Saturday, May 22, 2021

The Gang's All Here...Almost!

 

Yahoo!  We were very excited to celebrate Xavier's birthday AND getting back together on the same day!  Almost everyone was here this week to party with Xavier and catch up with old friends.  Patrick is missing because he's in Indiana visiting his sister, and helping her move into her new home...just in time to welcome Patrick's second niece in a few weeks!  But everyone else remembered to come and it was a fantastic reunion of friends, kicked off by a fun birthday pizza party!  It was more noisy and more busy, but more fun!  Check out our return to full speed ahead week!

Tuesday

We don't have many pictures from today because we were so busy getting reacclimated to being together, that snapping pics didn't happen!  But here's a video of everyone during our dance warm up!  


It was a gorgeous day to return to full participation, and we spent time outside playing with balls and taking walks.  We love the fresh air this time of year, and the fact that it isn't too humid!

Here come Nancy and Liz, and if you can spot her down the sidewalk, you'll see Michelle coming around the corner!  The JRES campus is great for walking.

Getting back together was a highlight, but so was celebrating Xavier's 26th birthday!!  National Pizza Party Day is on Friday, but we moved it to today because Xavier (and his friends) love pizza!  Here, Xavier is holding his gluten and dairy free pizza while a few of his friends wait patiently for their slices of "regular" pizza.  We made them all ourselves, and of course, they were tasty!

Happy Birthday, Xavier!!  You have the honor of being the first in-person birthday party with EVERYONE here that we've had in over a year! 🥳🎈🧁 It took us a few minutes to get organized for this picture with 14 happy friends, but we did it.  Thank you to Xavier's mom, Leah, for treating us to these super yummy gluten-free cupcakes, too!  They were beautiful!

After celebrating Xavier, we enjoyed Choice Time, worked on thank you cards for our new friends at the Williamsburg-Jamestown Airport who gave us a great tour and lunch last week, and then played a new, and challenging, Bingo game.  Liz recently gave us a United States Geography Bingo game and it's based on different regions of the country.  It also features products and industries from each state, so we really had to focus on what was called!  It's not like traditional Bingo, but we had fun playing it with ALL of us at the same time...in person, and not on Zoom!!  😄  Day 1 of "reentry" went well!


Wednesday

Today we had an Eaton work morning.  We're always excited to do this, as you can see by Annmarie and Laura's "ta-da" for the photo!  They were counting and bagging screws, 10 per bag.  


Kate and Devin were also counting, but they had a different size of screw and had to count 50 and 30 respectively.  Their efficiency was impressive!


Also counting 10 were Abraham and Drew, who were promoted to "operating" two counting sheets at one time!  Their focus is excellent.  Sam was a floater today, something he excels at.  We needed him to perform a variety of tasks.  In this case, he was pulling open the zip-locked bags so it would be easier when Lisa came around to put the 10 screws inside.


Liz also floated from task to task, to help with the flow of assembling PowerSlide Doors, which her team was doing.  Here, she's attaching an amber lens to each door, before sending it on to the label table.


Speaking of the label table, Alexis and Nan have to work steadily to apply 4 labels to each door and quickly send them on to the nuts and bolts guys.  They are also very efficient.  Also shown here, Carol is training Michelle on inserting the amber lenses.  Later, Michelle took over for Liz on that job!


Our nuts and bolts team pulls it all together!  Nancy, Kevin, Cameron, and Xavier insert 4 nuts and bolts around each amber lens, so the lens won't fall out.  This takes dexterity and concentration, which they all have in abundance.  Our team assembled 108 doors today!  👏👏


After Eaton work, we went outside, had a quick oceans review lesson, and then ate lunch.  After lunch, we continued reading our book about Maxi, the deaf dog, and talked about Rescue Dog Day followed by a lesson on words with silent letters...which we found amusing.  Why is there a "k" at the beginning of "knock" or a "b" at the end of "lamb?"  😲

Our last activity of the day was tuning in to Zoom with Bette Faye and The Arc for a lesson with Christina...yes, "our" Christina from the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg!  During the pandemic, when The Arc began hosting Zoom events, we told Bette Faye to invite Christina to be a presenter.  Our friends in the "Big" Arc have been enjoying lessons with her ever since!


Christina presents different topics during these Wednesday afternoon sessions than she usually does with the AoA, and today's topic was Patriotic Symbols.  A couple of things we learned were about the evolution of our American flag, and how Lady Liberty has been represented throughout American history.  Interesting and educational, as always!


Sam and Abraham sat on the red sofa for a closer view, and enjoyed seeing Arc friends tuning in from home.  We all enjoy seeing those we miss since Arc events have been on hold.  We hear things are gearing back up soon for evening and/or weekend events!!!  


After teaching us about the patriotic symbols, Christina taught us how to draw a portrait of Lady Liberty.  That was fun, and really very easy!  Thanks, Christina, for a great lesson, as always!  WE at the AoA look forward to hanging with you next week for a lesson on dancing! 💃


We were all thrilled to see Lilly at dismissal!  She graduated from CNU over the weekend and while she waits to begin her job in the Admissions Department at the college next month, she's spending time with Kevin and helping with his transportation to and from the center.  So fun to see her!


Thursday

Thursday arrived sunny and bright!  On our way outside we stopped to recycle cardboard from yesterday's Eaton work.

 
Annmarie and Laura threw one of our big disks to each other, and sometimes the wind caught it and sent it high!

 
There wasn't much of a breeze when these guys took a turn!


Here's a big cheer (and a loud one 😜) from these friends who were watching "Wheel of Fortune" on the laptop during Choice Time.  They solved a puzzle:  Playing Volleyball on the Beach!

 
Saturday is International Being You Day, so we talked about our individual differences and how we're all unique in our own ways.  We completed a worksheet about ourselves, and shared the responses with the group.  Here, Kate looks on as Cameron reads his information.  We learned his favorite color is blue and he likes the AoA because he sees his friends here!  


With Drew looking on to make sure she read it correctly, Alexis shared his information.  His favorite color is green, he loves pizza, and he likes to watch game shows on tv!  


Tomorrow we are taking a picnic to Freedom Park, so we spent the end of the day preparing for it.  Everyone was assigned a team.  Nancy and Kate bagged chips for each of us.


Liz, Alexis, and Michelle made turkey and cheese wraps for everyone...except Xavier, who got a turkey sandwich on gluten-free bread! 


Drew and buddies Kevin and Xavier filled bags with juicy grapes for us!  

 
We're celebrating Tracy's birthday tomorrow, and she's going to help us with transportation, too.  (We need extra vans so everyone can have social distance.)  Nan baked birthday chocolate chip cookies earlier in the day, and Sam, Annmarie, and Abraham bagged them for us.  Yum!

 
Cameron, Laura, and Devin were in charge of getting our brown bags ready with napkins and our names.  Cameron was picked up early and missed the photo, but Laura and Dev were proud of their work! 


Friday

Our first shot of the day was taken around 8:45!  WATA riders and a few of our car riders were already here, when all of a sudden Jorie shows up from Eaton!  Good thing we had lots of helpers, as we had a lot to unload from her car.  It was filled from front to back...we don't even know how she fit in to drive!  After unloading what she brought, we had to load what we had worked on this week.  WOW!  Look at all that!  Thanks, Jorie, for keeping us busy with Eaton work!!!!  We're so proud to be on the Eaton team!

 
Here's what it takes to transport all of us on a field trip during the era of social distancing.  Parks & Rec is still restricting riders to one per seat, so two vans aren't enough for our full crew.  Luckily, Tracy and her assistant, Liz, were able to join us today with the ADA van!  Thank you, Tracy, Liz, and Parks & Rec!


We were expecting it to be quite warm and humid today, but instead Mother Nature decided to give us one more day of perfect weather!  We went to the Williamsburg Botanical Garden at Freedom Park, to search for some things master gardeners Linda and Karen had emailed us about.  First, we found the sugar snap peas in the trellis bed!


Nancy picked a few plump ones, but we're not sure the rest are quite ready.  If we don't make it back soon, Lisa and Alexis will stop by and check.  We're looking forward to a tasty salad made with some of these!


The master gardeners also told us to look for strawberries, and pick some if the critters hadn't gotten them.  Abraham, Michelle, and Carol found quite a few still on the vines!  They were small, but mighty...and very tasty, too!


Xavier and Kevin stopped to smell the roses!  Sort of... 😍


The MGs told us to look in the fairy garden for a new fairy with yellow hair!  It took the the guys a few minutes, but eventually Kate, Annmarie, and Sam realized the "fairy" was made of flower pots and her "yellow hair" was a plant!  So cute!


Did we mention we were also celebrating Tracy's birthday today?!  (She's so much more than a van driver!)  We had a birthday party picnic in her honor!  The wraps, chips, grapes, and cookies we prepared yesterday really hit the spot today.  Here, Tracy and Liz are seated at the birthday table, and our guys are surrounding them with AoA love!  It was lots of fun hanging out with them!


After lunch, we played with birthday bubbles!  We had saved a few of the tubes that Devin's mom sent us for his birthday party, and they were just as much fun today!


There wasn't too much wind, so lots of twirling or blowing was needed to produce bubbles today.  We had fun hanging with Tracy and Liz and hope they can join us again soon!  Have a Happy Birthday Weekend, Tracy!


Back at the AFCC we had a few chores to do before relaxing with yoga.  Abraham, Michelle, and Nancy made sure our potato plants got water.  It really needs to be watered each day since we're not getting any rain, and we hope it will be ok until Tuesday. 🤞🥔  It's been doing so well.  We also refilled the birdfeeders, and put away all tables and chairs.


There was enough room for everyone to enjoy yoga today.  Three friends were absent, but we think we can fit one more row next week so all 15 will have a spot.  Our main yoga workout with Jaime today was based on "Jack and the Beanstalk" and our Peace Out mindfulness session was called "Tickle Pixie," both tying in with our visit to the garden!  It was fun, relaxing, and, as always, the perfect ending to a great week!


We hope our friends aren't too "tired" after 4 full days at the AoA!  Hopefully they will have a fun, but restful, weekend!


Our plans for next week are shaping up like this:

Tuesday:  We'll Zoom with Christina from the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg on the topic of dancing!  Hmmm.  Sounds like a fun time!  We'll also work on map skills as we try to pinpoint our place on Earth (from the planet to our street).  There will be Eaton tasks to complete, too!  Lunch on your own (may order from JRES cafeteria).

Wednesday:  We're starting our study of countries/territories today with a lesson on Guam.  For lunch, we will prepare our Mariners' Museum friend Wisteria's chicken kelaguen (like chicken salad), with a side of garlic butter quinoa (like garlic bread...but healthy).  Chicken kelaguen is seasoned with lemon juice and green onions; added coconut will be optional.  Let's all try it... 😋  We'll also have make up lessons on topics we didn't get to last week:  Be A Millionaire Day and Endangered Species Day.

Thursday:  We will work on Eaton again today.  Our educational lessons will include Limerick Day (a make up lesson) and Endangered Species Day, part 2.  Lunch on your own (may order from JRES cafeteria).

Friday:  Lessons today will include a focus on Memorial Day and Save Your Hearing Day (31st).  We'll also talk about Correct Your Posture Month as part of yoga, so dress to stretch.  In a nod to Memorial Day, we'll have hot dogs and baked beans for lunch!

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.  

Happy Weekend to Everyone,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
















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