Snow Days!

Snow Days!!!  It has been a long time since we had those, so we made up for it this week.  When we left Tuesday, we heard snow was coming overnight but it would be more to our south, and we might get a dusting.  Turns out it was a little more than a dusting, but the extremely cold temperatures kept the roads icy as it hovered in the 20s and below for a couple of days.  By Friday we were able to return to business as usual, and we had a great ending to the week with work at the pet store, a tasty lunch, and an outstanding workout with our friends at APEX-PT and Rock Steady Boxing!  Check out our abbreviated week...

Tuesday, January 21

We began our first full week of 2025 with a history lesson.  Yesterday was Inauguration Day, and as most of us knew, President Trump is back in office as the 47th president of the United States.  An interesting fact we learned from our video is that Inauguration Day is set as January 20 by law, but if it falls on a Sunday, the public celebrations are moved to Monday.

We also had a lesson about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  On our scavenger hunt for facts, we learned a lot!

Laura and Xavier learned that Dr. King had 4 children.

Liz, Thomas, and Annmarie answered a question about Dr. King's name being changed from Michael to Martin Luther when he was 5 years old.  Erik and Devin learned that as a leader of the civil rights movement, Dr. King had a goal to end segregation.

Kate, Abraham, and Bryan learned that a civil rights leader from India named Mahatma Ghandi was an inspiration to Dr. King.

It's been a few years since we've seen a gold finch at our bird feeders!

After lunch we visited The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg where Christina was enthusiastic about sharing her lesson for National Squirrel Appreciation Day!

She shared many cool facts with us about the little rodents as we spotted objects such as a green ceramic bottle shaped like a squirrel; a white porcelain one that was made in England; a portrait of a young hunter and his dog...and squirrel; and a wooden one which was part of a weather vane.

Here are 3 of the most interesting facts we learned, as decided upon by the group:

1) A group of squirrels is called a "scurry," but squirrels typically prefer to be solitary animals.  They will become social to share a food source (like our bird seed!) or during mating season.

2) Squirrels "talk" to each other by chattering.  They use different sounds like barking, chirping, or squeaking to communicate alarm, excitement, or discomfort.

3) Before it was made with chicken, Brunswick stew was made with squirrel (or other small game)!  

😋😋😋

There were meetings taking place in the Education Studio where we usually do our projects with Christina, so we took a route through the museums that led us to a service elevator and we ended up in a meeting room in the Public Hospital building!

Squirrels may get a bad rap from us since they eat our bird seed, but today, we came to appreciate them somewhat after Christina's lesson.  We wrapped it up with a step by step drawing of a squirrel, and decided we would give squirrels a little slack in the future!  Thanks so much for a fun and informative lesson on Squirrel Appreciation Day, Christina!  We really enjoyed it!

We got a very encouraging update on Tessa today!  Her mom, Michelle, reports that Tessa's legs are getting stronger.  She's able to slide from the wheelchair to the couch or workout bench without needing the slide board.  Her fine motor skills are improving, too.  She's enjoy time on the laptop.  Michelle says, "Things are trending upwards very nicely."  This is wonderful news!  Tessa, we miss you so much!  Keep working hard with Mom, Chris (stepdad), and your therapists.  You're an inspiration!

Wednesday, January 22

Snow Day!

Thursday, January 23

Another Snow Day!

Friday, January 24

Luckily, we were able to end our week back together for a fun Friday!  First, Carol took a group to Pet Supplies Plus for a work morning, and they were met by JaVante and Katrina from Parks & Rec who had a free morning due to school opening late and their Rec Connect before school program being closed.  Thanks for your help at the pet store, JaVante and Katrina!  We always enjoy working with you!!  Due to the winter weather, the PSP delivery had not arrived yet, so instead of stocking, the team spent time straightening product on the shelves (making sure everything was "front facing") and then got to learn about animal care from Ryan and Brittany.  

Abraham enjoyed petting the ferret Ryan was holding.

Have you ever met a tomato frog?  We hear they make great pets!

Perhaps a Russian turtle like the one Bryan is admiring would be more your style?!

We got to see Scott today.  He's holding Dev's dog, Bruno, who had come in for grooming!

Thanks, Brittany and Ryan, for helping us learn what you do to care for some of the critters.  Thanks again to JaVante and Katrina for joining us today, too!

Meanwhile, back at the center, we were busy preparing today's lunch:  cheeseburger pie and garden salads.  Annmarie sauteed onions and Patrick browned the beef.  Laura mixed up the batter and Lexi poured it evenly over the pies.  Kevin and Michelle assembled our fresh salads.  Teamwork at its finest this morning!

We enjoyed our cheeseburger pie!

After lunch, it was time for a workout!  Our friends at APEX-PT and Movement Center / Rock Steady Boxing were ready for us with fun and energetic exercise stations that not only worked our bodies, but our minds, too!

Stretching is important and Scott made sure we stretched everything from head to toe!

We rotated to different activity stations after stretching.  At the Rock Steady Gym, their focus is on providing support for patients living with Parkinson's disease.  We went through a typical Rock Steady workout and Scott reminded us that it's important to work our big muscles, small muscles, fine motor muscles, and brain muscles!

Laura, Patrick, Emma, and Katrina found out after a couple of minutes that punching or slapping the speed bags is great cardio!

Tracy came to the gym, too.  She, Abraham, Alexis, Nan, and Liz had to work quickly, and as a team, to match the tops and bottoms of the playing cards.  Thanks for joining us, Tracy!

Michelle and Erik did wall push ups and then tapped the number signs 1-4 in order as quickly as they could.

This was the sit and stand station.  Xavier and Bryan alternated between sitting in the chair and standing up to step on the numbers or tap the cones in sequential order.  

JaVante, Annmarie, Thomas, and Kevin had to keep the Blaze Pods from lighting up.  Whenever one of them turned green, they had to "stomp" it out.

Before we did another station rotation, we took turns rolling a die and completing an exercise that corresponded to the number rolled.  Scott kept us moving with his high-energy and lots of positive reinforcement!  

JaVante, Katrina, and Tracy were great role models, too!

Thanks again, Scott and Kelly, for welcoming us to the Rock Steady Boxing gym at APEX-PT and Movement Center.  Y'all put the "move" in movement, for sure!  We had a wonderful experience.  You make it fun to exercise, and the time flew by!  Everyone was focused and active, and we all felt great when it was over!

It may have only been a two day week, but we made the most of it!  We're looking forward to a full four days next week, and the weather forecast sounds promising for it.  Here are our plans for the last week of January:

Tuesday:  We are staying at the center today since our community outing this week will be on Thursday.  We're going to make up Polka Dot Day so feel free to wear your dots or bring spirit items that fit the theme!  We'll also have a movie morning to watch Wish.  For lunch, we are making up our Peanut Butter Day meal with peanut butter sandwiches with a twist, chips, and fruit.

Wednesday:  This morning we will volunteer at GCOC, so please wear Arc shirts.  It's National Puzzle Day, so our brain work will center around fun and/or tricky puzzles.  The Chinese New Year begins today so we'll (finally) get to celebrate Allison's birthday by ordering Chinese takeout for lunch.  Please bring $10 if you wish to order, or lunch from home if you would rather.  We'll also have a history lesson to help prepare for tomorrow's trip!

Thursday:  We're visiting a new (to us) museum today, the Virginia War Museum in Newport News to check out American military history.  Please bring a bagged lunch.  It will likely be too chilly to eat at a park, but just in case...  In the afternoon today we will update our calendar for February, which, unbelievably, is almost here!

Friday:  It's been a while, but we are headed to Eaton for a work day, so please wear your Eaton shirt and bring a bagged lunch.  Time permitting, we'll plan for yoga with Jaime in the afternoon, so dress to stretch, too.

Have a great weekend and enjoy some warmer weather!

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang