It was the week for spring to officially arrive, and we were looking forward to it. By definition, we know spring means milder temperatures, longer days/sunlight...and yes, even pollen and rain. We lucked out and had four very nice days! On Tuesday we visited with Christina at the Art Museums of CW and on Wednesday we delighted in the return of our therapy dog friends. On the first official day of spring, Thursday, we checked the garden at Freedom Park and enjoyed free Italian ice from Rita's! We wrapped up the week with a work day at Eaton. We consider it a successful first week of spring!
🌞🌷🌳🐦
Saturday, March 15
On Saturday, we sent Alexis and Patrick to represent us at the Williamsburg Moose Lodge as servers for the WOTM's St. Patrick's Day dinner. Moose Patti, who took these photos and isn't in them (!), invites us to help out at various functions throughout the year, and we are proud to do so! Great job serving and socializing with the Moose members, Alexis and Patrick! We are proud of you!
Alexis and Pat worked with familiar faces ,WOTM members Catherine and Shelly (left, with Lexi). They were reunited with sweet Christine, who worked with them last year, and they met a new friend named Matthew. Together with Patti and Allison, they all made a great team and served up lots of corned beef and cabbage to hungry Moose members!
Tuesday, March 18
Our regular week began with the introduction of a new friend, Julia, who is hanging out with us this week to see what our program is all about. Julia recently moved to Williamsburg from Chesapeake. She's been a member of The Arc of GW for a while, so some of our members already know her. Welcome for a visit, Julia!
After our dance warm up, we checked last week's blog and then did a movement activity with a St. Patrick's Day theme.
Next, we took advantage of a sunny morning to get more movement with a walk outside. It was a little chilly...or shall we say, refreshing!
Sunday was National Panda Day and who can resist learning about those adorable black and white bears?! We learned many interesting facts between our video and our brain work. For example, pandas do not hibernate in winter; they spend up to 12 hours a day eating and bamboo is 90% of their diet; they have large flat teeth for tearing and chewing the bamboo; and they are a vulnerable species.
After an early lunch, we joined Christina at The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg for a lesson to celebrate National Let's Laugh Day, which is tomorrow. Christina pointed out various objects related to the American Revolution, shared the history with us, and then told jokes and riddles that related to them. Here, we were looking at a picture depicting a discussion about the Declaration of Independence. We learned that while Thomas Jefferson was the main writer of that historic document, there was actually a committee of five who worked on it, including John Adams and Benjamin Franklin.
Here's a riddle that relates to this picture: What was the colonists favorite dance? The Indepen-dance! 😂
In this video, Christina was asking a riddle about the funniest person in the Continental Army, and the answer was a play on the name of someone we have learned a lot about because he was one of George Washington's generals during the Revolutionary War!
Here is a statue of George Washington that was cast from iron, and he is dressed in the style of a Greek or Roman god. This was because after his death, when this was made, Americans wanted to portray him as a man so great that he was on the same level of the gods. Christina said George himself would not have cared for this depiction!
So, does anyone know what George Washington's favorite drink was?! Why, liber-tea, of course! Christina kept us laughing and learning today!
We switched gears from the Revolutionary War to animals when we got to the Down on the Farm exhibit in the Proserpi Gallery. Christina taught us a game that was similar to musical chairs, only it involved us imitating animal sounds, which made us laugh, and didn't require us to remove a seat after we moved around! We did have to be attentive listeners, though.
As we were making our way through the galleries, Christina was taking answers from us for a "Museum Mad Lib" which she read to us when we got to the Ed Studio for our final activity.
Our project today was to make a brochure like design that enabled us to make lots of different funny faces, depending on which parts of it we opened or closed. We drew, cut, and pasted different types of eyes, noses, and mouths and no two projects ended up alike, but all were funny when the different parts of the faces were mixed up!
We enjoyed hanging out with Christina's son, Zack, too! He was home for Spring Break from James Madison University, where he is a junior majoring in elementary education. Thank you, Christina, for creating a lesson to celebrate Let's Laugh Day! We try not to be too silly while visiting the museum, but you made it permissible today, and we loved it!
Wednesday, March 19
What a happy morning we had welcoming our therapy dog friends for the first time in 2025! We had cancelled their visits in January due to a potential stomach virus going around, and again in February due to the snow. Third time was the charm to start 2025, and we had a blast with them!
Julia is a dog person, and she and Kate enjoyed their time with Aja today. Casey was very attentive as he and Carol read with Abraham and Devin.
Kent brings Leo and Tavish now, and they were very chill as Lexi, Laura, and Drew read. Vicky and Aubree liked the titles chosen by Michelle and Thomas this morning.
We had 7 groups today! Rounding them out were Marisol and Tucker, who were joined by Erik, Nan, Annmarie and Patrick. In the hallway, Caroline, Pip, and Indy read with Kevin, Liz, and Bryan. Stationed in the office area were Carol and Darby with Xavier, Emma, and Sam.
🐕🐶🐕🐶 Thank you so much, therapy dogs and handler friends! Reading and socializing with you is something we look forward to and we're so glad to continue our partnership with you in 2025! 🐕🐶🐕🐶
We got an extra treat when, after our therapy dog session ended, Marisol told us she had her other two Corgis waiting in the car. They wanted to meet us! From left to right are Louis, Nellie, and our ole buddy, Tucker. Thanks, Marisol! We are smitten with your sweet Corgis!! (Liz is holding a copy of the neighborhood magazine from Ford's Colony which has a picture of Marisol and her Corgis on the front cover!)
It was a gorgeous late morning after the dogs left, so we introduced Julia to corn hole. Everyone was here today, which made two teams of 9 members each! Team March Madness won, and Team Lucky Charms came in second! 😊
March 12 is National Girl Scout Day, but we celebrated today with a Girl Scout Cookie taste test! We welcomed our favorite Daisy Girl Scout, Haley, who, along with her sister, Jordan, happen to also be Nan's favorite great-grands. Their mom, and our friend Kelly, from APEX-PT came, too. Lexi was excited to see her cousins!
Sean and Amy, family friends of Lexi's and Haley's, donated 10 boxes of cookies to us so we could have a taste test! Haley introduced each flavor and then we had samples. Thank you, Sean and Amy, for your generous donations of delicious cookies to the Arc of Abilities! Trust us when we say, this was a big hit! Haley, YOU did a great job telling us about your experience as a Girl Scout. We are very proud of you!
Everyone filled out a rating sheet, and all 5 of our cookie samples got high rankings! We tried Lemon Ups, S'mores, Tagalongs, Thin Mints, and Toffee-Tastic (gluten free). For fun, Kelly brought Samoas and Adventurefuls, and when we turned in our rating sheets, we got to pick one more for a bonus sample! We also had tasty Girl Scout Punch (Lisa's secret recipe). Abraham's smile speaks for us all. It was such a fun and tasty afternoon!
Thursday, March 20
Finally, spring arrived, and we were excited to hit the road for a visit to the garden at Freedom Park and a stop by Rita's for a free sample of Italian Ice! We worried all week that it might rain, but it turned out to be a warm and sunny day. We spent just about all of it outside, and it was awesome!
As we wandered around the garden, we took group photos.
Emma, Julia, Drew, Bryan, Thomas, and Xavier stood in front of a baby's breath bush that is starting to fill in with blooms.
Nan, Liz, Kate, Abraham, Erik, Alexis, and Michelle posed at the butterfly garden that is colorful from blooms of daffodils and hyacinths.
We found Annmarie, Kevin, Devin, Sam, Patrick, and Laura at the fairy garden.
As some of us were checking out the "insect hotel" Krafty Karen set up for winter hibernation, we were surprised to see a large bee (carpenter bee?) poke it's face out to say "hi" to us!
We took 2 walks and had a lovely lunch outside in between!
We thought there was a lot of spring color in the garden today, but we know there will be more to come! We're looking forward to beginning our twice monthly visits with our master gardener friends in April, May, and June!
From the park, we stopped by the shopping center where Rita's is located and admired the mural painted on the brick wall. It was painted by local artist, and Xavier's stepfather, Steve Prince, and it is beautiful! Steve titled it "Peace Quilt." Here's a quote from Steve taken from an article published in WYDAILY on November 21, 2024, and the article can be read in it's entirety here:
“Peace Quilt is a mural about the inextricable connections we have as people. Every culture on the planet has a patchwork quilt-making past, because they have gone through seasons of great lack where they had to figure out how to survive with the scraps,” Prince explained. “The quilt therefore is a metaphor for how we made a way out of no way and that we are made up of disparate pieces that mesh together, for better or for worse. Peace Quilt tells a story about America from the East to the West, and from the North to the South and beckons us to remember the past while moving forward into an untouched future collectively working for peace.”
Our awesome day ended with free Italian ice from Rita's, in celebration of the first day of spring. This was the first time we've ever gone to Rita's, and it was a popular stop! We only got one photo, as we were busy helping everyone get their treats, and it was a little busy there! Here's the photo again in case you missed it at the top of the post! Happy Spring to Everyone!
Friday, March 21
Due to a scheduling conflict, we ended up back at Eaton this week. Starting next week, we will do two Fridays in a row at PSP. This morning we assembled 132 PowerSlide Doors, unpacked hundreds of parts, and sorted a lot of other parts, too!
Drew and Patrick moved white handles from the big box to the smaller tubs, making sure not to overpack the smaller tubs because they need to be able to stack flatly on top of each other.
Devin carefully transferred clear plastic plates into smaller tubs. He organized them as best he could to optimize the amount of space used.
Abraham and Sam moved a lot of tubs to the other side of the room so they could make more room for working around the big boxes.
Annmarie and Laura began transferring parts from a big box to the smaller tubs, and then we needed them to sort other parts to get them ready to be gasketed.
Michelle and Bryan got the door assembly line going and set the pace for everyone so we would be very efficient!
It was great to have Nan back at the label table today with Liz and Alexis!
Xavier, Thomas, Kevin, and Emma trained Julia on inserting 4 sets of nuts and bolts into each door. Julia concentrated and stuck with the task!
"Erik the Electric" kept the whiz of the power screwdriver going!
After a very productive work morning at Eaton, we decided to return to AFCC for lunch and Choice Time. Here's a glimpse into some of our choices today: using laptops, playing card games, coloring, drawing, working puzzles, dancing, and checking personal devices!
World Down Syndrome Day is observed each year on March 21, also known as 3-21. Down Syndrome occurs when the body has 3 copies of chromosome 21 on each cell instead of the usual two, and this day brings awareness to, and understanding about, what Down Syndrome is, and how amazing people are who have it. Local brewhouse Frothy Moon held an awareness/fundraising event Friday night to benefit The Arc of Greater Williamsburg. Our very own Thomas was their guest bartender and he did a great job! It was nice to see other AoA families there, too! Thanks, Frothy Moon, for your support of The Arc, and all of our friends with Down Syndrome! Thanks, Liz, for providing the photos!!
Way to go, Thomas!
Looks like fun was had by Laura, Liz, Drew, and his mom, Donna!
Yay for spring, and what a great first week it was. We're looking forward to enjoying this time of year! Here's a look at what we have coming up next week:
Wednesday: We will be busy today as we volunteer at GCOC and begin a job of stuffing over 1,000 plastic eggs with candy for the annual egg hunt at Powhatan Secondary! This is our 3rd year doing the egg job, and it's a lot of fun. We'll also learn about manatees for Manatee Appreciation Day, and we're expecting a visit from a couple of Arc board members. Please wear Arc shirts. Lunch on your own. JRES is serving Cheesy Pasta Supreme or Assorted Wraps.
Thursday: We are welcoming our master gardener friends for lunch today as we get ready to kick off our spring session with them, so we'll prepare for the luncheon in the morning. After the luncheon, we'll have a quiet afternoon of card games! Baked ziti, spinach salad, and orange/pineapple cake for lunch.
Friday: This morning we will send a crew to Pet Supplies Plus while the others remain at the center to prepare for our "make up" celebration of Sloppy Joe Day, which we had to reschedule due to work conflicts! We hope to finish our Wild Robot read-aloud this afternoon, and we'll vote on whether to play corn hole or have yoga with Jaime to end the week. Please wear PSP shirts. Sloppy Joes, chips, and fruit for lunch.
Have a great weekend,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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