Smiles and More Smiles!

This week we're celebrating that, despite being in quarantine for 13 weeks now, we still have a lot to smile about!  Beautiful weather, family time, a special delivery, and more opportunities to step into the world as it begins to reopen brought lots of joy to our AoA friends this week!

We love the delight on the faces of Xavier and his mom Leah as they posed for a selfie on a bright, sunny afternoon.  For many of us, having extra family time has been a silver lining during the shutdown.

 

Xavier and Steve appeared to be enjoying their time at the basketball hoop, too.  That looks like it's going in for the score, Xavier!  So much fun!

Devin and his family made lots of memories on their trip to the Outer Banks last week.  Here, Devin, Christian, Hailey, and mom Roxanne are headed to the mini-golf course!

Your friends should recognize these fellas, Devin.  It's Wilbur and Orville Wright, who pioneered flight at Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks.  So glad to see you visited their National Park site, Devin!

Wow, is the Bodie Island Lighthouse really that small, or does someone know some creative photograpy tricks?  That's a cool shot!

Devin said the water in the ocean was cold, but that didn't stop them from having a blast!  Great family time, and their first visit to the Outer Banks!  Being from up north, they were a Jersey Shore family for years!

Raise your hand if you think Sam was happy to be back at his neighborhood pool?! ✋  He says he had to stay in one lane, but it was worth it to be back in the swim!

Now, raise your hand if you know how much Sam loves BBQ! ✋✋  Patio lunches are a fun new thing for him in Phase 2.  Yum!

Sam spent some time indoors this week, too.  He got a new picture book from Nina that's all about muscle cars.  How thoughtful of Nina!  Happy Reading, Sam!

Carol, Gene, Matt, and David enjoyed a week in the great outdoors.  They took quarantine to the next level by taking their beautiful RV on the road to various spots in our great state of Virginia.  On Tuesday, Carol was our Zoom guest, and she showed us around the RV and then shared pictures from their first couple of days on the road!

Here she is with Matt, David, and Callie at Natural Bridge.  They enjoyed walking along the creek and the weather was perfect.

They also visited the Natural Bridge Zoo, where lots of animals were available to see, and in some cases, pet and feed.  David and Matt had fun hanging out with these pretty parakeets!

They even saw some wild animals, like this zebra.  Thank you so much, Carol, for letting us share your vacation via Zoom.  We appreciate you taking the time to be with us and share your experiences, even though you totally deserved some R&R time!

  

Liz is still keeping tabs on the osprey nest at the WISC Complex.  Now that the fields and playgrounds have reopened, Liz says the ospreys may be a little scared of the people.  It certainly has been a quiet place to have a nest up until now!

Does this look familiar?!  It's the big playground where we've spent some happy times on AoA outings.  Liz reports that it's back open now.  

Liz and her mom were also at the AFCC again this week, checking on our outside plants and bird feeders.  They are happy to report that everything looks good.  Thanks, again, you two!!  We appreciate you for taking care of our little garden!

Look at Drew sporting his Arc of Greater Williamsburg gaiter while getting a haircut from his long-time stylist, Kelly!  That's the best way for everyone to stay safe, Drew!  The gaiter looks great on you!

Alexis also got her hair trimmed this week.  She wore her favorite mask, the one with colorful balloons all over it.  Her stylist, Sharene, has been cutting her hair for 25 years! Good job staying safe during your appointment too, Alexis!

Abraham is all smiles because he's watching a show about safari animals, including his favorite, elephants!  He enjoyed the safari coloring pages and lesson from Zoom this week, so his mom helped him find this interesting show.  Good job with your work, Abraham!!

On Thursday's Zoom, we went on a pet store tour with Devin's parents, Roxanne and Scott.  They own Pet Supplies Plus in Chesapeake, and boy, is it a neat store!

Roxanne showed us all around, up and down all the aisles, and explained everything we saw.  They offer huge varieties of pet food, toys, kitty litter, and just about anything else you can think of that pets from dogs and cats to snakes and guinea pigs to fish and birds would need!

We heard all the "awws" when Roxanne showed us these Frozen-themed decorations for fish tanks.  Anna and Elsa for fish?!  Cool!  We also heard a lot of "oohs" when Roxanne showed us a cute pup being groomed.  Sadly, the picture of that one didn't turn out so well...

MANY THANKS to Roxanne and Scott for taking time out of your busy schedule to give us the tour!  We love animals, and learning about them.  Seeing that you do more than just sell things, but also care for animals, makes us happy!  Keep up the great work!

Kate is excited to announce that her good friend from York High School, Hannah, is engaged to her boyfriend, Pedro.  Congratulations to your friend, Kate!  We know you are happy for her!

Alexis is excited to announce that another Hannah, her sister, graduated from Kecoughtan High School on Wednesday!  We know you are proud of her, Alexis.  We wish her well as she heads to college in Maryland!

Laura and her family enjoyed an ice-cream outing on Friday.  They socially distanced at her sister Alison's neighborhood, where the Polar Snow shaved ice truck was on the scene!

They got to see Laura's niece, Olivia, who is about to turn 4 on Wednesday!  Happy Birthday to Miss O!

And how about this bundle of beautiful joy!  It's Laura's second niece, Eloise, who is 3 1/2 months old.  What a sweet smile! 

 Wow, Laura!  That orange shaved ice looks so delicious!!  Hooray for family fun!

Everyone shared during Thursday's Zoom that they had received their SPECIAL DELIVERY Arc Care Package bags!  Kacie was thanking her driver but we bet she couldn't wait to see what was inside!

Alexis traded a bag of food drive donations for her care bag.  Driver Wayne was happy to make the swap!  

These are the bags collected by just one of several Arc vans that collected food from our generous and loving families when the care packages were delivered.  Thank you, one and all, for supporting The Arc's ongoing work to assist in providing food to those in need!  These donations were delivered to Williamsburg House of Mercy.

Here's a big shoutout to the Arc drivers, who have worked diligently during the quarantine to assist other local nonprofits in securing and delivering food donations throughout our community, as well as Eaton supplies to our AoA associates who could work from home.  They have been busy!  Thank you, drivers!

👏👏 to Wayne, Senora, and Lisa!

This is Transportation Coordinator, Harold, with Senora and Lisa.  👏👏

Xavier was happy to find a superhero coloring book and bright new crayons in his bag!  Here, he enjoyed coloring on a quiet afternoon.  Looks like a perfect way to spend some quarantine time.

What a great week for our AoA families!  We want to thank everyone for sending photos when you can.  Our guys love keeping up with their friends.  When we are finally back together again at the center, we will cherish having these quarantine-era blogs to look back on, and remember that time when things got wonky...but we made the best of it!

Enjoy the weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang

June 2020

Wow, it is June and Summer is unofficially here!  While we spent Spring safely at home, in quarantine with our families, we got to video conference via Zoom with our Arc of Abilities friends and that helped us stay connected.  Continuing the blog each week also keeps us in touch, and we're thankful for the pictures and videos everyone shares!  Here's what some of us were up to during the first week of June!  

We got a picture of Gladys this week!  She's Annmarie's betta fish who seems to be a little shy, over to the right of the tank.  What a lovely home for Gladys!

Sam was busy helping Coach Teri hang signs for their neighborhood Graduate Parade.  What a wonderful way to salute the 2020 graduates who are missing out on traditional ceremonies this year.

That poster looks perfect there, Sam.  As always, you are a big help!

After helping his mom hang the posters, Sam was treated to lunch from one of his favorite places, Noodles & Company.  We hear he likes Japanese Pan Noodles and Potstickers!  Yum!

Patrick and Alexis met at Freedom Park this week for a socially distant picnic and dog walking experience.  It was a beautiful day for friends to hang out, and it looks like Patrick's dogs, Zoe and Kona, enjoyed it, too!

Alexis also enjoyed outside time in her pool with her best little buddy, Haley.

Nan has been busy assembling some new learning games for us to play when we return to the center.  Thanks, Nan.  It will be nice to have some fresh activities!

We hear Xavier really enjoys seeing his friends when we have Zoom meetings, and he especially enjoys the dance segments.  We agree with you, Xavier!  It's been a great way to stay in touch.

Xavier has also been creative during quarantine.  This is the masterpiece he drew for Christina.  Very cool, Xavier!

Kevin visited his grandfather in Delaware recently and got to ride in Grandpa's new pontoon boat! 

Kevin loves seafood.  His dad's friend brought him some fresh-caught tuna sashimi and Kevin dug right in!  Way to go with the chopsticks, Kevin!

There was more seafood in Kevin's future this week, when his favorite restaurant, Harpoon Larry's, opened for outdoor dining!  😋

It was indoor dining at Kate's when she helped cook spaghetti for her family.

 Hey, isn't that your favorite dish, Kate?! 😋😋😋

Kate also took a walk this week and sent us a picture that marks a historical site.  Very interesting to learn that prehistoric Indian groups lived in her neighborhood long ago!

While outside, Kate spotted this very large turtle.  He (or she) wasn't too interested in smiling for the camera, though.

Speaking of large animals, look at the size of this catfish our friend Moose Patti caught in her neighbor's pond! She thinks it was about 40 pounds.  They relocated it to the Chickahominy River, so it would have more room!  Wow....it is huge!

We enjoyed our Zoom sessions this week when we learned about hip replacement surgery on Tuesday (Christina's operation was taking place when we met), and celebrated Emmy's birthday on Thursday.  She's our junior volunteer (and Becky's granddaughter) and she's smiling big in the middle picture on the bottom row because we were singing "Happy Birthday" to her!  Everyone else is smiling because we love a party!

On Wednesday we had an extra Zoom session called "Hang Out."  Carol and Lisa each hosted and only 1/2 of the gang was in each session.  They got to "chat" more and enjoy social time.   During the "Hang Out" with Carol, she played a video of "Uptown Funk" that got Drew up and moving!  He loves that song!

We got several pictures from Master Gardener Linda this week.  She encourages everyone to stop by the Botanical Garden at Freedom Park and check out the new growth.

Here's a close up of the Fairy Garden.  Linda says eventually they will give some of the sedum a haircut, and also plant portulaca flowers.  

There is monarda growing in this bed (aka bee balm) and it will soon show colorful flowers.  There is also cabbage growing here and gazania flowers at the other end.  This is where zinnias will be planted soon.  What a colorful bed it will be in a few weeks!

The onion plants are huge!  Linda says they hope you'll pull one up if you visit to see how big the onion root is and let them know (send Lisa a pic)!  It will still be good to eat even if it's small...and the green stalk is edible, too.  The garlic is still growing, and the MGs will let us know when it's ready to pick, probably in late June or early July.  The strawberries are under netting, but somehow the critters are getting to them.  Linda says if you find one, pick it and enjoy!

This is the trellis bed and it has a row of radishes that are ready to be eaten, so help yourself!  At each end of this bed is a new veggie for this year:  eggplant!  There are also pole beans planted here that will climb the trellis, and bush beans that will not.  Beans and eggplants are supposed to be good companion plants.  Remember, the MGs taught us that tomatoes and basil are good companions, too?!  

There is also Swiss chard in this bed and some spinach that is still too small to harvest.  If the AoA had been able to meet with the MGs this Spring, we would have helped to clean up these beds and plant and care for all of these plants.  We really hope to get to resume our sessions with the MGs in the Fall!

Our friend Jorie and all the others at Eaton are grateful for the "work from home" some of our guys were able to do during quarantine.  Jorie sent Eaton t-shirts for them to wear when working at home, as a token of their appreciation.

Here is Sam modeling the shirt.  It was a nice surprise!  

Patrick was surprised and happy to receive a shirt, too.  Our other "work from home" crew members were Alexis, Liz, and Laura, and they will also get shirts.  While we know all of the AoA gang would have chipped in, we couldn't logistically make it work during quarantine.  But we are SO PROUD of ALL of our guys when it comes to Eaton work, and we cannot wait to get back to it as a full and hard-working AoA Team!  Thanks, Jorie, and all of our Eaton friends, for your support of The Arc of GW all year 'round, and especially during a pandemic! 

We have this beautiful picture of Christina when Alexis and Lisa delivered her cheer package from the AoA on Friday.  She is recovering very nicely from hip replacement surgery, using ice packs (under her blanket) for pain management.  When asked how she felt, she said, "A little pain, but not nearly as much as last week!"  She's going to be running around as good as new before we know it.  We're so happy for you, Christina!  She also sends a big "thank you" for the thoughtful bag of goodies!  You're welcome, Christina!!

We'll wrap up this week's blog with a sign of better times to come!  Just look at this gorgeous rainbow that appeared out Carol's back door.  We sure hope that "somewhere, over the rainbow" lie brighter days for the AoA, The Arc of Greater Williamsburg, and all of our beloved families and friends!

In Peace,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang

p.s.  Here it is; we know you're humming it!