When we were looking at last week's blog post, we got to talking about how the titles are chosen. Lisa said that lots of times there is a special highlight in a week, such as a birthday or a special occasion (celebrating our custodians, for example). She asked what the title for this week should be, since we weren't celebrating a birthday, or any other special occasion. Devin suggested every week is always "fun with our friends," so that's how we came up with the title for this week's post! Keep reading to see all the "fun with friends" that we had as we kicked off the month of September!
Tuesday, September 3
We went to Bowlero today to celebrate National Bowling League Day, and we were super excited because Kate's family was treating us to pizza from there! We typically leave bowling and pick up pizzas from Domino's, because they are less expensive, so today was a real treat! Thank you to the Thompson family for your generous donation that sponsored pizza and soda for today's lunch. We loved it! Domino's is pretty good, but having it served hot and fresh while enjoying our bowling game is extra special!
Chilling as we wait our turns! (Literally...it was cold in Bowlero today!)
Four dudes and Michelle!
High five for a strike!
High fives for another strike!
Wendy and her team at Bowlero set up a great pizza buffet for us! (We think they do it for everyone who orders multiple pizzas, but we still felt special!) The hot dogs and fries were for our gluten and dairy-free friend, Xavier. Thanks again to Kate and her family!
Wendy loved our big card with the smaller cards tucked inside!
Liz read our heartfelt letter of appreciation to Wendy. She really makes sure our bowling experience is enjoyable for everyone.
We were so busy enjoying our pizza for lunch and bowling until our 2 hours were up, that we completely forgot to take a group picture for National Bowling League Day. Oh well, we'll have to celebrate again next year!
We stopped by Bicentennial Park after bowling to walk off the pizza, and practice for the 5k. We got in a brisk 20 minute walk which should have been about a mile for most of us! We had a great day with friends, and pizza!!
Wednesday, September 4
Today is National Wildlife Day, and we "accidentally" kicked it off when we checked our herb garden first thing this morning and found two little snakes in the grass! Carol grabbed a few pictures, and we were all curious, but no one got too close. At first we thought they might be baby copperheads, but we sent the photo to the garden's director, Terrylynn, who immediately wrote back and said they are De Kay's brown snakes. They are non-venomous, eat bugs and worms, and won't get any bigger than what we saw. The picture is deceiving and makes this one look bigger than it was. They were only a little fatter than a pencil and less than 12 inches long. According to Terrylynn, they are "sweet little snakes." 😦 We'll be ok if we don't see them again!
Meanwhile, some of our herbs have started to flower which means they will soon produce seeds, so Michelle snipped the flowers off the basil. We also snipped the chive flowers. Devin thought the basil flowers smelled as good as the basil leaves! We harvested thyme, oregano, and rosemary to use in Friday's soup recipe! We begin fall sessions with the master gardeners on Tuesday, so we will consult with them about how to further care for our herbs.
Back inside, we continued our study for Wildlife Day with an informative video about several different kinds of wild animals, followed by a Reptile Scavenger Hunt...the kind where we read facts and answer questions that are posted around the center. It was a coincidence that we were doing the topic of reptiles on the same day we got to see live ones in our own backyard!
Michelle, Bryan, Carol, Emma, and Xavier had just learned that a horned lizard can squirt blood out of its eyes when it feels threatened!
Drew, Abraham, and Alexis learned how to tell alligators from crocodiles by the shape of their snouts - V-shaped for crocs and U-shaped for gators.
Devin, Beka, and Liz were "wowed" to learn that komodo dragons are the largest species of lizard and have been known to eat birds, monkeys, goats, deer, and even horses!
Nan, Kevin, and Kate were finding out that there are flying lizards in Southeast Asia. Like "flying squirrels," the lizards actually glide from tree to tree, but still, that's pretty cool!
Allison worked with Annmarie, Sam, and Erik today and they learned that female sea turtles lay up to 150 eggs at a time, which they bury on a sandy beach before returning to the ocean!
We updated our calendar for our September activities using our new laptops for the first time. The computers worked well until we connected them for printing...but Lisa persevered and figured it out! Soon, we were in business and now we will look forward to all of our September fun!
Carol begins her vacation tomorrow and will be out until the 17th. She's going on a Mississippi River cruise from St. Louis to St. Paul with all 4 of her brothers and their spouses. What a fun reunion that will be, and we are excited for her! We watched a video clip about her cruise ship, and most of the comments were "Carol, put me in your suitcase!" Bye, Carol! Have a great trip, with safe travels, and make lots of memories!
We ended our day with a brisk walk since we are gearing up for the 5k! And also because the weather was so pretty today!
Click the graphic to sign up for the 5k! Join the Arc of Abilities and Friends team, if you'd like.
Thursday, September 5
Look at the pink! We'll explain later why we're posing with a porta-potty, but it does have something to do with our celebration of Barbie Doll Day!
Kate alerted us that September 6th is Barbie Doll Day and asked if we could watch the Barbie movie. Since we will be working at PSP on the 6th, we decided to celebrate a day early. Before the movie began, Alexis and Beka set up our popcorn concession stand!
Thank you, Liz and family, for your donation of flavored popcorn that we used to supplement our regular popcorn. We loved the different flavors of white cheddar, caramel, cheddar cheesy, and spicy queso!
We had a chat with the group last week about the movie, and overall, the feeling was that watching the Barbie movie would be something we could enjoy together, and everyone who was skeptical agreed to "keep an open mind."
A few opted for puzzles or games, but kept an eye on the movie, too!
In the movie, Barbie travels to the "real" world where she finds out lots of things about "real" life! However, she didn't have a chance to visit a porta-potty, so we took her and Ken to check this one out. It's located behind JRES. Barbie didn't actually make use of it...we just thought it would be a funny picture, especially considering this one is pink!
Thanks for sharing the movie with us, Kate, and for pointing out the significant day! Who knew it was 65 years ago that Barbie first went on sale for $3 and would go on to become such a cultural icon?! Barbie Doll Day was fun!
The other highlight of the day was getting to see our artist friend, Jeff! He joined us for lunch and Choice Time today and we had a blast catching up with him! He's had a busy summer working on some commissioned art projects, including a huge mural for a vet's office in Gloucester. He hopes to make it back to us in October for one of his rocking art lessons! It was so nice to see you , Jeff! Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to hang out with us!! It was a great surprise!
Friday, September 6
Our Fun Friday began with one group preparing lunch while the other worked at Pet Supplies Plus. At the center, our menu included lime Jell-O and pineapple salad, and hamburger stew. The early birds got the Jell-O prepped and we forgot to snap photos, but here are a few from our stew preparations!
Bryan did double duty - browning the ground beef since he's an early bird, and then heading to PSP. Devin and Annmarie washed the last of the potatoes from our harvest. Today's stew makes the third meal we've gotten out of them! 🥔🥔🥔
Beka sauteed onions and Michelle added herbs from our garden: thyme, oregano, and rosemary. Nan helped Devin with his can opener skills so we could add diced tomatoes to our stew.
Abraham added our secret ingredient - Spicy V8 Juice - and stirred the stew gently until it started to boil. By now, our room smelled so good!
Michelle and Emma made colorful napkin rings that looked like a pot of vegetable stew. They carefully wrapped our real spoons because plastic spoons just don't work for hamburger stew!
Beka and Alexis worked on preparing books from the JRES Library for discarding. This is a job we do periodically to help Ms. Ortega, the library assistant. This time, there were quite a few books about the states, which we decided to keep (with Ms. Ortega's blessing) so we can learn about the states in future lessons.
Luckily our stew was cooking by the time we had to report to the locker room for a lockdown drill. We wish this wasn't necessary, but we feel confident knowing we have a very secure room in which to retreat.
We are very THANKFUL to Tracy, Katrina, and Javante for working with us today in Carol's absence. Thanks to them, we were able to continue with our PSP work schedule. The crew spent 90 minutes stocking shelves and got a lot done. This is the only picture from their work session, but it's a great one. They are highlighting a buy one, get one half-off ferret sale! Thanks so much Tracy, Katrina, and Javante. Your support enabled us to fulfill our responsibilities without missing a beat!
Once we were all back together it was lunch time! Sam crushed crackers into his soup and added fresh fruit he brought from home to his Jell-O. Then, he ate every bit of it and said it was "delish," which is his favorite word to describe good food!
After lunch we took advantage of the pretty weather to visit Colonial Williamsburg for a walk, since we get determined to practice for the 5k around this time each year! It was a little warmer than we thought it would be, but we still enjoyed riding the bus into the Colonial area, taking our walk, and riding the bus back to the Visitor Center where we had parked the vans. (We apologize to Drew and Abraham for not snapping a picture with them on the bus rides. We promise they were with us!)
Javante wasn't able to join us for the walk, but Tracy and Katrina accompanied us. It was the first time either of them had ridden the CW buses!
Todays walk was from the Palace stop, around the Palace Green, and down Duke of Gloucester Street to Merchants Square.
Here's a look at what's going on at the Arc of Abilities next week:
Tuesday: Where did summer go?! Today we kick off the fall session with our master gardener friends. We're looking forward to another engaging and educational season with them! Please wear Arc shirts and bring a bagged lunch. We will plan to eat lunch at Freedom Park and stick around for games and a walk.
Wednesday: We will be busy today as we welcome guests from the Arc's Board of Directors, celebrate Peanut Day, and work on a leaf craft that will yield pretty decorations for our room as we begin to transition to a fall theme. We'll also have a lesson to commemorate 9/11. We're on call for Grove, but Arc shirts are optional. Lunch on your own. JRES Cafeteria is available for Cheesy Pasta Supreme or Sub of the Day.
Thursday: We're resuming our monthly visits with Mike at the Watermen's Museum today! We'll plan to have lunch at the picnic area by the river followed by a walk and trolley ride. Arc shirts optional. Please bring a bagged lunch.
Friday: We're going to Eaton for a work day, so please wear Eaton shirts and bring a bagged lunch. Depending on how long we are at Eaton, we'll decide as a group whether to take a walk at New Quarter Park, or return to the center for yoga with Jaime.
Here's the link again to register for the 5k! The W&M Women's Basketball team will be walking and celebrating with us! 🏀🏀🏀🏀 We hope to see you there!
Have a great weekend,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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