On Monday we woke up to rainy weather and thunderstorms, so unfortunately, a visit from Darla and her Mini Horse had to be rescheduled. Luckily, activity staff was able to quickly pivot and gathered folks together for a morning game of Bean Bag Toss! Slinging some bean bags after breakfast was still a great way to begin the day and everyone cheered as Kay George and Milda Bautch tied for fourth, Kevin scored third place and Nancy Bishop won second. Shirley Klinski beat them all when she came out on top as the first-place winner! After lunch was enjoyed and Noel and Barb Halling delivered mail to residents, there was a little bit of downtime where everyone relaxed. Soon it was time for Chef Jeff to make his appearance in the dining room to help Noel mix up a shortcake, which was baked for the upcoming social on Wednesday. Monday was an action-packed day and we continued with a game of Tic Tac Toss. There were LOTS of three-in-a-rows scored and many tied scores between opponents! Larry Thompson, Milda Bautch, Nancy Bishop and Kathy Geraets all came in fourth; Shirley Klinski, Ivan Mason, Carol Bauer (Seasons), Herb Tschumperlin and Kevin Bauer all scored third, and Carol Bignell, Jeff Halverson and Yvonne Sinz were second. Kay George managed to beat all those ties and was the lone first-place winner with a huge score of 95 points! Supper was next and then it was on to Monday night Bingo with Joyce and Marie Berger here to lend their smiles and helping hands; thank you ladies!

Father Jojo and Terry Pelzel were at the care center Tuesday morning after breakfast for Mass and residents gathered to listen to the peaceful service. After lunch was served and mail was passed, Noel and new Activity Assistant Willow were in the dining room to whip up some yummy fresh popcorn. Residents watched the popcorn machine being wheeled into position and wasted no time in securing a seat in the dining room to be the first ones for a bowlful! As the crunchy, salty kernels were getting gobbled up, Stacey brought her guitar around to delight folks with live music. Afternoon church came quickly afterwards and Pastor Paul from Sabylund Lutheran arrived to lead residents in prayer. Before you knew it, supper had arrived and then Stacey and Willow assembled the crowd in the dining room for an evening of games! Two dice games, “Climb the Mountain” and “Cover the Number” were played and there were a couple of winners for each game. Shirley Klinski and Mary Matzek tied for the win in “Climb the Mountain” and Yvonne Sinz and Judy Thorn were the winners of “Cover the Number!”  Goldie Helwig also had a noteworthy night as she received extra points on “Climb the Mountain” for the best yodel when she reached the top!   

The bowling balls were rolling and the pins were crashing Wednesday morning as residents played their weekly bowling game! Larry Thompson, Kay George, Judy Thorn and Yvonne Sinz all came in fourth, Herb Tschumperlin scored third place and Janet Robelia and Zeona Bechel tied for second. Carol Bignell was the first-place champion and the only player to score a strike during the game! Lunch refreshed everyone and then it was on to Fruit Bingo in the afternoon with volunteers Monica Krings and Wanda Ebensperger here to help with the game. Lady Luck was on everyone’s side and she was especially smiling on Barb Halling, who won Blackout Bingo for the second week in a row! We have definitely been feeling the summer heat and humidity lately; luckily we had plenty of cool and delicious Strawberry Shortcake for the large crowd to snack on at our Mid-Week Social!

Thursday was the first day of summer and we welcomed the change in seasons just as we welcomed Marlene Zimmer to the care center for our Local News and Coffee group! She read everyone the top stories in the local papers and stayed awhile to chat and laugh with everyone. It’s so nice to spend a little extra time with our volunteers each week! Lunch followed and then Stacey was assisted by Barb Halling with delivering the mail to folks. The afternoon brought our crowd of ladies to the dining room for manicures with Willow and Stacey! The gals love to look for their next nail color and many always linger to visit while they wait for their nails to dry. Thankfully everyone’s manicures dried just in time for supper and then Pokeno with Willow and Stacey was the name of the game for the evening!

The thunderstorms and rain were back Friday morning, but we stayed dry inside with a game of Shuffleboard! It was a small group but some folks won big: Nancy Bishop placed fourth, Carol Bignell and Milda Bautch tied for third and Jeff Halverson claimed second. Ivan Mason was our first-place Shuffleboard champion of the morning! A little lunch and then Noel, along with the assistance of Chef Jeff, whipped up some colorful fruit pizzas at Snack Makers. They looked almost too beautiful to eat but that didn’t stop us from gobbling up every last one at Happy Hour! We were celebrating summer at our Summer Luau Happy Hour. Stacey had set up tropical decorations earlier in the day and then Noel, Jeff Halverson and Carol Bignell put on the finishing touches in the afternoon with leafy looking tablecloths.  Jeff Bechel got the party started and soon everyone was tapping their toes and singing along to the tunes!  Supper was served once the party ended and then everyone settled in for Movie Night, watching the Don Knotts comedy “The Shakiest Gun in the West!”