This week we were happily busy welcoming many visitors to the Arc of Abilities! We're always happy to let others see us in action, or join us in action, and we did both this week. Virginia Senator Monty Mason stopped by on Wednesday for his second visit with us. It had been a few years, and we had a lot of updates for him about our program! On Thursday we "broke in" Arc summer intern, Ashlynn! We put her to work and celebrated her because it was National Intern Day!
On Friday we didn't get to celebrate Nan's birthday or have a visit with Lilly to wish her well on her move to Vanderbilt for grad school. By Thursday evening, Lisa felt out of sorts and had a deeper cough than her allergies usually produce, so she tested and was positive for Covid 19. As a result of that, the Arc of Abilities will be closed until August 3rd. Families, please stay up to date with email messages for any other news or changes.
AoA members and families, please keep an eye out for symptoms. We hope no one else will be affected. 🙏
AoA members and families, please keep an eye out for symptoms. We hope no one else will be affected. 🙏
Here's a look at our 3 day week!
Tuesday
Today we were so excited to be going to a movie and having popcorn and lunch! Our dear friend Moose Patti and her good and generous "Minions" from WOTM (Women of the Moose), treated us to a showing of the movie Minions: The Rise of Gru, at Movie Tavern! They were not able to be with us, but it was their generous donation (an extra one back in March) that sponsored this super fun outing! We didn't get many pictures today, but we can sum up the fun we had with just a few!
We had our usual dance warm up first thing, then we checked last week's blog. By then, it was around 10:15 so we did a 10-minute exercise routine we found on YouTube that had a Minions theme! After that, we watched the trailer for the movie, and then it was time to head to Movie Tavern!
True to her word, Janet herself delivered our big cups of popcorn right away! It brought quite a few smiles to our faces!
It's hard to get a good photo of a group in a darkened movie theater, but here we are! It wasn't long after the movie began that Janet's team delivered our lunch orders. We had a choice of chicken tenders, hot dog, or burger, and they all came with fries and a drink! Fries are a real treat for us, and they were good today! The Movie Tavern team got every order correct and served them hot and tasty! 🍟🐔🍔🌭🥤
Patti, and all of our WOTM friends: Thank you for a very special treat today! There was so much laughter during the movie, and a lot of comments about how yummy the fries were! We are grateful for your friendship and support! This was exactly what you told us to have with your donation, "a fun time." 💗💗💗
While we were in the theater, we got an "SOS" text from Jorie and James asking if we could work on PowerSlide Doors this week?! YES, we can! So we zipped by Eaton to pick them up before returning to AFCC to work on a welcome sign for Senator Mason's visit tomorrow. After that, it was time to go!
Wednesday
Our first guests of the week were coming today. Arc Executive Director Pam McGregor and Board Member Greg Kline, along with State Senator Monty Mason, would be here soon. Before they arrived, we were busy getting the joint ready! We are thankful to Adia who took some blank letters home last night to color so we could add a caption to our display on this wall. Thanks, Adia! Your idea sums us up very well: AoA Moovers!
We quickly baked blueberry and white chocolate chip cookies, too. So tasty along with some lemonade! Turns out Senator Mason is a gluten-free guy, so he enjoyed some of the cookies we keep on hand for Xavier! We forgot to get refreshment pictures, but here's a picture from the website. If you click on it, the link will take you to the yummy cookie recipe:
We also had a short lesson about what Senator Mason's job is as our representative in Richmond. We looked at his website and linked to a great page where we learned about the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, which was designed by Thomas Jefferson.
Our plan was to show Senator Mason the different aspects of our day, so we set up stations for him to visit. Adia was at the continuing education station, where she demonstrated activities we do on the computers, as well as a literacy activity we do. Patrick and Laura were playing a Memory game to demonstrate a Choice Time activity. Sam had stopped by to say "hi," but he was assigned to one of our Eaton groups. (He enjoys this game, too.)
Since we needed to get PowerSlide doors ready for Eaton, after yesterday's SOS call, we revamped our plans for the day. Most of our stations were vocational work, and this is what Senator Mason would get to see! Lexi and Kate applied labels and Erik kept the electric screwdriver going as he tightened the nuts and bolts!
On the left in this picture, Annmarie, Devin, and Drew were counting screws and putting 30 in each bag. On the right, Xavier and Kevin were inserting nuts and bolts into the PowerSlide doors. They were getting an assist from Arc Board Member, Greg Kline (Liz's dad), who came for Senator Mason's visit.
After Pam introduced Senator Mason, almost everyone shook his hand and introduced themselves. Our gang loved talking with him, and we learned that Senator Mason is as chatty as we are! He visited with us for almost 2 hours! 😀
Senator Mason liked the colorful welcome display and poster we made for him!
Here, Liz, Carol, and Sam (who was unpacking doors out of the camera shot) explained to Senator Mason and Pam the many steps we take to build a PowerSlide Door.
Alexis and Kate explained the attention to detail needed to place the four labels correctly on the inside of the doors. Our note on the poster to Senator Mason thanked him for advocating for adults like us!
Still chatting...Senator Mason and us!
Thanks, Senator Monty Mason, for taking time to visit with the Arc of Abilities today! It was a delightful visit!
After lunch, James came to pick up the much-needed PowerSlide doors. He and Carol made arrangements for us to get more tomorrow! We're proud and happy that Eaton needs us, and we love getting the work done for them!
Our last activity in our busy day was a lesson on the first state, Delaware. Kevin's father is from Delaware, and his sister Julia graduated from the University of Delaware! Kevin still has a lot of family in Delaware that he loves to visit from time to time.
We learned many fun facts about Delaware, such as at it's widest point, it's only 35 miles across! We also learned that in the 1800s and early 1900s Delaware was known for growing peaches, and the first commercial peach orchard in America was in Delaware. They still grow delicious peaches, but a disease wiped out many of the orchards long ago. Still, the peach blossom remains their state flower, and peach pie is their official state dessert! We celebrated Delaware, and our great day, with fresh peaches and a dab of vanilla ice cream. 😋🍑
Thursday
Our week of special visitors continued today as we welcomed the Arc's summer intern, Ashlynn, to spend the day with us! Ashlynn is also this year's president of W&M's Best Buddies program, and she already knew many of us! We took this partial group picture at the end of the day, after Kevin had been picked up, so he's missing.
Did you notice Devin and Abraham were missing, too?! They were in the restroom when we got all set up and took the picture above, so here's one of them with Ashlynn! (Michelle and Devin B. were not here today.) Today happens to be National Intern Day, so we made an appreciation poster for Ashlynn! Yay, for you, Ashlynn!! Thanks for ALL you do for the Arc, and now, the Arc of Abilities, too!
Earlier in the day, we had to prepare our lunch, so we put Ashlynn to work helping Sam, Erik, Adia, and Abraham assemble ingredients for our Chicken and Pasta Caesar Salad. Ashlynn enjoys cooking! Sooo, she's come to the right place!
Patrick cut fresh watermelon into bite-sized pieces for us. Behind him, Kate was part of a group working with Carol on a test recipe for sugar cookies. Moose Patti asked us to put together treat bags for the golfers in next Saturday's tournament, which we are happy to do!! We'll be busy baking starting Wednesday!
During movement time we went in the gym and Ashlynn led us in a game called "Sharks and Minnows." It's a version of tag, and we had never played before. It was fun!
We also played a game of "Simon Says" with Ashlynn, and look how quiet we were. We were concentrating!
After movement, we stayed in the gym and broke into groups to start our work on ocean habitats. This part of the lesson called for us to match words related to ocean animals with their meanings. Alexis, Laura, Patrick, and Drew recognized most of the words and meanings, but had to think a little harder for the others! 💡
Next, we watched a cool video about ocean habitats and the animals and plants that live in them. We followed that with more group work. Ashlynn helped her group match pictures to words by using beginning and ending sounds. Nearby, Nan's group did the same.
We found out that Ashlynn loves salads, so our Chicken and Pasta Caesar hit the spot for her today! The grapes and watermelon added a refreshing touch, and we followed this with samples of the sugar cookies. They were very, very good...but we forgot to get a picture! We'll get one soon, next week, during our bake-a-thon!
After lunch, we introduced Ashlynn to Eaton work, since James needed a few (like 96) more PowerSlide Doors! Here, Nan and Alexis were teaching Ashlynn and Adia how to be "Label Ladies."
As our playlist rocked on, we had singers and workers getting it done!
It's funny how the sound of the electric screwdriver doesn't interfere with our ability to enjoy the music! We got those 96 doors done in good time! After that we cleaned up and prepared for dismissal, excited about celebrating Nan and seeing Lilly tomorrow... 😔
As it turned out, Erik, with Kate and Patrick in the background, would be the last photo this week. We hope to be back next week, beginning on Wednesday, with more exciting adventures!
We will have to visit with Lilly on Zoom in the future, but we WILL make up Nan's Birthday Party!
Happy Birthday to Nan on Sunday! We can't wait to celebrate with you soon! 💚🥳💗🥳💙
Happy Birthday to Nan on Sunday! We can't wait to celebrate with you soon! 💚🥳💗🥳💙
We are not posting an agenda for next week. Families, Lisa will email you with pertinent information on Monday, after we see how things are going with Covid in our midst.
Everyone, try to stay safe, healthy, cool, and have a good weekend!
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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