens!), but had to stay in the rest of the week.  We had plenty of activities to keep us busy, and we were grateful for air conditioning!  Here's a look at the last week of May.

On Tuesday we had a session with our master gardener friends.  They brought some special guests to visit with us:  Carol B. from PeCK (Peninsula Chicken Keepers) and two chickens, Dot and Dash!  Dot is a Speckled Sussex and Dash is a Barred Plymouth Rock, and both are sweet and friendly!

Carol B. educated us about raising chickens for eggs.  She has eight of them!  Here, she explains that the combs on chickens and roosters can look different from breed to breed.

In this picture, we were passing around a feather from a rooster.  Carol B. explained that roosters usually have very long tail feathers.

Kate volunteered to crack open one of the fresh eggs Carol B. brought, so we could compare it to eggs we usually use.  This was one of Dash's eggs, and it had a bluish tint on the shell.  The inside looked a lot like the eggs we cook with that come from the store, except the yolk was a deeper yellow/orange color.  Carol B. said that is because her chickens get to eat more fresh food like veggies and grass.  Most chickens raised to provide eggs for stores eat "chicken food" in the form of pellets.

Our MG friend Karen grew up around chickens, so she was very comfortable holding them.  Alexis was surprised to pet Dash and find out that her feathers were very soft.

Patrick was a little skeptical that feathers could be soft, but he found out it's true when he touched Dot.  Carol B. said that the feathers on the underside of chickens were even softer!

Our volunteer Pam W. got this great close up of Dash with Sam and Dev looking on from the background.

Kevin reached up to pet Dot.  He also wanted to feel her feet!  Our guys were very interested in the chickens!

Dot can play the piano!  Unfortunately, she didn't feel up to it with all of us looking on, but Carol B. said she's pretty good when she's in the mood!

Dot decided to take a short walk around the garden path, and our guys were happy to accompany her!

After all the fun with Dot and Dash, we still needed to harvest some goodies from the garden.  Alexis and Patrick picked the last of the lettuce (it's getting too hot for lettuce in this location directly in the sun).  We'll use this in our salad on Friday!

Karen and Linda helped Kacie pick radishes, which were big and beautiful.  They will be good in our salad, too.

Speaking of radishes, Karen had been to the garden earlier in the week and when she pulled up a radish, she got a surprise.  It's a double radish!  We had never seen one like that!

For a special treat, Carol B. brought a very large bug (protein!), that she offered to Dot and Dash.  We wondered which one would get it first.  From the video, it looks like Dash got the best taste, but Dot got "two legs."  😋  Our visit with Carol B. and her chickens will be memorable for a long time!  Thanks, master gardeners, for these amazing and fun experiences!

The heat wave continued on Wednesday, but we were comfortable at AFCC.  We are lucky to have such a big space so we can easily get excercise without going outside.  This is us doing an aerobic workout to the "Funky Monkey."  

We were catching up on history and had watched a BrainPOP video about Memorial Day when Lisa had to take a phone call.  Carol was busy on another task, so when the video ended and the quiz came on, Liz and Kacie led the discussion on which answers to choose.  The BrainPOP quizzes are challenging (like SOL test questions), and we are proud to say our guys got 6/10 correct with no staff support!  👏👏

Becky began a new read-aloud when she filled in for Lisa. It's another book in the Hank Zipzer series, which is about the kid who is prone to goofing off at school.  In this story, he's trying to keep his parents from seeing the "D" on his report card and somehow the report card ends up in the meat slicer at his mom's deli shop!  Becky will continue reading until we finish it.  Liz said she's a great oral reader and makes it fun to listen! 😍

Our yoga session was great on Wednesday!  Patti reminded us to hydrate during this heat wave, and we told her we are keeping our water bottles filled!

In this move, we were trying to gently raise both our arms and legs off the floor a little bit.  We're working hard on core-strengthening with Patti.  As always, what we love about yoga is everyone does what's best for themselves!

Laura makes a modification that works for her, while Sam seems to be able to raise arms and legs at the same time.  Great job, guys!

Liz, Drew, and Patrick are at different "levels" for this stretch, but each has made lots of progress in getting there!

After yoga, we try to roll the mats up "tightly" so they will fit in the storage tub.  Many of our guys find this challenging, so we usually partner up and help one another.  So we were excited to see Kevin rolling his mat up by himself, and getting it pretty tight, too! ✅

On Thursday morning we began making a batch of Rocky Road ice cream because we would need time to refreeze the machine bowl to use again.  Laura (whose family gifted us the machine a couple of years ago), was happy to get the marshmallows ready.  We ended up postponing our ice cream treat until Friday, though.  Read on to see why!

 

After our dance warm up, Nan suggested we watch this video of a contestant on the "America's Got Talent" television show.  His name is Kodi Lee and he's 22 years old, blind, and autistic.  It was very inspiring to see him perform, and led us to discuss the importance of seeing "beyond" differences, which comes more easily for us than others. 😏  We highly recommend you Google it if you haven't seen it by now! 

Our indoor fitness consisted of a lively game of pool noodle volleyball!

We don't play this very often, which may explain why it was so engaging!  Our guys had fun with this for 30 minutes.  (Including Liz who was holding back so others could have a turn!)

After studying the history and facts of Memorial Day for a couple of days, we played a Memorial Day version of Bingo.  It had a lot of words on it that are associated with the solemn holiday.

As we played, we discussed the meaning of the terms...our guys are so smart!

When the word "anthem" was called, they launched into an impromptu performance of the "Star-Spangled Banner."  Abraham even ran up to the computer cart and grabbed a small flag to wave while they were singing!  💓💓💓

Our afternoon was filled with fun as we were treated to Jelly Belly jelly beans Alexis, Lisa, and Nan brought us from the Jelly Belly Factory they visited on their trip to California.  Everyone got a bag of jelly beans and a "recipe" card, so they could combine flavors to make Fruit Salad, S'mores, and even a Banana Split! (So we decided to save our ice cream for tomorrow.) 

Kate, Annmarie, and Kacie sported "official" taste tester hats!

Trying the flavorful Jelly Belly beans was fun...but the real excitement came after!  They also brought us beans for a game called "Bean Boozled."  In this game, beans that look alike have two different flavors:  one tasty and one gross!

We went on the Jelly Belly website to use a spinner.  It lands on the color of Jelly Belly the player has to choose and taste.  The player just doesn't know if he or she will be tasting Buttered Popcorn or Rotten Egg, Chocolate Pudding or Dog Food, Coconut or Spoiled Milk...and more!  Our guys loved it and we laughed so hard!

Here, Devin had landed on Chocolate Pudding or Dog Food.  He picked a chocolatey-looking Jelly Belly, and as soon as he bit into it, we could smell dog food!  He said it wasn't bad (LOL!), but Liz got trapped as she tried to get away from smelling his breath, which was pretty yucky!

She was "brave" enough to go next, and you can definitely sense her relief at getting Buttered Popcorn instead of Rotten Egg!

What follows are lots of pictures of our friends playing the Bean Boozled Game.  These are too funny not to post and we will get a kick out of looking back at them in the future!

Kate also landed on Buttered Popcorn or Rotten Egg, and was relieved to get Buttered Popcorn.

Laura was still thinking about her flavor, as Abraham waited anxiously to find out.  Finally she said, "It's good!"  She had Tutti-Fruti instead of Stinky Socks!

Peach or Barf?  Kacie is game for most anything, but this almost did her in!  We immediately gave her an antidote of Chocolate Pudding Jelly Belly beans!

It was all thumbs up for Abraham when he got Coconut instead of Spoiled Milk!

We had the Chocolate Pudding antidote on hand for Bo when he got Rotten Egg instead of Buttered Popcorn!  

We aren't sure if we should print this in the blog, but Annmarie's spinner landed on Sour Apple or Minion Fart!  She held her arms wide in a "ta-da" motion, and eventually smiled, which we took to mean it was Sour Apple!

Despite Cameron's apprehensive look, he said his was "good," so it must have been another Coconut instead of Spoiled Milk!  😊😋

Alexis may have been the luckiest player of the day, when her spin landed on Toothpaste or Very Berry.  She said it was "minty" so she must have gotten Toothpaste, and it wasn't even very yucky!

We were so proud of Patrick for following through when his spin landed on Dead Fish or Strawberry Banana Smoothie. (Not sure most of us would have done this one!) Unfortunately, he got Dead Fish, so we gave him the chocolate antidote as soon as he spit it out!

Drew took a risk with Pencil Shavings and Top Banana as his choices.  Thumbs up for Top Banana!!

We had Jelly Belly Bean Boozled samples left, so we may just play this game again sometime!  Wonder if we'll have as many participants?!

We kicked off Friday's dance warm up with our Karaoke machine!  It was Abraham's first time and he loved it.  He, Kacie, and Laura were singing "Happy," and they were!

We only have two microphones, but it doesn't matter.  Look at all the singers for "Let It Go" from the movie "Frozen."  Our guys love that song!

After Karaoke, we got busy working on our June calendar.  We had a few computer glitches, but everyone hung in there, and we worked through it.

A crew offered to put our lunch salad together, while the others worked on the calendar.  Devin cut basil that we picked from the plant outside our window.  Our master gardener friends gave us a pot with a tomato and a basil plant side by side (they like to grow near each other).  The tomatoes aren't producing yet, but it was great to have fresh basil.  We also added fresh lettuce that we harvested at the garden on Tuesday.

Bo single-handedly made us a fruit salad, using canned fruits, and it was very good!

Thanks to Sam's skills with the camera (his first time), we have this picture of Kacie and Devin cutting cucumbers for the salad.  Can you see Sam in the mirror?!  Nice shot, Sam!

Here's our scrumptious salad.  We were celebrating Rotisserie Chicken Day, which is Sunday, so there is chicken in here, along with quinoa, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and a lemon juice/olive oil/pancake syrup vinaigrette we created ourselves! 😋

Look who is featured in this month's edition of Next Door Neighbors magazine:  our very own Tracy!  Check out the inspiring story of how she came to be so passionate about inclusion, and all the great things she helps do for our neighbors and friends with challenges! 💜

Also in this edition is a story about one of our Moose Lodge friends, Ron, and a 1/2 page "Meet the Arc" ad that features Jason, who is a friend from Arc that most of our associates know.  This edition has lots of positive exposure for The Arc of Greater Williamsburg (not ARC, as is published, mistakenly, in the magazine).  We're fortunate to have so many friends and supporters!

Rocky Road Day is also on Sunday, so we celebrated with our homemade version of Rocky Road Ice Cream!  So good and the perfect way to end the week! 🍨

Hard to believe that with the end of this week, we are bidding farewell to May.  We're looking forward to a lot of good times in June.  School will be ending for JRES students soon, so we want to remind everyone that JUNE 13 will be the LAST DAY we can order lunch from the cafeteria!  Here's what we'll be up to for the first week of June:

Tuesday:  🏊🏊🏊 It's time for our first Pool Party of the 2019 season!  We're hoping the heat wave lets up for our visit to Kate's neighborhood pool at Kingsmill.  🌞  Wear your swimsuit and bring a towel and sunscreen (and goggles if you'd like).  Also, bring $5 for lunch (pizza and fruit).  THANK YOU to the Thompsons for this fun experience, our second at the Kingsmill pool.  We're looking forward to the Lazy River!

Wednesday:  Our Rotary volunteer will join us for Computer Lab time today.  We're also excited to have our volunteer, Pam W., coming today.  She's going to guide us in creating some art work that will be in a sale on Friday!   Dress to stretch for yoga with Patti. Lunch on your own.

Thursday:  Depending on how far we got with our art project on Wednesday, we will continue working with Pam W. to finish them today.  It's National Running Day, so we plan to "celebrate" with both physical and educational activities! 🏃  We will have a history lesson on D-Day, too.  For lunch, we'll prepare Pigs in a Blanket and Baked Beans.

Friday:  The Williamsburg Area Association of Realtors (WAAR) has designated The Arc of GW as one of their community outreach recipients this year.  They are sponsoring a Community Health Fair and we will attend from about 10-12.  The artwork we created with Pam W. will be on sale!  Everyone is welcome to stop by and we would love to see you!  (Flyer below).  Please WEAR Arc SHIRTS and bring a bag lunch as we will return to AFCC for lunch, but it may be too late to order from the cafeteria.  We will have healthy snacks at the Community Health Fair, so we'll be ok! 



Finally, for our families:  Please make note that the last day of school is Thursday, June 13.  That will be the last day lunch can be ordered from the JRES cafeteria.  BEGINNING JUNE 14, most days will be "lunch on your own" for our associates.  We are planning to cook a little more often during the summer months, so be sure to check the blog agenda each week for the schedule!

ALSO:  Please be reminded that the AoA will be closed the week of July 2-5 for "summer break."  We do this because the school and Rec Center have to do cleaning and maintenance projects over the summer, and we are displaced from our area to the school library for a few weeks.  That's a tight space, but we make it work.  Still, a week's break makes a difference, and some of the work is done the week we close!  Thanks for your understanding. 

Prayers for Virginia Beach,

Lisa, Carol, and Nan