In our case, it was "what a week!" We wrapped up our second "full-full" week, meaning the whole group for all the days, and it was great! It's like we were never separated from each other for over a year. We're really happy, and grateful, that things fell back into place so nicely. We stayed at AFCC all week and found lots of ways to stay busy. Plus, we got BIG news on Thursday... Check out our week!
Tuesday
Today was National Tap Dance Day, so of course we played tap dance videos during our dance warm up. This is a shot from a tap dance group in New York that does a great job with Pharrell's song, "Happy," one of our faves. Click on the pic and check it out...we bet you can't stay still!
Devin and Sam couldn't stay still, either! Both were quite winded after four-plus minutes of "tap" dancing!
We like to warm up by dancing each morning, and that gets us moving. After that, we do some thinking work, and then take another movement break, going outside if the weather permits. It was overcast and cool this morning, and we had extra time since Christina had to postpone our Zoom session. We got to stay outside longer than usual! Here we are as we headed back inside. Kevin and Devin had already rounded the building, but it's nice to have such a full group to try and "squeeze" into a picture!
Before lunch we had time for more thinking work. We talked about where we are "on a map." First, we're on planet Earth, and from there, we're on the continent of North America. Within our continent, we're in the country of the United States of America, and within our country, we're in the state of Virginia. Finally, we live in "small" towns within our state, namely Williamsburg, Yorktown, or Newport News. Liz and Kevin added some colorful touches to a workbook we're using to help with these concepts.
Laura found her country on the continent map, colored it, and then wrote its name as Lisa dictated how to spell it: United States!
Everyone designed their own "selves" to adorn the fronts of our workbooks!
We recently acquired a new puzzle, and it's 200 pieces. Our guys usually work 60-100 piece puzzles, which they complete in a 20-30 minute time frame. The 200-piece is more challenging, and Cameron has been working on it for a couple of days. We know he'll stick with it until it's done. We can't wait to see what "Space Dinosaurs" looks like! Good job, Cam!
Eaton is keeping us busy and we love it! Today we started on some of the work Jorie dropped off on Friday. Liz, from Parks and Rec, was able to work with us for a while this afternoon and her help was appreciated, as Abraham and Sam needed some assistance opening these super-strong plastic bags so they could remove the parts. Thanks so much, Liz!
We cannot wait until we are cleared to return to working onsite at Eaton. They are ready for us, so we're hoping we can get the go ahead from The Arc and Parks & Rec soon. We're easing into travel, still being careful and following certain protocols like one to a seat on the vans. But we're optimistic we'll be back at Eaton soon. The AFCC is opening our room back for the public beginning Friday at 4:00, so we will have to return to storing everything away each day before we leave, and that means finding somewhere to put all this Eaton work!
Wednesday
Usually lunch, if we're cooking, is the highlight of our day, and today's lunch was really good, but it was runner-up for today's highlight. Read on to see what topped our amazing lunch!
We began our study of places around the world with a study of Guam this morning. We learned it is a territory of the United States, but not a state, and people born there are U.S. citizens. In our book, United Tastes of America, which we used during our units on the fifty states, there is a chapter on Guam, and it includes the same recipe for Chicken Kelaguen that we got from our friend at The Mariners' Museum, Wisteria.
Chicken Kelaguen is a dish enjoyed by the Chamorro, the indigenous people of Guam. It's a simple chicken salad, seasoned with green onions, lemon juice, and coconut. Alexis cut the green onions for our recipe, while Laura and Sam shredded and chopped the chicken into small pieces.
Liz and Devin teamed up to prepare garlic butter quinoa for our side dish. We have cooked quinoa before, and we learned that it is commonly considered a grain, but is actually a seed. It is rich in protein, fiber, and B vitamins, and so tasty! Today's recipe claimed it would taste like garlic bread, but be healthier! We also cooked it in the oven, which was a new technique for us. It was super easy, and we're sold on cooking it this way!
During Choice Time, Kate, Patrick, and Michelle were happy for Cameron when he finished the 200 piece puzzle he's been working on for several days! Yay, Cameron!! Great job! Wonder who will try it next?!
We had a short lesson on endangered animals after Choice Time, and then the #1 HIGHLIGHT of our day happened when special guests showed up! It was our beloved yoga instructor, Kiley! She's in town this week (all the way from Minnesota) to visit her boyfriend, Colton, and us! Kevin (for one) was so happy to see her! (Note: Kiley and Colton, who is a JCC firefighter, are both fully vaccinated.)
Annmarie was happy to see "her girly" Kiley! We had recently enjoyed a Zoom yoga session with Kiley, and Annmarie remembered!
Kiley made the rounds visiting personally with each of her AoA friends. This was her first time meeting Nancy in person, and their brief conversation was so sweet. Kiley is amazing in the way she communicates with our guys. 💜
Xavier chose to send a wave across the room, but Kiley didn't mind! She waved right back!
Liz, Kate, and Alexis found out that Colton is a huge fan of the Kentucky Wildcats' basketball team, so they sent for Nancy, who is ALSO a Wildcats fan. Nancy showed Colton her UK monogrammed purse. They hit it off, for sure!
Kiley said she couldn't leave without at least doing some deep breathing with us, and she promised to do Zoom yoga with us again soon. Colton said he could set us up with a tour of Fire Station 2, which is just up the road from us and is where he works! We can't wait for both of these fun events!
Thanks Kiley and Colton for spending part of your day with us! We absolutely loved catching up with you. We're happy we're friends!
Thursday
We were busy before we were even "open" today! Earlybirds Liz and Alexis assembled gang boxes for Eaton while waiting for the rest of their friends to arrive.
Tribe Pride! Our guys love to show their support for William & Mary! Kate, Devin, and Drew got the memo! 😃
Here's a picture of Carol's brand new Honda Odyssey being loaded with things she will deliver to Eaton. Congrats on the new ride, Carol! And thanks to Drew, Devin, Michelle, and Liz for the helping hands!
We made birthday cards for Becky's granddaughter, Emmy. Devin crafted a pretty card with the word "peace" on front. Emmy is our "junior volunteer," often coming with Becky a few days each summer. It's been almost 2 years since we got to spend time with her.
We last visited with her during Zoom last summer (bottom row, center). She's going to be 11 next week! We hope Becky will be able to join us this summer, and Emmy will be able to visit as well! Happy Birthday, Emmy! 🎈🎉🧁
After lunch we set up our Eaton work stations. Carol kept a watchful eye over her crew!
We're pretty sure she was proud of what she saw! We are busy doing as much as we can at the AFCC, and Eaton has been amazing at sending us work. We mentioned recently that Eaton NEEDS us back at their facility, so we can work on even more tasks. So, we're excited to announce...
We'll be returning to work onsite at Eaton next week!! We cannot wait to get back to "our building" and see what Jorie and James have for us to do! Thank you, Eaton, and The Arc of GW, for giving us the green light to return to work at the Eaton plant!
Here's a short video clip of us working at AFCC. Next week, we'll post one of us working at Eaton!
This is a throwback picture from March, 2020, the last time we were at Eaton. We were given a tour of the plant, and found an example of our PowerSlide Door handiwork on this pedestal. A few days later...the pandemic hit. We cannot wait to get back next week! 👏👏🎆🎆😎😎
Today's morning dance warm up featured a lot of patriotic music, but Nancy also requested KC and the Sunshine Band's "I'm Your Boogie Man," and boy, did our guys get down to this oldie! Here's what our dance warm up looks like on a fun Friday!
We were planning a Memorial Day lunch of hot dogs and baked beans, so we had to make a festive dessert. We decided to make a simple red, white, and blue cake. As we sent it to the oven, we were optimistic it would look all-American after baking...because the batter made us think we were baking a baby shower cake! Boy, or girl?!
We played a math game that involved listening and recognizing numbers. If you didn't read your cards at the right point in the game, we would all lose! Annmarie was ready to start the first round!
Kate helped keep Xavier on track during the game. He had his mind on puzzles this morning! 😍
Even though it was warm and muggy, we went outside for morning movement, and walked around the JRES campus. We found various spots of shade, under which we would stop and chat for a bit. We only had 11 in attendance today. Here's a Happy Memorial Day group shot of them!
On the final leg of our walk, we were almost back to the front door, when our master gardener friend Linda pulled into the parking lot! She was bringing us fresh goodies from the garden. WOW! She brought spinach, carrots, sugar snap peas, and parsley that she picked this morning, plus, grapes, oranges, and slivered almonds...AND a homemade vinaigrette, so we could make a fresh salad to go along with our lunch! How very thoughtful of her! THANK YOU, Linda! The salad was absolutely delicious, made all the tastier by your thoughtfulness! 🥗💗
We learned about the significance of poppies during Memorial Day. Abraham strung some red, white, and blue beads onto a necklace craft. The Friday before Memorial Day is National Poppy Day. We wore our poppy necklaces to honor the fallen and support the living who have worn our nation's uniform.
Patrick and Liz collaborated on a crossword puzzle that accompanied their group's Memorial Day lesson. Good job, guys!
Annmarie was chosen to decorate our red, white, and blue cake. You can tell by the way she spread the frosting that she's iced a cake before! She also had colorful sprinkles to add. Keep reading to see what a lovely job she did! (And by the way, it was quite colorful when we cut into it!)
Meanwhile, Drew made sure our baked beans were heating up and not burning! They were some of the best we've ever had, Drew!
Grillmaster Abraham had hot dog duty, which was a breeze with our George Foreman grill! Abraham is getting great at wielding the springy tongs. It's a technique!
Laura and Xavier made sure everyone had a place setting. Here's our Memorial Day lunch crew, very proud of their work! You can see Annmarie's gorgeous cake and Linda's beautiful salad bar fixings, too! Yum!
The AFCC will be reopening to the public tonight, for the first time since the Covid closure. That means we will be doing this at the end of every day now, instead of just on Fridays. All tables and chairs, boxes, tubs (Eaton work), and supply carts must be stowed away! We organized a plan to divide and conquer the task, and it worked! We had everything cleared and stored in less than 5 minutes! GREAT JOB, TEAM AoA!
Our reward?! Yoga with Jaime! Here's butterfly pose, one of our favorites.
And of course, stretches and deep breathing! Bring on the zen!
This week was great, and it brought great news with the announcement that we can return to work at Eaton! We're planning another busy week to welcome June, and here are some of our plans:
Monday: Hope to see you at the Zumbathon at Ironbound Gym! Stop by and show your support at the first (sort of) "live" Arc event in over a year! (Dancing is optional...but encouraged! 😁)
Tuesday: We will prepare our June calendar and update some of our room decorations. It's World Reef Awareness Day, so we'll have a lesson on coral reefs that will compliment the work we've been doing on continents and oceans. It's also Say Something Nice Day...and we always love to celebrate days like that! Lunch on your own...JRES cafeteria is open!
Wednesday: Our country of the week is France so we'll learn about its culture and history. Tomorrow is National Egg Day, so we'll also have "egg-cellent" adventures with eggs! We haven't done had fun with "eggs-periments" in a while... For lunch, we'll honor France AND eggs by cooking ham and cheese quiche!
Thursday: We're going to Eaton today so wear your Arc (or Eaton, if you have one) shirts and BRING a BAG lunch. We'll celebrate this triumphant return to onsite at Eaton with a stop for Frosties on the way back to AFCC! Thank you to Sam's grandmother, and our friend, Nina, for the Wendy's gift cards she gave us at Christmas 2019. Due to our partial closure last year, we only used a few of them! We'll think of you as we enjoy our first Frosties of 2021! 💙🍦💚
Friday: We'll celebrate Hug Your Cat Day...since we love anything to do with animals! We'll also work in our "Card Factory" and create some special sentiments for special friends. It's National Cheese Day and we have been waiting for a good day to make Blueberry and Apple Grilled Cheese sandwiches for lunch! They will be so easy this year as we can use our George Foreman grill that Devin's family gave us as a panini press. No more roll away blueberries when we flip the sandwiches! 👏👏 It's Friday, so dress to stretch for yoga, too!
SAVE the DATE: The AoA will be on "Summer Break" the week of June 29-July 2. The AFCC will be closed for floor maintenance during this week, and logistically, it is easier for us to take a break rather than relocate to the school library where we are very limited as to space, activities, technology availabilty, and this year, travel opportunities. We will reopen on July 6.
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
Coming in 3 weeks!!! (Click photo for info!)
Coming in August!!!
Coming in October!!!
Thank you for supporting The Arc of Greater Williamsburg! We have proudly served adults with developmental disabilities since 1976.
