Our relocation to the Rec Center on Longhill Rd. this week couldn't have been nicer! There were friendly people to assist us, plenty of room, bright, white tables, and a huge screen that was really nice. We missed having access to all of our stuff, and we missed Heike, Diane, and Sevarina, but we kept busy with several outings and before we knew it, the week had come to an end. Remember, next week the Arc of Abilities will be closed for Summer Break. When we reopen on July 12, we'll be back at AFCC! Meanwhile, here's how things went at our home away from home!
Tuesday
We arranged the tables so we'd have a nice dance floor area and when everyone arrived on Tuesday, it felt pretty "normal," even if it looked different!
Not long after we got settled, it was time to head to the garden, which only took 10 minutes from Longhill Rd.! We were happy that the weather was very nice, with low humidity and a slight breeze. It was a perfect day to end our spring sessions with the master gardeners! We checked the veggies and noticed the eggplant was a little bigger, the green beans were mostly gone (some hungry critter), and Alexis found one lonely okra growing on the plant!
But when we checked the potatoes, we found an abundance! With Rick and Barb's help, Liz and Adia were able to begin pulling up beautiful Yukon Gold potatoes!
Aren't they gorgeous?! We will have a vote on how to cook them when we return after Summer Break. We already heard a few ideas: French fries, mashed potatoes, potato salad...so many possibilities!
MG Rich, who usually takes photos, was not able to be with us today, so Carolyn, who creates a beautiful journal page for the MGs after each session, had to take pics with her phone!
You can see from the journal page that she did a great job and Rich would be proud of her! 👏👏 (We missed you, Rich!)
After digging up the Yukon Gold potatoes, Karen and Barb enlisted Abraham's help to plant sweet potatoes in the bed! These are called "slips" because they have already started growing stems and leaves. We should be able to harvest the sweet potatoes during our fall sessions with the MGs!
Adia got some advice from MG interns Elizabeth and Christine about how to help her lavender plant grow better!
MG Pat was exposed to Covid and couldn't make it to our last session. Krafty Karen stepped up for her and taught us about several varieties of "lemony" plants, but none that grow actual lemons. We saw samples of lemongrass (good at repelling mosquitoes if you put one on your deck), lemon verbena (might make a good tea or tasty as an herb on fish or in salad), and lemon geranium (cute little flowers but leaves that could be sugared and used as garnish around a cake)!
Speaking of cake, Karen made a scrumptious lemon pound cake that she flavored with crushed bits of lemon thyme, which we also saw a sample of today! Karen is a great baker, and it made our day to get a taste of her lemon thyme pound cake! We had lemonade, too! Thank you, Karen! Our hearts and tummies were smiling! 😋
MG Jay explained that the little pearl-like bubble we saw on the lemon verbena leaf was a caterpillar egg. He used an app on his phone to try and figure out what kind of butterfly it might become. How cool! Unfortunately, we can't remember which butterfly Jay thinks it might become! 🦋
MG Joanne showed us pretty black-eyed Susan flowers from her garden. One of them, a super-sized one called Rudbeckia Maxima, has a very large cone that is full of seeds for the birds to enjoy. Joanne said it attracts goldfinches to her yard! The plants on the table in front of Laura are lemon verbena and lemongrass. We learned so much today! Thanks, MGs, for a spectacular spring of fun, educational, engaging, and tasty sessions! We can't wait to see you in a few months for fabulous fall sessions!
It was hard to believe we were having lunch outside near the end of June! And in the sun! The shadier patio tables were being used for an event, so we ate at the "sunny" tables, but it was so pleasant today that we didn't mind! We'll take weather like this in July and August, if Mother Nature is listening!
The wonderful weather made conditions just right for a good walk, too! (Or jog, as Abraham decided to do!) When we got back to the Rec Center, we began our new read-aloud and had an afternoon dance session, too. Our first day at home away from home was great, from start to finish!
Wednesday
We got a surprise during our dance warm up this morning...Adia coaxed Xavier into dancing AND he sang, too! This is not a typical experience with Xavier, so we are happy to see him this happy! Thanks, Adia, for persevering with getting Xavier to dance!
We took a game break later in the morning. One group played the Sock Game (be the first to pull out a specific object from among many that are in the sock) while the other group played Balloon Volleyball. During the Sock Game, Erik and Liz were racing against each other to find a checker. Erik won the round!
Kevin raced against Michelle to find a toy car and Liz could hardly contain her excitement when Kevin won a point for her team! Laura was happy, too!
Meanwhile, over at Balloon Volleyball, the teams were so focused on the balloons that they didn't realize they were being photographed!
Since we didn't have an outing today, we made it a Movie Day and watched High School Musical 2, which Kate let us borrow. (Lisa and Carol remembered the popcorn, too! 😋🍿) It was a hit, and there were several scenes where the music couldn't keep some of our guys in their seats!
We had an intermission during which time we made everyone get up for movement and we played a "This or That" fitness video with a summer theme. The choices at this part were Movie Night (squats) or Bowling Night (lunges). You had to perform the exercise that matched your choice for 30 seconds. Looks like these guys were going for Bowling Night!
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Back to High School Musical 2 and a scene that really got Devin moving...and then a few of his friends, too! "Go, Devin...Go, Devin!"
During the movie's finale, we thought Troy and Gabriela had joined our program! It's really Sam and Michelle singing their hearts out to "Everyday." Who knew High School Musical 2 would inspire such emotion (and movement) from our guys?!
After the movie, lunch, and Choice Time, we cleaned out the crayon tubs! They were so much better after all the broken ones were removed!
This is important stuff! When we return to AFCC after Summer Break, we're going to attempt to more evenly divide the colors among the tubs, too!
Thursday
We traveled to the Mariners' Museum for a lesson with Erika today. She taught us what constellations are, and how ancient mariners and explorers used them to help navigate the oceans and desserts. Did you know that Ptolemy first identified 48 constellations in the 2nd century? Wow, they were smart back then!
Today, there are 88 recognized constellations, including all of our Zodiac signs. We found this so interesting that we may have to have a follow-up lesson on it back at our center!
Erika taught us that besides the stars, ancient mariners also used the sun, waves, wind, and even birds and marine animals to help them navigate. Eventually, the Chinese came up with the compass, too. Some, like the Polynesians, could even navigate by holding their thumb and fingers "just so" to match up with the horizon. (That one's hard to explain, but it worked!) We had a hard time imagining how navigating with stars could help someone find their way, but we loved imagining we could find constellations like Pegasus and Hercules if we learned how to check the night sky!
It was a happy surprise to see Wisteria! We were expecting her to be with another group, but they canceled at the last minute so she was able to assist Erika! Here, Wisteria was passing out game cards for an activity we were about to try, where we would use our cards to choose the answer for which star on the game was the North Star.
To help us find the North Star, Erika first taught us how to locate the Big and Little Dipper constellations. She told us that the North Star lies at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper. Then, she taught us how to use the stars on the edge of the Big Dipper to form an "arrow" which would point us to the North Star on the Little Dipper! We held up cards to indicate our answers for the game, and we caught on pretty quickly!
Erika also told us about an app called "Skyview." She said we could ask our family to check it out with us. It will identify celestial objects in the sky, day or night! That could be fun, just like our lesson with Erika, today! Thanks, Erika, for sparking our curiosity about constellations! We will definitely learn more about this, and next time we see you, we'll tell you what we did!
It was Adia's first time at the museum, and while showing her a few exhibits we like, we came across a couple of Junior Volunteers named Akin and Ryan. They are working on earning volunteer hours for high school, and had set up a nice spice display. We enjoyed letting them tell us all about the spices that were traded long ago (even though we had learned about it from Erika and Wisteria before). Lisa, Carol, and Nan were proud when we knew the answers to several of Ryan and Akin's questions!
The Mariners' Museum and Park (official name) opened a new outdoor play area yesterday, and we walked over to look at it. It was too hot to play, but we did point out that it was a shell path we were walking on. Last week Christina told us about how shells were used to create paths in the 18th century. We have seen many of them in CW, but this was our first time seeing one in Newport News! 😃
When we left the museum, we stopped by AFCC to fill the bird feeders and water the outside plants. These guys peeked into the windows and said our floors looked very shiny! We know Heike, Sevarina, and Diane have been working hard to make things look nice for when we return!
Carol brought a big cooler of water and Laura helped pour it on our tomato plants. We hope they will survive both the heat and the squirrels while we are closed next week! 🍅🍅🍅
Today is National Bomb Pop Day, so of course we celebrated with a treat! We're gearing up for America's birthday on July 4th!
To further get ready for Independence Day, we played a dual game of National Symbol and American States Bingo. This was the first time all of our guys played with two cards, and they did really well. We reviewed a lot of good history, too!
We are having a very successful week at our relocation center, and Tracy has stopped by every day to make sure we have what we need. Today, she brought her handsome son, Colby, to say "hi" to us. We remember when he was just a toddler, and now he's about to start the 4th grade! Wow! Thanks, Tracy, for your assistance in making this week go very well for us! We appreciate you so much!
Friday
On our last day at the Longhill Rd. Rec Center, we wrapped up our relocation week with a fun dance warm up filled with patriotic music, thanks to DJ Liz! 🎆🎆🎆 Next, we had a lesson about how the Declaration of Independence came to be in 1776, and we learned that not all of the colonists were in favor of going to war with England!
We did some July 4th brain work, too. This group was working on counting syllables in words and identifying famous American monuments.
These friends helped each other unscramble and sort patriotic words
(nouns, verbs, adjectives), as well as figure out some tricky alphabetical ordering!
🍕🍕🍕 What's hot and cheesy and one of our favorite lunches?! Pizza, of course! 🍕🍕🍕 We ordered out from Domino's today, courtesy of Devin T.'s family, and it was really good! We highly recommend the Domino's at 1220 Richmond Rd. if you're thinking about takeout instead of burgers and hot dogs this weekend (or anytime)! 😉 Thank you so much, Tyree Family, for making our day with your generous pizza sponsorship!
In an unusual twist for us, we went bowling AFTER pizza today! We usually bowl the first Tuesday of the month, but we will be on Summer Break next week. Since we were so close during our relocation to Longhill Rd., and the lanes open at noon during the summer, we decided to go this afternoon. We had 1 Arc bus for transportation today (saving on gasoline!), so Carol shuttled us over in groups! It was a very fun change of pace!
Hi to Laura and Kevin, the first ones to take turns today!
Michelle, Adia, and Kate predicted the girls would rule today! We forgot to compare scores, but these girls certainly did well today!
Here, Adia, Alexis, and Drew were celebrating a few spares they had made! (At one point, Drew had 4 in a row!!!!)
We think the smiles on the faces of Xavier, Erik, and Devin T. tell a lot about the kind of day we had!
More bright smiles from Abraham and Liz, as our Friday afternoon bowling adventure was a huge hit!
In fact, our entire week at the James City County Rec Center was a big hit! We missed a few friends this week, but soon we will all be together again. For now, we say "bye" to each other as we take our Summer Break next week. When we return on July 12, we'll be back at AFCC. We look forward to more sunny days ahead!
Here are our plans for the week of July 12...see you then!
Tuesday, JULY 12: Welcome back to the AFCC today! We are planning a trip to Jamestowne Island, including a stop at the Glasshouse and also a new program, the Ed Shed. This is dependent on the weather, so we will update you if plans change. Wear Arc shirts and bring a bagged lunch. If you have an Access Pass, please bring it, along with an ID...which they asked for last time! Thank you!
Wednesday, JULY 13: We will update the July calendar with our 3 weeks' worth of activities! We'll check out Barbershop Music Appreciation Day and Cow Appreciation Day...not sure how, just yet! It's also Beans 'N' Franks Day, so for lunch we will make a Beans and Franks Bake along with a watermelon, feta, and mint salad using MG Carolyn's recipe! 😋🍉🌿
Thursday, JULY 14: We're going to have a follow-up lesson on constellations today since we were inspried by Erika at the Mariners' Museum to learn more! We will also have Eaton work to do at AFCC, so wear Eaton shirts! Lunch on your own (microwave available).
Friday, JULY 15: Today is a Pet Supplies Plus work day, so wear your PSP shirts. The Cooking Crew will stay at the center to prepare Sloppy Joe Casserole Take 2 - with the forgotten ground beef (which has been in Lisa's freezer)! We'll have something for dessert in honor of National Gummi Worm Day. We'll also resume yoga today, so dress to stretch with your PSP shirts!
The Arc of Abilities will be closed next week, July 5-8, for SUMMER BREAK! We look forward to seeing everyone back at the Abram Frink Community Center (AFCC) on Tuesday, July 12! Enjoy your break!!
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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