Oh, the excitement this week when Annmarie returned to in-person participation! She's been joining us virtually from home ever since her mom, Teresa, had open-heart surgery last summer. But now, Teresa is doing well (YAY!), and Annmarie has been vaccinated against Covid (YAY!), so she's back in the saddle! (She even brought us some delicious Easter cookies on Friday! Thank you, Annmarie!!) She's in our Thursday / Friday group, so look for more pics of her later. Up first, what we did earlier in the week!
Tuesday
We're still Zooming with our friends who are home on Tuesdays, and today we were joined by Laura, Drew, Devin, and Abraham. Annmarie had technical difficulties, but we hope she could see us from her end!
Our topic today was National One-Cent Day, which is actually on April 1st. We kicked it off with a catchy rap tune by Blazer Fresh (from GoNoodle) called "Getcha Money Right." This one got our hearts pumping! You can check it out by clicking on the photo...it's fun!
Next, we watched a video clip about fun penny facts. We learned that Canada and Australia have already eliminated pennies from their currency circulation, and that the United States has talked about it! We also learned that Benjamin Franklin designed our first penny, and that today, it costs more to mint pennies (2.06 cents) than they are worth! Our government loses $90 million a year producing pennies!
Next, we played Money Jeopardy, and had a nice time helping one another with tricky questions!
It certainly was a beautiful spring day when we headed to Newport News Park after Zoom ended. It's a close drive, and we just wanted some fresh air and exercise. When we arrived at a little after 11, no one was on the playground, so we got to play!
Patrick waited for a turn on the swings. It didn't take long before one of his friends gave him a seat!
Kevin and Cameron raced down slides!
We went on a "Signs of Spring" scavenger hunt. Nancy said this split tree trunk might not be a sign of spring, but instead a sign of termites or lightning!
An Easter egg wasn't on our scavenger hunt list, but we found one anyway, and it's definitely a sign of spring!
We snapped this picture on the way back to the vans. We had walked across the bridge and onto the nature hike for a ways. All along the bridge we saw ducks, seagulls, turtles, and fish in the water! It was Lilly's first time visiting the park, and she loved it!
Back at our "park" (also our garden area), Sam watered the sugar snap peas. We are thrilled to report that the cayenne pepper must be working, as all of the seeds have sprouted and they are still growing after the long weekend! We also noticed the potato plants have sprouted up through the soil in the potato grow bag!
Before going home, we made a thank you card for Liz's family, who graciously donated an over-sized toaster oven to us for our 5th Anniversary. Usually, Lisa mans the computer as we compose our thoughts, but today, she handed the task over to Alexis. Lexi took everyone's ideas, and they came up with a few sentences, which Lisa then helped them "brush up" a little! It was a beautiful message!
We made sure to sign everyone's names and Liz took it home! We're excited to use the oven for the first time...tomorrow!
Wednesday
This week we learned about the hottest, and 2nd largest continent, Africa. We located it on our maps and also noted its location on the globe. We learned that the largest non-polar desert, the Sahara, is in Africa, and the world's second-largest rainforest is there too! What we were most interested in were the animals we saw on our virtual safari, especially these "aww, so cute and adorable" lion cubs!
Friday's group didn't have time to complete all the Eaton work we needed to get done last week, so this group finished it today. So busy!
During movement time, Kevin was chosen to be our dance instructor! He moved his arms and legs, and SANG too! He did a great job!
We tried something new for lunch this week. Well, kind of new. National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day is on April 2, so we celebrated by turning an AoA fave, PB&J sandwiches, into PB&J sushi rolls!
First we used canned goods (which we cleaned thoroughly beforehand) to flatten a couple of pieces of bread. After that, we spread each piece with peanut butter, followed by jelly. Here, Patrick had to stand up so he could put some extra muscle into his rolling/flattening technique!
Here's a closeup of Lexi helping Cameron roll his sushi! This took a gentle touch, so all the jelly wouldn't be squeezed out. Cameron mastered it!
Meanwhile, we named our new oven the "Lizzie," and got her loaded up with tater tots. Why tater tots?! Well, TODAY, March 31, is National Tater Day, and we thought they would be great with PB&J sushi, and great for christening the Lizzie! (We were right on both counts!) 😋
Of course, we always try to add something super-healthy to our lunches, so Liz and Alexis cut up some fresh veggies for us! What a colorful side dish, girls! Thank you!
It was a two plate kind of day! We used one plate as our sushi "art palette" and the other for our sides. We also ate the mandarin orange slices that were in our "rolling" cans!
After lunch, we discussed that April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day, and we watched a short documentary about autism. We had a great discussion, too, concluding that we are lucky to count among us friends with autism!
We worked on "Happy Spring" cards. This is part of our latest, and on-going, service project - making cards for The Arc to share with special people!
Hi Jaime! Thanks for creating a Spring & Easter Yoga session! We enjoyed working out with you today!
Thursday
Oh, happy day! Annmarie came back to the AoA! We haven't seen her in person since last July, and that's a long time ago! "Hey, Girl!" Welcome Back! 💙💙💙
Poor, Lisa. 😌 It's such a challenge to get a picture of our Zoomies all smiling at the camera at the same time! 👀 She tries!! 📷 We love seeing everyone so much!
We had a silly Zoom session today, all centered around April Fool's Day! Our song of the day was called "You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd," and it had us laughing way more than dancing!
Speaking of dancing, for our fitness today, since it was chilly and wet outside, Lilly got us moving to a few "Just Dance" videos.
Kate and Alexis handled veggie tray prep for our lunch. We love that our guys enjoy colorful veggies!
It was hard to tell Annmarie had been away from in-person for a while. Look at her expertise in preparing the bread for her PB&J sushi! We were celebrating PB&J Day, which is April 2nd. We learned that by age 18, most kids have had at least 2,000 PB&J sandwiches! They are kid friendly to make, and it seems by her skills here, that Annmarie may have made her fair share!
With fork in hand, Devin was ready to dig in to the tater tots we baked in the Lizzie, but he kindly waited for us to find the camera for a picture! He said his brother, Christian, would LOVE this meal! 😋 Something interesting we noticed, is when you make a PB&J sandwich this way, by rolling and slicing each piece of bread instead of putting them together like a traditional sandwich, it looks like a lot more sandwich! It also takes longer to eat, which makes it seem like more. Wow!
One thing we enjoy doing each week is checking the previous week's blog post. Today, when reading last week's, we were reminded that we had played a game and learned that in Gloucestershire, England, dairy lovers chase a cheese wheel to welcome spring. Hmmm...so we digressed from the blog check and found a very interesting video clip about this rather dangerous endeavor. If you'd like to check it out, here's the link:
Of note, all of our usually adventurous guys said they would NOT try this, after watching the clip. We were glad to hear that!
Check out our lovely ladies showing off the set of "Happy Spring" greeting cards we made. This is our new service project. We create cards for special occasions, and pass them on to Pam at The Arc office. She sends them out to friends of the Arc and we hope they brighten their days!
Friday
It was very windy and chilly on Friday, but we had a lot of action at the bird feeders. We spotted two goldfinches today! They flew off together before we got the camera ready, but we'll be looking for them again next week! We hear hummingbirds have been spotted in Yorktown, so we set our feeder out in hopes they will find us, too! Also, our potatoes and sugar snap peas continue to grow well, but no feathered friends have taken up residence in our gourd birdhouses yet.
We were supposed to go to Newport News Park today for a picnic and signs of spring walk, but it was way too cold! So, we mixed up the agenda, and moved yoga to the morning. Our revised plan was to take some kind of adventure after lunch...when we hoped it would be warmer!
Sometimes Xavier likes to keep an eye on us! He was going to get a basketball, but also wanted to make sure we left his puzzle intact, which we did!
After lunch, we took a drive along the Colonial Parkway to look for signs of spring from the warmth of the vans! We parked at Yorktown and took a short walk. It was chilly and breezy, but the sun was shining! Alexis thought the tulips were very pretty, so she took a picture of them with her phone.
The girls spotted General George Washington and a couple of Frenchmen (Lafayette and DeGrasse), and stopped for a chat. They thanked those Frenchmen for helping us win the war!
Abraham and Xavier (our only guys today because Devin was traveling) wondered why the girls ditched them for the Frenchmen! 😄😄😄
We missed having a picnic in the park, but in the end, our signs of spring adventure was still fun. The tulips and daffodils were beautiful in Yorktown and the sky was blue, so even though it felt like January, we know spring is here!
We're sticking around the AFCC next week, and we'll be busy. School students will be on Spring Break, but we'll keep Heike company! Here's what we're planning to do:
Wednesday / Friday: We have a couple of fun "days" to celebrate today, and we'll have mini-lessons for each one: Zoo Day (8th) and Unicorn Day (9th). We'll celebrate National Walking Day (7th), here at AFCC. We'll also learn about Asia, which will complete our continent study. Dress to stretch, because we'll squeeze in yoga, too! Lunch on your own!
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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