Hello, November 2020!

The month of November is already here, and it came quickly.  This week we enjoyed gorgeous weather that allowed us outside fun, and we got a surprise addition to our program.  Check out our week!  

Tuesday 

This week began on Election Day, so we had a lesson on Zoom about the voting process, what it's like to live in the White House, and some fun facts about a few of our former presidents. 

Some of the facts we learned were that George W. Bush was a cheerleader in high school, Barack Obama worked at Baskin-Robbins as a teenager, and a luckily timed bathroom break "saved" Lyndon Johnson's life (he missed a flight that crashed, killing all onboard).  As always, it was great to "see" everyone at home, and Tracy from her office, too!

After Zooming, we boarded the vans and drove on the Colonial Parkway to Yorktown.  The fall colors are still yet to be popping on the parkway, but we enjoyed the ride, and having our lunch at the picnic area by the York River.  After that, we waited patiently for a ride on the Yorktown Trolley.

Finally, it came around the corner!  We wanted to ride it around Yorktown, as we have never visited there as much as we have Jamestown and Williamsburg.  We've been to the Watermen's and American Revolution museums, but never explored the side streets.  We thought a trolley ride would give us an idea of where to start.

Our trolley driver pointed out lots of interesting places to check out, so we will be back one day in the future, to wander the streets of beautiful Yorktown!

There was plenty of room on the trolley, and we enjoyed our tour of Yorktown.  We also enjoyed welcoming Lilly back to the AoA!  She's the Arc's intern from CNU, and we love working with her.

We got off the trolley at the battlefield, and walked the rest of the way back to where we had parked the vans.  There was a large Navy ship headed toward the Coleman Bridge, but we didn't get to a clearing in time to see it pass through the bridge.  In this picture, it's hard to tell, but the bridge was swung open.  This is the largest double swing-span bridge in the United States.

We settled for a lovely picture of the Tuesday/Wednesday group with the York River in the background on a beautiful fall afternoon!

Back at the center, we learned of the brother of an Arc client who is struggling with an illness.  We thought it would be nice to make cards to let him know we care, even if we don't know him.

Patrick and Sam (with Lilly's input) worked on making thoughtful "Thinking of You" cards that we are sure will help brighten the gentleman's day.  💛💜💚

Wednesday

There seem to be two National Doughnut Days, one in June and another on November 5th.  Why?  We're not sure!  But we missed the one in June since we were in quarantine at home, so we happily celebrated November's.  Elizabeth and her mom treated us to doughnuts and they were delicious!  Thanks, Liz and Mom.  We appreciate your kindness!

After celebrating Doughnut Day, we began our study of the state of Idaho, and then got outside for some movement.  Kevin immediately went to the hoop and started working on throwing his ball higher.  He hit the rim a few times today, and was so proud of himself!  Way to go, Kevin!

Liz walked solo today.  It was a glorious day for a meditative stroll!

Sam and Cameron were yards apart when they began walking, but Cameron really picked up his pace and managed to pass Sam.

Later, we tried to get a sneaky picture of Cameron as he turned around to see if Sam was gaining on him again!  Can you see him through the fence and behind the tree?!

These two decided it would be Duke vs. W&M on the court today!  They were pretty well matched for today's game, as Lexi and Patrick are both good shots! 😉🏀

We learned that Idaho is America's #1 producer of potatoes, so we had to have loaded baked potatoes for lunch!  We also learned that potatoes have more potassium per serving than bananas, as well as good amounts of Vitamin C and fiber, and are better for us baked than fried.  While our baked potatoes were tasty, we didn't all agree they tasted better baked!  😂🍟🥔

It was also World Jellyfish Day, so we learned that they have no brains, hearts, or backbones!  Some of them are as small as a grain of rice when they are born, and within months grow to be over 16 feet long!  Alexis colored her picture of the jellyfish's life cycle in colors that matched her birthday hair!

During Choice Time, Cameron has been working on a new puzzle for a few days.  It's a scene of a baseball game, and there are lots of fans in the stands (it's a pre-Covid ballgame!).  All the fans made it a challenging puzzle.  Great job, Cam!

Since it's November, we had to update our calendar.  Here we are, hard at work, each person making an important contribution to the finished product, which will the next group will finish on Friday!

After a busy day, we ended it with yoga.  As usual, the workout felt great!

Thursday

We got a big surprise today...keep reading to find out what it was!

But first, what a sweet beginning to our day!  We celebrated National Doughnut Day with our Thursday/Friday gang!  Thanks Lisa and Alexis for the doughnut treats!  (The cookies on top are gluten-free, and for our friend, Xavier. 😋)

 

Yes, that's SpongeBob Squarepants on our big screen.  We were doing the SpongeBob Spinner Dance for our Zoom dance warm up.  Whatever move was shown when the spinner stopped, was the move we had to do.  It was a good workout for 3 and 1/2 minutes!

Here's our Zoom gang; it was a little smaller than usual but we still had a great time together!  Our lesson was "Who Invented Candy?" and we learned that the concept of using sugar cane to sweeten things like fruit can be traced back to ancient India, where they called it "sharkara," which seems to be a forerunner to our word, "sugar."  Prior to this discovery, honey was used as a sweetener!  The Mystery Doug episode we watched was very interesting.  Click on the piece of candy to check it out.  It's super interesting! 🍬

After Zoom it was this group's turn to head to Yorktown for a picnic, walk, and trolley ride.  What another beautiful day it was, as Lilly and the gang made their way to the picnic area.

We had a scenic view within feet of the York River.  The temperature was perfect and there was no wind!

Here's our surprise!  We gained a new associate today, Michelle!!  Several of our current associates know Michelle from things like school, Capernaum, or Special Olympics bowling, but even those who had never met her were happy to welcome her to our group!  Here, she's telling us that she has been to the York River before and she knows that dolphins have been spotted out there and fossils have been found, too!  Welcome to the AoA, Michelle!

Michelle makes our Thursday / Friday group have the perfect balance of 3 guys and 3 gals!  Lilly tips the balance toward the girls for now, but she's not technically an associate.  Anyway you figure, it's a great looking group!

Hello from Devin and Abraham on the trolley ride.  You can tell from the glare that it was a very sunny day!

The photographer didn't do a great job here, but the rest of the gang enjoyed the ride, too!  We got off at the battlefield and took a nice walk over to the monument and back, before returning to AFCC.  We could have stayed outside all day, it was so nice!

Friday

Our newest associate, Michelle, was proud of the work she did to learn about the state of Idaho!  She's settled into our routine very nicely!

We got a surprise visit from Moose Patti today!  Like Becky last week, Patti misses us and being able to interact and work with us, and we miss her, too!  We visited outside with her during our morning recess time.  It was so nice to catch up with her!

  

Her dog, Cam, is almost always with her, and was today.   Patti told us that Cam is now completely blind, due to her diabetes.  That didn't stop her from checking us out and receiving lots of pats and neck rubs!

Patti walked with us and we ended up on the grassy field behind the school.  Here, Kate was giving Patti an update on her life while Xavier watched Cam enjoy running around the big field! 😍

Back inside, we got our Idaho potatoes in the oven and they baked up very nicely!  We loved "loading" them up for lunch.  Nan said it was one of the best lunches we ever had!  (She must have been very hungry!  LOL!)

After lunch and Choice Time, we were hard at work finishing our November calendar that had been started by the Tuesday / Wednesday group.  Just like that group, this one was focused with everyone doing a particular job.

Kate scrolled through images depicting yoga, looking for a "just right" one to insert into a calendar square.

Alexis helped show Michelle some of the finer points of how we create our monthly calendar.  Michelle is a quick study, and has some good computer skills!

The gang decided they wanted to do Jaime's session called Frozen Yoga today, because they found out that Frozen is one of Michelle's favorite movies.  How nice was that?!

Of course, all the stretching felt great, and everyone ended the week calm and relaxed!  

If you'd like to check out Jaime's Frozen Yoga, click the image below; you'll be glad you did!  

Here's our agenda for next week:

Tuesday / Thursday:  Get ready to celebrate TWO more birthdays!  Patrick and Liz were both born on the 11th, so we will honor them during our Tuesday Zoom.  If you're tuning in from home, make a card that you can read to them!  On Thursday's Zoom, we will have a lesson about Australia's "Crocodile Hunter," the late Steve Irwin.  Also on these days, we will review the meaning of Veterans Day and work on November room decorations.  Lunch on your own, and if you'd like, you can order from the JRES cafeteria.  The menu every Tuesday and Thursday (for now) is pizza.  ($2.75 for lunch.) 

Wednesday / Friday:  Our state of the week is Wyoming, #44.  Find out why we will honor Wyoming with tacos for lunch!  We'll also learn about the history of seat belts for National Seat Belt Day (Nov. 15th) and don't forget to dress to stretch for yoga.

Have a great weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang