It was a beautiful fall week and we enjoyed spending much time outdoors! We're in the midst of decorating our room to reflect the fall season, and we've started noticing things outside that signal the coming of fall, too. We began the week at the garden, and will be visiting it often over the month of October. We're looking forward to observing the changing colors! We ended the week with a couple of celebrations with folks who mean a lot to us. 💜💛💚 Here's a glance at our week:
Tuesday
We enjoyed the second of four fall sessions with the master gardeners at Williamsburg Botanical Garden today. Rick greeted us and gathered everyone around to tell us about the tree walk he was going to lead!
The first tree Rick pointed out was the loblolly pine. It grows very, very tall, and is found all over the garden and the rest of Freedom Park. Rick told us it has needles, not leaves, and it's an evergreen tree, which means it keeps its needles and stays green year round.
Here, Rick was pointing out the river birch, which likes to grow near water. It has a trunk with bark that peels in thin layers, like paper. This is not an evergreen tree, and its leaves will all drop as fall progresses.
We're going to keep our eyes on this tree, with its beautiful 5 pointed green leaves. It's a Japanese maple, and the leaves will be turning a spectacular red color over the next few weeks!
Rick also showed us this white oak tree, which he said is a popular wood used in flooring. Next, we saw a willow oak. He also pointed out the southern magnolia tree and a couple of varieties of cedar trees. Thanks, Rick! It was a fun and informative walk!
We met a new MG today. Her name is Angie, and she taught us about the herb of the day, parsley. We learned that it is so much more than a garnish! It's rich in vitamins A and C, and contains antioxidants, which help protect against serious diseases like diabetes and cancer. It can also aid in digestion, and it helps "cure" bad breath! We are going to start adding parsley to our salads at the AoA! Nice to meet you, Angie, and thanks for that enlightening lesson on parlsey!
Here, Karen and some of the girls were checking out the parsley up close. To the left on the table is a little fig tree, which MG Elizabeth sent for us to take back and nurture at the center. She's the same MG who gave us avocado trees to grow earlier this year. While the avocados might take 5 years to produce fruit, we may see figs in as little as 3 years! (Let's hope we can keep the avocado and fig trees healthy and growing!) Thanks for the fig tree, Elizabeth! We miss seeing you at our sessions but really appreciate you continuing to think of fun things for us to grow!
Krafty Karen taught us how to make leaf rubbings! She brought in a great variety of leaves from her own yard, and we got busy creating all kinds of colorful leaf designs!
We're going to cut these out, and use them as part of the decorations on our "grand wall" as you enter our room. We are transforming it to a fall theme this week, and these leaf rubbings will be perfect up there! Thank you, KK! Fun and creative, and perfect for our guys, as usual!
We were so busy with the MGs today, and we loved it! After the leaf rubbings, we planted new things in the garden. Karen showed us what small Brussels sprout plants look like, and we planted some. Karen said this is an "experiment," as it may be too late for planting Brussels sprouts, but you never know what we may get!
MG Carolyn helped us plant broccoli's cousin, cauliflower! We also planted spinach on the other side of the trellis. It should be ready to harvest in a couple of weeks. Yum!
After planting, Karen told us about what to expect next time we meet, on October 12th. We're going to make a lovely decoration with dried flowers and small pumpkins. We made it before, a few years ago, and it's so pretty! The MGs then gave us a tasty cup of apple juice, which hit the spot as it was getting warm in the sun. They told us about some things growing in their home gardens, gave us some cuttings to display at the center, and sent us on our way! It was a wonderful morning spent with our good friends! Thank you, all MGs, for your friendship and support!
We enjoyed our lunch on the shady deck behind the Interpretive Center and then took a walk before heading back to AFCC. It was a bit warmer than we hoped, but most of our walk was in the shade, which was actually quite nice!
💙💚 We'd like to send a loving shoutout to Meemaw, our friend and Drew's grandmother, who misses working with us at Eaton! We sent her some gasket work to do at home, which was very helpful, but we miss her, too! We hope one day she and our other volunteers will be able to safely return to working with us at the AFCC, Eaton, or whereever else we end up! Thank you, Meemaw! The gasketing work is well-done! 💙💚
We had time when we returned to the center to make a couple of crafty things that will become part of our wall transformation. Using toilet paper rolls, we made squirrels with cute bushy tails, and using paper strips, we made apples!
Making the apples required strategically looping the paper strips, as Kate is doing here. We're hoping to teach our guys this simple, yet kind of tricky technique, as it can be applied in a few weeks to making all kinds of cute Halloween decorations!
Wednesday
It was another beautiful fall day, and we enjoyed outside recreation this morning. We recently got a new game of "velcro catch" that we had fun trying out with friends!
Patrick was shooting hoops, but Devin, Liz, Laura, Alexis, and Kate were playing the new catch game. We tried to get all of them in this shot...
Abraham, Drew, Sam, Xavier, Kevin, and Annmarie played a friendly game of cornhole. Sam "coached" and everyone else threw the bean bags!
Back inside, we learned about Korea, and why it is divided into North Korea and South Korea. We learned that the government in North Korea isn't very good to the people, and they don't enjoy a good quality of life. Their leader is a dictator. We learned that South Korea is a republic, and elections are held to select a president and other leaders. The people in South Korea enjoy freedoms like we do, and their cities are very modern. Lots of high-tech comes from South Korea too, like Samsung and LG products, as well as Kia and Hyundai cars!
We made these cute napkin rings since we were having Korean steamed dumplings for lunch.
Speaking of lunch, our steamed veggie/chicken dumplings, freshly sauteed vegetables, and rice really hit the spot today! Our guys agreed South Koreans eat tasty food!
After lunch, Choice Time, and read-aloud, we spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for Saturday's 5k event. We're making treats and decorations. Today, we worked on a banner. Abraham, Liz, and Kate were coloring tennis shoes that will become part of our banner.
Patrick and Laura also colored shoes. We need lots of them as we are decorating one of the shelters at Veterans' Park!
Sam, Xavier, Kevin, and Devin worked with Nan to put decorative "thank-you" stickers on treat bags and individually wrapped mints. They will be part of our refreshments!
Here's our "grand entrance" wall! Aren't the fall colors great?!
Thursday
We were extremely productive during our morning hours today! After dance warm up, we had to update our calendar for October, because we will be too busy to get to it tomorrow. Kevin, who usually resets the numbers for the new month, was out of town, so Devin did the reset for us. Sam was busy gluing the designations for each day on our colorful squares that will fill in the pocket chart to complete our calendar.
We forgot to get pictures of the computer whizzes, but after they completed each square with pictures that matched the date's events, Drew found the matching space and put them in the slots on the pocket chart. Updating our calendar is a HUGE team effort! 👏👏
Meanwhile, we also made about 300 chocolate chip cookies today! A bunch of them were headed to Eaton and the others will be treats at our 5k event on Saturday. Speaking of Eaton, we also created a "Happy Manufacturing Day" (first Friday in October) poster for them this morning. We planned to deliver the poster and cookies to Eaton after lunch, to celebrate their hard work!
As we've mentioned before, not everyone walks at the same pace, and that's OK. New Quarter Park is another great place for our group to walk, as the path is flat and basically straight. We can spread out as needed, but keep an eye on everyone. Here, Abraham, Patrick, and Drew ran a little bit, trying to catch up with the front of the pack!
Upon our arrival at Eaton, we tried to hide the cookies and poster until everyone gathered around!
Several of our coworkers/friends came out to greet us. Jorie, Kesha, Andy, Shaunta, Beth, and James were there, along with a few others. They were excited to hear that tomorrow is National Manufacturing Day!
Happy Manufacturing Day, Eaton! Thank you for the wonderful partnership. We are so proud to work with you!!
James missed the group photo, so he could get back to the warehouse and gather some work for us to take back to AFCC. We drove the vans down and Devin and Abraham helped him load it for us. Thanks for everything, James! We appreciate what you do to keep us busy!
Friday
Our celebrations continued today, as we honored the custodians at JRES who work hard to keep our space clean and safe. During another busy morning, we got ready to treat them to lunch and also finished getting ready for tomorrow's 5k event! We also welcomed Lexi, from Parks & Rec, who got to work at AFCC with us today!
Abraham, Liz, and Kate worked on making decorative napkin rings for our custodian luncheon, while Lexi worked on putting the letters together for our banner.
Sam was missing his friends Kevin, Devin, and Patrick, all of whom were traveling and not with us today. He had to work by himself to package cookies that will be refreshments for tomorrow.
Michelle, Alexis, and Annmarie got an assembly line going to fill bags of trail mix for tomorrow. Nan was also helping them, at the other end of the table.
Down in the kitchen, Xavier, Laura, and Drew worked with Carol to assemble our delicious chicken and pasta Caesar salad! We forgot to take a picture at lunch, but it was sooo good!
Here are our guests of honor, Heike, Diane, and Severina! Saturday is Custodial Workers Recognition Day, so we were thrilled to treat them to lunch. Turns out, students were not at school today, so our favorite custodians had a bit of extra time to join us and let us treat them to a well-deserved break! They loved the cards we made them, with personal letters to each one written on the inside. Thank you, Heike, Diane, and Severina, for being our friends, and taking care of the AFCC so it's always clean and safe for us to be here!
Even though Heike was taking 1/2 a day off and Diane and Severina had to get back to work, Lisa read a book to us about a beloved custodian who happens to be deaf. Her friend, Barbara Gruener, from Friendswood, TX, is the author!
It was sooooo nice having an extra set of hands today! After lunch, Lexi assembled our homemade banner. It's quite long and took a lot of patience. She did a great job! Thanks, Lexi, for spending today with us! We appreciate your help very much! On a side note, we're all excited for Lexi and Garrett as they await baby Logan's arrival in January! Yep, it's a boy!! 👶
Ahh, namaste and finally, yoga! We were down to 9 remaining members by the end of the day Friday, and they welcomed the chance to spread out for Jaime time!
We did Jaime's version of Wizard of Oz yoga, since in our current read-aloud the main characters are rehearsing for a performance of Wicked, the sort of prequel to Wizard of Oz. Here, our guys are in Toto pose...also known as dog pose!
Yes, it was a fun way to end yet another packed with action week! For some of us, the fun will continue on Saturday, when we gather to celebrate The Arc's Virtual 5k with our own version of a walk at Veterans' Park. Many thanks to everyone who registered and to those who are able to join us tomorrow! We're expecting a smaller than usual 5k crowd, but still a good number. Be sure to smile for the camera and enjoy some of the treats we made this week!
Looking ahead to next week, here's what you need to know:
Tuesday: We hope the nice weather continues as we are heading to the Watermen's Museum in Yorktown today. Our friends, Steve and Mike, are going to teach us about oysters and we're going to pull up oyster floats out of the river to learn about aquaculture! After lunch at the museum picnic area, we'll walk around Yorktown and maybe take a ride on the trolley. Please wear Arc shirts and bring a bagged lunch.
Wednesday: Today is Mad Hatter Day, so we're going to read from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and have a tea party! We'll learn about the author, Lewis Carroll, and make his birthplace of England our country of the day. Wear your favorite hat! 🎩🎩🎩 Lunch on your own. As this post is published, the school menu for October hasn't been posted yet (??), but ordering from the JRES cafeteria is an option today. (Check here to see if the October menu has been posted: https://wjccschools.org/parents/student-meals/ )
WEDNESDAY EVENING: 🏌🏌🏌 Please join us at the Williamsburg Moose Lodge on Richmond Rd (behind Carolina Furniture at the intersection with Airport Rd.) to join Patti and our Women of the Moose friends to receive the donation of the proceeds from the golf tournament! We'll gather at 6 p.m. for a brief ceremony and photo op! It will be exciting, as Patti is reporting a very successful tournament was held!
Thursday: Today is Lisa's birthday, the first of four we will celebrate in October! 🥳 For lunch, Gdad is preparing bbq sandwiches and we will add baked bean casserole and cole slaw. Thank you, Gdad! Since it's Chocolate Covered Pretzel Day, we're going to try and incorporate them into a birthday cake, too! After lunch, we'll take a short drive to Newport News Park for a brisk walk.
Friday: Our birthday celebrations continue as we honor our friend Abraham today! His birthday is on the 10th! His family is treating us to pizza, salad, and cake for lunch! Thank you, Crawford Family! Weather permitting, we'll be outside for some of Abraham's favorite games (basketball, corn hole), too! It's also Hero Day, so we will read from a new book about everyday heroes and discuss how we can be heroes, too! Plus, it's Friday so we'll end the week with another of Abraham's favorite activities, yoga! Dress to stretch!
Happy First Weekend of October!
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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