March Came in Like a Lamb!

 

Folklore says if March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb.  Mother Nature may have missed the message this year. We bet we weren't the only ones who enjoyed March coming in like a 🐑this week...and hoping it doesn't go out like a 🦁!  The lovely daffodils above were taken when we stopped by the Williamsburg Botancial Garden on Tuesday.  They were all turned toward the sun on what was the first day of a sunny week for us! Here's a look at what we did!

Tuesday

Abraham rejoined our group today!  There were elbow bumps all around as we have missed this ray of "fun-shine" and his famous dance moves!  Glad to have you back, Abraham!

Drew's birthday is tomorrow, but we celebrated it (part 1, anyway...) today at bowling!  Before leaving for the lanes, he was banished to the hallway to sort Eaton parts while his friends made birthday cards "behind his back!" Too bad we forgot to take them to the bowling center...thus, celebration part 2, tomorrow!

Once we got settled in at AMF lanes, Liz and Laura kicked things off in what would become a couple of games filled with strikes and spares!  Our guys were on 🔥 today!

We caught Annmarie quietly celebrating a stike down on lane 1.  She had been patient for several turns, and her persistence paid off! 👏

Lexi and Devin got spares around the same time, so we called them a "Spare Pair!" 😄

Lunch time rolled around and we were very thankful to Drew's parents, Andy and Donna, for treating us to pizza and cupcakes!  Drew was so happy to be celebrating with his friends, and we are thrilled his parents got to see his joy!  

We left the bag behind that contained our party decorations and Drew's special cards, but Drew was forgiving!  And the cupcakes were sooooo tasty that they didn't need any decorations to make them pop!  🧁  😋  We will celebrate Drew again tomorrow, on his actual birthday, with his cards and balloons...and there will be another treat that Moose Patti brought us.  Drew WILL blow out a candle and make a wish tomorrow!  Thanks again, Andy and Donna.  Your generosity in treating us to pizza and cupcakes made our day.  Extra thanks for remembering Xavier and bringing a gluten-free cupcake! We're happy you could hang out with us, too! 💖🍕

The strikes and spares continued as Drew and Sam were fist-bumped by Devin for respective strikes!  Hey, is that a photo bomber in the background?!

Shortly after his strike, Drew got to celebrate one from Liz! 🎳

By now, there were so many great scores being made that the camera didn't have time to focus... 😆

Later, while waiting for some friends to finish their games, Alexis got a jump on Read Across America Day! 

After bowling, we enjoyed the beautiful weather with a stroll over to the garden at Freedom Park, and then we snapped this picture of our ENTIRE group all in attendance for the first time in a long time!  We're a happy group!  NOTE:  We are continuing to wear masks indoors and on the vans.  Some are also wearing them outside, and that is fine.  We pulled them down for just a few seconds to get this photo.   📷

Wednesday

We were busy after our dance warm up getting our March calendar ready.  It seems we just did this same task for February!  March is a little longer, though, so maybe it won't feel like such a quick month!

Alexis showed Erik how we use Microsoft Word and online image searches to make our calendar squares.  

Abraham, Drew, and Kevin thought the March calendar turned out great, and agree that we have a lot to look forward to this month!

Kate, Liz, and Devin wanted to make sure we showed off our colorful letters for MARCH, too!

Wow, it was great outside today!  Devin, Sam, and (hard to see) Erik and Abraham, kicked the big blue ball back and forth through the goal posts

Xavier, Kevin, Laura, Annmarie, and Drew joined Nan and Carol in a lively parachute activity!

Patrick and Alexis chose to get ready for March Madness, while in the background, Michelle, Kate, and Liz walked around the vast area that was once the tennis court.  There is so much space out there now that the walkers look like specks, but they were moving!

We didn't get a picture in time, but Patrick had just made sure Laura got safely over the curb by giving her a hand.  He's ever the gentleman!  Also, isn't Laura's Dr. Seuss / VT Hokies shirt cute?!

Yesterday was National Pig Day, so we learned a few cool facts about swine today, such as they communicate with each other through a language consisting of about 20 different sounds.  A mother sow can have up to 12 piglets in a litter, and when they go to nurse, they always line up in the same order!  But perhaps the most interesting thing we learned is that just last month, doctors transplanted a pig heart into a human recipient for the first time.  Modern medicine is fascinating.  If you'd like to read more about this amazing medical breakthrough, click the heart for a link to the story.  💓   

When we celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday and Read Across America Day, we learned fun facts about Dr. Seuss, such as he based the character of The Grinch on himself and hoped that by writing the story, it would give him more Christmas spirit!  We also "did the math" and learned he would have been 118 years old today!

We LOVED all the books and magazines our friends brought to share with us today!  We couldn't take pictures of everyone as they shared, so here's a picture of the guys with their favorites, which ranged from biographies and well-worn first readers to joke books and yearbooks!

Not to be outdone, the girls had reading material that was just as interesting, including mysteries, graphic novels, animal stories and magazines, and childhood favorites!  Thanks, everyone, for sharing your love of reading today!! 📚📚📚

Our last activity of the day was thanks to Moose Patti.  She wanted to treat us to King Cake and beads for Mardi Gras on Tuesday, but she knew we were celebrating Drew's birthday at bowling.  She asked if we could do it on Wednesday, and of course, we could.  So, she brought the King Cake and beads to Lisa's house on Sunday (Haley was visiting, too) and said she really misses everyone and hopes her work schedule will open up soon so she can visit us in person. 

Not only was it fun to learn about Mardi Gras, which we had never really done, but the King Cake from Patti came in handy since it was Drew's actual birthday.  We had celebrated "Part 1" yesterday at bowling, but since we forgot his cards, balloons, and candles for the cake, we gave him that experience today and it was awesome!  

King Cakes have a small baby hidden inside and tradition says that whoever gets the slice with the baby in it will have good luck, and have the next party.  We had two cakes, so two slices had babies hidden in them, which Sam and Annmarie found.  Well, this is hard to believe, but Annmarie and Sam have the next two birthdays in our group, and therefore will have the next two parties!  😀  Thanks for the King Cakes and beads, Patti!  The cake was delicious and we loved learning about the Mardi Gras tradition.  We really appreciate you for thinking of us, and please, try to make it by soon for a visit!  We miss you!

Thursday

Our "mystery" bulb pots are a sign that spring is coming!  We planted the bulbs back in October with our MG friends, and we can't wait to see what they are once they bloom.  We hope it won't be much longer!

Another sign of the coming spring was that the weather today, March 3rd, was sunny and mild with temperatures reaching around 60!  We headed to Newport News Park right after our dance warm up for a day of adventure.  As soon as we arrived, we took a walk.

Michelle spotted buds on this small tree, and could hardly wait to show Carol and Nan.  She knows how excited Carol gets when the spring buds start appearing!

We found a quilted heart hanging in a tree.  The tag says it needs a home, and gives a website for more information.  We checked it out and found that leaving quilted hearts for others to find is a way of spreading love and joy...kind of like the painted rocks we've hidden before!  Later, we found another one!  Lisa and Alexis are going to hang one of them on Christina's door this weekend, so she will find it when she returns home from her trip to London.  Christina, our beloved friend at the Art Museums of CW, is a huge fan of quilting AND kindness, so she will love this idea! 💖

It was a lovely morning.  We lingered on a couple of the overlooks and enjoyed watching many ducks, geese, and seagulls in the reservoir.  Annmarie soaked up the warm sunshine and fresh air, and did just what the back of her shirt says!

After our walk, we found a good spot to set up a couple of games.  In this grassy area, we played bocce!  It has been a while since we played, but it was still lots of fun and friendly competition.  

  

This paved area near the Discovery Center was the perfect place for corn hole.  Most of our gang alternated between the two games.  We weren't keeping scores so much as just hanging out and having fun.

A highlight of the day was when Devin made a comment that "we" are glad Abraham is back, because he's so good at corn hole!  Alexis and Eric agreed!

Lunch at our favorite shelter was really nice today...no yellow jackets or ants, yet!

After lunch we took another walk on a trail we haven't explored before.  There are many miles of trails at Newport News Park.

We crossed a few bridges today!

These guys made it quite a ways along the trail, and stopped to pose on this 5th bridge they got to before turning around to head back to the vans.

It couldn't have been a better day for hanging out with friends!  (Devin is standing in the middle.  He was camouflaged by the tree!)

Friday

Today, it was a little bit chilly, so our plan to make soup was a good one!   But first, a shout-out to Carol for reorganzing our kitchen storage areas and adding labels she made with her own label maker!  Thanks, Carol.  This is awesome!

Liz and Alexis were on the Soup Crew and their part was to thinly slice carrots and celery.  

Patrick and Drew were also on Soup Crew, and their main job was to shred the chicken.  This is a challenge for Drew, but today he was able to take a larger piece of cooked chicken and pull it apart into two or three smaller pieces, which Patrick or Lisa then shredded into even smaller pieces.

Soup Crew member Devin handled the making of the broth.  We added lots of yummy spices like thyme, bay leaves, garlic, and pepper!

The Cracker Stackers were Laura, Erik, and Michelle, working with Nan.  We celebrated Peanut Butter Lovers Day, which was on March 1st, by having peanut butter crackers for our soup side.  

We had one more lunch prep team, but their photo comes up later!  Meanwhile, we let the soup simmer while we went to the gym to play kickball, since the students were off from school today.

Remembering all the steps of the game took us a few minutes, but we soon found our groove!

It had been a while since we got to use the gym and it was a fun game!

We definitely worked up an appetite for this tasty lunch!  We were originally going to make extra soup to deliver to Becky's husband and son, as a gesture of kindness for them while she recovers at a rehab center from her broken leg and ribs.  Unfortunately, Becky's husband was hospitalized for a couple of days, so we will reschedule a special meal delivery for them.  Becky wants to let all of you know how much her family appreciates our thoughts, prayers, and well-wishes!  💚💙💛

Here's the rest of the cooking crew - the Pie Guys!  They made sure we could celebrate Banana Cream Pie Day by whipping up these beautiful pies, including a gluten-free banana "cookie" pie for Xavier!

A highlight of the day was meeting Devin's grandmother, Scott's mom!  She spent time chatting with us and sharing memories of Devin.  She recalled a time when he was visiting, when he was younger, and they were playing the board game, Sorry.  She had to leave the game to start dinner, and she said Devin was being very patient waiting for her to return.  After a while, he decided to finish the game by taking both his turns and her turns.  As luck would have it, Devin won the game, too! 😜  What a great story!  Thanks for stopping by, Grandma B.  It was wonderful to meet you!

Ahh...yoga.  Here we were in mouse pose, such a good lower back stretch!

Jaime calls this moon pose.  Drew and Kevin had arms up and were stretching gently from side to side.

We can see how our guys modify the moves to suit their comfort level in this picture where they are in different degrees of an arm stretch.  As long as it feels right, it's the right way to do it!

That's another week in the books.  March is off to a great start!  We are going to be busy next week.  Check out our schedule!

Tuesday:  We're staying at AFCC today and celebrating our girl Annmarie's birthday!  Her parents are treating us to chicken from KFC and a "healthy" side for lunch, and after lunch, a surprise experience like we've never had before!  Hmmm, you don't want to miss this!

Wednesday:  Today we will go to Eaton for a work day.  Please wear Eaton shirts and bring a bagged lunch.

Thursday:  We're on the road again today as we head to the Watermen's Museum for a lesson on climate change and a "silly project" with Mike Steen.  He promises both education and fun!  We'd like to have a picnic lunch by the river, but if the weather doesn't cooperate, we'll eat at the museum, or return to AFCC.  Please bring a bagged lunch and also wear your Arc shirts. (Maybe this will be the last time before we get our new shirts!)

Friday:  Some will travel to Pet Supplies Plus today and others will remain at the center to work on preparing grilled cheese, salads, and fruit for lunch and creating decorations for next week's AoA 6th Anniversary Party.  We'd like for everyone to wear PSP shirts, thanks!  It's Friday, so we'll also have a yoga session.  Dress to stretch!  

We hope everyone has a beautiful weekend!

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang