It may have seemed like we celebrated birthdays nonstop in October, but November gets a turn now! We only have two this month, and they fall on the SAME day, the 11th. Celebrating Elizabeth and Patrick this week was a big highlight, but we also had a great visit with Christina and a fantastic work day at Eaton. We even had an unexpected lesson from Kevin's dad that was cool, too. Take a look at how we spent the second week in November!
Tuesday
Kevin's dad, Wayne, dropped him off this morning and we noticed he had his boat with him. We heard that he's "semi-retired" from his physical therapy practice, and that he now takes folks on chartered fishing trips. What we didn't know is that they go fly fishing, which is what the main character in our current read-aloud is learning to do! So, we asked Wayne to tell us all about fly fishing...and he didn't disappoint!
He explained how the weight is in the line, not the fly (and he showed us what a fly is), and said that in casting the line, it's important to throw it way out there. Casting in fly fishing is a different technique than in other types of fishing. We told him that one of the characters in our book takes folks on chartered boating trips to fly fish, and that his timing in showing us this was perfect! Now, our guys know what fly fishing looks like...sort of!
Thanks, Wayne, for taking time to explain a few of the ins and outs of fly fishing with us! It sounds like you enjoy this new adventure very much. We enjoyed learning about what you do, and it will help us "picture" what's happening in our book, too!
Not long after our visit with Wayne, we headed to the Art Museums of CW to check in with Christina. She began our lesson by explaining how important archaeology is in teaching us about the past. She said Colonial Williamsburg is committed to telling the stories of all people from that past, and that archaeology is key to doing that.
Christina shared interesting tidbits about American Indians today, and one thing we learned is that a group who lived in the New York area, where Christina is from, were called the Mohawk.
In the folk art side of the museums, Christina showed us this pottery bowl that was made in 1985 by a member of Virginia's Pamunkey Indians, who live in King William County. The Pamunkey Indian Tribe Museum is in King William and Christina said she would like to visit it. We think that sounds like a cool future trip for us, too!
In the Education Studio we learned we would each be making a contribution to a group project. Christina had quilt squares representing fall leaves, and we each had to pick one to color.
Sam and Devin got right to work, and got the approval from Carol for their efforts!
Nan and Kevin were focused on their color choices and were making sure to fill in all the spaces. When we return to AFCC, we'll put the entire project together and take a picture of our masterpiece. Keep scrolling to see how it looks!
After coloring leaves on paper with Christina, we found ourselves at the Williamsburg Botanical Garden where we observed real ones! We're still looking for colorful fall foliage, and we found some at the garden today. The Japanese maple that we hope to see when it turns a brillant red, is still green, but we found the sourwood tree that has turned reddish-orange.
We checked the veggies we planted a few weeks ago with the master gardeners, and the broccoli is growing tall, but we don't see any florets growing on it yet. Karen said it could take a couple of months, so we will keep checking.
We also picked a few cherry tomatoes that are still green, and we're going to see if they will ripen in our window sill.
Our walk consisted of a long stroll around the garden to see if we could find any of the jack-o-lantern rocks we hid two weeks ago. It seems that maybe all of them have been found! We didn't find any in the places where we hid them.
We did find one of our rocks in the fairy garden, but it wasn't originally hidden there, so someone must have moved it. We hope all the rest of our jack-o-lantern rocks brought smiles to the faces of those who found them!
Something we found a lot of today was ladybugs. They were all over the place! Alexis got a kick out of Carol spotting a couple of them crawling on Lexi's shirt. Carol moved them to Lexi's hand, and then they were set free!
Wednesday
Today we did several lessons and activities related to National S.T.E.M. Day, which was November 8. We began with the "S" - for science. Our "educational," but silly, story was about how much germs love our hands but hate soap. Just for fun, we set up a demo of glitter (germs) in water and added a drop of liquid soap to show how germs will literally slide away when confronted by it. Then, we all washed our hands (palms, backs, between fingers, under nails) very thoroughly!
Our morning MOVEmber activity was a walk to the outdoor classroom behind JRES. It was a gorgeous morning for this nice hike. It had been over a year since we ventured back here, and we were pleased to see the trail was still in good condition.
However, when we arrived at the classroom setting, we were disheartened to see it littered with trash left behind by visitors before us. We didn't have to dig to find artifacts or clues, but we imagined we were archaeologists trying to interpret what the evidence meant about the culture or society that left it here. One conclusion was that some members of that society enjoy socializing, but have little regard for the environment or the comfort of others who may like to enjoy the spot after they do. (It's hard to see in the photo, but there was a significant amount of trash scattered about the area.)
Our lunch today was sponsored by Michelle's family, and it was a big hit! Who knew how much our guys would love broccoli casserole?! We have never made it before, but Michelle chose it for our menu because it's one of her favorites. Here, she was helping to prepare it by emptying cream of mushroom soup into the bowl.
Pop that masterpiece into the oven, Michelle! Your friends can't wait to try it!
It wasn't officially Ladies Make Lunch Day, but our girls took a turn on the cooking crew while the guys worked on decorations. In addition to the yummy broccoli casserole, we also had baked chicken tenders and brown-sugar glazed carrots. Thanks, Michelle and family, for treating us today. Michelle created a perfect menu, and there were a lot of raves for this lunch! We appreciate you for providing it for us!
In other news, Sam told his family about our visit with Christina on Monday where we talked about American Indians. Today, he brought a picture of his aunt Debbie, who is a member of the Two Rivers Navajo Nation in Arizona. We just love it when our guys extend our lessons with personal connections! Thanks, Sam and family, for sharing!
We also turned our individual squares from yesterday's lesson with Christina into this beautiful leaf quilt which is proudly displayed on our wall. As soon as Carol hung it, Drew ran over and gave it a big "ta-da." It's stunning, and the colors are so pretty! We do beautiful work. Thanks, Christina!
Here's a closeup!
We dabbled in the "E" from S.T.E.M, Engineering, when we built structures using dried spaghetti and mini-marshmallows. We had some trouble until we got the concept of needing a sturdy base, but we stuck with it. As Drew and Alexis discovered, teamwork helped, too!
Michelle and Abraham got an assist from Carol and ended up with something resembling a spaghetti and marshmallow megaplex!
Liz helped Kevin create a smaller structure, and then we caught him "disposing" of the leftover marshmallows! 😋
Kate, Devin, Patrick, and Liz were proud of their work! "E" for Engineering!
We wrapped up the afternoon with "M" for Math and "T" for Technology activities. Laura worked with Nan on comparing numbers by using blocks to help visualize her quantities. Nan said she did a great job!
Drew and Kevin worked together to compare amounts with counting blocks, too. Each counted blocks to represent one side of the worksheet problem, and then they compared the amounts before marking "more," "less" or "equal" on their papers.
We used our laptops for technology activities. Devin and Patrick were concentrating on a couple of different word puzzles. They found out that sometimes technology requires careful spelling or you can't move ahead!
Thursday
It was Veterans' Day today, and we took note, but our highlight was definitely celebrating the birthdays of Patrick and Liz! For Patrick, it was his big 3-0, and Liz made him this beautiful poster (at home) to commemorate it! All of Patrick's favorite things, from family and sports teams, to music and more, were represented. How thoughtful, Liz!
Thanks to two point shots like this one from Pat, the boys were able to come back and eventually won the game! Our Fall Cornhole Series is tied at 2 games apiece, so we'll definitely have to play again soon!
We were thrilled to welcome Liz's parents, Lise and Greg, and Patrick's mom and stepdad, Sue and Kevin, to our celebration of their kids' birthdays, especially since they were treating us to sub sandwiches and cupcakes! 😉😋
Thank you very much to both families for bringing our lunch today. Hopefully, you could tell how much we enjoyed it! It was nice having you hang out with us for this special time for Liz and Patrick, and we loved celebrating them with you! 🥳🎉🎈🎉🥳🎈
These two are getting up there, so luckily we only lit a couple of number candles for each of them! Happy 30th, Patrick! Happy 27th, Liz!
Time to sing!
The official friends' birthday photo!!
Later, a birthday party workout! It's MOVEmber...and we are on it! Click on the pic to try this fun and energetic workout!
Finally, Birthday Bingo! We've gotten a lot of use out of our birthday version of this popular game lately, but as we've said before, our guys love BINGO! 🥳🥳🥳
One more thing we did today was check the status of the thyme we were drying. It seemed ready to remove from the stem and put in a storage jar! We'll be baking master gardener Carolyn's Lemon-Thyme cake in a couple of weeks!
Friday
Good morning from Eaton! Jorie and Kesha greeted us with big smiles and lots of work to do. After this quick photo op, we got busy!
It was receptacle unpacking for this group. We had to break down boxes for recycling, too. This crew opened 240 of these by lunch time!
These 3 amigos transferred hundreds of parts in the big bin over to the smaller bins for easier handling.
This is what Kevin's "trash box" looks like. 😊
This is what the trash boxes of the rest of us look like! 😜
Devin, Patrick, and Liz worked on yet another new task for our gang today. They unpacked these things called "base toppers" and nested them into shorter stacks. They got to enjoy fresh air and see the colorful leaves on the trees, too, as this was an outside job!
Back at AFCC we opted to forego yoga with Jaime, since her version of yoga is more like an active workout. We really hustled at Eaton today, and the guys just wanted to end the week with a little down time. Patrick went for the red sofa and sports time on his phone.
Others chose computer time, puzzles, and coloring. It was a well-earned Choice Time and a relaxing way to wind up another great week!
Before we look ahead to next week, we have some sad news to report. Kate's grandfather, Mark's dad, passed away on Wednesday. Please keep Kate, Mark, and their entire family in your thoughts as they come together during this difficult time to celebrate a beloved grandfather and dad. 💔
Here's a look at next week:
Tuesday: We're super excited today to visit Williamsburg's newest pet store, Pet Supplies Plus, located in the Lightfoot Marketplace. It is owned by Devin's parents, Scott and Roxanne, and will soon be another vocational opportunity for the AoA, as we will be working there in the future! Today we will take a tour and learn about some of the tasks we may be responsible for when we work. Thank you, Scott and Roxanne, for carving out a place for us to expand our work skills! We look forward to joining your team at Pet Supplies Plus! Also, tomorrow is Take a Hike Day, and the weather looks promising to be outdoors, so we'll plan to have lunch at WISC and hike one of their trails. Wear Arc shirts and bring a bagged lunch.
Wednesday: We are learning about the island country of Jamaica today. Liz will share information with us as she has a cousin who lives there! We'll prepare jerk chicken and Jamaican "rice and peas" for lunch. We'll welcome Carrie and Anna, two new additions to the Arc of GW staff this year, and give them a tour and lunch! We'll also work on a fun Thanksgiving craft and catch a Mystery Doug episode that explores why islands (like Jamaica) don't float away?!
Thursday: Today we'll join a Zoom with our friends at the Mariners' Museum as we learn about rainforests, and the impact our human lives are having on them. This is a topic we have explored before, so we're looking forward to hearing more about it. We'll get less serious as we celebrate Mickey Mouse's Birthday with fun activities and a treat! Lunch on your own. JRES cafeteria is available and today's menu options are Domino's Pizza or Sub of the Day. After lunch, we'll head over to New Quarter Park for some MOVEmber activity.
Friday: It's Play Monopoly Day, so we'll dust off some of our board games for fun and challenges. We're also celebrating Princess Day (which was yesterday) with a showing of a movie called Princess Protection Program, which Kate tells us we'll love! We'll have yoga with Jaime today, so dress to stretch. Lunch on your own. JRES cafeteria is available and today's menu options are Fish Sandwich or Macaroni and Cheese.
MONDAY and TUESDAY, Nov. 22-23 : We will be in session for a special Thanksgiving Week edition of Arc of Abilities! We will be closed WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY for Thanksgiving Break!
Have a great weekend,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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