Yes, school is out for James City County, but we're in at AFCC for the summer! (Except for the week of July 2-5 when we will be closed.) We'll miss seeing the "little kids" for a few weeks, but we will enjoy having more time to spend in the gym and more flexibility with our outside time. We will also miss being able to purchase lunch from the cafeteria, but we'll plan to prepare a few more meals than usual over the next couple of months! Our guys have already started suggesting recipes...
We had a great second week of June! It began on Tuesday morning when we celebrated our Special Olympic swimmers, Sam, Xavier, and Bo (who was absent Tuesday). They represented the Williamsburg area in Richmond last week and according to Sam, they all swam well and had a great time! We are so proud of them!
Next, we were off to the Botanical Garden at Freedom Park and our session with the master gardeners. First up, Linda told us that she had harvested the fava beans because they had grown too large for their space. We have learned that fava beans are among the oldest plants in civilization and are cultivated in many parts of the world. They were widely consumed in Colonial America. When grown, they are large, and the seed pod and outer seed coat need to be removed to reveal the inside, which is a large bean. They can take a while to cook, but taste kind of like lima beans. We brought some back to the center, and will incorporate them into a dish along with the other veggies we harvested today!
With Rick's assistance, Liz and Drew planted a cute little watermelon vine (with a melon already growing on it) called "sugar baby." The melon will grow to be a little larger than a softball. We hope the critters don't get it!
Laura and Diana teamed up to plant basil near the tomato plants.
Linda, and a new MG friend named Jay, guided Liz as she planted pineapple sage in the middle of the garlic and onion patch.
Kevin was proud of the carrot he pulled up!
We thought these guys looked handsome by the pretty sunflower!
Back under the shelter, Linda gave us a quiz called "Uninvited Guests in the Garden." We had to use our thinking caps to explain if certain critters were good for the garden or not. We were pretty accurate with our facts!
Perhaps most exciting on Tuesday was releasing a butterfly Linda brought in from her garden at home. Alexis and Liz carefully took the covering off the top of the jar and we all held our breath while the butterfly inched up to the top of the jar.
Linda and Jay's faces show the joy we all felt as the butterfly flew out from under the shelter.
It didn't take long for the happy swallowtail to find a pretty flower on which to land! Thanks again, to our master gardener friends, for a great morning in the garden!
It was a beautiful, mild (not sticky!) day and we were happy to get to eat our lunch outside at the park!
After lunch we walked on the path. It was warm in the sun and cool in the shade, a very comfortable day!
Freedom Park has one of our favorite walking paths.
Not sure what everyone was looking for, maybe some wildlife? It was a pretty view from the bridge. We were grateful for a perfect day outside!
The nice weather continued on Wednesday so we got outside for some fresh air and activity.
The basketballs were missing from their usual storage spot, so we had to bring the disks and footballs out to toss around.
Cameron, Sam, and Laura went inside the tennis court to toss the disk so it couldn't "escape" if someone didn't catch it!
Can you spot the football Abraham and Xavier are throwing to each other?
It was time to assemble the Arc's July newsletter mailing on Wednesday. Here's a before picture of the materials.
Here's part of the assembly crew after the job is complete! Be sure to complete your sign up sheet and return it to Bette Faye by the deadline of June 24th! Activities in July include Bowling, Movie Madness (with one of your favorites!), Arts & Crafts, and a Lifelong Learning session on health! Great options, so join the fun!
Our yoga session with Patti included a lot of work on strength building using our arms!
We learning how important core strength is to our well-being.
We talked about the U.S. Army after yoga. Their 244th birthday is on Friday and we have a lot of families with ties to the Army. We worked on lessons that required thinking and using the process of elimination!
Working together gives our guys a chance to debate their answers, because sometimes there is more than one correct choice!
In these lessons, the picture clues were very helpful, as long as they were looked at carefully. Kevin chose one match, in his left hand, but on second thought, went with the one he's reaching for with his right hand! 👏
Laura read a clue out loud as Drew and Annmarie followed along. Good work from our guys, as usual!
The second Friday in June is National Flip Flp Day, as created by the restaurant, Tropical Smoothie. You can stop by and pick up a free smoothie if you wear flip flops, and help raise money for Camp Sunshine, too. Camp Sunshine supports families of children with severe illnesses. We talked about ways to make a difference.
We celebrated during our fitness time on Thursday. We have had fun with Flip Flop Day for a few years now, and one of our favorite games is the Flip Flop Mix Up. Here, Sam is encouraging Drew to grab the other flip flop that matches the one in his hand and then run back to his team.
In this relay, we have to hop on alternating legs in order to fetch a matching flip flop.
A perennial favorite is the Flip Flop Toss, where we try to score big points by tossing our flip flops with our feet and aiming to land them in one of the rings.
Each year we get better at hitting the targets!
Some of our friends prefer to keep their "real" shoes on, but that's ok. They can "wear" flip flops on their hands during relays and toss them with their hands during this game.
Here, we were trying to pass two different pairs of flips flops around the circle in opposite directions, kind of in a "hot potato" fashion. It doesn't look very exciting in the video clip, but what we love about it is our guys singing along to the beach music!
Laura won "Best Dressed" on Flip Flop Day! 💙
On Tuesday we had harvested beets, carrots, fava beans, onions, and garlic from the Botanical Garden. Today, we sliced them up and added a stir fry "kit" (more veggies and a curry sauce) from the grocery store to make a tasty side dish for lunch. Here's a before picture. Eat the rainbow, right?!
Kacie sauteed everything for us. It made our room smell like a Thai restaurant!
Here's the after pic. Guess who ate it up??? Almost everyone!
We have a shout out to Liz, who rolls the cart down and picks up the lunches we order from the cafeteria, and then sets them out at each person's spot in the lunch room. Thanks for handling this task, Liz. 🙌 It's a big help! When she picked up Thursday's lunches, the cafeteria manager, Pam, had given us extra veggies and this container of Ranch dip, with a special message on it. 😋 The JRES cafeteria staff is great to work with and they take good care of our lunch needs!
After lunch we worked on a Father's Day gift.
We hope the dads and granddads in our families have a great day on Sunday! Here's a special video message just for them!
During our group work, we played some of the new games we recently got from Devin's grandmother. Becky's group enjoyed Scrabble, Jr.
This group played a lively game of HedBanz!
Who doesn't love that childhood favorite, Kerplunk?! This group does! Thanks again, Grandma Sarah. We appreciate these new additions to our game stash!
Friday was spent working at Eaton! Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, as off to work we go!
We had lots of PowerSlide doors to assemble. It began with Sam unpacking and Kacie adding the window piece to each door.
At the next step, Chloe and Alexis added four labels to the inside of the door piece. Nice and straight...they do a great job!
It took Kate, Kevin, Becky, Cameron, and Xavier to keep up with inserting four screws and bolts all around the yellow window piece.
Laura worked on unpacking parts from small boxes and neatly arranging them in a larger box.
Not to be outdone, Patrick also unpacked and neatly arranged parts!
Abraham and Drew handled all of the sorting tasks today. They may or may not have made a tossing "game" out of their job!
Liz and Bo made sure we got gaskets added to a lot of parts. Eaton is going through them pretty quickly these days!
After a good day of work, we celebrate with Frosties. Sam and Kate are sending a thumbs up to our friend, and Sam's grandmother, Nina. Our Frosties are courtesy of the generous gift cards she gave us last Christmas! Thank you, Nina!
Xavier can't eat dairy products, but we always bring gluten-free cookies for him. Looks like he finished them before Kacie and Kevin finished their Frosties!
When we stoppped at Wendy's today, the staff recognized us! They seemed very happy to see us, too!
When we returned to AFCC after our Frosties, it wasn't long before Drew's sister, Alex, showed up to give him a ride home. He's so happy to have her home from Florida, where she's in grad school. But sadly, she's home to spend time with her family following the passing of her Grandma Wells. Please join us in extending our most sincere condolences to Drew's mom, Donna, and her family, on the loss of her beloved mother. 💗💗💗
We're looking forward to next week already! Here's what we'll be up to:
Tuesday: We're going bowling today! It's been a few weeks and we have missed it. We'll have pizza and veggie sticks for lunch, since yesterday was Eat Your Veggies Day! Our pizza today is courtesy of Lisa and Lexi's friend and neighbor, Miss Teddy! Thanks, Teddy. Your kindness makes our day! After bowling, we will stop by Studio South for a yoga session with Kiley! Wear Arc shirts and comfy pants/shorts!
Wednesday: We will work in the Computer Lab today and have our last session with a Rotary volunteer before taking a summer hiatus. Patti won't be here for yoga, but we will still get our practice in with our video coach, Jaime. We're excited to have a special visitor today: Sam's grandmother Nina is in town from Arizona and she's providing our lunch of hot dogs and fixins'!! Thank you, Nina! We can't wait to see you again! We're also keeping our fingers crossed for good weather so we can play Bocce Ball with Coach Teri!
Thursday: We'll learn about one of our favorite animals today for American Eagle Day. It's also Hike with a Geek Day so if the weather cooperates, we will do just that with Lisa (closest thing to a Geek we have) at Bicentennial Park in Colonial Williamsburg. We'll be there to visit the Art Museums with Christina, which we haven't had a chance to do for a couple of months. We're excited to see her again! Please wear Arc shirts and don't forget to bring your lunch!
Friday: Today is Selfie Day, so we will have fun trying to get the perfect shots of ourselves. It's also National Seashell Day, so we will learn about them and try to make windchimes to put outside our window in the garden/bird feeder area. It's the first day of summer and Peaches 'n' Cream Day, so bring your lunch, but we'll make peaches and cream for dessert!
👕👕👕 Our t-shirt webstore is open through June 23! If anyone would like to order shirts, check out this link. 👕👕👕
SAVE THE DATES!
We have some big fundraising events on the horizon. We are seeking sponsors for both the WOTM Golf Tournament at Kingsmill and the Williamsburg Landing 5K for The Arc. There are multiple levels of sponsorships available for each event, so please let Lisa or Pam McGregor know if you are interested! Thank YOU!
🏌🏌 Also, families: We need as many associates as possible to volunteer at the WOTM golf tournament on August 3rd. Please check your calendars and pencil it in if you can! 🏌🏌
And speaking of our WOTM friends, the first FUNdraiser they ever held for us was their July 4th picnic in 2016. They have been designating donations collected from that annual event to the AoA ever since. This year's picnic will be on Sunday, July 7th from 12-5. Great food, games, dancing, and live music from Sammy Lee! Associates are free and it's only $10 for everyone else. That's at the end of our "summer break" week, but hopefully lots of us can come out and thank our WOTM friends for their generous support and love!
June 22 - Rotary Concert Series at The Kimball
June 29 - Aktion Club Car Wash (C&F Bank on Longhill Rd)
June 28 - Jamestown Jams
July 7 - Women of the Moose "July 4th" Picnic
July 26 - Jamestown Jams
August 3 - Women of Moose Golf Tournament at Kingsmill
August 30 Jamestown Jams
October 5 - 10th Annual Williamsburg Landing 5k for The Arc
Enjoy the weekend,
Lisa, Carol, and Nan
Lisa, Carol, and Nan
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