There was excitement, but also great caution, when we reopened the AoA this week. We are continuing with our split groups, only serving 5 clients in each group, for two days each. Several of our friends are remaining at home for now, but will join us virtually a couple of times a week. While we miss their smiling faces and contributions to our daily program, we are cognizant of the varying needs of our families, and will continue to wait patiently for the day that we are all together again. 🤞
Meanwhile, the small but mighty crew this week had fun, and worked hard, as we got an Eaton delivery that was the largest ever! Here's a peek at our restart-week:
TUESDAY
Since we were having "strawberry and cream" Jell-O for lunch, we had to mix it up first thing in the morning. Jell-O is a favorite treat of ours, and we like to try different recipes with it. We had purchased the ingredients back in July, so we decided to celebrate Eat Your Jell-O Day (July 12) on with both groups this week instead! Of course, the fresh strawberries were only purchased the day before!
Sam drew clean up duty and he was smiling behind the face covering as he washed a few dishes. Jell-O isn't messy to make!
Alexis and Patrick made sure all the tables were thoroughly wiped down with disinfectant spray. Our room smelled hospital-clean most of the morning!
Man, were we happy to see James, from Eaton! He is one of our coolest friends, and it had been so long since our last visit. He brought us a van FULL of work to do at the center: PowerSlide Doors, parts to sort and gasket, and breakers and light bulbs to remove from little boxes. Thanks, James, and Eaton, for working with us throughout the COVID situation, and finding ways for us to continue to work for you! Our guys love helping you get it done, and The Arc of Greater Williamsburg appreciates your support of all of us! (And yes, the fellas helped Alexis unload those boxes!)
Before we got to work on Eaton tasks, we had a Zoom session with our friends who were at home today. We had a fun session learning about beaches with sands of different colors, like white, black, pink, red, orange, green, and purple! Wow! This one is on the California coast.
After Zoom, this small but mighty group got busy working on PowerSlide doors. We typically assign 8-10 of us when we work on the doors at Eaton (including Becky and Meemaw), but this week, we're getting it done with 4-5!
Cameron manned the nuts and screws station, attaching four of each set to each door. That takes focus!
We missed a celebration of National French Fry Day back in July, but we really wanted to celebrate it. Our friend above, Cameron, is known for his absolute love of fries, so we just had to celebrate a few weeks late! We watched a cool video about a restaurant in NYC that only serves fries, along with about 30 different dipping sauces, and then enjoyed fries as a side for lunch. If you love fries, check out the video by clicking on the photo!
We're thankful for grandmothers, and today, we were especially thankful for Nan, who schlepped down to Wendy's to pick up our fresh, hot fries, and to Sam's grandma, and our friend, Nina, who happily approved our using one of the Frosty gift cards she gave us for Christmas last year to buy them. (We haven't bought many Frosties this year due to COVID closures!) Thanks, Nan and Nina, we really enjoyed the hot fries!! It was an extra-special treat!
Our Strawberries and Cream Jell-O turned out well! While we enjoyed it, we watched a very cool video about a guy who created a 15-ton Jell-O pool! The video is about 11 minutes long, but it kept our attention the entire time...and we learned some interesting science, too! Check it out here:
When we returned today, our room had frozen in time back to July. We began working on creating our September calendar, and also removing our summertime decorations. It's time to gear up for fall!
Wednesday
First thing this morning, Alexis got busy working on finding online pictures for our September calendar squares. She said it looks like a "busy" month! Yep, it will be!
Today was spent on getting PowerSlide doors assembled for Eaton, taking movement breaks, and studying the great state of Kansas. Because it's the Wheat State, we had flapjacks for lunch, but forgot to get pictures. Keep reading and we'll include lunch pictures from the Thursday/Friday group!
We sent the guys to the gym, and they always have a lot of options when we go there. Today, all four of them decided to power walk! Alexis set the timer on her phone, and they took off!
We're so proud of them and their awareness of how important movement is in their daily lives! We are sad for the JRES school kids that they have virtual learning from home for the first 9 weeks of school, but for us, it means open gym all day long! UPDATE: We found out on Thursday that the gym will be pretty much off limits until October 15 due to set up for testing of K-2nd grade students, who will come in by appointment. We are so bummed...but at least we have the big hallway, and hopefully the weather will cool off a bit so we can get outside soon!
Later on Wednesday, we had a fun yoga session with our online instructor, Jaime. Her theme was "Sonic the Hedgehog." Looks like Alexis and Sam were getting a good stretch here.
The picture is a little dark, but Patrick is in the front and Cameron is in the back. They are in downward dog position, holding it for a few seconds and working on upper body strength! (Which is needed to move those Eaton boxes you see to Patrick's left!)
We don't have any pictures of this group working on their Kansas assignments, but here's Sam throwing down a challenge to Devin (in Thursday/Friday's group) to play air guitar along with the classic rock band, Kansas. Carry on Wayward Son...Devin will respond for sure!
On Wednesday evening, we joined Patti and our WOTM friends to accept a donation check. Many thanks to our families and associates who were able to represent us!
The tournament was a great success! All of us at The Arc of Greater Williamsburg are thankful for Patti's leadership and all of the helpers she enlists. They take supporting us very seriously! Thank you, Women of the Moose and ALL of the Moose friends who made this possible. We 💛 you!
Pam accepted the donation check from Patti, and gave Patti some beautiful flowers on behalf of The Arc!
Inside the Lodge, Patti made a lovely display of our thank you cards!
Thursday
We welcomed our Thursday/Friday group on a very warm and muggy morning. First task to do, to celebrate Eat Your Jell-O Day, was prepare our non-alcoholic mimosa Jell-O cups and get them in the fridge. We used orange Jell-O with fresh strawberries and club soda! It was delicious!
What a great group we had for Zoom today! We welcomed "old" friend Emmy, and "new" friend, Lilly! Lilly (top right) is a senior at CNU studying social work and childhood studies. She's The Arc of GW's intern and we are so excited to get to know her! Welcome, Lilly!! Below Lilly is Annmarie. We have an update on her mom, Teresa. Her open heart surgery was successful! 💓💓💓 Annmarie got to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" over the phone, and it brought a warm smile to her mom's face! We know Teresa loved that dose of "medicine."
Our groups made some cheer cards for Teresa, which we mailed on Friday! We're sending you lots of well wishes for comfort in healing, Teresa. Hope to see you up and about very soon! (On Zoom, of course!)
Our Zoom theme was National Wildlife Day, so our dance song was Katy Perry's "Roar." Alexis and Nan were into their roars! 🦁
Nan and Alexis worked at the label table, where they attached 4 sticky labels to the inside of each door.
Step 3 of assembly is attaching 4 nuts/screws to each door, which Xavier and Kevin do with efficient precision. In the background are 10 boxes of doors which the Tuesday/Wednesday group completed! That's 120 doors altogether, and the Thursday/Friday group did the same! 120 + 120 = 240! Yay, us!!
The final step is for Carol to tighten the nuts/bolts with the electric screwdriver, and then pack the completed doors back into the boxes. We usually set up on-site at Eaton to complete this big job, but we made it work at AFCC this week with our small but mighty crew! (60 doors each day over an hour or so...we're fast!)
So of course, after a morning of fun Zooming and hard work, we enjoyed our celebration of National French Fry Day! We learned that fries didn't get their name because of France! American soldiers in WWII ate fries while stationed in a French-speaking region of Belgium. So, the soldiers called them "French Fries." 🍟
Our room is starting to look like September! Kevin and Xavier helped set up this pretty area, after removing what was left on the walls from July.
Here, Alexis, Dev, and Kate proudly show off the completed event calendar for September. It's going to be a fun month!
Friday
We learned a lot about Kansas this week. Here, Devin and Kate worked on their handouts, and should be able to tell you that Kansas has two nicknames, "The Sunflower State" and "The Wheat State." We learned that Kansas produces enough wheat each year to make 36 billion loaves of bread! That's enough to give every human on the planet about 5 loaves of bread! WOW! 🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞
Learning about wheat led us to wanting our lunch, as we were having what Kansans call "flapjacks" today! We called on a couple of our friends to help. Alexis cut up bananas, and she also prepared Xavier's gluten-free pancakes. Thanks to his mom, Leah, for sending a mix that we learned consisted mostly of rice flour and potato starch.
Devin browned some sausage links, one of our guys' favorite sides with flapjacks!
Behind the mask is a guy who's ready to enjoy his "breakfast" for lunch! Xavier has his gluten-free flapjacks, and we even made a couple of extra so his friends could taste a bite. They all agreed that they were delicious, even without wheat flour. (If you look closely, you can also see Nan's yummy scrambled eggs!) 😋😋😋
After lunch we worked on map skills using a map of Kansas, listened to our read-aloud, and made a cheer card for Meemaw. She's recovering from knee-replacement surgery, and misses us...even though she can't visit these days anyway. Dang COVID! 😟
The Thursday/Friday group had fun with Jaime's "Sonic the Hedgehog" version of yoga!
Look at those beautiful stretches. Jaime is known for moving quickly between standing, sitting, or kneeling poses, and these guys kept up!
Here's the card we made for Meemaw, and in front of it is a stack of the labels that go on the inside of Eaton's PowerSlide doors. Carol chatted on the phone with Meemaw, who told her she wishes she had some Eaton work to do...so we are sending her the labels which need to be cut apart. TIP: Get some sharp scissors, Meemaw!! Continue to work on your knee-strengthening exercises, and thank you for helping with this chore!!
We got to wave "Hi!" to Drew when his mom came by to pick up the card and labels for delivery to Meemaw. It was awesome seeing him! Thanks Drew and Mom, for taking the goods to Meemaw for us!!
Speaking of Drew, he's been busy while staying safer at home. Look at him helping cut the grass recently!
We finished the day on Friday listening to music by the rock band, Kansas. Devin gladly accepted Sam's air guitar challenge! Check it out, and see if you agree with us, that they both ROCK!
Snap! Our first week back is done, just like that! Here is what we have planned for next week:
Tuesday / Thursday: We will Zoom with our at home friends and work on more Eaton tasks, Some things we will include in continuing education include lessons about Labor Day, the postal system, peanuts, and Moon Day (make up lesson). We'll celebrate Ants on a Log Day, too! Bring lunch today, and we'll provide Ants on a Log for a side.
Wednesday / Friday: It's time to learn about the 35th state, West Virginia! There is an interesting story behind one of this state's "famous" foods, which we will prepare for lunch: pepperoni rolls! We'll add fruit and a side salad, too. We should have a bit of Eaton work to finish, and we'll also mark the anniversary of 9/11.
We wish everyone a Happy and SAFE Labor Day weekend. Enjoy time with your families!
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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