Thanksgiving, 2021

 

Our two days together this week flew by, and soon it was time to enjoy Thanksgiving with our families.  We stayed at the center both days, and things were kind of quiet as several of our friends were absent this week.  Here's a summary of our two days!

Monday

We only meet one Monday a year, and it was this week.  It always seems a little weird at first, but we quickly adapted!  After dance warm up, we had a lesson about sweet potatoes.  We harvested some from the garden recently, and plan to cook with them tomorrow.  In addition to finding out that they are high in vitamins A and C, high in fiber, and great for helping to boost the immune system (very important this time of year), we also learned that anything you can do with a white potato, you can do with a sweet potato.  Our guys took notice of this recipe for baked and stuffed sweet potatoes that was part of our informational video. 😋  This may show up on our lunch menu in the near future!

Everyone had one of our harvested sweet potatoes to observe, and we also compared them to a few that Lisa bought at the market.  The market ones were much bigger.  Liz and Kevin helped us conclude that the ones we grew at the Williamsburg Botanical Garden may have been smaller because we grew them in a smaller space.  

Devin and Abraham agreed that large farms probably produce larger sweet potatoes, but they also concluded that ours will taste great despite their smaller size.  We'll find out tomorrow!

James stopped by early in the day and left some lids that needed to have gaskets applied ASAP.  Liz and Alexis got right on it, completing a couple hundred of them in an hour's time!  Jorie picked them up before lunch and they were off to another satisfied Eaton customer.  Thanks, Liz and Lexi!

Part of our lesson about Thanksgiving included a video from one of our favorite series, Homeschool POP.  In addition to learning about the history of this holiday, we also learned cool facts like 46 million turkeys are eaten on Thanksgiving each year and 50 million pumpkin pies are eaten!  There are a few other countries which celebrate a holiday called Thanksgiving, too...but not with the same history as ours.  Click on the pic below if you'd like to watch the video and learn what those other countries are!

We followed up the lesson with a couple of worksheet activities.  Sam was overheard saying, "I'm thankful to Devin for helping me with my work."  How do you not love that?!

We did a multi-step art project today when we drew and colored a turkey on a background, and then glued pumpkin seeds and pretzels to fill out the turkey's feathers.  Here, Drew and Alexis had finished the grass and sky, and were working on filling in some sunshine.

This was Annmarie's reaction to being complimented after she figured out that her grass and sky needed to meet each other on the background, rather than be thin strips of blue and green along the top and bottom of the picture.

The next step on our project was to glue pumpkin seeds and broken pretzel pieces for the feathers on the turkey.  Lisa put glue in place for Kevin, but he selected his colors and carefully placed the seeds on his own!

Here are our creative masterpieces!  Everyone did a great job following directions, and personalizing their turkeys.  It's hard to see, but in addition to some traditional birds with multi-colored feathers, we have several themed turkeys representing W&M, UVA, Bridgewater, and Clemson, plus one in support of the World Series champion, Atlanta Braves!  

When we checked the National Day Calendar for today, November 22, we found that the only celebration listed was for Cranberry Relish Day.  So, we learned about cranberries before going home.  Did you know that family farms in the state of Wisconsin produce more than half of the world's supply of cranberries?!  Click this graphic for a short video about Wisconsin's impressive cranberry production:

We also made Lisa's "famous" cranberry relish that we'll enjoy with our lunch tomorrow.  Check out our first time using one of the glass bowls with covers that Sam's grandmother, Nina, sent us for a Christmas gift!  It's perfect for our cranberry relish!  Thanks again, Nina!

Tuesday

Today went by really quickly.  Even though we only had 9 in attendance, we got a lot done!  First on our minds was getting lunch prepared, as we wanted our chicken and pasta salad to have time to chill, and our sweet potatoes to have time to roast.  Plus, we needed to get several tubs of Eaton parts sorted.  We got busy early!  Sam, Kate, and Nan cooked pasta and prepared the greens for our salad.

Liz and Alexis worked with Carol to make her "famous" roasted sweet potatoes with citrus vinaigrette.  It smelled so good as they combined such ingredients as fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, chives, shallots, and cilantro!  We were excited to eat the sweet potatoes we had grown and harvested at the Williamsburg Botanical Garden with our master gardener friends!

Patrick and Devin wrapped silverware in napkins and sealed them with our custom made napkin rings before heading over to help with the Eaton work.

Drew and Xavier got a head start on sorting several tubs of parts while others helped with lunch chores.

After she finished helping with place settings, Annmarie went to a sorting station, too!  We were all multi-tasking this morning!

After our busy work morning, but before lunch, we had movement time to songs from our Thanksgiving playlist.  We found this last year, but it's still out on the web.  If you'd like to check it out, click the dancing turkey!  (Just be sure to skip #22 as it has a "parental advisory.")  

We played a game of listening called "I Have...Who Has?"  The theme was Thanksgiving Day and it covered everything from the Mayflower to football games!  

How does our pre-Thanksgiving luncheon look?!  From left to right, it included roasted sweet potatoes with citrus vinaigrette, cranberry relish, chicken and pasta Caesar salad, and more sweet potatoes.  On the far right is a salad made with gluten-free pasta and no cheese for Xavier, and in the orange box are some cookies Nan brought us, which were just the taste of sweetness we needed after our meal. (We decided to hold off on making MG Carolyn's Lemon-Thyme tea cake until next week...for Carol's birthday!)  Even though she wasn't with us, we'd like to thank Laura's family for the donation of Thanksgiving plates and napkins!!

For our master gardener friends...here's a close up of the sweet potato dish.  It was sooo good!!!

Tracy stopped by while we were playing Thanksgiving Bingo.  We're always happy to see her, but told her she was "late" this time and missed a fabulous lunch! 😜

We ran out of time and had to postpone our Fall Challenge Corn Hole game to next week, but we made sure to get in a yoga session.  Here's our version of turkey pose.  We're supposed to be shaking our tail feathers.  😂🦃😂🦃

We chose "Super Mario" yoga with Jaime today on the Cosmic Kids app.  This looks like a great stretch.

Liz helped Drew with tree pose today.  Sometimes it's helpful to lean on a friend for support!

Devin and Patrick were in sync!

With our quick two day week coming to a close, our turkey experts wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!  (We watched a video, so we know a few things!)   Enjoy time with family and friends!  We are thankful for EACH and EVERY ONE of YOU!

We'll be back at the AoA on Tuesday, November 30.  Here's what we have planned:

Tuesday:  It's still a ways out, but the weather forecast looks good for being outside today.  We will go to Jamestown Island for a brisk walk around and if conditions allow, we'll eat lunch at the picnic area by Jamestown Settlement.  If you have an NPS Access card, please bring it for admission purposes.  Thanks!  Wear Arc shirts and bring a bagged lunch.

Wednesday:  We will update our calendar for December, discuss holiday plans, and select Secret Santa names!  It's Rosa Parks Day, so we'll have a social studies lesson.  It's also Eat a Red Apple Day and Pie Day, and we're going to make Chicken Taco Pie with a side of juicy red apple slices for lunch.

Thursday:  Hanukkah began on November 28, so today we will learn about its history and customs.  There isn't much on the National Day Calendar to celebrate today, so we'll have math and science activities, too.  We'll also play another round of Fall Corn Hole Challenge.  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is available but the menu isn't posted yet, so pot luck!  (Note:  Lately, it's been pot luck all the time with the cafeteria.  Twice recently what was posted on the menu was not what was served.  This works fine for most of our guys, but not all.  FYI!)

Friday:  We're celebrating Carol's birthday today!  For lunch, we'll prepare chicken spaghetti with a side of grilled veggies (Carol's fave) and we'll make MG Carolyn's Lemon-Thyme Tea Cake, too.  We will use the thyme we dried!  We'll also put up our Christmas tree (on the wall) and begin making holiday decorations for our room.  We'll end the week with yoga, so dress to stretch, too!

Happy Thanksgiving,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang

Beautiful Fall Week

This is a pond we passed during our hike on a trail at WISC.  We thought the reflection of the trees in the water was pretty!

Our week was filled with activity, much of it spent outside where the weather was great.  The beginning and end of the week were cooler, but Wednesday and Thursday were gloriously mild and sunny.  It was a beautiful fall week, and we made the most of it!

Tuesday

Congratulations to Devin's parents, Scott and Roxanne, on the opening of their second Pet Supplies Plus store!  They opened in Chesapeake a few years ago, and now they are ready to serve their neighbors in the Williamsburg area at their store at the Lightfoot Marketplace.  They welcomed us for a tour today, and an "on the spot" job interview!  Yep!  We're going to be working at the store in the near future.  We'll start small, just sending a few associates at a time, with room to grow as needed!  We'll continue working at Eaton, too.  Pet Supplies Plus is an additional vocational opportunity for us and we are very appreciative of Scott and Roxanne for believing in us!  Stay tuned in the coming weeks for updates as we embark on this exciting new partnership!

The first stop on our tour was at the Cat adoption area.  Roxanne explained that they are going to partner with local organizations, such as the Heritage Humane Society, to help kittens and cats find forever homes. 🐈💛

We met Renee, who is a Pet Care Specialist.  She makes sure the animals that are for sale are kept in clean conditions, fed on schedule, and have everything else they need, such as toys and comfy bedding, too.  Here, Alexis pets a very young, and still small, ball python that Renee said is very soft!  We learned that it eats whole, frozen mice, too.  Yes, you can buy frozen, ready to eat mice, at Pet Supplies Plus...

Roxanne held a cute little guinea pig for Kevin to pet.  She told us that hamsters prefer to sleep during the day and play all night, but guinea pigs enjoy being active during the daytime, thus making them a better choice of pet for young kids.  

The store is about 7,000 square feet and has everything you could need for your pets!  We can't wait to work here and start learning what merchandise is on which aisle, because we may need to assist a neighbor one day!  (We learned that Pet Supplies Plus refers to customers as "neighbors," and that's what we will call them, too!)  

This is Cedric, and he showed us how product may need to be moved down from the storage area up high to eye level where neighbors can more easily access it.  We won't be climbing on the ladder, as we will not have training for it like Cedric has, but we can let Cedric know if we notice product needs to be moved down, and he'll make sure it gets taken care of!

In the self-serve dog wash area, we learned that there are stations for small, medium, and large sized dogs.  We also learned that all supplies are provided and dog parents can buy a "dirty dog discount" card and get 5 washes for $25.  That's a great deal!

Near the dog wash station is the Grooming Salon.  They were busy this morning making two poodles look very good!

Roxanne explained that some of the tasks we may work on include straightening product on the shelves, adding more product to shelves or bins, dusting shelves, helping clean animal areas, washing/folding towels, or even helping the cashiers.  There will be opportunities for us to show what we can do, and potentially apply our skills to other tasks, too!

Here, Roxanne was showing us some of the dog outfits they sell, and told us they come in all sizes.  A task we may have could be straightening the hangers so the doggy outfits are arranged by size if they get mixed up by neighbors checking them out!

  

This is Lee, and he's the manager of the store.  He seemed genuinely delighted to meet us and said we were all hired on the spot!  He explained that he needs dedicated and hardworkers, and we assured him we would measure up to his expectations!

Wow!  We are so excited to begin our new vocational partnership with Pet Supplies Plus, and Scott, Roxanne, Lee, and all the other coworkers we met today.  What a great opportunity for us!  We want to encourage everyone with pets in the Williamsburg area to check out Pet Supplies Plus, and let us know if we can help you take care of your pets' needs! 😀👏🐕🐈🐹🐍🐠

WISC is very convenient to the pet store, so we headed there for lunch after our visit.  It was cool, but sunny, and we enjoyed each other's company as we ate.  It is such a nice facility.

Wednesday is National Take a Hike Day, so we got a head start and took a nice hike on one of the trails at WISC.  We noticed plenty of fall color, but also lots of trees that had already lost many leaves.  Pretty soon it might be too chilly for these hikes, so we were grateful to take one today!

We returned to AFCC in time to express our condolences to Kate's family on the recent loss of her grandfather.  We worked with partners to make thoughtful cards, which Kate said her family will appreciate.  We also prepared a card to send to our master gardener friend, Barb, who lost her husband suddenly and unexpectedly last week.  We are saddened by these losses, and hope our AoA extended family members and friends know we are keeping them in our thoughts. 💙💚💛

Wednesday

It was a busy morning as we prepared to welcome guests from The Arc.  Newest staff members Carrie and Anna, along with longtime and beloved Arc staffer Bette Faye, were joining us for lunch.  We were studying the island country of Jamaica today, so lunch was going to be tropical!  But first, as Laura likes to say, dance!  We're keeping to our plan to move in MOVE-mber, so here we are in a freeze frame from this morning's warm up! 

Next, it was time to blend all these spices together with some brown sugar and oil to make a marinade for our jerk chicken.  Our room smelled so good once we got the chicken in the mixutre!

Liz handled our lesson on Jamaica like a pro!  She had video clips, music, and a PowerPoint slideshow she put together using pictures her cousin Evan sent.  He lives in Jamaica with his wife Leilani and their son, EJ.  Thanks, Evan, for sharing pics with Liz to share with us.  She was full of interesting information about your country!

After our lesson on Jamaica, we went outside for more movement.  The weather was unbelievable today!  It was in the low 70s with bright and sunny skies.  We enjoyed being outside.  Kevin, Abraham, and Xavier took turns at the basketball hoop.

Annmarie and Laura played with the big flying disc and the bouncy ball.  Their smiles were as bright as the sun!

The rest of the gang climbed trees.  Not really!  They actually walked, talked, and listened to music for lap after lap. 

Back inside we got lunch preparations underway.  While this group prepared our jerk chicken and pineapple kabobs, we also got what Jamaicans call "rice and peas" going in a skillet across the room.

We were welcoming guests today.  Bette Faye was coming, along with Carrie and Anna, who are the newest members of The Arc of GW's staff.  Carrie has been with us since March, and Anna began last month.  It was Carrie and Anna's first time visiting the AoA.  Here, Anna shows the girls pictures of her cats!  We love to socialize!

Devin, Sam, and Annmarie chatted with Carrie.  They filled her in on some of the fun things we like to do.

Here's Bette Faye with Kevin, Patrick, Xavier, Abraham, and Laura.  They talked about things they enjoy doing at our center, like dancing, coloring, and working puzzles.  Thanks, Bette Faye, Carrie, and Anna, for hanging out with us today.  We loved showing Carrie and Anna around our center, sharing our yummy lunch with them, and filling them in on what we've been up to lately.  Don't be strangers, and bring Pam next time!! 💖💖💖💖

Our Jamaican lunch of jerk chicken and pineapple kabobs with rice and "peas" was scrumptious, and our George Foreman grill cooked the kabobs to perfection.  Jamaicans call kidney beans, which is what we used, "peas," but the name doesn't really matter.  The dish was great!  The jerk seasoning turned out to be more spicy than we thought it would be, even though we cut the amount of pepper (and peppers) in the recipe significantly!  Still, most of us said it was one of our best "country" dishes yet.  😋

Mystery Doug posted a new episode recently called "Why Don't Islands Float Away?"  How perfect for us to watch on Jamaica Day!  We learned that most islands are just the tops of rocky volcanoes or mountains sticking out of the water.  They are attached to the bottom of the ocean, and won't float away.  There are also coral islands, which are the tops of coral reefs, and they are also attached to the ocean floor.  But surprisingly, there are small islands exclusive to the Loktak Lake in India called "phumdis," that are masses of soil and vegetation, and they do float!  Very cool!

Mystery Doug sometimes includes "Bonus" information at the end of an episode, and today's was really fun.  He listed his top 5 coolest things found under water.  The number 2 thing was underwater painting!  We could not believe this artist could paint while underwater, but she did, and her picture was gorgeous.  We can't imagine paints that work underwater!

Thursday

We only had 10 in attendance today, but we had a full day and even squeezed in another birthday!  Everyone's favorite mouse, Mickey, turned 93 today.  Liz and Alexis baked cupcakes so we could celebrate this iconic character!

Devin helped introduce our video which showed the evolution of Mickey Mouse from a black and white, sort of creepy and kind of naughty mouse in the 1920s, to the colorful and fun-loving character we love today.

Laura and Kevin were in the spirit to celebrate Mickey and wore their awesome shirts!  Looking good, you two!

We got serious when it was time to join our friends at the Mariners' Museum for a Zoom on the topic of the importance of saving the world's trees.  

Andrea, from the Mariners' Museum, introduced us to Dr. Meg Lowman, who is known as a global pioneer in forest canopy ecology.  She's known as an "arbornaut," because she does research in the very tops of trees, where a lot of animals and insects live.  She's on a mission to conserve forests around the world, and help teach the younger generation about the importance of doing so.

That's Meg in the small screen shot on this picture, along with her friend Vic, who also shares her passion to protect the forests.  Much of what she reminded us of were facts we already knew, such as trees are vital to life because they provide oxygen, food, timber, and other things that are important to us.  We all agreed with "Canopy Meg" that we (humans) should do things like slow urban development, strive to reduce our carbon footprints, and reduce, reuse, and recycle, all of which will help preserve forests.

After lunch we traveled to New Quarter Park to take advantage of the incredible sunny and warm (74 degrees) weather.  Patrick, Alexis, Devin, and Liz even wore shorts today!  We took a good 30+ minute walk on the paved path, and then set up our corn hole game in the shade.

In our Fall Corn Hole Challenge, the number of games won is tied at 2 each, boys vs. girls.  Today, with only 4 girls in attendance, the ladies knew they would have to step it up if they were going to defeat the boys.

The boys got off to a quick 9-4 lead.   But, the girls narrowed the gap, and soon were only down by 3.  The guys were getting nervous!

Devin gave Pat a huge high-five when Pat scored 2 points, bringing the score to boys 11 and girls 8!  It was getting close to time to head back to AFCC, so we didn't get to play to 21.  We told each team they only had a couple more turns.

In the end, the girls hit their marks and won today's game, 12-11!  That puts them ahead in the Fall Challenge, 3 games to 2.  We'll play again next week and see if the boys can tie the series!

Friday

We convinced the guys that Princess Day would be a fun one to celebrate, because with every great princess there is an equally great prince (usually, right?!).  Alexis and Kate brought a few princesses from their "collections" to kick us off.

Next, we watched a movie about a princess who has to go into hiding via the Princess Protection Program, where she is sent to live with a "regular" family in Louisiana, and must try to learn to behave like a "normal" teenager!  We enjoyed it, just like Kate thought we would!

After the movie, we got a bit of cardio with a Disney secret character themed workout.  We knew who all the characters were, too!

Everyone who ordered from the JRES Cafeteria today requested the mac and cheese option.  However, when lunchtime rolled around, we found out that mac and cheese was not available after all, and everyone ended up with a Philly cheesesteak.  No one complained, and Devin, who is from the Philly area, thought it was very delicious, even though it made him a little homesick, too! 😋

November 19 is National Play Monopoly Day, so we spent part of the afternoon playing board games.  Liz, Devin, Kate, and Alexis played a version of Monopoly called "Horse-opoly."  We learned that there are hundreds of versions of Monopoly games!

Annmarie, Laura, Nan, Kevin, and Drew enjoyed a lively game of Candyland!

Carol's group of Patrick, Abraham, Xavier, and Sam had to use their good thinking skills as they played Scrabble, Jr.

This picture is for Michelle.  She had surgery today to remove her gall bladder.  We heard she was very brave and the operation was successful.  She will recover at home for a week or so, and we'll miss her.  We made cards that Lisa and Alexis will deliver this weekend, along with a get well gift from us all.  These friends are also blowing some kisses to her!  😘😘😘

Before yoga, we reminded everyone that we will be here next week on Monday and Tuesday.  It's the only Monday we come all year!  We said to raise your hands if you're coming on Monday.  We're pretty sure Xavier meant to raise his hands, but Laura kept hers down as she will be traveling with her family next week. 

Our week ended with a Sleeping Beauty themed yoga session with Jaime.  Perfect for Princess Day, and perfect for ending our week!

Next week will be short, but here's what we'll be doing in the lead up to Thanksgiving!

Monday:  We have Eaton work to do at the center today, and after that, we'll have a lesson on sweet potatoes, as we get ready to make a tasty dish tomorrow with the ones we grew at the garden!  There will be some turkey fitness activities, too!  Lunch on your own.  JRES cafeteria is available and they are serving Mozzarella Cheese Sticks w/ Marinara Sauce or Chicken Strip Salad.

Tuesday:  Today we'll focus on the meaning of Thanksgiving, with lessons, games, and cooking!  For lunch we'll make chicken pasta salad, roasted sweet potatoes with citrus dressing, and a cranberry and pineapple salad.  We'll also have yoga with Jaime, so dress to stretch!

Wednesday-Friday:  Enjoy the Thanksgiving Holidays with your families!  We will see you again on Tuesday, November 30th! (We will publish a short blog post on Wednesday with all the details for the week of November 30-December 3!)

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang