Hello to Old Friends...Goodbye to a Good Friend

Marigolds, zinnias, and cock's comb (celosia) flowers that the master gardeners will be planting in the garden soon.

We kicked off this week with a "special session" visit with our master gardener friends!  We haven't seen them in person since late 2019, but now that everyone is vaccinated, we got the all clear to gather.  We'll resume regular sessions with them in September, but today was a reminder of the educational, fun, and tasty times to come!  Here's a look at our visit with them, and the rest of our week, too...

Tuesday

We had to meet inside the Interpretive Center at Freedom Park due to the threat of rain when we joined our master gardener friends for a catching up session today.  Instead of planting new plants in the garden, we settled for them showing the plants to us.  We'll be patient until September, when we will be able to plant with them again!

First, Linda had everyone reintroduce themselves!  The MGs were happy to meet Michelle for the first time, and to get reaquainted with the rest of us!  We shared with them that it is Cameron's last week, and they were sad to see him go...just as we are.  😔  Still, they wished him well...just as we will!

Diana showed us tomato plants that will go into the garden.  One will be cherry tomatoes, and the other will be regular-sized ones.  Both are supposed to be "prolific" producers of tomatoes, and we learned that means they will grow a lot of tomatoes.  We can't wait to harvest some later in the summer! 🍅

Something else we will look forward to harvesting is sweet peppers!  Joanne remembered that someone in our group suggested we plant HOT peppers, but Joanne said we're sticking with the sweet variety.  That's great, as they will be so tasty in a fresh salad! 🌶

Also going into the garden is a cucumber plant.  Pat reminded us that the vine will attach itself to anything suitable nearby and spread up and out leaving lots of cucumbers to be picked.  She also mentioned that we could try making easy refrigerator pickles this year...yumm!  Lisa is pretty sure we have a recipe that MG Barbara gave us one time! 🥒

Karen asked if we remembered which herb is good to plant near tomatoes, and we did...basil!  But we had forgotten why:  The basil repels certain pests that try to get the tomatoes!  We thought of another reason, too - basil and tomatoes taste really good when cooked together! 🍝

Kevin's mom sent us a picture this morning of the succulent garden we made with the MGs back in spring of 2018!  We showed the MGs, who were thrilled with how it's thrived under Kevin and Debbie's loving care!  💚👍

Before we knew it, it was time for a fun activity designed for us by "Krafty Karen!"  Liz and Alexis were telling Drew to pick out some flowers for his project, but he was too busy cheesing for the camera!

Everyone got a small plastic bottle and a selection of stickers and ribbons with which to decorate it.  Then, Karen and the MGs helped them select from a variety of colorful flowers and greenery to make a lovely mini-vase of summer beauty!  Here, Joanne was assisting Xavier and Linda helped Kevin. 🎕

MG Kate assisted Annmarie and Nancy who both ended up with very pretty vases.  The photographer apologizes for not getting MG Kate to look up for the shot, but these ladies were focused!

Here, Carol and Nan, along with MG Rich, helped Cameron, Laura, and Michelle with their projects.  We were so engaged with this fun activity!

Thank you, Master Gardeners, for spending time with us today.  It was so nice to see you in person again, and we picked up as if we had not left off over 20 months ago!  Here are some of our beautiful mini-vases on display back at the center.  Simple elegance!

Speaking of being back at the center...we were SO glad we made it back before this started!  The rain literally began coming down in buckets the second we pulled into our parking spots.  We had decided to return to AFCC for lunch, hoping to be inside when the inevitable happened, but alas, we had to stay on the vans for about 20 minutes before we got a break from the deluge!   

Sooo, in a first for us, we had a van picnic!  It was already 12:15 when we got back, and we had a feeling we'd be here a while.  Lisa called Carol and they decided if we ate one thing at a time, we should be able to eat lunch without making a mess.  We were SUCCESSFUL...and it was kind of fun!  (Of course, Alexis had a salad today, so she had to be extra careful!) 😋

Once we were inside where it was nice and dry, we got to enjoy some very tasty lemon and rosemary cookies that Linda sent back with us.  Cameron almost ate this one before we could get a picture!  He LOVES all kinds of desserts, and since it was his last week, we just had to take his picture enjoying Miss Linda's cookies!  Thanks, Linda.  They were thin and crispy and just right!

Speaking of Cameron, we spent the rest of the afternoon writing farewell cards to him, and hanging out in the gym.  We didn't play any organized games, but we enjoyed the space to walk, shoot hoops, and bounce balls.  The best part?  It was dry in there!  We could hear more heavy downpours on the gym roof while we hung out together.  What a wet day it became!

But, we got a "ray of sunshine" when we heard the news that Meemaw is feeling better!  She got our cheer cards and they made her day!  We love and miss you, Meemaw!! 🌞

Wednesday

Well, today was interesting.  It was supposed to be Cameron's last day with us, but his father wasn't feeling well this morning, so his mother decided he better stay home (or in their case, at the hotel), just in case he started feeling badly.  So, we made a plan for him to join us at his Pizza Party / Farewell Luncheon if he was feeling ok, and decided he would spend the morning with his mom doing the walk-through at their recently sold house!

Meanwhile, we still honored Cameron's friendship with our day's activities.  First, we danced to a lot of his favorite tunes during our dance warm-up.  Alexis, Abraham, Kate, and our Cameron "double" moved to the music of the Backstreet Boys!

We baked Cameron's favorite cupcakes, vanilla, for dessert, and had a decorating party.  Liz and Kevin talked about how much Cameron loves his sweets!

Annmarie and Devin were twinning today in their Arc 5k shirts.  They happen to share a table so it was really cool that they were dressed alike!  They also enjoyed decorating cupcakes for Cameron's party, adding lots of sprinkles, which Cam loves!

The hard part was knowing we had to wait until after lunch to eat these!  Maybe it was a good thing Cameron wasn't here as he didn't have to drool over them for 2 hours!  (Can you spot Xavier's decorated stack of gluten free cookies?! 👀)

Cameron, we'll always remember you when we have cupcakes!  We'll also remember what a "STAR" of a friend you were to us!

Cameron is a mover who enjoys our exercise routines, and he likes SpongeBob SquarePants.  Today, in his honor, we found a SpongeBob themed workout which Laura, Michelle, Patrick, and Nancy demonstrated...along with Cameron's stunt double!

Later, we went outside for a Cameron-inspired walk...only someone forgot to raise him up for the photo!  We all wore shades to celebrate how cool he is, too!  (Except Laura...who had hers in her pocket. 😎)  Cameron always enjoyed walking laps around the garden, usually with Sam (who is absent this week).  We tried to take long, speedy strides like he does!

Here is a better shot of us stretching our legs for a good walk like Cameron would take.  He's with us...up in the front, where he would naturally be - Liz is "carrying" him!

We stopped by the huge map of America that is painted on the blacktop and placed Cameron (who is also wearing shades!) right smack dab in the middle of Staunton, Virginia, which is where he is headed with his family.

Back inside, we worked puzzles to celebrate Cameron.  He loves jigsaw, word search, and crossword puzzles, and we had a variety of each!  Kate and Xavier worked on Cam's favorite jigsaw puzzle, SpongeBob.  These two have known Cameron the longest, as the 3 of them went to York High School together before reuniting at the AoA!

We decorated a board for him, and put our farewell cards, along with pictures of the beautiful Virginia mountains, on it.  By now, we were hoping to hear from his mom that he felt fine and would be joining us for lunch, and...

Ta-da!  He made it!  He was happy to see pepperoni pizza with a side of fries (and don't forget those cupcakes) for his farewell party.  We also gave him some framed photos of himself with his AoA friends, but we forgot to take a picture of that.  Luckily, his family's schedule changed and Cameron got to be with us for one more day, tomorrow!  What a great party, though.  Many thanks to Cameron's folks, Brian and Stacey, for treating us today.  We are so happy to have known all of you for almost 4 years, and we will miss you terribly.  Please stop by (or drop Cameron off) for a visit whenever you're in town to visit relatives!  We'd love to keep in touch!

Thursday

Ciao!  We learned today that we can say that for "hello" or "goodbye" as we studied the country of Italy.  We enjoyed learning lots of other facts, too.  Here, Laura, Xavier, Devin, and Patrick were proud that they got the colors of the Italian flag correct!  We learned that flags like this one, and the one we recently learned about for France, are called tricolors, and were designed hundreds of years ago to represent liberty!  

 
A surprising (silly?) fact we learned is that the ancient Romans were the first to actually sew woven fabrics together to make fitted socks!  What else would we expect from the country shaped like a boot?!

Finally, we learned that it must be fun to visit Italy if you get to make fresh mozzerella cheese, like Liz's parents did a few years ago!  Liz shared pictures of their trip that also showed how beautiful Italy is!

On what turned out to really be Cameron's last day, we enjoyed gorgeous June weather and took another walk, but with the "real" Cam this time.  His "real" friends were hustling to try and keep up! 

Hello, Cool Dudes!  Also known as Drew and Devin!

Here's our final group photo with Cameron, except Abraham was not with us today.   That's Cameron on the top row in the middle, looking as cool as ever in his shades!  

It's been a while since we hung out with Mystery Doug, so today we watched an episode that answered the question:  Could people ever walk on walls?  We learned why insects and small animals like frogs can, and why humans can't.  It has something to do with either glue-like substances in the hairs on their toes, or a sort of suction ability.  Humans are too heavy; we would need so much glue-like substance that we would get stuck!

We also watched a clip of Spiderman climbing a wall...but he was unique!  (And, he had some help from Hollywood!)  Then we played Superhero Bingo!  It was Cameron's last Bingo game with us. 😞

Devin was our Bingo caller today, and he also helped Annmarie find some of the tricky superhero spaces.  Good job on double duty, Dev!

Cameron got picked up just before yoga, so we walked out to say our final good-byes to him and his folks.

In the words of Devin, "Happy Trails, Cameron, Brian, and Stacey, and thanks for the memories!"  We'll miss you guys!

Friday

We missed Cameron today, and also Sam, who is out of town, Abraham who had an appointment, and Kevin who had the sniffles!  That only left Devin, Xavier, Drew, and Patrick to work with ALL the girls at Eaton today!  😳  They did a great job!  Here are a few pics from our productive work day at Eaton.

Upon our arrival we were greeted enthusiastically by Kesha and James!  They made sure we had plenty of work to do and it was all lined up in our room!  They spent a few minutes catching up with us, too.  We love talking to them!

This is the 3rd or 4th time we've worked with Kesha, and she rocks!  Jorie knew what she was doing when she matched us up with her.    She answers our questions and makes sure we know what our tasks are, but she also takes time to chat with the gang and is getting to know them.  They love that!  😊  

Update on Jorie:  She is on strict bedrest for her knee (even though Kesha said she "popped" in for a quick meeting this morning), and we miss her so much, but REALLY HOPE SHE'S RESTING THAT KNEE!  We know she wants to be back at work, but some things can't be rushed.  💜💛💚💙 from us to you, Jorie.

Drew, Patrick, Annmarie, and Laura worked on inventory today.  They kept Lisa busy bringing them boxes of things to count from the other room.  We were listening to a KidzBop cd, and they were counting while also enjoying Drew's favorite song, "Uptown Funk!"  This crew counted 17 boxes of parts today, and each box had between 100-250 pieces!

In the other room, it was time to assemble PowerSlide Doors.  Nancy, Xavier, and Kate did an outstanding and efficient job inserting nuts and bolts, but they sure missed Kevin's help.  (And Cameron's...but we'll have to adjust for that!)

We had 3 Label Ladies today:  Alexis, Nan, and Liz.  Their nimble fingers never stopped sticking labels, even though they were chatting up a storm! 🗣🗣🗣  😜

But it all started here, with Devin unpacking and Michelle inserting the lenses.  They were as efficient as their coworkers, and kept the assembly line on track.  This entire team worked until we ran out of nuts and bolts after lunch!

Don't we look so professional in our Eaton shirts, having lunch in the breakroom?!  We're good at socializing and eating, too!

It was a great day except for when we checked our potato plant, which has seemingly grown beautifully in the bag for weeks.  Our MG friends said for us to check for potatoes, so Carol stuck her hand in and she only felt one!  She said she didn't go all the way to the bottom, so hopefully there are more.  When we return on July 6th we're going to meet Karen at the garden and harvest potatoes there, but we also hope to harvest some here, too! 

Our last week before Summer Break ended on the sweetest note!  Randy, Nancy's brother, has a birthday in a few days.  Someone sent him a huge box of gourmet cookies, and he brought us some samples!  How thoughtful of him to share with us, and they were sooo good after our busy work day!  Thank you, and Best Wishes for a Very Happy Birthday on Wednesday, Randy! 🍪🥳🎈🥳🍪

We've come to the end of our June days, as next week we'll be on Summer Break.  We hope everyone enjoys some fun downtime!   We'll be back in session on Tuesday, July 6th.  Here are some of our plans for that week (the rest are still being figured out 😉):

Tuesday:  It's a day we have been waiting a long time for:  BOWLING!  We're headed back to the lanes for bowling and pizza for lunch.  We're pretty excited about this, so bring your bowling balls (if you have one) and wear your Arc shirts!  On the way to bowling, we'll also swing by the Williamsburg Botanical Garden to harvest potatoes with Karen! 

  

Wednesday:  It's National Macaroni Day, so we're going to make Austria our country of the week and cook an Austrian ham and noodle casserole for lunch (but we'll use elbow macaroni!).  We'll also update our July calendar today.

Thursday:  We mentioned recently that Eaton NEEDS us, so we'll be working there a few hours each Thursday during July!  Bring a bag lunch and wear your Eaton shirt.

Friday:  We will work on decorations for our room as we transition it to a summer theme.  We'll also have a lesson on a poetry form called "Clerihew" since National Clerihew Day is tomorrow!  Sounds interesting... Dress to stretch for yoga and bring your own lunch!

Have a great weekend and a wonderful Summer Break!  See you back at the AoA on July 6 and the next blog post will be on July 10!

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang

The Power of A Smile!

We began this week with a celebration of National Smile Power Day!  What a great "holiday" on which to begin a great week!  Smiles improve our moods by activating neural networks which reduce stress.  Smiles are contagious, and research has proven that smiling at others often results in them smiling, too.  Smiles boost our moods and have a positive impact on others, so give it a try!  We were smiling all throughout our wonderful week, except for when we heard a couple of announcments...but we bounced back.  Here's a look at our week:

Tuesday

There were no shortages of smiles when we checked out a version of ourselves as cartoons!  Maybe you've tried it as well?  Lots of people on social media are using apps to create fun caricatures of themselves and Lexi's cousin Kelly got us in on the fun!  Lexi took pics of everyone last Friday and Kelly used her app over the weekend, sending us these to show everyone today.

Abraham has one of the biggest smiles we've ever seen, and it definitely shines on him as a cartoon!

Annmarie has one of the sweetest smiles we've ever seen, and it came through on her cartoon, as well!

Some of our guys looked whimsical, and others more serious, but we all agreed we're a great looking group, whether we're "real" or "cartoons!"  Thank you, Kelly, for taking time to create these for us.  We smiled at this fun take on ourselves, so it was perfect for Smile Power Day!  We appreciate you always keeping us in mind when you think of fun things we might like to do.  Keep your creative ideas coming!

Before we moved on to our next activity, we got some sad news from Carol and Cameron.  First, Carol shared with us that her family had to put down their beloved chocolate lab, Callie, last Friday.  Callie was a rescue dog and believed to be 13-14 years old.  She had been living with the pain of arthritis in recent months, and like Maxi in the book we finished last week (who had bone cancer), Callie let Carol and her guys "know" when it was time.  💙🐕  We gave Carol lots of love and sympathy, and reminded her that we know Callie had a great life with her family!

                       

Next, we learned that next week will be Cameron's last week with us at the Arc of Abilities.  😢  His family is moving to Staunton to be closer to family.  Two of his sisters, and his beautiful niece Raegan, live near there, and his 3rd sister is in Richmond.  Cameron and his parents are building a new home that overlooks the mountains, and they are excited!  We will miss our friend, but wish him well as he seeks out an Arc sponsored day program in the Staunton area.  We'll miss his quiet nature and amazing "arc"tistic abilities...his contributions to our decorations are always masterpieces!  We'll celebrate him next week with a pizza party, as that's one of his very favorite foods!  And we'll ALWAYS smile at the memories of Cameron!

Last Saturday was National Peanut Butter Cookie Day so we celebrated by having a Cookie Bake-Off today.  We found 3 simple recipes, divided the gang into 3 groups, and using these simple ingredients (no flour), got to competing!

Here we are getting organized.  Team A was making peanut butter & jelly cookies, using chunky peanut butter.  Team B was making traditional cookies, and Team C was making peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips!

Annmarie, Devin, Cameron, Kate, and Nancy were curious to see how their PB&J cookies would turn out!

Abraham, Sam, Kevin, Liz, and Xavier (not pictured) were surprised at how "sticky" their recipe with the chocolate chips was.  Remember, no flour in our cookies today!

Alexis, Laura (over at another table to borrow more peanut butter), Drew, Patrick, and Michelle were making traditional cookies, except no flour!  Basically, for all the cookies, we only used peanut butter, sugar (white and/or brown), and eggs.

Despite having a smudge on our camera lens (for the next few pics), it's clear to see that our cookies turned out beautifully!  We taste tested after lunch, and they were ALL a big hit!

Liz said she enjoyed being a cookie judge!  She was very complimentary of all the entries.  In the end, we had 3 winners...just the way we like it!

June 15th was the first ever National Megalodon Day!  Kevin came prepared in his shark shirt from his favorite restaurant, Harpoon Larry's!  We learned that nearly perfect megalodon teeth have been found near Aurora, North Carolina, and they have a great megalodon exhibit at their local fossil museum.

We also learned that the megalodon was the most massive shark that ever lived, with a mouth that spanned six to eleven feet wide, and full of rows of serrated teeth.   It was almost as long as a school bus, too!  Luckily, it's been extinct for over 3 million years!  Michelle is our resident shark expert, so she helped us learn even more about the mighty megalodon.  Here, she's showing us a picture of a life-sized megalodon model that hangs over the dining area at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History!

To celebrate Smile Power Day, we made some cool smiley faces out of scraps and craft materials we had on hand.  They required a lot of glue, so we had to leave them flat to dry overnight.  We'll post pictures of how we decorated our room with them tomorrow!

At the end of the day, we had time for a quick lesson that we knew Drew would like:  It was National Pop Goes the Weasel Day!  Drew loves that silly song, so we thought this picture of him wondering why there was a real animal on the screen was funny!  He needn't have worried.  After we learned a few facts about weasels, we played the silly song and everyone chased each other around the room...alas, we should have filmed it!

Wednesday

Wow...today was an absolutely gorgeous day, with low humidity and temps in the low 80s.  We picked a good one to visit Freedom Park for a walk, Botanical Garden check, and picnic lunch!

These friends made it all the way to the bridge!  Their round trip walk was a little over one mile.

Our usual picnic area behind the Interpretive Center was in use today as the county kicked off a series of events commemorating Juneteenth.  We had our picnic in the Botanical Garden, and enjoyed each other's company along with that of several butterflies and bees!  The insects didn't bother us; they were happily pollinating the beautiful plants all around us!

Our master gardener friend Elizabeth told us if we got a chance to stop by the garden, to please harvest some blue podded peas she had planted.  We found the vine, and Liz and Lexi picked some! 

The blue podded peas are an heirloom variety, and very pretty!

We're going to add them to our salad bar tomorrow for our celebration of Eat Your Vegetables Day.  We can't wait to see if the peas inside the pods are also bluish/purple.  Thanks for sharing with us, MG Elizabeth!  UPDATE: The peas inside were a light green with a bit of a peppery taste. We tried them raw in our salad!

Liz was excited to see a beautiful plant that she says her mom also grows in their yard.  It's bee balm, and not only do bees love it, but so do butterflies and hummingbirds.  MG Linda has often told us to look for the pretty bee balm in the garden!

It's hard to tell how pretty all the purple blooms behind these guys, and the roses to the right of them, are in this picture.  We always like to say, "Get to the Williamsburg Botancial Garden and check out the beauty!"  It's truly a hometown treasure.

We grabbed a shot of Nancy on our way out.  She's so cute in her bucket hat...which was a good idea to be wearing on this sunny day!

After a quick stop at Eaton to drop off some work we had finished at the AFCC, we enjoyed Choice Time for the rest of the afternoon.  This side of the room with Sam, Xavier, Laura, Michelle, and Nancy was partaking in quiet activities like reading, puzzles, computer games, and coloring.

It was a bit more lively on this side.  Patrick checked sports stats on his phone and Kevin (background) worked a puzzle. Liz, Devin, Drew, Alexis, and Kate were watching and playing game shows on the computer.  Carol was busy decorating the room with our smiley faces!  Aren't they cute on the whiteboard?

She also put some on this wall that we will leave up for a while!  SMILE...it's contagious!!

Thursday

Our DJ Liz informed us that tomorrow is Paul McCartney's 79th birthday, so she spun some Beatles for us.  We caught these two enjoying "Here Comes the Sun."  Drew was getting down while Dev played some serious air guitar!

  Laura, Michelle, Alexis, Sam, and Kevin couldn't be still during "Life is a Highway!"  We love our morning dance warm up time!

Today we put together a little treat for all the dads, and guys who are like dads, in our lives.  We hope they will enjoy it on Father's Day this Sunday.  Patrick and Laura said they hope he will share!  😁

During our Card Factory work session, we made cheer cards for Meemaw, who has been under the weather lately.  We hear she's working on getting her strength back.  She's in our thoughts. 💙💚💜  

We also made a set of cards for Bette Faye, who wanted some cheer cards to keep on hand at the Arc office for times when they send out good wishes to people!  Aren't they gorgeous?

We've learned in our Card Factory experience that crayons don't work well on cardstock, and it doesn't adapt well to our cards being saved for future use or transported.  The wax flakes off of some cards and spreads to others.  So, we are now well-stocked with colored pencils for Card Factory and other projects!  Sam and Xavier agree that these should last a while!

Today was National Mascot Day and our guys have a lot of favorite mascots, from sports to restaurants to stores and even insurance companies!  We found a website for the Mascot Hall of Fame which is located in Whiting, Indiana, and it gave us lots of fun ideas for celebrating.  You can check it out if you click on the photo below!

The website has a great story time session which led us to a link for a silly read aloud called Creepy Carrots.  We listened to it since we were also celebrating Eat Your Veggies Day!

We also found a link to an interesting segment about a young man with Autism and Asperger's who has found his calling being a mascot!  His name is Austin and he's the dude behind the suit as Buff the Bison at Harding College in Arkansas.  A link to his inspiring story can be found by clicking on his photo!

We talked about some of our favorite mascots.  Patrick is a big W&M Griffin fan, Devin loves the Phillie Phanatic, and Drew loves Chick-fil-A, so he has a pic of the cows!  Alexis wore her Blue Devils mask to represent Duke, and Sam colored a picture of Sparky, the Arizona State Sun Devil to represent his parents' alma mater AND the name of his new beach house (technically Diablo del Sol).  Mascot Day was fun!  

We have one more picture from today that we must include, because when we look back at past blog posts, we love to see what we were eating each week.  Since it was National Eat Your Vegetables Day, we created a gorgeous and healthy salad with grilled chicken!  YUMMY! 

Yoga was moved to today because we planned to be at Eaton tomorrow.  We got a video clip of everyone doing one of their favorite moves with Jaime!  

Friday

Three of our friends were absent today, and they were all out for reasons involving moving!  Cameron was helping his family prepare to move to Staunton, Abraham was settling in after helping his family move to a new house this week, and Michelle was in Charlottesville helping her family move her sister back to town!  ALL good excuses, but we missed them as we headed to Eaton for a busy work day!

Liz and Alexis lit up the room with their smiles as they unpacked lightbulbs!  (NOTE:  Eaton has lifted the mask mandate for those who are vaccinated, and all of us are!  Woo-hoo!)

Nancy, Kevin, Kate, and Patrick settled in to snap apart plastic pieces. There is a little tab on each large piece that has to be separated, and they made quick work of a very large tub of them!  (Masks optional. Some of our guys still wear them here and there.)

Just LOOK at that pile of mixed up parts under the table where Xavier and Drew were sorting!  That was definitely the most they have ever had to sort at one time, and they got it finished by lunch time!  Lisa and Carol got good workouts moving the parts from the floor to the tubs on top of the tables, too! 😜

Also snapping off smaller pieces from larger ones were Devin and Sam.  There were two small pieces to separate from this large one that Sam is holding.  They made a pretty good dent in that box by lunch time!

Annmarie was tickled to be unpacking parts with Laura and Nan!  They had to remove two pieces, separate them for storage, and discard the rest!  A triple chore for this joyful trio!

Monday, June 21 is National Selfie Day, so here's a selfie of the AoA's fearless leaders, Lisa, Nan, and Carol!  Might as well get a head start on celebrating!

We took a nice lunch break, then it was back to work to finish some tasks.  Drew who finished all of that sorting earlier, was reassigned to the separating job that Sam and Devin were working on.  Lisa worked with him at this table where he persevered in pulling apart and sorting the pieces!

The crews that are seated had finished their before lunch tasks so, like Drew, they chipped in to help Sam and Devin get to the bottom of that big box!  Sam had to climb inside to reach the last pieces on the bottom, and we were cranking them out as fast as he could get them to us!

Xavier took the sorted lids and stacked them nicely in the tubs.  He's really good at this job, which we think reminds him of working a puzzle!  

The light bulb ladies became gasketing gals after lunch!  It was nice to have different tasks after lunch, though we never get bored working at Eaton!

We got back to AFCC with about 45 minutes left in the day, so we celebrated summer's impending arrival on Monday with Popsicles and a silly game of Summer Bingo!  Kate was the caller today, and she made sure everyone had a fun time, and won a prize!  Great way to end the week!  Oh, and don't Kevin and Devin look nice in their new Eaton shirts?!  They (and Nancy) had to await the arrival of new stock in their sizes, and to our surprise, theirs are gray!  Looking good, fellas (and Nancy)!

Sounds like we need to have Popsicles ready for the weekend.  The forecast says it will be very hot and muggy, which means we might need to keep our favorite "dad" guys in the air conditioning for Father's Day!  It also looks like summer will officially begin next week with similar conditions.  We're ready for it!  The cool JRES gym will be available for us, we hope!  Our plans include the following:

Tuesday:  We don't usually see our master gardener friends in summer, but it's been so long that we're having a special "post-Covid"  session with them today at the Williamsburg Botanical Garden!  We can't wait to catch up with them and hear what plans they have in store for us to resume regular sessions in September.  Bring a bag lunch and wear your Arc shirt!  Back at the center, we'll discuss the summer solstice and work on farewell cards for our friend, Cameron.

Wednesday:  Today is Cameron Day!  It's his last day with us before he moves to Staunton, and we're going to celebrate with things he loves!  We'll solve puzzles together, listen to music from his playlist, color "masterpiece" decorations for our room, and take a speedy walk (even if it's in the gym)!  For lunch, his family is treating us to a Pizza Party!  Thank you, Brian and Stacey!  We can't wait to enjoy pizza one more time with Cameron, who just loves it so much!  It's going to be a fun, but bittersweet, send-off for our friend, Cam.

Thursday:  Thanks to leftovers from a recent Arc Board of Directors dinner meeting, we're having lasagna and baked ziti for lunch.  We'll add a side salad, too.  We're also going to make Italy our country of the week, since we are having Italian-inspired food for lunch this week!  We're also moving our yoga practice to today, so dress to stretch!

Friday:  We have one more Eaton work day on our schedule for now, and it's today.  Please bring a bag lunch and wear your Eaton shirt!  It's also our last day before Summer Break, so we'll have a summertime dance party when we return to AFCC!  

🌞🏊🛌📚🚲🎆🍉⛵🌞

Don't forget, the Arc of Abilities will be on "Summer Break" the week of June 29-July 2.

Happy Father's Day Weekend to our Amazing Dads and Those Like Dads, who are so special to our guys!

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang