This week we were fortunate to receive a presentation on Self-Advocacy from staff members at The Arc of Virginia. They traveled to our center on Wednesday and shared great information and strategies with us on how to become more aware of, and confident in, advocating for ourselves. Then, on Thursday, Jeff came for art class, and taught us how to make "Big Mouth" puppets out of paper board boxes! Those were the highlights of our week, which also included bowling and working at Eaton. It was a great, and quick week. Here's a look at everything we did, starting with being Arc Ambassadors at the Pickleball Challenge over the weekend!
Saturday / Sunday
The 2nd Annual Pickleball Challenge was a huge success! We had 83 teams this year! We want to thank the Arc of Abilities families who were able to come out to show support so the pickleball players could meet them, chat with them, and get to know first hand by these interactions just what a fantastic organization they are supporting! Drew, Liz, Alexis, Patrick, Annmarie, and Erik were FABULOUS ambassadors for The Arc of Greater Williamsburg!
Drew and Liz were on site for Saturday's first round action.
Drew's mom, Donna, and her friend (and Arc's friend, too) Melinda played! Drew was so proud!
On Sunday, Drew was back, and was joined by Alexis and Annmarie!
Soon, Patrick arrived and Drew and Lexi were happy to see him!
Next thing we knew, Erik had arrived to round out our fantastic AoA Ambassador Team!
When it was time to announce raffle winners, volunteer Linda (left), and Arc of Greater Williamsburg Executive Director, Pam, enlisted Erik's help to draw the winning names. He did an excellent job, and didn't even peek!
Arc Board Member and announcer of winners, Bobby Dwyer, said Alexis did an excellent job handing out medals! We are very proud of our AoA members for representing our program, our Arc of GW, their families, and themselves so well at the event!
Tuesday
It's the first of the month so we found ourselves at bowling this morning! We just make ourselves right at home on lanes 1-4! Annmarie, Xavier, Liz, and Sweet T smiled quickly for the camera, but they were doing a great job watching the monitor to know when it was their turn, so we could keep the game moving.
Patrick was ready, but Laura, Kevin, Drew, and Dev B had to be asked to stop and turn for the camera. Hope we didn't throw off their mojo!
Michelle, Kate, and Alexis were chatting in between turns, while Erik and Abraham waited patiently, and quietly, for theirs!
The first strike of the day went to Dev B!
Dev T got the first spare of the day! It was a good day to be named "Dev!"
Alexis tried to will her ball to move ever so slightly in one direction so as to knock over a lone pin to score a spare. It didn't happen this time, but it didn't affect her score too much. She was our highest scorer today with a 163 in her second game! 👏👏
Here's a picture of Miss Laura, who sweetly asked if we would take her picture for the blog! Sure thing, Laura!
After bowling we enjoyed a delicious pizza lunch on the patio at Freedom Park. Kevin got all the cheers when we reminded everyone that his family was sponsoring our lunch today! Thank you very much, MacMasters Family! We enjoyed every bite! 🍕😋🍕😋🍕
It was a very nice day, but by the time we finished lunch, it was getting quite warm. We know our days to enjoy being outside are numbered as we head toward July, but we're going to enjoy them as long as we can!
Today is National Gardening Exercise Day, which celebrates that gardening is a good form of exercise. Since our MGs weren't here to help us with gardening, we turned it into "Excercise In the Garden Day!" We walked around the garden, pausing at plants, flowers, or trees that might inspire us to create an exercise movement. (That should say inspire Lisa, who came up with this idea!) Here, we were stretching from side to side with our arms bent, trying to imitate a small tree with branches that bent.
We found plants that inspired us to sway (ferns), throw imaginary snowballs (hydrangea), and run in place (ground covers). When we spotted these lovely flowers called sundrops, we slowly rose, like the sun coming up in the morning. Check it out:
Wednesday
What a busy morning we had! There was a lot to get done so we could devote time after lunch to our guest speakers. We sent Liz, Michelle, Alexis, and Laura to volunteer in the JRES Library for the last time this school year. Ms. Ortega expressed her appreciation by writing us all a thoughtful message and treating us to mini-muffins! We wished her a great summer and told her we would be ready to help again in September!
After enjoying the mini-muffins, we had a lesson on food safety since today is World Food Safety Day. We believe we do a good job of safely preparing the many foods we make, but a review is always helpful! We focused on 4 core practices today: Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill. There was way too much information to summarize here, but if you click on the pic of Annmarie, Drew, Lexi, and Adia, it will link you to the website we visited today!
Next, it was time to practice what we had learned as we prepared our lunch. Annmarie, Michelle, and Laura were in charge of making colorful food safety napkin rings, and wrapping our forks in napkins for today's lunch. They thoroughly washed their hands after coloring, before they rolled the forks in napkins.
Patrick and Lexi were in charge of cutting the watermelon into cubes. They washed their hands, and also used gloves since they were touching the watermelon.
Abraham and Drew had clean hands, and also wore gloves as they worked with Nan to brown sausage and grill hot dogs. (The sausage was being cooked so we could prep breakfast casseroles for tomorrow's lunch!)
Pasta salad was on our menu, too. Kate and Erik made sure to wash the veggies under running water, and not cross-contaminate the cutting surfaces (veggies vs cheese vs pepperoni).
Kevin and Sweet T helped clean the table after we cut watermelon, and then they helped assemble breakfast casseroles that we will bake for tomorrow's lunch.
We got all of our food prep done, but decided to only photograph our colorful pasta salad! We used tri-colored pasta and colorful veggies, plus a little bit of cheese and pepperoni. It was the perfect side dish for our hot dogs and watermelon!
Just as we finished up lunch, our guests from The Arc of Virginia arrived to give us a presenation on Self-Advocacy. Up in the corner of this picture is Shay, who Zoomed in from Roanoke to join the presentation.
These new friends of ours are Jesse, Kate, and Shawn. They, along with Shay, are all adults living with developmental disabilities, who work part time for the Arc of Virginia as self-advocacy coaches. They work tirelessly to advocate for themselves and others, so that all people with disabilities can live A Life Like Yours.
Shay, Jesse, Kate, and Shawn work to educate others, including legislators, on issues important to the Disability Community. Today, they helped us understand what Self-Advocacy is, and what it isn't.
After being attentive and "still" for a while during the presentation, we were excited to celebrate Chocolate Ice Cream Day after our guests departed. We went with an old-fashioned ice cream in a bag recipe. First, we mixed cream, milk, sugar, and chocolate syrup. Next, we put the mixture in quart-sized bags, which we then put into gallon-sized bags that were filled with ice and rock salt. Good thing there are a lot of us, because the next step was to shake the bags for a while, and they got very cold! We used our gardening gloves and dish towels to help, but it was great being able to pass the bags to our friends!
The mixture eventually froze, though the consistency was more like a Frosty than a scoop from the ice-cream store. Dev B said it didn't matter...he was sure it was going to taste great!
So, who else but our resident Frosty Expert, Sweet T, to be the first to taste our chocolate ice cream?! He definitely approved, and once his friends had a taste, they agreed! We actually thought ours was just a little better than a "real" Frosty. Of course, after all the work we put into making it, how could we not really appreciate it?!
Thursday
Wow! We had so much artsy fun with Jeff today, that we pretty much only took pictures of our time with him! He came to teach us how to create "Big Mouth Puppets" using paper board boxes, and we really got into it!
First, Jeff showed us a couple of Big Mouths he is working on, and that helped us envision how to start. However, he stressed that our puppets should NOT end up like his! That's what we love about him...he really embraces our art for being our art, and supports and encourages us throughout the creative process!
He had us in stitches as his puppets talked to us!
Jeff showed Kate and Erik this one up close...it had teeth. Kate was a little nervous! 😂
We had gathered a lot of "doo-dads" from our craft stash, and Jeff brought some, too. We couldn't wait to get started on our puppets. Jeff made the rounds, as usual, to help, offer suggestions, and encourage our productivity. Here, he assisted Laura with using masking tape.
Sweet T was inspired by something he saw Abraham using...Santa's beard! He decided to add a little of the white stuff to his artwork.
Drew enjoyed watching Kate and Alexis put a lot of long and colorful "hair" on their puppets! Lisa had just helped him put a fuzzy piece of pipe cleaner "hair" on his puppet's head. He prefers a neater trim!
Jeff brought his boom box today and his playlist of classic rock couldn't have been better! Many of us were singing along, breaking into dance, or both, as we worked on our puppet masterpieces! It was a really enjoyable morning!
Once we were satisfied with our puppets, we cleaned up and served lunch. Jeff joined us for breakfast casseroles, which were sooo good and hit the spot after a busy morning. We forgot to take pictures of lunch, though! 😋😋😋
Later, Jeff, Kate, and Dev B introduced their Big Mouth Puppets to each other, and had a rather nice conversation!
Thanks, Jeff, for hanging out with us today and teaching us that boxes can become friends! Once we started working on our puppets, we could have kept adding features to them all day. The music you brought to the experience was awesome, too! We loved being able to sing and dance while we worked. We hope you can tell how much fun we had. We're very proud of our Big Mouth Puppets, and thankful for our friendship with you!
The only other picture we took today was this one of Kate sharing a conch shell that belonged to her beloved grandmother. Today is World Oceans Day, so after lunch we learned about Earth's 5 oceans, as well as many of the plants and animals that live in them. We enjoyed hearing the ocean in Kate's shell when we held it up to our ears!
Friday
Today we worked at Eaton for the first time with Ethan! He, and we, did a great job! When we first arrived, Ethan filled Carol in on the different tasks he needed us to work on, and let her know which ones were priorities.
This group began with an unpacking job. DJ Liz had music playing in the background, and when "Uptown Funk" came on, Sweet T and Drew announced it was dance time! Annmarie, Patrick, and Laura were ok with them taking a dance break, but they opted to keep working!
Our PowerSlide Door Team may not have been paying much attention to the music, because look how focused they were!
More specifically, Liz, Nan, Alexis, and Carol were adding labels to the doors. They are so good at this now, the labels rarely have "bubbles" anymore!
Xavier and Kevin got the screws inserted, and then Erik used the electric screwdriver to tighten them. We have a very efficient team!
Russell stopped by to visit and we had a nice time "talking his ear off!" He doesn't seem to mind, and we like how we stay focused on our work even while we talk with him!
We're proud to show off new skills some of our guys learned today! Dev B learned how to insert amber lenses into the PowerSlide Doors.
Sam also learned to insert amber lenses. In both Sam and Dev's cases, Michelle had modeled for them the correct placement!
Patrick taught Drew how to operate the garage door opener! This one has 3 controls for open, close, and stop. Drew learned to push "Stop" when the door was high enough for us to walk out without bumping our heads. Otherwise, it would have opened all the way to the ceiling, and that wasn't necessary!
Drew also learned how to hold the bubble wrap straight and tight, so it would be easier for Lisa to cut. Meanwhile, Laura carefully unpacked lightbulbs, and then used the bubble wrap to help pack them safely in the box. Laura said she and Drew have "teamwork." 😍
With Dev B and Patrick as mentors, Annmarie and Sweet T learned to snap pieces off of these things called water plates. It's a job that requires twisting a small piece until it pops off. The piece that pops off still has a small tab attached, and that is harder to remove, so Dev and Patrick handle that part. Annmarie and Sweet T are keepers on this job!
Whew! We were really productive at Eaton today! When we got back to the center we relaxed with a yoga session with Jaime, and then wished Carol happy and safe travels on our way out the door. We'll miss her for the next few weeks, but we're happy that she gets to take a cruise to Scandinavia! Have fun, Carol! Take lots of pics to share when you get back!
Here's what we're doing next week, and what Carol will miss! Hehe!
Tuesday: The weather forecast looks nice for a visit to Freedom Park for time in the garden with the MGs. It's National Weed Your Garden Day, so maybe we can help with that! We'll plan for a park day with lunch and games before heading back to the center for Choice Time and Blog Check. Please bring a bag lunch; Arc shirts optional.
Wednesday: We're headed to Grove Christian Outreach Center to volunteer today. Please wear Arc shirts. We'll also have a lesson on Flag Day, celebrate Pop Goes the Weasel Day, and enjoy Strawberry Shortcake Day with a tasty treat! Lunch on your own, but the JRES Cafeteria is available and the menu lists Chicken Sandwich or Hot Dog as choices.
Thursday: Today we'll learn about ancient sharks for Megalodon Day! We'll also have a lesson on wind energy, since it's Global Wind Day, even though the wind has been in the news recently for not such a positive reason! Lunch on your own. It's the last day to order from JRES Cafeteria and the options are Domino's Pizza or the mysterious Manager's Special! We'll also prepare a special something for the fathers and father figures in our lives, since Father's Day is Sunday!
Friday: It's Pet Supplies Plus Work Day, so please wear your PSP shirts! The Cooking Crew is making sloppy joes and a veggie dish (or two) to celebrate National Eat Your Veggies Day which is tomorrow. After lunch we will pack up things to take with us on our relocation adventures for the next two weeks! We'll end the day with yoga, so dress to stretch!
COMING SOON:
Time to gear up for the Women of the Moose's 8th Annual Golf Tournament! Moose Patti and all of our WOTM friends are working hard to make this a very successful FUNdraiser, as it always is!
We hope you have the date on your calendar: Saturday, August 5th!
Moose Patti has excitedly informed us that this year's Women of the Moose sponsored charity golf tournament, which benefits The Arc of Greater Williamsburg, Arc of Abilities, Mooseheart (kids), and Moosehaven (seniors) will take place at Kiskiack Golf Course on Saturday, August 5th! This will be the 8th annual tournament that Moose Patti has dedicated her time and talents to coordinating for us, and it is always a rousing success.
Let's support Patti and the WOTM! It's never to early to sign on to be a sponsor (hole, event, beverage cart) OR to form a team and play! This is ALWAYS a fun time and the Arc of Abilities will be there to assist Patti in making sure of that!
Please let Lisa know if you need more information, or if you're ready to support. Thank you, and we hope to see you on August 5th!
THANK YOU, PATTI AND THE WOTM (Women of the Moose) FOR YOUR DEDICATION TO The Arc of Greater Williamsburg and the Arc of Abilities. 💖💖💖
We hope everyone has a great weekend,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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