We thought we had gotten enough rain in the past few weeks, but Mother Nature thought otherwise and sent us some more this week thanks to Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Tropical Depression Debby. It didn't end up bringing as much rain as we feared, but it kept the sun away most of the week. We were happy to have a dry Tuesday to check the garden at Freedom Park, bowl a few games at Bowlero, and enjoy pizza back at the center. The rest of the week found us dodging raindrops as we volunteered at GCOC, spent time with Christina at the Art Museums, and worked at Pet Supplies Plus. Those outings kept us busy, but we also got a lot done at the center, where we stayed nice and dry. Check out our week!
Tuesday, August 6
During the summer months we try to check on the garden at Freedom Park whenever we're in the area, so we made a quick stop today before going bowling. We noticed a couple of the cantaloupe melons were gone, but there are still two on the vines that are big...yet still green. Abraham and Kate know we have to wait a little longer!
The sunflowers are pretty, though! And we harvested quite a few cherry tomatoes and enough green beans for everyone to have a taste later this week! We didn't get a picture, but there are several ears of corn still growing, too!
As usual, we enjoyed our monthly bowling excursion. where there were plenty of spares and strikes, and lots of fun socialization!
The photographer caught Bryan, Kate, Alexis, and Liz on the approach all at the same time!
Xavier, Annmarie, and Drew eagerly watched their balls roll down the lanes.
Drew checked his score while Devin and Abraham prepared to pick up their balls.
We had a fun treat today when manager Wendy sent new chef Ray down to let us sample the funnel fries! Yum!
Many thanks to our anonymous donor who is sponsoring pizzas for us this year during the even months. We appreciate this person's generous spirit with every bite! Bowling and pizza is a monthly ritual that we cherish, and the kindness of donors like this one makes our hearts smile! 💖💖💖
We began a new read-aloud today. It's a crime fiction selection that had plenty of laughs, too!
At the end of the day, Kevin shared postcards from his trip last week to San Francisco and Yosemite National Park. He said he had fun and did a lot of walking, liked staying in a hotel, saw waterfalls, and flew on a plane with Mom and Dad! We are glad you had a great time, Kevin! Your Yosemite Park Ranger rubber ducky is really cute!
Wednesday, August 7
This morning we sent one group to volunteer at GCOC while the other group stayed at the center and worked on a get well puzzle card for Tessa. We wrote a message on one side of a poster board, and glued colorful feel better pictures on the other side. We then cut it into puzzle pieces to mail to her. She will be able to solve it two ways!
Today we were introduced to a new volunteer at our center. Her name is Allison, and she's one of Moose Patti's friends from WOTM! Everyone who volunteered at the golf tournament met her on Saturday, but it was a real treat for the rest of us to meet her today. We gave her the grand tour of our place, and told her about ALL the fun and engaging things we do. Michelle and Sam proudly pointed our calendar events out to her, and Allison said we really do have a lot of fun!
Allison came to work with us today on our celebration for National Lighthouse Day. First, we learned some facts about lighthouses, such as the first lighthouse in North America was built in St. Augustine, Florida in 1586 (as a wooden watchtower), and the United States is home to more lighthouses than any other country. We were also surprised to learn that there are over 200 active lighthouses on the Great Lakes!
After looking at online pictures of some of the prettiest lighthouses in America, we watched a video that showed us step-by-step how to draw one. We worked in small groups with Nan, Carol, Allison, and Lisa helping us, and drew our own lighthouses, which we then colored with...our new watercolor pencils!!
Allison helped Patrick mark a central spot on his paper for drawing the top of his lighthouse. Thanks so much for hanging out with us today, Allison! You were a lot of help and we enjoyed getting to know you. We look forward to your next visit!
Liz assisted Bryan on a tricky part of the drawing by showing him how she did it. Two very short lines needed to be drawn, and Bryan wasn't sure about where they went.
Laura connected two vertical lines with a longer horiszontal line to make the base for her lighthouse.
After using watercolor pencils at Mariners' Museum last week, Lisa said we were going to invest in some, and today we used them to color our lighthouses. Next, we used brushes to add small amounts of water, and after a few strokes, we had watercolor paintings! Emma and Erik used a variety of colors.
Look at the concentration on Sam and Abraham. Both of them generally like to smile and/or ham it up for the camera, but today, they were focused on their artwork!
Drew is learning how to use the brush to make strokes as he applies a small amount of water to his drawing. It's so cool how it goes from being a drawing to being a painting!
Nan encourages Kevin to slow down and stay within the area as he paints the water on his drawing. The colors will run together if we go too fast.
Wow! We are spectacular Arc-tists! Happy National Lighthouse Day!
Just as we were wrapping up the day, and Lisa was reading aloud from our new book, we were surprised by a visit from Mr. Stutt! For those who don't know, Mr. Stutt was the principal at JRES for the first 5 years of our program being located here. He became a big fan of ours, and us of him, too! When he was transferred to Matthew Whaley, he said he would always be our friend. We are thrilled that he keeps in touch, and it was pure joy seeing him this afternoon!
Thursday, August 8
After today's dance warm up, we had a lesson for National Wiggle Your Toes Day, which was Tuesday. It's a day to pamper your feet and toes to thank them for what they do for us! We watched short videos about why we have toes (for balance), why feet get stinky (bacteria), and a unique (but we thought gross) way you can pamper your feet at some spas!
We must keep our feet clean and wear fresh socks to avoid stinky feet!
Sam and Devin said they would try this ticklish experience! It's a spa treatment where tiny fish nibble on feet and toes to remove dead skin. Most of us agreed with the doctor in the video who said she would be more concerned about the water than the fish!
After our feet lesson, we enjoyed a healthy snack of rice cakes topped with peanut butter and bananas since the timing of our visit with Christina would once again mean a late lunch for us. We could get used to going to see her at 11:15...it's fun making snacks!
Annmarie agreed that this would be easy to make for herself at home!
Beka arranged her bananas into the shape of a happy face!
We dropped Nan and the gang off at the door of the Art Museums, even though it wasn't raining (and it wasn't raining when we returned to the center, either). Sometimes finding a parking spot is tricky since the new archaeological building is going up and half of the parking lot was taken away. Lisa and Carol got lucky today and found spots nearby. We told the gang to go in quietly and hang their jackets, being sure to help one another. They did a great job! 👏👏
Christina's lesson plan was for us to find examples of cats in the museums, brainstorm words/phrases about what they make us think or feel, and then turn those words into poetry. First, we brainstormed words that came to mind when we heard the word "cat." We created a great list!
Carousel Cat - made of wood
We brainstormed words that rhyme with "cat" to use in a poem about the Carousel Cat.
Christina read an excerpt about the Cheshire Cat from the story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland when we looked at the ceramic cat in this display case. After that, we made our list of words the piece brought to mind.
This is the rough draft of the poem we wrote about the ceramic cat. We're going to be working on making a poetry book with Christina over the next few months!
Before we said goodbye, Christina read a kind of sad poem about a cat who drowns in a goldfish bowl. It was written by Thomas Gray in the 1700s. Even though it was lengthy, it captured our attention.
It was after 1:00 when we got back to the center for our late lunch. Devin excitedly announced that he had cat cookies in his lunch!! Gotta love our gang! 😻😻😻
Friday, August 9
It rained a little this morning, but not when our PSP Crew was on the go! They were lucky to stay dry for their very productive work experience.
Bryan and Emma stocked goods on the reptile aisle. Bryan said they are a "good team!"
Another good team is Sam and Liz, who stocked dog treats today.
Erik and Abraham also stocked dog treats, and they are also a good team!
Later, Abraham stretched to place doggie diapers on the top shelf!
The crew wanted to showcase dog toys. Such a great selection!
They also decided to showcase clearance items. Lots to choose from in this section, too!
The PSP Crew stopped by Eaton on the way back to deliver completed work. Hi, Ethan! We'll see you next Friday!
Our Cooking Crew remained dry inside the AFCC, and they were very productive too! We were using herbs from our garden to create a tasty pasta sauce for lunch.
Patrick and Devin browned the ground turkey and added the sauce.
Kevin "doctored" it up with fresh basil, thyme, and oregano from the herb garden!
Alexis, Annmarie, and Laura made beautiful salads.
Patrick, Devin, and Drew cheered on Xavier as we encouraged him to use his hands to mix cookie dough. There was still a lot of dry ingredients to incorporate, and using a spoon was too hard!
Once the cookie dough was mixed, Drew and Devin helped roll it into balls so we could bake them in the Nina!
The Cooking Crew would like to showcase their freshly prepared lunch for today!
We had a guest today. This is Todd, who does IT work for The Arc. He spent all day getting our new laptops set up! Liz and Alexis were happy to announce to him that "Lunch is served!" He had to keep working while he ate, but when they went back to check on him, he had high praise for our cooking and baking!!! Thank you for working diligently on our new laptops, Todd. We really appreciate all the work you did to get them ready for us to use. You have a lot of patience!
After lunch we celebrated Book Lovers Day! A few of us forgot, but a few of us remembered. Here's what we're reading this year...
Kate shared several books about Taylor Swift, and also ones about a favorite movie, Descendants.
Emma was delighted to share a book she received from her grandmother last year. It's about rabbits and bunnies, which Emma loves!
Alexis loves horses and enjoys reading books about them. She shared one that Kate gave her, and several that she has chosen from the JRES Library's discarded book cart over the past year.
Bryan shared a magazine about sport fishing, which he said he enjoys doing when his family visits the Outer Banks!
Everyone loved that Kevin shared a couple of favorite books about topics we know he loves: Monsters, Inc and The Wiggles. He said he enjoys reading them with his mom.
We loved that Patrick shared his favorite Toy Story books, because we know that's his favorite movie, too! Like Kevin, he also said he enjoys reading with his mom. (Notice he changed out of his PSP shirt for Book Lovers Day!)
Lisa has a friend who lives in Texas and is a book author. She shared a new book her friend has written called Birdie and Mipps, which is about using nicknames carefully, so as to not hurt someone's feelings.
We ended our rainy week with a relaxing yoga session with Jaime. The theme was cats since we had celebrated International Cat Day with Christina yesterday! The stretching felt very good after our busy day...and as we heard someone say after we finished, "Let's get the weekend started!"
Once we finish the weekend, we'll be back for another fun week with our friends at the Arc of Abilities. Here are our plans for next week:
Tuesday: We're visiting Jamestown Settlement today where our friends Jay and Lara will give us the lowdown on two-time Academy Award winner Ruth E. Carter's exhibit, "Afrofuturism in Costume Design." The costumes look amazing online and we can't wait to learn more about them with Jay and Lara. The weather forecast looks promising for eating outside, so bring a bagged lunch and we may picnic outside. It's Presidential Joke Day, so we'll have a few laughs today...all in good taste and good fun (current candidates excluded)! Arc shirts optional.
Wednesday: We volunteer at GCOC this morning, so please wear Arc shirts. Today is Navajo Code Talkers Day, so we will learn about their contributions to our country's history, and try our hands at cracking our own codes. We'll also work on some special cards and decorations for a celebration we're having tomorrow. Lunch on your own; microwave available.
Thursday: Today we celebrate our custodians, Heike, Sevarina, and Luis! They always work hard to keep our area clean, and to provide things we need, but over the summer they work even harder to get the entire AFCC and school looking brand new. We're treating them to a lunch of Aloha Pineapple Chicken with Rice, Asian Crunchy Salad, and Lemon Meringue Pie (it's Lemon Meringue Pie Day!). We'll also finish our lessons about the Olympics since we ran out of time last week.
Friday: We'll wind down this week with a work day at Eaton, so please wear Eaton shirts and bring a bagged lunch. We'll keep an eye on the forecast in case it's "cool" enough to take a walk at the park after our work day. If not, we'll return to AFCC for corn hole.
REMINDER!!! Don't forget to sign up for the 15th Annual Williamsburg Landing 5k Run/Walk! Use the code CLIENT to register AoA members for only $20! The price for regular registration goes up after August 31, so don't delay! Feel free to join our team, too. It's Arc of Abilities and Friends!
Click the image for a link to the registration page.
Happy Weekend,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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