Happy Birthday, Nan!

It's been a while since we touched base with a blog post, but we're back!  Lisa and Alexis took a break to travel to Alaska, which was amazing for them, and Carol, Nan, and Allison, with some help from The Arc's Kasey and Emma, kept things rolling along at the Arc of Abilities.  They, and our gang, did a great job, we promise!  You'll have to take our word for it though, as we don't have pictures and blog posts from the past couple of weeks.  

We thought things would be back on track this week, but Lisa and Alexis returned from their travels with the Covid bug, so they were grounded a couple of extra days. We would like to thank Liz's mom, Lise, for helping us out on Tuesday, and Arc intern Emma for helping on Wednesday!  We are thankful for our village of available substitutes!  Luckily, Lisa and Lexi were well and back at the program on Thursday.  Here's a look at our week, where the highlight was celebrating Nan's birthday on Friday!

Tuesday, July 29

Today we visited the Torggler Fine Arts Museum on the campus of Christopher Newport University.  Our friend Barbara Stephenson was there to show us around the current exhibits.  Thanks Carol and Lise, for taking some pics!

The main exhibit featured all kinds of vessels made from ceramics.  We learned that vessels, such as jars, cups, bowls, and pitchers, are more than just functional.  Sometimes, they are also just beautiful to look at and enjoy as decorations!

We were very fascinated by this piece of work which is an accumulation of cast porcelain figures by Walter McConnell.  It's a contemporary piece called A Theory of Everything: White Stupa, 2016.  

There is a little bit of everything in this work from elves, to heads of state, to fairy tale characters, and more.  We looked closely and found many we recognized.  What a fun piece to examine!

                  Can you spot the character ET ?

Which Disney princess is this?!

Look!  It's president Abraham Lincoln!          

The Torggler is a free museum that changes exhibits several times throughout the year.  We highly recommend a visit any time of year!  Thanks so much, Barbara, for sharing these wonderful exhibits of art with us.  We really enjoyed today's visit!

Since we were in the area, we stopped by the Virginia Living Museum before heading back to AFCC so we could deliver a thank you card for last week's visit, which was made possible for us by a museum scholarship.

Wednesday, July 30

Here are a few pictures from our busy Wednesday.  One group volunteered at Grove with Thom, Ursula, Joel, Peggy, and Tom.  The other group was at the center making pretty flower arrangements with the help of Drew's friend, Melinda, who volunteered today.  We didn't get any pictures, but they all did a great job.  Thank you, Melinda, for pitching in today!  Next time, we must get a picture!

Many thanks to Peggy, who made some delicious lemon/blueberry and peaches and cream scones for our enjoyment!  Soooo tasty! 😋

Thanks, Emma, fabulous Arc intern, for helping out today!

At the end of the day, van riders Liz and Abraham took the flower arrangements, and some extra flower bouquets, inside for our friends at Commonwealth Senior Living.

Thursday, July 31

Guess what we've been busy preparing for?!  The Women of the Moose (WOTM)'s 10th Annual Charity Golf Tournament!  It's Saturday and we are set to decorate the registration area and golf carts with plenty of celebratory pictures!  We'd like to thank our friends at James River Elementary School for letting us use their laminating machine to put the shine on these designs!

A busy morning calls for some fun, too.  It had been a while since we played pool noodle volleyball.

We got the pink balloon up and in play.  We were ready to add the orange one!

 
Right after we snapped this pic, the orange balloon popped!  We quickly got a replacement.

It was a fun game that kept us focusing and working together for 20 minutes, with lots of laughs, too!

Yesterday was National Climb a Mountain Day, so we used that for a lesson today.  We discussed "climbing a mountain" as being a metaphor for a challenge that requires perseverance in overcoming obstacles.  Luckily, most of our "mountains" are not difficult to "climb," but we also talked about significant challenges that others face, and how we can help by offering our support and understanding to those facing difficulties.

We did an exercise in perseverance by balancing a bean bag on our heads while walking.  That was easy!  It was a little tougher using a hardback book, but we persevered!

This afternoon we watched a movie from 1999 called October Sky.  It was about a high school student who, in 1957, was inspired by the Sputnik space satellite to become an aerospace engineer.  He had to overcome many obstacles, including a father who struggled to understand why he wouldn't be happy going to work in the coal mines like the generations before him.

Concession stand!

We enjoyed the movie, and learning that it was based on a true story about Homer Hickam.  He fulfilled his dream, with his dad's support, and became an aerospace engineer who helped to train space shuttle astronauts. 

Friday, August 1

We brought in August with a birthday celebration for Nan.  Her actual birthday and National Chili Dog Day were both yesterday, but we saved all the fun for today!

Everyone knows Nan's favorite song, so we played it and sang along.  She is a good reminder that we should all stay "Forever Young!"

We love being able to use the gym for corn hole games.  Today, Team Jeopardy played Team Rod Stewart in honor of Nan's birthday!

Congrats to Team Rod Stewart for winning the birthday corn hole challenge, 25-20!

Next, it was time to whip up some birthday grub!

Devin sauteed onions, and thought looking away would keep his eyes from burning!  Liz, Pat, and Kate were in charge of brownies.  Erik and Gail were on home fries duty and Laura and Xavier worked on hot dog chili.

Thomas and Michelle opened our 5 packs of hot dogs - we got them on a buy 2, get 3 free deal at Harris Teeter!  Abraham and Drew carefully filled the electric skillet with a few hot dogs at a time.  Kevin and Nan grilled them for us!

Lexi showed off our "Happy Birthday" napkin rings while Carol watched Emma and Liz frost the brownies.  We can't wait to tell our master gardener friends how delicious the home fries were that we made with the potatoes they helped us grow!

Happy Birthday, Nan!  Thank you for everything you do to help us rock and roll at the Arc of Abilities!  We hope all your wishes come true!

After a busy day of partying, some of us decided to "listen" to yoga while "resting" our eyes.  We let them since they worked hard today, and it was a busy week!  

We'll see some of you at the WOTM's 10th Annual Charity Golf Tournament tomorrow.  Many thanks to all who supported Patti and WOTM's efforts with a hole or other sponsorship!  She has a record-setting 32 teams playing this year!  We are so grateful for the support of Williamsburg Moose Lodge and the Women of the Moose (WOTM)!  Thanks, Patti, for your dedicated leadership!

We will be back on Tuesday for another busy week.  It's hard to believe it's almost time for the kids to come back to school!  We'll get in the gym as much as we can in the next couple of weeks.  Here are our plans for the first full week of August:

Tuesday:  It's bowling day, so bring your gear!  As a special treat, we'll have pizza and drinks at Bowlero for lunch, sponsored by the Thompson Family.  Thanks so much, Elizabeth and Mark!  We will also update our calendar for August and enjoy a game of kickball in the gym.

Wednesday:  We'll make flower arrangements for CSL and volunteer at GCOC today, so please wear Arc shirts.  Lisa is going to share about her trip to Alaska with a lesson about the life cycle of salmon, and we'll make salmon dip and fireweed lemonade for a snack.  We'll also make cheer cards for Krafty Karen who is recovering from surgery on her back and neck.  Lunch on your own; microwave available.

Thursday:  Happy Birthday to Gail, today!  We'll celebrate with Disney-themed music and games, at Gail's request, and enjoy catered sandwiches for lunch, courtesy of Gail's brother and sister-in-law.  Thank you very much, Ashley and Zelda.  It's also National Lighthouse Day.  We haven't celebrated that one in a while, so we'll hit it today with a fun craft activity.  

Friday:  We will be working at Eaton today, so please wear your Eaton shirt.  We'll watch the weather forecast since we hear the 90s are taking a break for a while.  If it's nice, we'll have a picnic and walk/games at the park!  Otherwise, we'll return to the center and enjoy time in the gym after lunch.

Enjoy the weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang