The summer days keep rolling right along as we headed into another Monday morning. Residents assembled in the dining room for Monday Movers seated exercise group and we stretched out stiff muscles to prepare for the busy week ahead. After 30 minutes, we gave our bodies a rest, but it was time to exercise our voices at Sing Along; our folks sing so beautifully and voices raised together in song always make us feel better! We moved into the afternoon where Crafty Corner saw us making flower pens, both for the residents to keep and for the CNAs to use at the front desk. The nurses and CNAs loved their bouquet of flower pens so much! A Monday afternoon game of Tic Tac Toss followed soon after and we, again, had a huge crowd of competitors. Nancy Bishop and Kay George grabbed fourth place, Judy Thorn and Kevin Bauer nabbed third and Dennis Schuh came in second place. Mary Matzek was this week’s Tic Tac Toss champion! A little while later we enjoyed a nice supper and then an evening of Bingo with volunteers Pat Frion and Kathy Luebker. We are always so grateful for all their help with set up, clean up and candy prize passing! 

Tuesday morning began with mass for our Catholic residents after breakfast and we gathered back in the dining room with Father Jojo for the service. It’s always such a peaceful and contemplative way to start the day. Lunch followed, along with distributing mail, and then it was time for our afternoon Popcorn Social! Residents always love this time of the week; freshly popped popcorn puts a smile on everyone’s face and it’s hard to turn down a bowl of this delicious treat! After the last kernels were claimed we cleaned up to get ready for afternoon church. This week, Pastor Tom from Pepin Immanuel led the service and we gladly sang hymns and listened to this week’s message. Our Tuesday ended with supper and then Aaliyah gathered folks together for evening games!

Wednesday started with a fun game of bowling; even though it was a smaller group than usual, we had no shortage of fun and laughs! Jeff Halverson took fourth place; Carol Campbell, Judy Thorn and Kevin Bauer all came in third and Alice Brantner grabbed the second-place spot! Dennis Schuh was our first-place winner this week! Bowling always works up an appetite so we were happy that lunch soon followed the game. The afternoon brought mail delivery, Fruit Bingo and a Watermelon Wednesday Social! This week a huge thanks goes out to volunteers Julie Tschumperlin and Lana Ingli for helping with Fruit Bingo set-up, clean-up and prize passing. We had two winners for blackout this week: Barb Halling and Lorraine Komro! Folks hung around after bingo for our Watermelon Wednesday Social and it was definitely worth the wait – that sweet and juicy watermelon was so delicious it was gobbled up in no time!

The busy week continued Thursday with Local News and Coffee with Marlene Zimmer stopping by to read us the latest news in the surrounding communities. We always have a little extra time at the end to chat about the good old days and funny stories that we remember from growing up! Residents always enjoy gathering to share their experiences and memories with their neighbors. Lunch kicked off our afternoon and soon after Aaliyah had a line-up of ladies who wanted manicures! Nails dried just in time for Thursday’s main event: the Family Picnic! Family, friends and loved ones stopped by to visit residents and enjoy music from Larry Radle and a picnic supper. We had so many visitors that folks filled the dining room, as well as the front porch of the care center. The weather was so beautiful Thursday evening that we opened dining room windows so Larry’s music could be heard everywhere at the care center!  After having to be apart from one another so many times these past few years, it was so wonderful to celebrate being together again! 

The festive atmosphere continued into Friday morning as residents came together for a morning game of Shuffleboard. We had a couple of new faces join us and it was a close game! Carol Campbell came in fourth place, Bill Joyner was in third and Kevin Bauer grabbed the second-place spot. We had two first-place winners this week with scores of 114 points: Jeff Halverson and Alice Brantner! We had so much fun we almost lost track of the time and ran into the lunch hour; luckily we didn’t miss our midday meal!  The afternoon began with Snack Makers where we whipped up a batch of Munch and Crunch Mix to prepare for the hungry Happy Hour crowd. Rudy Rudesill played his guitar for us at Happy Hour and we happily sang along to all the tunes! After supper, a storm rolled in very quickly and we had to sadly cancel Movie Night. But it’s better to be safe than sorry and next week Movie Night will be that much more enjoyed!