Bette Faye! and Fishing with Friends!

Fishing with Friends, including Mike and new friend, Todd, at Watermen's Museum on Thursday.

We had a great week filled with many fun activities.  We kicked off June with bowling and pizza on Tuesday, and volunteered at Grove and arranged flowers for CSL on Wednesday, AND welcomed our sweet friend, Bette Faye, for a visit!  Thursday was a highlight as it was our annual fishing day at the Watermen's Museum with Mike.  Lots of smiles as little fishies were caught!  We finished the week with a work day at Eaton, where we proudly and efficiently got the job done!  Check out our photos and enjoy the first week of June with us!

Tuesday, June 3

One of our favorite outings is bowling, which we usually do on the first Tuesday of the month.  We had a full house today, plus Cameron joined us, so we went with team pictures to make sure we captured all the bright smiles.  We want to thank Cameron's parents, Stacey and Brian, for sponsoring bowling for us today!  We appreciate their generosity very much.  We look forward to Cameron's monthly visits, and are so happy he's remained a part of the AoA family. 🎳💖

Cameron, Liz, Xavier, Laura, and Bryan rocked and rolled on Lane 1.

Devin, Annmarie, Kevin, Kate, and Emma kept the balls rolling on Lane 2.

Over on Lane 3, Abraham, Patrick, Alexis, and Drew scored quite a few points between them.

Gail held her own with Erik, Sam, and Thomas on Lane 4!

Michelle missed a group bowling shot, but here's a pretty picture of her beside our June wall!

Snagged a few high fives today!  Always celebrating each other!!

Laura's parents, Tom and Lisa, and Grandma Palmer stopped by for a visit while we were bowling, and then met us at Kiwanis Park where they treated us to hot, tasty pizza from Domino's!  We're not sure what happened, but the photo of us enjoying the pizza was very grainy, and not suitable for the blog. 😢  The pizza was delicious, and we thank Tom and Lisa for providing it for us today.  We are grateful for their generosity!  It was also a pleasure to meet Grandma Palmer, who is 92 years young and a joy to chat with!  It was a perfect lunch treat!  🍕💖

All of the other photos from today were fine, including this one of a group that was very happy with their bellies full of pizza!

It had warmed up nicely by the time we finished lunch, and there were no tykes on the playground, so we had a little fun there before taking a walk.  By the time we returned to the vans, we were convinced summer is coming!  Haha!  Today was not really that bad...weatherwise, and it was great, otherwise!!

Wednesday, June 4

It's our service day, and we got right to work getting the flowers for our CSL arrangements.  The morning van riders are always available to help load and unload whatever we are schlepping to the center.  Today, it was the flowers donated by Trader Joe's.  Pam gets the flowers on Tuesdays and leaves them downstairs at the office for us to get on Wednesday mornings.

Liz and Patrick helped load the van when we picked up flowers from the Arc office.

One of the first things we did after arrival at the center was gather up a group to volunteer in the JRES Library.  Today was the last day of the 2024-25 school year that we will be needed.  Thank you so much Mr. Nonnemacher and Ms. Ortega for giving us this wonderful opportunity to work in the library each week.  We have learned good skills!  Have a great summer break!

While flower arrangements were being made, we had a dedicated crew working on welcome decorations for our special guest's visit later this afternoon.  We couldn't wait to see Bette Faye!

Devin, Cameron, Annmarie, Xavier, Bryan, and Sean, who was visiting the program today and tomorrow, created colorful letters and cute duck pictures to welcome Bette Faye.  Sean is in the green shirt, sitting with Bryan.  If he enjoys time with us today and tomorrow, he will join the waitlist for the day program.  He's a quiet, but friendly guy, and did a great job helping with decorations!

Meanwhile, our GCOC group was busy on the food packing assembly line.  We helped unload and set up the cans, and then steadily filled the bags until almost 150 bags were ready to go on the shelf to await distribution to the community.

Michelle and Drew placed full bags on the shelves.  Tom, Peggy, Joel, and Ursula worked the assembly line with Alexis, Gail, Erik, Thomas, Abraham, Patrick, and Sam.  Thom helped us too, but he was missing when we grabbed these photos.  He can be seen in the next photo, in the dark blue shirt!  Altogether, we're a great team!

This week we thank Peggy for a delicious lemon-blueberry pound cake that really hit the spot after lunch!  We are very blessed by the kindness of Peggy and Ursula.  They truly spoil us with the delicious treats they make! 💝💝💝

After lunch we delighted in visiting with Bette Faye, and were happy that Tracy and Katrina could join us, too.  Bette Faye was beloved for many years at the Arc, where she was responsible for planning SO MANY FUN AND AMAZING programs and activities for our members!  She worked closely with Tracy (before Katrina joined the team) to coordinate countless arts and crafts activities, Bingo games, yoga nights, field days, movie nights, wonderful events with guest speakers, DANCES, and many, many more.  Bette Faye is enjoying her very well-deserved retirement (going on 3 years), but we sure do miss her smiling face and warm hugs!  

Gail has known Bette Faye longer than the rest of us, because Gail has been an Arc member for decades!  She was so happy to give Bette Faye one of today's flower arrangements, which just so happened to contain Bette Faye's favorite...yellow roses!

It was heartwarming to catch up with you Bette Faye!  Thank you so much for visiting, and please, don't be a stranger!  We miss you!

On our way to deliver the flower arrangements to CSL, we stopped to bring some cheer to our friends Randy and Sally.  Randy's sister, Nancy, was in the Arc of Abilities for many years before relocating to Kentucky in 2021.  We have stayed in touch with Nancy, and Randy and Sally have remained close friends with us over the years, often bringing us special treats "just because."  

Nancy visiting Williamsburg in December, 2024.

So, when we learned that Sally recently took a fall, and had to have hip replacement surgery, we knew what to do.  We made a fresh Casear Chicken and Pasta salad for them, along with a frozen fruity yogurt dessert, and our afternoon vanpool crew delivered it, on behalf of all of us.  We're happy to report that Sally is doing very well!  We're so proud of her for persevering through her rehab sessions, and learning new (and better?!) ways to stand, walk, and move.  She'll be dancing around the house any day now!  Take care, Sally, and keep up the good work.  Randy, you're a great nurse and we know Sally is in good hands!  

The final stop of the "Good Deed Van" was to drop off the flower arrangements at CSL, where they are very happy to have these cheery touches of love to brighten the dining room!  

Thursday, June 5

It was warm today, but there was (thankfully) plenty of cloud cover as we headed to see Mike at the Watermen's Museum for our annual celebration of Virginia's Free Fishing Days!

Mike explained to us that we wouldn't get to work with his (and our) friends from the National Park Service this year due to federal workforce reductions.  We missed Remy, Kalen, and other NPS friends we enjoyed fishing and doing educational activities with on past fishing days. 😞

We did meet another new friend, though!  This is Todd, one of Mike's buddies, who came out to help today and we enjoyed getting to know him!

Pat's family recently donated a number of fishing rods to Mike to use with his fishing programs.  Pat's mom, Sue, and his stepdad, Kevin, are avid fisher-people, so they were thrilled for some of their used rods to find a good home!

Our morning was divided into two parts:  crafting and fishing.  We split into two groups and enjoyed both activities.  At the craft area, we decorated big cutout fishes, and learned how to attach them so they would pop off the mural, which we decorated to look like the ocean.  We named our mural to represent our theme for the day:  Fishing with Friends!

We spread out on the pier and Mike and Todd helped us attach shrimp for bait on our hooks.  Kevin met us here, and his mom Debbie joined us for a while.  We knew we had to be patient, but it seemed the fish either weren't in the area or they weren't hungry today!  

Eventually our patience paid off and a few fish were caught!  Here's Thomas bringing in a wiggly one!  

Everyone persevered, and as always, they were supportive and happy for each other.  At the end of the morning, we had caught 4 fish.  Alexis, Liz, Thomas, and Drew were the lucky ones, and their smiles can barely contain their excitement!

Thank you, Mike, for continuing the Free Fishing Days experience with us.  It's always fun to spend time on the pier with you in pursuit of the catch!  Thanks for introducing us to Todd, and to both of you for your guidance, support, and encouragement this morning!

After fishing, our tummies were rumbling so we went down to our favorite lunch spot on the York River only to find it packed with others who were also enjoying the nice day.  There was a group at the picnic shelter, so we made a quick adjustment and ended up at Newport News Park, which we enjoy almost as much as eating by the river!  (Hi, Drew!)

Sean had a nice 2 day visit with us, and expressed interest in joining our waitlist.  We enjoyed having him, and getting to know him a little better.  Here, we encouraged him during his turn at corn hole.

We play corn hole often, as it's a game our guys have come to enjoy very much.  Each of them strives to improve at every game, and now we hear them coaching each other!  Today, it was nice to see Erik make an adjustment in his position to improve his aim.  Abraham was told by someone on the sidelines to "throw it in the hole," and look at his reaction when he did!  We're proud of Liz for working on tossing the bag a little higher (check out her follow through), and our apologies for snapping the pic just as the bag flew level with her focused face!

Our teams were the Croakers and the Spots today!  By a score of 21-19, the Spots reeled in a victory!

Friday, June 6

Our week came to a quick end as we worked at Eaton this morning, returned to AFCC for lunch (too warm and muggy for the park), and worked on creating an over-sized birthday card commissioned by Pam for a special someone at Williamsburg Landing who has helped ensure our successful 5k races since 2009.  We were busy, but it wasn't too hectic!

First, thanks to early birds Bryan and Gail for washing some of the Mason jars we use for the CSL flower arrangements.  A fresh batch, all sparkly clean, and ready for next week!  

Before leaving for Eaton at 9:15, we had a quick observation of National Donut Day.  We celebrated with minis and juice.  Yum!

Once at Eaton, we settled into several work stations.  There was something for everyone, and we were buzzing with productivity!

Kevin, Patrick, Drew, Abraham, and Michelle worked on transferring hundreds of small metal parts into gray tubs.  They first had to stack, or "nest" the pieces, which was challenging at first because they fit best together when all turned in the same direction.  Once the team on the floor got the hang of it, they passed their stacks to Patrick, who fit them neatly into the gray tubs.

Later, we moved Drew to a table where he could more easily work on stacking the parts.  He stuck with it, and mastered the correct orientation for stacking the parts before we finished!

Xavier, Devin, and Thomas transferred the yellow square "thingies" to the blue bin, and made sure Laura and Gail got the papers from in between the parts so they could fold and box them to be reused for another packing time.

The gasketing team consisted of Bryan, Erik, Liz, Kate, Carol, Nan, Emma, and Alexis.  They had several types of parts to gasket and pack neatly into tubs.

By the time we finished at Eaton, there had been a quick burst of rain which left it very muggy outside.  We decided to return to the center for lunch and Choice Time, instead of heading to the park.  

Pam asked us to make one of our over-sized birthday cards for Britnee, an Arc friend who works at Williamsburg Landing and is an integral part of our successful 5k team.  We were happy to oblige, so after Choice Time we colored lots of pictures and letters.  It will all come together on Tuesday morning.  Pam will pick it up on Tuesday afternoon, and we can't wait to thank her for trusting us with this task!

We wrapped up the afternoon by reading to chapter 81 in our book, The Wild Robot Escapes.  Today was the first time all week that we had time for read-aloud!  Only 9 short chapters to go, so we might finish it next week.  For now, we are calling it a week and looking forward to the weekend!

Here are our plans for next week:

Tuesday:  We're hanging out with our MG friends today and meeting Luke, from the Virginia Cooperative Extension, who will teach us about bugs!  We will return to AFCC for lunch and a lesson for Herbs and Spices Day!  Lunch on your own.  It's the last week to order from JRES Cafeteria.  Today you can order Beef Soft Taco, Taco Salad, or Pizza.

Wednesday:  We will volunteer at Grove today and work on the flower arrangements for CSL, so please wear Arc shirts.  We will put the finishing touches on our Father's Day gifts and have a belated celebration for Donald Duck Day, which is June 9th.  Moose Patti and our friends at the Williamsburg Moose Lodge recently gave us a donation to use for a "fun treat" so we'll have a surprise this afternoon!  Lunch on your own.  It's the last day of school, and the last day to order lunch from JRES Cafeteria.  Your choices are Popcorn Chicken Bowl, Yogurt Combo, or Manager's Choice!?!?

Thursday:  We're going to have group cooking challenges this morning and celebrate Peanut Butter Cookie Day with a baking challenge!  In the afternoon we'll play games in the gym to celebrate having the use of it for the summer!  Breakfast casserole, fresh fruit, and peanut butter cookies for lunch.

Friday:  It's PSP Work Day so please wear PSP shirts.  You also need to bring lunch, even though we are eating at the center.  Remember, JRES Cafeteria is closed for the summer!  The crew that remains at AFCC will pack up and move supplies to Room 142 on the school side, because we will relocate there from the 17th-27th while AFCC is being deep cleaned and having the floors refinished.  After lunch, we will enjoy a visit with Christina at The Art Museums of CW!

A few updates...

 #1:  The Arc office and the Arc of Abilities day program will be closed in observance of the Juneteenth Holiday on Thursday, June 19.

 #2:  The Arc of Abilities will be closed the week of July 1- 4 for Summer Break.  We will reopen on Tuesday, July 8.

 #3:  The WOTM Golf Tournament is coming on August 2nd at Williamsburg National Golf Club.  Please consider supporting us with a Hole Sponsorship ($50), or more!  The course always looks great with all our friends' pictures on the hole sponsor signs!  We also need AoA members to volunteer that morning.  Touch base with Lisa about these opportunities!  (Checks can be made payable to WOTM 1755.)  THANK YOU!!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang

Goodbye to May!

On Wednesday we celebrated National Flip Flop Day by playing games, completing brain work, decorating cookies, and creating this beach scene.  We're looking forward to warmer weather, soon!

We heard a few of our friends asking this week, "Where did May go?"  Sometimes we just can't believe how quickly it seems time passes.  May, the month, may be in our rear view mirror now, but we can look back and say we filled it with a lot of great memories!  Things slowed down a bit for us this last week of May (no birthday parties...sigh!), but we still enjoyed time with our master gardener friends, volunteered at GCOC (Grove Christian Outreach Center) and arranged flowers for CSL (Commonwealth Senior Living), and worked at PSP (Pet Supplies Plus)!  We also enjoyed a movie morning and had a blast celebrating Flip Flop Day.  It was a good week!

Tuesday, May 27

It was yet another day when we were hoping the rain would hold off so we could have our session with the master gardeners.  We've had a lot of rainy Tuesdays this spring!  Luckily, the weather cooperated, and the first thing we did with the MGs was a tree walk, led by Rick.

Rick is very knowledgeable about trees and we always enjoy his tree walks.  Today, we learned that the beech tree trunk resembles an elephant's leg, the Japanese maple will turn a deep red in fall, and there is a tree called a button bush that has button-like pods which will soon open to reveal pretty white flowers.  We also learned that the long-leaf pine takes about 15 years to produce a pine cone, and we were reminded that the Powhatans used birch trees to make canoes.  Thanks for all of the interesting tree facts, Rick!  We appreciate your enthusiasm when teaching us about them!

After our tree walk, we split into groups to plant more herbs, fruits, and veggies.  Jay's group planted corn, beans, and squash together in the trellis bed.  Jay told us that these three plants help each other grow.  Beans take in nitrogen, and convert it into a form that helps the corn grow, and the corn in return provides a stalk on which the beans can climb as they grow.  The squash helps both of the other plants when its large leaves provide shade around the base of the corn stalk, helping to conserve water loss.  It's a neat relationship!

Over in the bed that we grew potatoes in last year, Rick's group planted watermelons and cantaloupes!  We are crossing our fingers that they will produce juicy fruit for us later this summer!

Karen's group planted okra in the low bed and Italian parsley and basil in the higher one.  Nan said she will cook us a batch of fried okra if it grows well, and Karen said we can use the extra basil (in addition to the basil in our herb bed at the center) to make pesto.  Both sound very tasty!

Karen shared cut hydrangeas from her yard.  She told us one of them was planted near the end of her driveway by Steve over 30 years ago, and it has grown so big that she sometimes has trouble seeing when backing out of the driveway when it's in bloom.  Be careful, Karen!  Karen also gave us a batch of her famous homemade zucchini bread, which we enjoyed when we returned to the center.  Thank you so much, Karen!  It was sooo delicious, as always, and a very special treat!

Speaking of hydrangeas, Beka's memorial oakleaf hydrangea, planted by the master gardeners, is blooming beautifully.  💞

Thank you, Carolyn, for creating another beautiful journal update about today's session.  The MGs are lucky to have your talents in documenting the wonderful work you all do with the Arc of Abilities!

After our session with the master gardeners ended, we decided to have lunch on the patio at Freedom Park.  It was cloudy, and Liz told us her weather app said it would rain in 20 minutes.  We went for it...and just as we were finishing up (more like 24 minutes), it started to sprinkle.  We gathered everyone up (and the zucchini bread), and headed back to AFCC!

During Choice Time, Gayle planted the marigolds we started from seeds given to us by the MGs.  We cleaned out the bulb pot that was so beautiful in early spring, and hope the marigolds will grow well in it over the summer.

After Choice Time (and zucchini bread!), we listened to a few chapters in The Wild Robot Escapes, and ended the day with a game on the website Baamboozle.  It was a game where we answered questions about likes and dislikes, but there were some power-ups and zingers in there, so the score kept changing!  In the end, the boys won today's round, thanks to a late-game zinger where they got to steal some points from the girls!  Congrats, fellas!

Here's a bonus for everyone!  Our Annmarie is a star!!  Her sister Sheila is in a country band, and at their gig on Memorial Day they invited Annmarie to sing "America the Beautiful."  The heartwarming applause and cheers after her friends watched this were the best!  Annmarie, we LOVE this!  You did a wonderful job and we are so proud of you!!

Wednesday, May 28

It was yet another rainy morning, but our Rec van carpool group stopped at the Arc office to pick up the flowers from Trader Joe's.  After our dance warm up, we spent the first part of the morning arranging the flowers for CSL and volunteering at GCOC.

Sam cut away the wrappings on the bunches of cut flowers while Annmarie, Abraham, Kate, and Emma removed excess leaves from the stems.  Michelle added water to the 12 Mason jars we use for vases.

Patrick and Thomas showed the pretty arrangements they made.  Gail, Bryan, and Devin are learning to cut the stems shorter, and Alexis and Emma enjoy experimenting with different colors in the arrangements.

Devin, Liz, Xavier, Bryan, Erik, Laura, Kevin, and Kate handled the packing of the USDA food delivery at Grove, working with just Ursula and Thom since Peggy and Joel were traveling.  

Thank you, Ursula, for the blueberry treat!  It was yummy!

Allison, Emma, and Gail turned Nutter Butter cookies into flip flop cookies as today was National Flip Flop Day and we had a celebration planned!

First, we watched a video about an environmentally-friendly company in Kenya that gathers thousands of discarded flip flops from beaches to upcycle them into carved art.  Pretty cool!

Next, we did some brain work that involved thinking of as many examples as we could to finish ideas such as "Sharp as ____" or "Slow as ____."  The cards were designed with a flip flop theme, but the creative ideas were all ours!

We decorated a table to look like waves at the ocean, with lots of flip flops in the sand.  One time last year we bought ice cream cones, but ended up using bowls instead.  We never got rid of the cones, and they are too old to eat now, so we crushed them to make the sand.  Before eating the cookies, some of our guys went surfing!

After lunch it was time for Flip Flop Olympics!  We divided into 3 teams and were ready for the games to begin.

We got great movement as we hustled back and forth during a series of relays to gather matching flip flops, return matching ones, and toss (or flip with our feet) them through the rings.  After six rounds of playing, we had shared a lot of cheers and laughs!

Congratulations to Team Orange today for winning the Flip Flop Olympics with 28 points!  Team Red ended with 26 and Team Blue had 24, so our games were quite competitive!

After almost an hour of Flip Flop Olympics, we still had time for more brain work!  We split into groups to search for 10 differences between two flip flop pictures, and then played an online memory match game.  We were kind of "toast" by the time we got to the memory game, but we persevered and completed it in about 6 1/2 minutes!  Yikes!  Time to go home!!

Thursday, May 29

We enjoyed a movie morning and a laid back rest of the day, too! 

Bryan and Carol took advantage of the sunny morning to assemble and hang our new bird feeders.

Before the movie, Bryan and Gail set up the concession stand and got the popcorn ready for everyone!

We had trouble with streaming the movie we wanted to watch on Netflix, so we had to resort to a good ole DVD.  We found Cop Dog in our stash, and it was pretty good!

We took a nice walk outside after the movie, and also checked on the herb garden.  Due to the technical difficulties earlier, and also pausing the movie when the school principal stopped by for a visit, we were running behind and didn't have time for Paper Clip Day and Tap Dance Day.  We may get to them in the next week or so.

After lunch and Choice Time, we continued reading our book, The Wild Robot Escapes.  We are on chapter 69, and there are 90 chapters in the book!  However, each chapter is only 2-4 pages long!  When Lisa finished reading, Sam picked up the book and pretended to read more, because Lisa had stopped at a suspenseful part!

Near the end of the day, we welcomed a new Arc family for a visit.  They are interested in the day program, but we currently have a waitlist.  We showed Sean and his mom, Gita, around, and invited Sean to spend a couple of days with us next week.  If he still seems interested in our program, he can join the waitlist.  We didn't get a picture of him today, but we will next week when he visits.

Before it was time to go, we got this picture!  Our friend Drew is missed by everyone this week as he enjoys time with family at Emerald Isle.  Looks like beach life suits him, though!  We'll see you soon, Drew!

Friday, May 30

This morning we appreciated our "early birds" (as always) because we had a few things to get done before officially starting our day.  Gail surveyed everyone to see who wanted cheese on their burgers, and Laura checked the day's attendance, as she always does.  Annmarie agreed they were both doing a great job!  Sam glued the labels to our calendar squares, which is his specialty job when we update the calendar.  Sam had to leave shortly (along with Gail) to report to work at PSP!

We didn't get a video before the PSP Crew left, but we know they would have joined in for the rest of the dance warm up time!

Once we finished dancing, there were two tasks to accomplish:  Set up the June calendar, and prepare lunch for our celebration of National Hamburger Day, which was Wednesday!

Devin removed MAY related words and pictures from the walls.  Thomas and Emma removed MAY calendar squares and reset the numbers for JUNE.  Abraham inserted the new calendar squares detailing all the activities we have planned for June.  Laura was very proud of the JUNE letters she colored, and how we surrounded them with extra flip flop pictures we colored on Wednesday.

Alexis and Patrick (and Liz, before heading to PSP) used the computers to find pictures to match our June events.  Here, they are pointing to a couple of activities they are looking forward to, like eating lunch at Sal's one day, and going fishing with Mike!

Time to get lunch ready. We were really excited about having burgers!

Emma whipped up a simple recipe for cake mix cookies, Annmarie made a concoction of raspberry lemonade, and Devin and Thomas were our burger grill masters!

Over at Pet Supplies Plus, there was plenty of work going on, as well!  A huge delivery had come in, and we had a lot of product to stock on the shelves.  Bryan, Gail, and Xavier worked together on one end of the fish aisle, while Kevin and Liz teamed up at the other end.  Later, Xavier and Gail hung toys for cats, and Sam and Erik worked with Scott on stocking food for them!

Before leaving, the PSP Crew chose pet toys (featuring SpongeBob SquarePants) to showcase for our blog readers.  Can you spot Roxanne and manager Thomas in the photo, too?!

Look at this van load of completed work we took to Eaton after we finished at PSP!  

We enjoy having Eaton work to do at our center during the week.  Thanks for keeping us busy, Rosemary and Ethan!

Lunch was almost ready when the PSP Crew returned.  It smelled like a burger joint in the room!  Everyone raved about our celebration of National Hamburger Day (or for some, cheeseburger).  They were very tasty, along with juicy watermelon and a bag of chips.  Many thanks to Xavier's family (Leah and Steve) for leaving us the extra chips after his birthday last week.  😋

After lunch, Choice Time, and read-aloud (we're up to chapter 76), we joined Jaime for a Little Mermaid yoga session, followed by a Peace Out segment that definitely relaxed us as it was 14 minutes long!   (In the first photo, we were doing mermaid pose.)

After a good yoga stretch, we're ready for the weekend!

Quickly, it seems, we've come to the end of another week, and for us, another month.  When we return on Tuesday, it will be June!  Here's a look at our plans for next week:

Tuesday:  It's June, and we'll welcome it with bowling and pizza for lunch!  Today we are being joined by Laura's parents, who are sponsoring lunch, and we'll get to meet her grandmother, too!  Thanks Tom and Lisa, for treating us today!  The forecast looks great for having lunch at the park, and sticking around for a walk, too!

Wednesday:  This morning we will work on flowers for CSL and we'll volunteer at GCOC, so please wear Arc shirts.  We'll also make birthday cards for a Krafty friend of ours 😍, and we have a surprise visitor scheduled to come after lunch?!?!?!  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is offering Asian Chicken with Rice, BBQ Flatbread, or Manager's Choice.  NOTE:  The last day for ordering lunch from the cafeteria will be next Wednesday, June 11.

Thursday:  Today we are joining Mike at the Watermen's Museum for our traditional free fishing day experience!  June 6-8 are Free Fishing Days in Virginia, but Mike gets a head start with us each year.  We'll fish on the pier and have crafts and education on the pavilion.  It looks like the weather will be sunny, warm, and muggy, so wear your sunscreen and bring your hats.  (We have sunscreen, too.)  We'll follow it up with a picnic lunch by the river if it's not too hot, so please bring a bagged lunch.  Thanks, Mike!  It's going to be a fun day!

Friday:  This morning we will work at Eaton.  Please wear Eaton shirts and bring a bagged lunch.  It's National Donut Day, so we'll celebrate with a donut and juice before we go to Eaton (so don't eat a big breakfast)!  If the weather cooperates, we'll have lunch at the park and enjoy a walk and a game of bocce.

A few updates...

 #1:  The Arc office and the Arc of Abilities day program will be closed in observance of the Juneteenth Holiday on Thursday, June 19.

 #2:  The Arc of Abilities will be closed the week of July 1- 4 for Summer Break.  We will reopen on Tuesday, July 8.

 #3:  The WOTM Golf Tournament is coming on August 2nd at Williamsburg National Golf Club.  Please consider supporting us with a Hole Sponsorship ($50), or more!  The course always looks great with all our friends' pictures on the hole sponsor signs!  We also need AoA members to volunteer that morning.  Touch base with Lisa about these opportunities!  (Checks can be made payable to WOTM 1755.)  THANK YOU!!

Have a great weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang