Our week was filled with a celebration for Laura's birthday, the 2nd anniversary of our partnership with Therapy Dogs International, "breaking in" our new laptops, and the most gorgeous weather we've seen in a while! We also had a Movie Day at a real theater, spent an afternoon at the park, and worked at Pet Supplies Plus. It was as good a week as it could be!
Tuesday, August 20
Going to see a movie in a theater is not easy, since most of the time the earliest showings are at 1:00 or 2:00 p.m., which doesn't work with our schedule. But in the summer, Movie Tavern has showings at 11 a.m., so if we postpone lunch an hour or so, we can swing it. That's what we did today when we enjoyed a relatively unknown feature called "Wonder Park." Turns out, we really liked it! There were some silly parts, but also some "deeper" parts, so something for everyone. The popcorn and soda snacks were perfect, and no one even asked to go to the bathroom during the film!! Here's a picture of us in front of the AFCC because we forgot to take one at Movie Tavern!
After the movie, we had lunch outside at Freedom Park. What a gorgeous day it was, and it felt so nice without humidity!
Next we took a walk and ended up at the garden where we were surprised to see that there was only 1 green pepper to harvest. We last checked two weeks ago, and there were still a few green cantaloupes, but either they were harvested by someone else, or critters got them! The tomatoes were scarce and there were no more green beans. We're not complaining. Between potatoes, tomatoes, and green beans, we had a few good harvests! We'll wait now for our sweet potatoes to grow for a fall harvest. They looked great today!
Wednesday, August 21
We celebrated 2 magical years with our therapy dogs and handler friends today! First, we enjoyed our reading rotations!
Carol D. (white blouse) and Darby brought a new friend named Janet for us to meet. Janet has a golden retriever that may train to become a therapy dog. We think Janet enjoyed our activities today! Here, Laura was reading as Patrick, Beka (petting Darby), Emma, and volunteer Allison listened.
Michelle was using fun voices as she read a Dr. Seuss book to Marisol and Tucker, Nan, Drew, and Erik. It was very entertaining! Even though Tucker slept through it...
Devin read The Little Mermaid to Xavier, Alexis, Caroline, Pip, and Indy. It was the book Xavier picked, and Devin did an excellent job reading it aloud for him!
Around the corner in the hallway, Kent and Leo, Kate, and Annmarie were listening to Bryan read a nonfiction book about lobsters!
Carol S. and Casey had a happy group of readers today in Sam, Kevin, Liz, and Abraham!
After reading, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and played outside games with our therapy dogs and friends. Bocce, horseshoes, ring toss, and Velcro-ball throw were the options, but in some cases, the dogs had other ideas! We should have known they would enjoy the balls!!
We wrapped up this morning's visit with cookies and punch as we celebrated our 2 year partnership with these amazing dogs and handlers. Thank you, friends from Therapy Dogs International, for your dedication to working with us each month. We really look foward to spending time with you, and value our friendships very much!
Thanks for a great speech, Michelle!
We spent the rest of the morning doing a shell craft with volunteer Allison and brain work with Carol, Nan, and Lisa. Krafty Karen from the master gardeners had given us the shell craft supplies in June, and we had to postpone the activity a couple of times due to time issues, but with Allison's help, we got them done today. They are very pretty!!
Thanks, Karen, for thinking of us with this simple, yet beautiful, project! Who knew shells and napkins could become such a pretty thing with the addition of a bit of Modge Podge?!
Thursday, August 22
We were in awe of the perfect weather this week, so we were motivated to get our geography lesson done, play one last kickball game in the gym, and make birthday cards for Laura this morning. We were ready to head to the park for lunch and exploring by 11:30!
Our lesson on landforms taught us that there can be mountains in the ocean, Antarctica is considered a desert (very little rainfall and driest continent), volcano eruptions in Hawaii may one day form a new island, and the Nile River is over 4,000 miles longs and passes through 11 countries!
Erik and Devin trying to decide where to hide their treasure.
Carol helped Xavier and Laura finish their map and clues.
Sam and Emma used clues to find the treasure on this map!
Annmarie and Patrick had challenging clues, but they figured this one out!
Kickball on a half court today, due to the gym divider being up, felt a little cramped..but we still worked together and had fun with it!
We arrived at New Quarter Park to find we practically had it to ourselves! After enjoying lunch under one of the shelters, we broke into groups for our Nature Scavenger Hunt, where we looked for items with different kinds of textures. It was fun, a little bit challenging (something sticky? something slippery?), and got us moving, too!
Nan and best buddies Laura and Annmarie
Carol with Bryan, Sam, Emma, and Xavier
Lisa took a picture of her all guys group: Kevin, Erik, Drew, and Abraham
Beka's mom, Susan, joined us for the day! We enjoyed showing her how we spend our time and getting to know her better, too! In addition to Beka, she teamed up with Alexis, Devin, and Patrick for the scavenger hunt. We hope you had a nice day with us, Susan!
Since we had the park to ourselves, we squeezed in some time on the playground, too. We wish the weather was this great all the time!
Friday, August 23
It was an exciting day as we celebrated Laura's birthday! But first, we worked! A crew went to Pet Supplies Plus while the rest prepared the birthday luncheon. Here's a look at our morning...
Laura's family provided our groceries for today's lunch, but Annmarie and Drew still had to go "shopping" in the pantry to find everything we needed! Thank you, Palmer Family, for supporting today's cooking lesson, and lunch!
Beka and Michelle combined canned pineapple, mandarin oranges, and maraschino cherries with vanilla pudding to make a delicious fruit salad.
While Sam and Abraham handled potato and onion cooking, Patrick and Drew got the chicken tenders well-covered with Shake 'n Bake coating.
While all the cooking was taking place at the center, our friends at Pet Supplies Plus were working up an appetite while getting a lot done!
Kevin and Emma showed off stuffed animals while Alexis showed Stella & Chewy's Meal Mixers. Xavier and Laura were shelving dog food bowls and doggie poop bags. Bryan and Emma had a large box of fish and reptile products to shelve. Laura and Devin visited Limberger, who is looking for a "furever" home! Whether you need things for your pets, or you need a pet, they probably have it at PSP and it's probably been shelved or petted by our teams!
Our guys did some new things today, too. Erik and Xavier helped Scott carry kitty litter to a customer's car, and they also got training from Scott in cleaning the Pet Wash Station. Brittany from PSP showed us the new bearded dragon, which Bryan loved!
We thank Scott and Roxanne at Pet Supplies Plus, and their wonderful staff (including 9 year old Hailey, today), for our Friday work days! We have a lot of fun, and the skills we are learning give us a lot of pride and confidence!
Today our crew wanted to highlight the Pet Wash Station! Now, no more dog hair in the bathroom at home!!
We also thank Eaton for giving us opportunites to improve our skills and gain confidence! It was great to see Rosemary and Ethan at the warehouse when we dropped off some work we completed at the center.
The morning flew by as we did our work, and at lunchtime, we were ready to party with Birthday Girl, Laura! We welcomed her parents, Tom and Lisa, nieces Olivia and Charlotte, and her Aunt Em, who came all the way from New Hampshire to celebrate Laura's special day!
Lunch was simple, but tasty and filling. We made homefries with the last of our harvested potatoes, baked chicken tenders in the Nina, and added a refreshing fruit cup.
Laura's family also brought all the fixings for delicious ice cream sundaes! We popped a candle in Laura's before singing to her, and then she made a wish. We hope all your wishes come true, Laura!
Later, Laura enjoyed hearing her friends read the sweet messages in her birthday cards. 💙💚💛
She also enjoyed our game of Disney Song Trivia! As someone wrote in one of her cards, she is "good at Disney trivia!"
We wrapped up our party day, and the week, with yoga. This is one of Laura's favorite activities, and she picked Jaime's Moana episode, which we followed with a relaxing Peace Out segment. Hopefully, everyone arrived home to begin their weekends in a calm and happy mood!
Next week we will see the end of August arrive! School begins, too, and that means we can order lunches again from the JRES Cafeteria! Woo-hoo!! Here's a look at our plans for the last week of the month:
Tuesday: Today we are returning to Torggler Fine Arts Center on the campus of Christopher Newport University for a look at their latest exhibits, including the sculptures of Anna Hyatt Huntington. Her husband founded The Mariners' Museum and she sculpted the "locally beloved" lions at the Lions Bridge on River Road, which we will also visit! We are hoping for suitable weather so we can enjoy lunch and a walk at Deer Park, so please bring a bagged lunch. Arc shirts optional.
Wednesday: We'll volunteer at Grove Christian Outreach this morning so please wear Arc shirts. We'll also learn about zebras today, since one of Anna Hyatt Huntington's sculptures at the Torrgler will spark our curiosity about them. It's Power Rangers Day, too, so we'll have fun with that! Lunch on your own. NEWS FLASH! The JRES Cafeteria is back open! Cheesy Pasta Supreme (usually spaghetti) or Sub of the Day are on the menu.
Thursday: We're celebrating National Lemon Day! We'll learn all about the luscious lemon, and make fresh-squeezed lemonade. We'll also prepare special cards for our friends at Bowlero since we're going bowling next week on American Bowling League Day, and we'll try to sqeeze in a game of Bingo, just for fun! We are being treated to lunch today by our dear friend Nancy's brother and sister-in-law, Randy and Sally. They are providing ham and cheese sliders with a brown sugar and mustard glaze on top, and a cake, too! We'll add chips and fruit and our fresh-squeezed lemonade!
Friday: We're still waiting on parts to arrive at Eaton, so we aren't working there today. We'll have a lesson about Labor Day, and celebrate College Colors Day (feel free to wear your college colors). We'll also make our old favorites, blueberry grilled cheese sandwiches, for lunch (or plain, if you prefer) with fresh veggies and dip. After lunch we'll take a short drive to Newport News Park for an end of the week walk.
We're counting down the days to the 5k! Hurry and register before August 30 to get the discounted rate, and remember, Arc members may use the code CLIENT to register for $20!
Have a great weekend,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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