Wacky Schedule

It was a wacky week since our schedule was rearranged due to weather conditions.  Because it was forecast to rain, we decided not to travel to the Pumpkin Patch on Tuesday.  Instead, we spent a quiet day at the center.  After our dance warm up, we set up in the kitchen and celebrated Angel Food Cake Day!  The recipe we used was very simple, and our associates could easily do this at home.   Just add a 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple to a box of Angel Food cake mix and bake for about 20 minutes.  Angel food cake is fat free, so it's a reasonable alternative for a dessert if you're trying to satisfy your sweet tooth on a calorie budget! 

Xavier wasn't sure we were serious when we asked him to wash the dishes...but he gave it his best shot!

We were excited when Ellie and Mary Ann from Parks & Rec came by for some fun and games.  Ellie is Tracy's coworker and Mary Ann is Tracy's intern.  Here, Ellie explains how to play the over-sized Kerplunk game.

We had fun playing with a giant Connect Four game that was set up in the hallway.

Ellie and Mary Ann also set up Corn Hole.  

We appreciate them stopping by and bringing some rainy day fun!

Later in the day we took a look at over 30 science resource books that a retired teacher friend of Sam's recently donated to us. 

Any activity or experiment that looked interesting was bookmarked and we may try it!

What we thought would take about 10 minutes went on for over a half an hour as our associates looked over the books carefully and found ideas that they thought everyone would enjoy.

This should be the start of a lot of fun and interesting lessons!  Thanks, Sam (and Teri), for hooking us up with your friend who had all these great resources to donate!

 We began the day on Wednesday by gathering for a group picture with our stuffed animals.  Celebrating Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work/School Day put lots of smiles on our faces.

We loved the hug Kevin gave his big Teddy Bear when he was telling us about it!

We also traveled to Freedom Park on Wednesday to enjoy another mini-session with our Master Gardener friends.  Linda and company always have a lot for us to learn about.  This week, because it was raining, we met in the Interpretive Center where we learned about bulbs.  

They gave us two big planter boxes and helped us plant onion, garlic, tulip, daffodil, and crocus bulbs.  We will leave them outside all winter and hopefully, in springtime, we will have layers of beautiful plants.  That seems so far away!

Before our lesson ended, everyone made a small vase of fresh cut zinnias and marigolds that were picked from the garden before we arrived.

How pretty!

We headed back to the center for lunch and Choice Time.  Our custodian friend Heike stopped by and we presented her with a poster we made to thank her for the noodle/sausage dish she prepared for last Friday's lunch.  She said it puts a smile on her face each day to come to work knowing she will see us!

It was another rainy day on Thursday, but having Tai Chi class with Michael helped brighten things up!  Look at our balance this week...almost everyone in sync!

This is another balance move.  First we lunge forward.  Then we extend our arms out in front of us.  Getting there!

We also continue to work on raising our legs higher when we march.  Still a ways to go on this one!

Rainy day gym time!

The peanut gallery...at least Laura is bouncing a ball!  (To be fair, they had been shooting hoops for a while before this picture was taken!)

We began using the new software on our computers this week.  Here, Drew checks out one of the literacy programs.  He was working on identifying opposites.  He alternates between using the touch screen and the wireless mouse when making his selections.

Laura also worked on literacy skills and practiced using descriptive words.  Lisa shows her how to access the touch screen feature, but Laura prefers the wireless mouse. 🖱

Josie, Alexis, and Kacie were on the Arc mailing crew Thursday afternoon, stuffing and addressing envelopes.

Meanwhile, Chloe and Kevin finished up the job by sealing and stamping!

Our wacky schedule wrapped up with a bowling day on Friday.  That's not our usual day for an outing, but it sure was fun.  We were surprised with a visit from our friend from the Williamsburg Moose, Patti!  It's always wacky when she's on the scene!  😜

Choosing a ball is serious business for Devin.  He wanted one today that was on the bottom of the rack and all the way in the back.

Chris and Patti had a friendly competition going today.  She won by just a couple of points.  Chris is ready for a rematch!

While waiting for their friends to finish, Liz and Sam enjoyed conversation with our volunteer Pam, and Patti's friend, Amber.  Amber is a member of the local Fraternal Order of the Eagles who came just to meet and cheer for our guys!

We were happy to present Patti with a thank you note to share at the Moose Lodge for their recent donation to our program.  We said they are "like sunshine" to us!  She loved it. 💜❤💛

It was drizzling after bowling so we didn't get to take a walk.  Instead, we headed back to AFCC for a bit of Choice Time and then we ended the week with one of our favorite games, Bingo!  Speaking of, we are now accepting donations of Bingo prizes.  One man's trash...😉

Here's what's up for next week:

Tuesday:  Please wear Arc shirts and bring a bag lunch as we think we are finally going to have weather suitable for a trip to Surry and the pumpkin patch at College Run Farms.  Please send $5 to cover the purchase of a small pumpkin and pumpkin (or vanilla) ice cream.  Yum!

Wednesday:  We will enjoy Tai Chi with Michael and have some fun with a science activity selected from our new resource books.  Lunch on your own, but it's also Chocolate Cupcake Day, so dessert is on us!

Thursday:  Eww!  We are marking Reptile Awareness Day (one day early) with a study of these amazing creatures.  Lunch on your own.

Friday:  We are celebrating I Love Lucy Day (one day late) with a tribute to this funny lady.  For some of our associates, she is a familiar icon, for others, it will be an introduction!  We will also prepare pasta and meat sauce for lunch and use fresh garlic from the garden at Freedom Park to make herb-garlic bread.

SAVE THE DATES:  For your planning purposes, we have set a holiday schedule for the program as follows:

November:  We will open the program on Monday and Tuesday (Nov. 20-21) of Thanksgiving week and be closed Wednesday-Friday for the holiday.

December:  We will be in session Tuesday and Wednesday, December 19-20.  We will be closed Thursday, December 21-Monday, January 1 and reopen on Tuesday, January 2.

Enjoy the weekend,

Lisa, Carol, and Nan

Pleasant Week

The first week of October was a pleasant one at the Arc of Abilities.  We took in the gorgeous weather, made a new friend, had some fun celebrations, and just enjoyed our time hanging out together.  Take a look!

We greeted a new friend on Tuesday morning when Cameron came to spend a couple of days checking out the program.  We had heard he enjoyed bowling, and we were glad his first day was a bowling day.  But we were happy to find out he also enjoys dancing, as he got right into it with us during our morning dance party!

During our bowling session, Chloe was determined to knock down a lot of pins.  She almost got a strike in this shot...we love how she watched it with one hand on her head and the other on her heart.  She went on to pick up a spare here!

In this shot, Cameron, Drew, Patrick, and Kacie were all at the line at the same time, something that doesn't usually happen.

Kate took it upon herself to give Josie some tips, as Kate has been bowling with a Special Olympics coach for a while.  Josie tried everything Kate suggested...

...and her score soared in her second game!

It was simply a gorgeous day for a walk after bowling!

Here, Josie's walking buddies wait for her to switch her shoes to the correct feet...maybe we shouldn't have hurried her along after bowling!  😉

After our walk we had time to enjoy the playground.  We hope this weather sticks around for a long time!

Our first very pleasant day of the week ended with refreshing treats, courtesy of Liz!  Cheers for friends and freeze pops!

Our Wednesday began in pleasant fashion when we worked on our moves with Michael during Tai Chi class.  

Balance work!

Drew can now hold his leg up long enough for the photographer to get this shot!  He is making  super progress!!

Chris had a great day and was pulled up front to demonstrate a new side-to-side movement we need to do s-l-o-w-l-y!

  

We got more pre-Taco Day exercise when we celebrated Walk To Around School Day!

Pleasant turned to silly when we worked on decorations for the room.  We had to glue.

And fold.

And glue some more. 

All to create these spider decorations that our guys decided would make fun hats!

The girls got in on this silliness, too!

The spiders finally ended up on the windows, ready to scare visitors!

We celebrated "Get Funky Day" on Thursday!  During our dance warm up, we played music from "way back" that definitely brought out the funky jive in us all!  We also talked about positivity and the benefits of being upbeat.  Later, when we joined our friend Christina at the art museum, we were delighted to see that the craft she planned for us definitely fit our funky theme...

We enjoy walking and talking and there are many great walking spots in our community.  On Thursday we walked around Bicentennial Park, behind the CW Art Museums, before our visit with Christina.  This small park is a perfect one for us, because it's a small loop and we can spread out (and still be seen) to walk with lots of friends or go in another direction with just one or two.

Our visit with Christina was a blast.  The museum has set up an exhibit that highlights 13 fears people have.  For each fear, an item from the museum, that isn't regularly on display, is featured.  Very interesting!  Fear number 1 is arachnophobia, or fear of spiders, and a piece of 18th century jewelry that looks like a spider is the display item.

The "fear boxes" are set up throughout the museum, and as you come upon each one, you have to raise the curtain to see the display.  Our guys were surprised to find out some people fear ordinary things like the color purple or butterflies.

In the Education Center, our craft definitely fit our funky theme for the day.  Everyone got a little skeleton to personalize with scraps of cloth, ribbon, buttons, and such.

It started like this.

Our friends really got into their creations.

Christina helped with some suggestions.

By the time Christina photo-bombed our picture, we had created some unique and very funky skeleton ornaments!

There was so much to celebrate on Friday, that we could hardly keep up!  It was Lisa's birthday, Noodle Day, German-American Day, and Chloe's Family Tree Day.  Our lunch came together perfectly when our custodian friend Heike, who is German, prepared a scrumptious German noodle salad. (We forgot to get a picture with her...check back next week and we will correct that faux pas!).  It was a hit!  It was cool that she used several different kinds of noodles to make it a real celebration of Noodle Day!

Yum!  Cupcakes, the birthday board (with the sweetest cards), and friends!

We also welcomed Ms. Teri as she came to share Chloe's family tree story with us.  Chloe's ancestors were very literate, much like Chloe herself, and during the Civil War they wrote a lot of letters between the ones fighting and the family back home.  Teri brought samples of letters, and this group took on the roles of some of Chloe's ancestors to help read them.  They told a fascinating story about life during the war.

Chloe was fascinated herself as she hung on every word!

Chloe's was the last in our Family Tree series that began about a year ago.  We wish to thank Ms. Teri for the time, effort, and love she put into compiling these histories for us.  It was a lot of work!  It was fun to hear about our friends' ancestries, and they were so happy to take their booklets home to share with family.

That's a wrap for another week at the AoA.  Here's what we're working on for next week:

Tuesday:  We're watching the weather and it looks like a good chance for rain, so we postponed our travel day to Friday.  Instead, we will stick around AFCC and work on more decorations for our room and spend time in our Learning Lab.  Lunch on your own.

Wednesday:  Please wear Arc shirts.  It's Master Gardener Day so we will travel to Freedom Park for the second of our three fall mini-sessions.  This takes place rain or shine, so please bring a bag lunch.  It's also Bring Your Teddy Bear to School / Work Day so everyone is welcome to bring a favorite stuffed toy.  According to the National Day Calendar website:  

Teddy will brighten up your day and bring a feeling of celebration to your office or classroom just by being there. Teddy bears have long been known to provide comfort to children, but they can do just as much for adults. Give Teddy a hug and see how much better he makes you feel.

We will enjoy the benefits of tapping our inner child!

Thursday:  Michael will be here for Tai Chi so dress to stretch! We are celebrating Sausage Pizza Day (one day late) by preparing pizza for lunch!  

Friday:  Weather permitting, we will travel to College Run Farms in Surry for our 2nd annual Pumpkin Picking and Pumpkin Ice Cream Tasting Day!  We hope to picnic at Chippokes State Park, so bring a bag lunch.  Please wear Arc shirts.

Saturday, October 14:  James River Elementary School is sponsoring a Fall Festival from 11-2.  They have invited us to join the fun!

Friday, February 9, 2018:  This one is a little ways off, but Kevin's mom Debbie asked us to share about a special event that takes place at Northside Christian Church.  It's called Night to Shine and it's a formal dance event just for folks (age 16+) with special needs.  Sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation, hundreds of churches around the country host this prom type event each year.  The staff at Northside has asked Debbie to help spread the word to folks in Williamsburg.  Registration is now open, and spots fill quickly.  If you think your associate would enjoy this experience, you can get more information here:  Night to Shine February 9, 2018.  You can also contact Debbie for more information, as Kevin attended last year and had a wonderful and memorable time.  We think our friends would love this!

Finally...

The Arc's 8th Annual 5K, sponsored by Williamsburg Landing, is in the books!  It was great to see some of our friends out in support of our organization.  If you couldn't make it this year...SAVE THE DATE for next year.  It will be on October 6th in 2018! 😉😉😉

Here, Drew and Chris get ready for the Fun Run after hooking up with our old friend, Meghan.  It was nice to "run" into her!

Lisa, Alexis, and Carol brought Carol's husband Gene and Lisa's dad and niece, Kelly.  They were joined near the start of the 5K by old friends James and Austin.  

Our friend Kacie and her mom were also at the race, but we didn't get a picture with them.  They were too fast!  😜  Everyone had a great time!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Lisa, Carol, and Nan