Road Trippin'

It was travel time again this week!  Every now and then we spend most of a week out and about, and this week we found ourselves at bowling, the Watermen's Museum, and Eaton!  We had different kinds of fun and productivity at each place, and enjoyed every minute of it.  We also welcomed one of our therapy dog friends and some of his family members for a "make up" visit, and had a blast with them!  It was a wonderful week, and you can see all of our adventures here!

Tuesday

We always start our month with a visit to the bowling center.  Does it look like these guys were enjoying themselves?!  You bet!  Dev B was polishing Lexi's ball for "good luck" and Xavier, Sam, Patrick, Drew, and Dev T wanted him to polish theirs next!  Side note:  Lexi rolled a spare on her next turn!

Kate, Lexi, Laura, and Annmarie caught up with our favorite assistant manager, Wendy.  She takes such good care of us when we visit and we really enjoy chatting with her!

This cool crew was about to select balls, but struck a pose for the camera first.  Adia, Kevin, Erik, and Abraham seem to own the place!  😎

Cameron hung out with us today.  He and Liz mutually congratulated each other after she made her 6th or 7th spare in a row, and then he walked up and knocked down a strike!  We always enjoy a visit from Cameron!

We love Cameron, no matter what, but today his family treated us to pizza at the bowling center and it was sooo good!!  Thank you, Ouellettes, for your generosity.  We partied with pepperoni pizza and it was positively perfect!  🍕🍕🍕

Karryna and Tracy stopped by to say "Hello" as we played today!  Or in Sam's case, finished that last piece of positively perfect pepperoni pizza! 

We ended the day with a fingerpaint project back at the center.  We blocked out the shape of a Christmas tree, and used our fingers to dot paint around the outside of it.  We then added more colorful dots around the tree.  Cameron and Liz worked on theirs while Alexis helped Kevin, who didn't seem to mind getting paint on his finger!

We removed the blocking paper to reveal our finished products.  Festive and pretty!

Wednesday

We had a delightful morning visiting with therapy dog Casey and his handler, Carol, along with Carol's daughter and son-in-law, Christen and Simon.  Carol and Casey aren't able to make it during the regularly scheduled therapy dog visit next week, but they didn't want to miss time with us this month!  Christen and Simon were visiting from their home in Spain, and looked forward to meeting us!

Carol and Casey read holiday books with us in the foyer.  Here, Liz, Kevin, Carol, Kate, Annmarie, Sam, and Abraham took turns reading from a holiday book of their choice.  

Casey was a little shy at first, but eventually he turned around for some gentle pats!

Carol's daughter, Christen, is a recreation therapist.  She loved working with us on crafts today.  Michelle, Adia, Erik, Cameron, Dev B, and Xavier worked on deorative gingerbread boys (thanks, Krafty Karen for the donation of supplies), colorful pictures, and creating a snowflake using toilet paper rolls.  Christen had the idea for the snowflake, and she showed us how easy it was.

Christen explained that we cold decorate the cut pieces of the rolls, and she would use the glue gun to attach them together in the shape of a snowflake.  

Here are our finished products.  We're going to use them as a decoration for next week's party.

Carol's son-in-law, Simon, is originally from England and we had a great time "chatting him up" about English life, while also working on making an origami soccer ball.  He told Drew, Alexis, Chloe, and Patrick that he is a big soccer fan and is pulling for England, who remains in the World Cup series as of today... Wait, Chloe?!  Yes, that is Chloe, who was a member of the AoA before the pandemic, and she is coming back!  She'll be with us regularly beginning in January.  Welcome back, Chloe!

Nan enjoyed chatting with Simon and helping create the soccer balls.  She and Kevin folded this one perfectly, and it really rolls, too!

Our gang delighted in conversations with our guests this morning.  What was going to be about an hour long visit stretched into 2 hours before we knew it!  Carol, Christen, and Simon enjoyed the morning as well, and said we made their day!

Before leaving, we just had to ask Carol, who is a retired music teacher and has the most beautiful singing voice, if she would lead us in a Christmas carol or two, and she was thrilled!  The first song she chose???  "Twelve Days of Christmas," and believe it or not, we knew the lines...well, maybe not in order, but Carol kept it going anyway!

We sang a lovely rendition of "Silent Night."

Our finale was "We Wish You a Merry Christmas!"  Thank you Carol, Casey, Christen, and Simon for sharing part of your holiday season with us.  It was a pleasure meeting Christen and Simon, and it's always a joy to hang with Carol and Casey.  We wish you all a "Merry Christmas" and safe travels to Christen and Simon as they head on to England and then back home to Spain!  🎄🎄🎄

We really enjoyed our festive morning with special friends, but we also recognized the significance of it being December 7, which, as President Franklin Roosevelt noted, is a "date which will live in infamy."  During our history lesson, we looked at footage from the attack on Pearl Harbor and tried to understand why it happened.  That was hard for us, but we are glad to be allies with Japan now. 

We quickly turned our attention back to "festive" when we also noted that December 7 is National Cotton Candy Day!  After a fun video that showed how sugar is spun into what used to be called "fairy floss," and a tricky scrambled word worksheet, we enjoyed samples of cotton candy, and called it a day!

Thursday

Carol snagged "early birds" Alexis, Adia, and Liz first thing this morning to gasket some parts for us to take to Eaton tomorrow.  We're hopeful James will have enough parts to get them through the end of the year!  Thanks, girls!

We had a joyful last visit of the year with Mike at the Watermen's Museum.  It was all about Christmas traditions in Colonial Times, and it was a jam-packed morning.  First, we went to his "forest" (a few trees adjacent to the museum) to gather fragrant greenery from cedar, juniper, and bay leaf trees and bushes.

 

Mike explained that in Colonial days, people didn't smell so great (bathing was not common) and some thought illness was spread in the air via bad odors, so they tried to mask smells by making things out of natural materials that smelled better.  Liz and Michelle snipped small pieces of cedar.

Annmarie, Devin, and Laura snipped juniper.  Mike was going to show us how to make a pomander that would smell really nice, and seasonal, too!  

In olden times, people wore pomanders around their necks as a protection against infection in the air.  We now know that while infection can be spread through the air, wearing something that smells good won't protect us from catching it!

Before we actually began making our pomanders, we broke out in song!

Devin T and Patrick used the skewers to pierce holes in their citrus fruit, just as Mike showed us.  That made it easier to insert the fragrant cloves.

We worked diligently on creating our pomanders, while Mike told us all kinds of interesting things about how Christmas and holiday traditions came to be.  One thing we learned is that Christmas trees, while a German tradition, were not fashionable in Colonial America.  It wasn't until Queen Victoria had one in1840, and a photo of it with her children gathered around was circulated, that they gained widespread popularity in America.

We were proud of our pretty pomanders.  The room smelled wonderful when we were finished!

Mike told an abbreviated verison of Dickens' A Christmas Story and when he got to the part about the Ghost of Christmas Present visiting Scrooge, he had Carol portray the part!  What a fancy costume she wore!

We had a gift for Mike... a set of new scissors for him to add to his supplies!   He loved them and said what we already knew, that he could always use good scissors!  😉✀

It was breezy by the York River, so Mike invited us to eat lunch in the tent.  We are stretching our "outdoor dining" days as much as we can!

Next, we took a quick walk around town to look for more decorations, but we didn't see a lot like we notice around Colonial Williamsburg.  So, we visited the restroom and took a few pictures in front of this very pretty LOVE sign before heading back to the warmth of our center!

After a bit of Choice Time, we tuned in for Jaime's Nutcracker Yoga session.  We'll be at Eaton tomorrow and we wanted to make sure we had time this week for our "yoga workout" with Jaime.

We're up and down during these sessions.  It's good exercise!

Friday

Not much to show photo wise today, but we had a very productive time working at Eaton, before returning to the center for Choice Time and dancing!  Lisa was spending time with Gdad today (he's doing well!), and Greg Kline filled in for her.  Thank you, Greg, for your continued help during this time!!  Lisa really appreciates being able to step away knowing someone who knows the Eaton ropes is there to assist! 

Liz, Adia, Alexis, Greg, and Nan unpacked all the light bulbs left in the building.  They will be assembled in marina pedestals very soon!

Up front in this photo, Sam and Erik were clipping small pieces off of the larger white parts.  In the background, Carol set up the counting of screws with Michelle, Laura, Annmarie, Xavier, Kevin, and Abraham.

Looks like there were a lot of smiles at Eaton today!  Working makes us happy, and it's a great way to end a fabulous week, too!

So proud of our Arc of Abilities team!

 Everyone was in good spirts and just a bit "excited" this week, and we're sure it will get kicked up a notch next week as we wind down 2022 and prepare to enjoy a Winter Break.  🎄🎅 Here's a rundown of our plans:

Tuesday:  Christina is doing amazing things with us today!  First, she is going to show us all the beautiful Christmas trees on display at The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg!  Next, she's coming back to the AFCC with us to do a fun art project, and THEN we are celebrating her birthday, with a special lunch!  We'll enjoy vanilla ice cream French toast, breakfast casserole, and fresh fruit salad.  It's going to be a great day!

Wednesday:  Today we'll visit with our regularly scheduled therapy dog friends for holiday reading, games, and refreshments!  (Hint:  Yesterday was National Cocoa Day!)  We'll also spend the afternoon baking cookies for some special goodie bags we're putting together!  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is serving Chicken Sandwich or Hot Dog on Bun.

Thursday:  We're going to Pet Supplies Plus for our last work day of 2022, so please wear your PSP shirts.  Those who remain at the center will be baking more goodies, working on last-minute preparations for tomorrow's party, and preparing pasta with red sauce and a side of fresh veggies for lunch.  After lunch we will finish our latest read-aloud and have a history lesson for Bill of Rights Day.

Friday:  We'll wrap up 2022 with our annual holiday party!  There will be dancing, games, and Secret Santa gift exchanging, along with a Potluck Party Luncheon!  Please remember to bring your Secret Santa gift and favorite appetizer-type dish to share!  It's going to be a super-charged, fun, and joyful day!

Enjoy the weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang