This week we welcomed the month of September, which we associate with the fall season, even though autumn doesn't officially begin for about 3 more weeks. We kind of expect September to be a little cooler than August, but this week was still quite warm, although there was a slight break in the humidity by Friday. We found ways to stay inside, and cool, but still be active. School also started this week, and luckily, the car drop off and pick up lines at JRES weren't too challenging. Fingers crossed it stays that way! 🤞 It was a great week. Here's a peek...
Tuesday
Today we traveled to The Mariners' Museum for a lesson on pirates with Wisteria. We made a new friend, too! Wisteria is on the right between Erik and Abraham, and on the left end, behind Devin T., is Winston!
We settled in and Winston told us a little about himself. He is a native to our area who graduated from Christopher Newport University and is currently working on a master's degree at George Mason. His background is in government and politics, but he's happy to be in museum studies and education now! Welcome, Winston!
Who knew there was so much to learn about pirates? We recently had a pirate lesson with Mike at The Watermen's Museum, but Wisteria came up with even more interesting facts...and some fiction, too! We learn so much with our museum partners!
Our friend Sam was not with us this week due to a rough bout with shingles. We were sad he missed this lesson, because he loves to learn about pirates. When Wisteria asked for a volunteer to dress as a pirate, we sent Sam's good buddy Devin B. up in honor of Sam! We missed you today, Sam! Doesn't Devin make a great pirate, since you weren't available?!
One thing we had not learned before was that some pirates used grenades! They made some from iron, but also used glass. In what looked a bit like a vase, the pirates would put small pouches of gunpowder and NAILS, along with a wick. When they lit the wick, they would quickly toss the grenade onto the ship they were attacking, and when it shattered, fire would spread and nails would go flying. No doubt nails would have hit people on the ship, but one intent was for them to hit the sails and cause tears, so as to slow down the ship.
Here, Patrick, Laura, and Devin T. check out a replica of a glass grenade. Laura said the glass would be better served if it were filled with pretty seashells, not gunpowder and nails! We agree, Laura!
When Wisteria told us the story of Blackbeard, she asked if anyone knew his real name. No one in today's group could remember, but we knew if Sam had been here he would have raised his hand to say, "Edward Teach!" 👏 Blackbeard was killed (and beheaded) in Ocracoke, NC in November of 1718, under orders from Spotswood, the Governor of Virginia. Did you know that the trial (and hangings) for Blackbeard's crew was held in Colonial Williamsburg?!
After capturing our attention with fascinating pirate tales, Wisteria reminded us that piracy continues in modern times. It's kind of different now, and weapons are much more sophisticated, but this map shows that hotspots for piracy are much the same now as they were back then. However, Wisteria pointed out that around the shores of the United States, we have excellent maritime security in place, and pirate attacks are rare.
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As always, we really like dining at The Mariners' Cafe. It's probably our favorite museum food. The staff (Jake and Billy, today) is fantastic, the prices are reasonable, the selections are plentiful, and it's open to the public. We highly recommend it if you're in the area. However, don't go for the next 2-3 months, as they are closing next week for extensive kitchen renovations! 
We didn't take a walk because of the warm and muggy conditions. Back at AFCC we had Choice Time, listened to our read-aloud, and then made cheer cards for Sam. We hope these will be a bright spot for him, as we know he's uncomfortable! We're thinking of you, Sam!
On the last day of August, we found ourselves "celebrating" something called According to Hoyle Day. It's actually on August 29, but we wanted to check it out. Hoyle was an English dude who was known for being an authority on card games, as well as chess and backgammon, and writing rules for them in the 1700s. So of course, we played card games and board games today!
Adia taught Erik an interesting and complicated game called "Hand and Foot." Erik caught on quickly, but Lisa thought it was hard!
None of us except for Nan had ever heard of this expression, "According to Hoyle," but it seems some people say that when they are referring to a certain way of doing something. It means "according to accepted standards." From the National Day Calendar website:
For instance, if you’re teaching someone to bake a lasagna, you could say, “according to Hoyle, this is the right way to do the layers.”
We thought this was kind of a wacky lesson, but the pickings from the National Day Calendar were slim for today, so we went with it. As it turned out, we had fun playing all kinds of games. We have a variety of them, so everyone got to play a few different ones!
Devin B. and Kate teamed up to play a version of darts, Devin was saying that it looked like one of his tosses gave the monster a black eye!
Lexi and Pat enjoyed a few rounds of Connect Four.
Annmarie and Xavier were waiting patiently for Lisa to help them set up a Jenga tower, but she was running around taking pictures. They played with the blocks until she got back!
Nan teamed up with Kevin and Drew for an old-fashioned game of War, using our monster cards!
Devin T. and Laura chose the Dory Trouble game. They have played this together before. Carol helped them with strategies!
We don't know what Hoyle would say about how we played today, but according to the Arc of Abilities, playing games is fun! After our games with partners, some of us gathered in the hallway for a "just for fun" game of Corn Hole! No score keeping, but lots of cheers for good shots!
Next we learned that New Jersey was the 3rd state to ratify the Constitution...which is really good historical information! We also learned some important trivial info: Iconic candies Smarties and m&m's both got their start in Newark, New Jersey! Yum!
We really enjoy our map skills part of the state lesson. Today we noticed that New Jersey doesn't seem to have as many rivers flowing throughout the state like Pennsylvania does (which we noticed last week). We also learned that New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the country, and we talked about what that means.
On this day before September 1st we made owls with colorful feathers. Tomorrow we will remove summer decorations and begin to transform the room into fall colors. We're excited!
Lisa and Alexis stopped by after dismissal to see Sam and deliver the cards we made. He said he misses us and is bored, but he was also still in pain from the shingles. He's on some medicine that is helping with his discomfort. Still, he was talkative and enjoyed catching up on what he's missed. We miss you, Sam! Hope you feel better soon and are back with us next week!
Thursday
September is here and we can't believe how fast that happened! We updated our calendar today and took down the spring and summer decorations. Erik got a great stretch taking down the letters on this wall. This was as high as he could reach, so Carol got the ladder and finished the job, but Erik gave it his best!
Each month when we update our calendar, we have certain tasks for certain folks. Some of them multi-task, too. Today, Patrick used the computer to find pictures to match our events for the month, Devin B. and Laura worked on our big letters that spell SEPTEMBER, and Devin T. colored a seasonal picture with fall colors. 🍁🍂🍃
Michelle and Annmarie helped with SEPTEMBER letters, and then moved on to seasonal pictures. Michelle was proud of Annmarie for sticking with the fall colors! Yay, Annmarie!!
Today's morning movement was an indoor recess video from GoNoodle. It was a new one and we liked it!
Lisa, Alexis, and Nan were out this afternoon for the funeral service for Nan's sister, and Laura's parents, Lisa and Tom, filled in for them. First, Lisa P. showed us a short video about termites! They are fascinating little creatures, that can cause a lot of problems for homeowners, but are also very hard workers and play an important role in decomposing huge amounts of decaying wood and plants. Here's a crazy fact: There are sooo many termites in the world that the total weight of them would be more than the total weight of all humans on earth! Want to know more about termites?!?! Click on this pic and as Mystery Doug would say, "Stay curious!"
Next, we watched a Mystery Doug episode about what scientists do, and it included a fun "virtual" experiment where we observed how termites traveled around marks on paper. We noticed that the termites would follow a line, no matter what shape it was, as long as it was drawn with pencil. When shapes were drawn with markers or crayons, the termites ran all over the place in squiggly patterns. We were really busy being good scientific observers, and didn't get any pictures, but here's a screen shot of our "Termite Tracker" note page that everyone completed while watching the virtual experiment.
After lunch we assembled doors and counted screws for Eaton. Lisa P. and Tom were impressed with our skills, efficiency, and work ethic! Can you spot Lisa P. in this pic? She was a "Label Lady" today!
Tom worked in the lunchroom area with the Counting Crew! He was also impressed with our abilities! Of course, we are the Arc of Abilities!!!!!
As we got near the end of the door assembly, Lisa P. took everyone outside for a walk and Tom gave Erik a break from using the electric screwdriver. He did a great job! Thank you, Lisa P. and Tom, for helping us today. We enjoyed working with you, and Lisa and Nan (and Carol) are most grateful for your help! We hope you had a good time, too!
Friday
We sent a crew to Pet Supplies Plus this morning, and the rest of us got things ready for the additional "PLUS" today - lunch from Jersey Mike's! Our PSP bosses, Scott and Roxanne, were treating us and we were stoked!
The Cooking Crew didn't cook today, but they did package some goodies for us to have with our subs. Xavier and Liz were in charge of prepping veggie bags that contained peppers, carrots, and cucumbers! We love your new haircut, Liz!!!
Laura and Annmarie got our grapes ready by pulling them off the stems so we could more easily bag them into individual servings. They also did a taste test and said the grapes were super sweet! Yum!
Meanwhile, at PSP, Karryna popped in to job coach and she found Michelle and Kevin stocking cute toys for dogs and cats! Thanks, as always, for your help, Karryna!
Adia and Alexis did a lot of stocking today. Adia had fish tank supplies and Alexis had ferret food! (What do ferrets eat, anyway?!)
Here, Scott was showing Devin B., Erik, and Devin's sister, Hailey, how to check canned pet food to make sure it was neatly arranged on the shelves and all the labels were facing in the same direction. Hailey, who is in 2nd grade this year, had a day off from school. She was a big help and lots of fun for our guys to chat with, too. PSP's Kat, who also works with us, can be seen in the background.
Here's a close up! Wow...what a great time to be a dog! 😋
We didn't have any dog treats at lunch, but PSP's Scott and Roxanne (Devin B.'s parents) treated us to subs from Jersey Mike's, and we thought that was an excellent treat! We made the picture extra large so hopefully you can see Scott and Roxanne at the table in the back. We didn't get a close up of them because we were really enjoying eating and socializing with them and Devin's sister, Hailey (she's back there, too), but they are awesome and we can't thank them enough for lunch AND the wonderful opportunity to work at the pet store. We like to think it's a great partnership!! 🐶🐈🐠🐦🐀🦎🐍
After lunch we stopped at Eaton to drop off the work we did at AFCC this week. Devin hopped off the van and helped James unload boxes of PowerSlide Doors. We wish James a very happy Labor Day Weekend! He works hard and deserves a day off!
In other Eaton news, Jorie sent this picture today. This is what used to be our room and the break room, when there was a wall that extended along the area where the guy in the white hardhat is standing near the lift machine. It's all open now, and modifications are being made for it to work better as a space for us! WOW! We can't wait to see what the future holds when we get back onsite at Eaton!
After a short period of Choice Time, we pulled up "Space Picnic" yoga with Jaime, since we had a picnic today and the Artemis 1 is being launched (hopefully) this weekend! In this story, Jaime was having a picnic on the moon...and from what we've learned about the plans of the space program, this could be a real possibility in the near future!
This is one of Lisa's favorite poses that we do. Jaime calls it "telephone pose" and we're trying to bring our foot up to our ear to answer a call! So fun, and always a great stretch!
It was another great week at the AoA. Now it's time for a long weekend and a celebration of hard workers everywhere on Labor Day! We'll be back next week, and here's what we'll be doing:
Tuesday: It's the first Tuesday of the month and that is our regular bowling day, so grab your gear and wear your Arc shirts! We are going to try something different for lunch. We will pick up pizzas from Domino's and eat at Kiwanis Park. Hopefully, the weather will be nice for a walk, too. We'll return to the center in time to make thank you cards for Devin B.'s family, who treated us to subs last Friday!
Wednesday: Today is Neither Snow nor Rain Day, which recognizes the postal service. We'll use our computer lab to write letters to friends we haven't seen in a while, and also learn how the postal service gets the letter from us to our intended recipient. We'll also learn about the 4th state today: Georgia! We'll make Georgia Buttermilk Pie for dessert, but lunch is on your own. JRES Cafeteria is open. Today's options are Popcorn Chicken Bowl or Sub of the Day.
Thursday: We are scheduled to visit Mike at The Watermen's Museum today (topic unknown?!?!), so wear your Arc shirts and bring a bagged lunch. We are hoping for nice weather so we can play games and take a walk after lunch by the river. What a nice way to spend a day!
Friday: Since Carol will be on vacation next week, we're sending the PSP Crew to work at the pet store today, so wear your PSP shirts. The Cooking Crew will be busy preparing a delicious lunch of honey chicken with rice and broccoli. We'll also celebrate Teddy Bear Day, so bring your "stash" if you'd like! We'll end the week with yoga, so dress to stretch with your PSP shirt!
🏌🏌🏌 We hope you can join us for a brief check presentation ceremony at the Williamsburg Moose Lodge on September 21 at 6 p.m. Patti and the Women of the Moose put on a very successful golf tournament in August that benefits the Arc of Abilities in a big way!
If you are participating in W&M's Best Buddy program, and plan to attend their kickoff at 7 p.m. that same night, you will have plenty of time to do BOTH! Stop by the Moose Lodge first, and then head to W&M with your friends! Let's show Moose Patti and the WOTM our appreciation and support! 🏌🏌🏌
Good news! The deadline to register for the 5k at the discounted rate has been extended until September 8. Many thanks to those who have signed up and we're excited to see you at Bette Faye's Retirement Celebration during the 5k. If you're going to be in town and able to attend, click Drew's pic above and get your registration completed! If you're going to be out of town, and unable to attend, click Drew's pic above and register to walk virtually from wherever you may be! (Lisa, Alexis, and Nan will be doing so from Newport, Rhode Island!)
Have a great weekend,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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