Hurricane Dorian Week

September 2019 is here!  We'll welcome the (hopefully) cooler weather as Fall approaches and chances to be outside more often. But we're not excited about Hurricane Season heating up.  We're thankful Dorian didn't impact Florida too badly, but we also have loved ones in the AoA family along the coasts of the Carolinas, so we hope they fare well.  As we finish up this blog post, things don't seem too bad in Williamsburg, so we feel fortunate for lesser impacts.  Hopefully our Newport News and York County families will not be too badly impacted, either.  

As a reminder, the AoA's policy is to close when WJCC schools close.  The main reason is for safety.  As you know, there is only one way to get to AFCC, and that's via Rt. 60, which floods in the Grove area during less than heavy rainfall, so during a predicted tropical storm, might be impassable.  But we also do not have entry to the Rec Center when the school is closed.  The AFCC officially opens at 4 p.m., so we depend on school staff to let us in each morning.  We appreciate everyone's understanding when we have to close due to "impending" weather...that we realize doesn't always become severe.  Better safe than sorry!  We had a great 3 day week, though!

It began with a celebration of U.S. Bowling League Day on Tuesday.  It happened that it actually fell on a bowling day for us, so we made special cookies for us and our friends at AMF Williamsburg.  

Ed, the manager, was working on Tuesday morning (he usually does later shifts) and was thrilled with our gesture of appreciation!  He shared it on his Instragram!  We always enjoy seeing Ed!

Sam and Kevin headed to their lanes to kick things off for us.  

Cameron and Liz focused on their turns.

Abraham was practicing looking at the pins when he rolls instead of at the floor.  (Next we will practice getting a little closer to the line before staring down the pins! 😉)

Chloe was excited to give Carol a high-five after she made a strike!

Little did Chloe know she was about to make 3 strikes in a row, also known as a turkey! We learned today that the term "turkey" may have come from the late 1800s when bowling clubs would offer a free turkey around Thanksgiving time for any player rolling three strikes in a row.  Now, you know, too!

Chloe's friends celebrated her 🦃 in their own unique way!

There were three little sugar baby watermelons waiting to be picked when we walked over to the garden at Freedom Park after bowling.

Kacie did the picking; we enjoyed them with lunch on Wednesday.  One of them wasn't all the way ripe, but they still tasted good to us!

On Wednesday morning we divided up the tasks for creating our September calendar.  Some of us used the laptops while others creatively colored in large letters that spell SEPTEMBER.

Nan and Sam were working on one of the calendar squares and needed Liz's help with a formatting issue.  She helped them get back on track!

Abraham learned how to insert an online picture into his calendar document!

We put the letters on the wall between the windows.  Look how artsy it is!  Next week we're going to make some Fall crafts to fill in around it. 

We turned our room into a "gym" for fun with the pool noodles and balloons.  This is an energetic workout, even though you're not supposed to get off your chair!

Nan has an abundance of okra in her garden.  Since it's a popular southern veggie that we had talked about during our South Carolina lesson last week, she brought some in and cooked it two ways for us:  boiled and fried.  Not everyone tried it, but those who did, preferred the fried version!  We learned that okra is in the hibiscus family, and has gorgeous blooms that only last for one day.  It's a pretty addition to a garden, even if it isn't a popular dish at the AoA! 

 

Around 1:15 on Wednesdays we clean up from Choice Time and set up for yoga.  So many of our transitions are routine for the gang (which they like) and they become more efficient at them all the time!

Patti called our deep breathing "hurricane breaths" today and we hoped to help blow Dorian further out to sea!

Even in this position, we focused on our breathing.  We were aiming for deep and long breaths and we feel great after a few minutes of them.

One of Liz's favorite positions is rocking side to side and giving her lower back a "massage."  We do this right before finding stillness in "shavasana."

Here we are at Eaton for another work day!  Things have been busy there, and we are on it!  Bo and Xavier unpacked small parts while Liz and Kacie assembled photo cell plates.

Kevin, Laura, Nan, Annmarie, Drew, and Abraham counted and bagged small screws in sets of 10, 20, 30, and 40.  There are still a lot of screws left to count!

Meemaw, Alexis, and Sam worked one end of the outside room to count bin after bin of parts.

At the other end of the room, Cameron, Chloe, and Devin also inventoried bins of parts.  Our guys must be focused and accurate on these tasks!

Of course, we enjoy lunch time in the Eaton break room!  

And today we also enjoyed ice cream cones after work when we stopped by McDonald's.  THANK YOU Liz and family for this tasty treat!  As you can see, we were happy!

As summer season comes to a close, we want to thank JCC Parks & Rec for the continued use of their vans.  During summer, they often needed their vans for camp trips, and we sometimes had to rely exclusively on the use of Arc vans, but we truly appreciate being able to use these vans throughout the year!  Parks & Rec allows us to use their vans because The Arc is an affiliate organization with them, and that is a huge savings benefit for us.  Thank you, Tracy, the inclusion coordinator with Parks & Rec, for always booking the vans for us and also making sure they have gas.  YOU ROCK!

We also want to thank our mothership, The Arc of GW, for supporting us with their vans when Parks & Rec vans were unavailable.  We love cruising around town representing The Arc! We can use Arc vans whenever we need, but as mentioned above, it's more cost-effective to use the Parks & Rec vans.  As a nonprofit organization, that is very helpful!  

By the time we returned to AFCC after our Eaton work day, we knew that we would be closed on Friday due to the impending serious weather to come from Hurricane Dorian.  We had about 45 minutes of quiet Choice Time before saying goodbye to our friends until next week.

Here's a look at what we've got planned for next week:

Tuesday:  It's time to rejoin our master gardener friends for our Fall session.  We will work with them on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of September and October at the Botanical Garden at Freedom Park.  It looks like nice weather, so we will picnic after our session and then either walk or find a playground to enjoy!  Wear Arc shirts and bring a bag lunch.

Wednesday:  Today is September 11, which we now refer to as Patriot Day in the U.S.  We'll reflect on the events that occured on this date in 2001.  It's also become a Day of Service, so we will spend time cleaning the Parks & Rec vans that we use...inside and out, including a trip to the car wash!  Patti is in Machu Picchu in PERU this week on a "yoga experience" so we will practice with our online coach, Jaime.  Dress to stretch!  Lunch on your own (remember, the JRES cafeteria is open for us).

Thursday: We're scheduled for another Eaton work day, and then we'll skip next week.  Please wear Arc shirts and bring a bag lunch.

Friday:  Due to being closed last Friday, our 50 States Study has been pushed back a week.  We will reschedule #9 New Hampshire Day for today so that means French Toast (with New Hampshire pure maple syrup), Eggs, and Fruit for lunch.  We're also rescheduling Read A Book Day, so bring your favorite book(s) to share!  We'll also squeeze in some fun with Friday the 13th activities!

We'll keep reminding you to sign up for the 5K for a few more weeks!  We're ecstatic that many of our AoA families have registered.  Please invite others!  THANK YOU!

5K Registration

Hope everyone has a great weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and The AoA Gang