The highlight of our week was the double birthday celebration for Liz and Patrick on Friday, but we begin this week's post with a glimpse at last Saturday's Williamsburg Landing Run for the Arc 5k. It had been postponed due to Hurricane Ian's interference on the original date, but having it in November was still a smashing success!
Saturday - 5k
The weather was perfect for the rescheduled 5k on November 5th. We had a nice group getting ready to run the Fun Mile that included AoA greats Kevin, Liz, Drew, Devin B, Alexis, and Michelle!
Liz, Kevin, and Drew paused for a quick photo while on their way to the starting line! They were looking forward to earning medals!
The W&M women's and men's tennis teams were on hand to make friends and help with whatever we needed. Our gang enjoyed getting to know them!
Liz, Alexis, and Michelle were proud to show The Arc's Anna their medals! They were also excited to learn that Anna and her hubby Andrew are expecting a sweet bundle of girl joy in February. We see a little baby bump, Anna, and you are just glowing! Congrats from your friends at the AoA! 👶🎀
Someone else excited to show off their medals were Drew and Liz!! All of our AoA practice walks paid off today!
There was more fun after the walk. The Arc's DJ, Mr. Bill, cranked up the tunes and our guys led a huge dance party while the 5k racers were running. Check out Liz and Alexis doing the "Cha-Cha Slide" with tennis team members!
Laura was able to stop by and say "hi," to everyone! Lexi and Devin B were so happy to see her!
Speaking of Devin B, he really brought some energy! All the others around him couldn't help but have a blast, too!
Watch out! Here comes a Dancing Train!!
We also gave a heartfelt shout-out to Bette Faye as we celebrated her 13th 5k (that's all of them) and her 17 years with The Arc of Greater Williamsburg.
Bette Faye's mark on our organization will stand the test of time, and she will be missed! Enjoy your very well-deserved retirement, Bette Faye!
Tuesday
Our friend Kate got sick upon her return from Portugal...what a way to end a trip! She will be out again this week as she rests and recovers. We sent her a video to let her know we miss her!
Our friend Wisteria welcomed us to The Mariners' Museum today for a tasty lesson called "Foodways of the Americas." It focused on how the indigenous people of North and South America lived off the land and water. First, we reviewed that "indigenous" means "native," which Wisteria reminded us means the people who lived in the Americas before the Europeans arrived.
We learned about tools the indigenous people used for hunting and fishing. Liz and Patrick were checking out a replica of a large fishing hook.
We were surprised to learn that the indigenous people ate many animals and insects that we do not consider as part of our modern day diets! We were cool with the turkey, though!
We can thank indigenous people for "inventing" barbecue cooking!
Since it is close to Thanksgiving, Wisteria ended the lesson with a bonus. She talked about what was served at the Thanksgiving meal shared by the Pilgrims and the indigenous Wampanoag Indians in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. We thought most of that food looked delicious, except for the eel!
By the end of the presentation, we were letting Wisteria know that we were hungry. She said she was too, so we invited her to join us at Angelo's Restaurant for lunch, and she happily accepted!
The restaurant was very busy, but we had called ahead last week so they were expecting us. We were seated in a private room! We enjoyed social time while waiting for our lunch to arrive.
No one was disappointed with their burger and fries today! This was a treat for our gang, and the smiles on their faces were priceless.
No one complained when we said we had to take a walk after lunch, either! We returned to the Mariners' Museum and worked off a few fries on the Noland Trail!
It was just cool enough to enjoy our walk without getting too warm. We really enjoyed our outing today!
Wednesday
We were busy at the center today. Remember the sweet potatoes we grew at the garden over the summer and harvested a couple of weeks ago?! Carol peeled and cubed them for us this morning so we could roast them for lunch.
With a hungry Devin B looking on, Liz, Adia, Erik, and Michelle made sure we got them coated with a honey, olive oil, cinnamon, and brown sugar mixture.
Here's a close up before they went into the Nina. Deliciousness to come! Thank you, Master Gardeners, for helping us grow these!
We studied the state of Massachusetts today. It was #6 to be admitted to the Union and it has two nicknames: The Pilgrim State and The Bay State. Did you know that Massachusetts has 19 bays?! Kevin and Devin B look handsome as they represent Massachusetts with their shirts!
Did you know Boston Cream Pie is the state dessert of Massachusetts?! We made an easy version that promised to be big on taste...
We did an indoor workout ahead of the dessert. We like to say, "Just keep moving!"
Yesterday was National STEM Day, which focuses on using Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math in our work with others. We ran short on time for some activities we planned today, and we will make them up next week, but we squeezed in some fun math games using the big dice. Alexis, Abraham, and Alexis were playing a game called "Going to Boston!" (As in Massachusetts...LOL!)
Our roasted sweet potatoes were a BIG hit! We added a salad with grilled chicken and tortilla chips for a lunch that was quite tasty!
Abraham loved the look of our Boston Cream Pie once we cut slices for everyone. He asked for a picture to go in the blog!!
After we made sweet get well cards for Kate, we decided to do a group picture gathered around our fall tree. We hope the cards help speed up your recovery, Kate. We miss you! 💖
For some reason, these goofballs decided to scoot back to their tables after the group picture was taken, while Erik decided to walk! Don't worry, families, our custodians keep our floors pretty clean...✅ They claim it was a "workout," too. 😀
Thursday
It was time for another visit with Mike at the Watermen's Museum today. Yay! We knew the topic would be Thanksgiving, and we heard that he had been trying to design a 3D turkey project for us! When we arrived, we found out Mike had several projects for us to work on today! First, we created a banner as we focused on things we are thankful for as Thanksgiving approaches.
The Maritime Heritage and Sea Shanty Festival takes place at the Yorktown Waterfront this weekend. The museum's band, Shanty Grass, featuring Mike, will be performing several times during the event! Mike said we needed to help him compose a new shanty to sing. Then he told us a "shanty" is a waterman's working song.
We were game for song writing, and by the time we were done, we had a fun, rhyming, and very catchy new shanty about a turkey who escapes being eaten for Thanksgiving! Mike said he will be singing it this weekend at the festival, so check it out if you're down by the waterfront!
Our last project involved creating 3D turkeys using recycled corregated cardboard. Mike had designed and cut them out, so that they would stand, and we put the finishing touches by adding colors and feathers. Liz helped Laura insert the feathers into the corregated holes on the cardboard.
Carol held Kevin's turkey steady so he could insert pretty feathers.
Annmarie was proud of her beautiful turkey, and loved that Mike had purple feathers she could use!
Here are some of our favorite AoA turkeys with their turkeys! Just kidding, Kevin, Devin B, and Patrick!! 😜🦃
Mike and Adia look on as Alexis and Devin T make "gobble, gobble" sounds as they show off their colorful birds!
We are thankful for friendship with Mike at the Watermen's Museum! Thanks for the fun activities today, Mike!!!
The skies were cloudy, but the temps were warm enough that we could enjoy lunch time on the beautiful York River on November 10th!
After eating, we set up for Fall Corn Hole Challenge game #3 between the Minion Corn Holers and Virginia Corn Thunder!
The Corn Thunder got off to an early lead after Laura hit the hole with one bag and landed the other on the board for a big 3 points!
The Minion Corn Holers kept it close this time. You could have heard Devin B cheering all the way to Richmond when Adia sank both bags on one turn for 4 points! That was the play of the game, as her bean bags swooshed right into the holes from the air...no slide on the board! WOW! 👏👏
With a final score of 21-17, the Corn Thunder won their 3rd game in a row, but the Minions kept it close throughout! The "powers that be" are thinking it may be time for a couple of player trades before the next game! 😉
Friday
To cap off an already fun week, today we celebrated the birthdays of our friends Liz and Patrick! We also made a new friend. But first, we had a couple of chores.
We prepared The Arc's December mailing. We took this picture of us dancing with the calendars to remind you to send in your sign up sheet before the deadline because you don't want to miss the Holiday Party on December 10!
We also needed to cook hot dogs ahead of time for lunch, so Erik handled that for us! We kept them warm in the slow cooker until party time.
Our new friend is Jeff Helm, local artist and all-around nice guy, who came to meet us this morning! Liz recently attended an art show he was in, and asked if he might be interested in working with her day program, and he said, "Yes!" He brought several samples of his art work and told us about his process for creating them. We're so glad Liz advocated for us to meet Jeff! (Jeff is also Liz's mom's water aerobics instructor at the YMCA, and she facilitated the introductions. Thanks, Lise!)
Abraham loved this monkey picture! Jeff used paint and cut pieces of wood to create the 3D creation.
Kevin was fascinated by this colorful fish piece. Jeff incorporated bottle caps and denim (a pocket from an old pair of jeans) into this design!
Some of Jeff's favorite pieces are fish and when he showed this shark, Michelle had to see it up close! Being our shark expert, she could vouch for it's authentic look, right down to the cut-up credit card pieces used for teeth! Good idea, Jeff!
This is a piece Jeff just finished, and we were the first to see it in person. Devin T recognized it was a cow right away!
Adia and Jeff recognized each other from when they both participated in a sidewalk chalk art contest last year at the James City County Library! Small world!! Before leaving, we made plans to set a date for Jeff to come back and help us create art with cardboard shapes. We. Are. Stoked! Thank you for coming to see us today, Jeff! We love your art and are very excited to work with you.
Before we celebrated birthdays, we took a moment to talk about it being Veterans Day. After paying close attention to a BrainPOP video and passing the quiz that followed it, we worked with partners on a Veterans Day vocabulary sheet. We were happy to welcome our friend Cameron for a visit today, too, even though he was looking sideways when we snapped this picture.
Erik helped Laura figure out what the missing letters were in the words, and showed her where to write them.
Liz requested a game of Jeopardy for her and Patrick's birthday party. We found a fun version with clues related to fall.
Our birthday twins were happy be the first in line for hot dogs! We added baked beans and chips, and lunch was good, but really, everyone was super-excited for...
Birthday pie! Many thanks to Liz's mom and dad for making homemade banana cream and Oreo pies for us! We also had a choice of lemonade or fruit punch to drink, and we thank Pat's mom for bringing that!
Happy Birthday, Liz and Patrick! We loved celebrating the two of you, and we hope all your wishes come true.
Always thinking of others, Liz made sure Devin T had a Frosty and Xavier had gluten-free cupcakes for the party while the rest of us enjoyed the pie. 💙🧡💙🧡
Before we ended the day with yoga, we planted an amaryllis bulb, which Laura is checking out here. When we learned about bulbs a couple of weeks ago with our master gardener friends, we made a plan to get one. We hope it will grow and bloom by the time we go on Winter Break in December!
We didn't take any yoga pictures since our blog is full of so many other pictures this week, but we had a relaxing time with our online instructor, Jaime, to end our week. We'll spend the next three days with our families at home, but when we return on Tuesday, we'll have a lot to look forward to. Here's our schedule for next week:
Tuesday: We'll spend the morning at the center working on a Thanksgiving project and doing "brain work" before heading to see Christina at The Art Museums of CW. Lunch on your own. The JRES Cafeteria is offering Chicken Fajita, Pizza (school pizza, not Domino's), or Chef Salad. Wear your Arc shirt, too!
Wednesday: Today we welcome our Therapy Dogs and Handlers for a fun Thanksgiving-themed morning! We'll read, work on a craft with them, and end the session with a silly game! We'll also make up the STEM activities we ran out of time for last week. Lunch on your own. The JRES Cafeteria is offering Cheesy Pasta Supreme or Sub of the Day.
Thursday: It's time for a Pet Supplies Plus work day, so please wear your PSP shirt. The Cooking Crew will make homemade pizzas with a side of Jell-O salad for lunch. Today is National Take a Hike Day, so if it's not too chilly, we'll head to Newport News Park after lunch for a walk on one of our favorite trails.
Friday: We're going to work at Eaton today!! Wear your Eaton shirt and bring a bagged lunch. We will also have a yoga session after Eaton. So, dress to stretch with your Eaton shirt!
Many thanks to our family members and many friends for your continued support of The Arc of Greater Williamsburg, and the Arc of Abilities Day Program! We appreciate each one of you very much!
Have a nice weekend,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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