As we made our way into the month of July, the summer sun shone warmly Monday morning!  We gathered the usual crowd for Monday Movers seated exercise group and spent some time gently stretching our arms and legs, which felt wonderful. After warming up our bodies, it was time to warm up those vocal chords at Karaoke Sing Along! All that movement and singing whipped up quite an appetite for lunch and after we filled our bellies, we got crafty at Crafty Corner. This week’s project was a patriotic rocket in honor of the 4^th of July! Time sure flew this afternoon and before you knew it, we gathered everyone again for an exciting game of Tic Tac Toss! This week’s winners were: Virginia Fritz, Maria Christopherson and Herb Tschumperlin in fourth place, Milda Bautch in third place, and Frances White in second place. This week’s first-place champion was Kevin Bauer! Our game took us right up to supper and then we had our Monday evening Bingo game. A big “thank you” to Joyce and Marie Berger for helping set up, clean up and pass candy prizes!

The Fourth of July came in hot and humid, but we tried our best to keep cool all day long! The morning began with decking ourselves out in our patriotic best (red, white & blue sunglasses, necklaces, headbands and leis) and playing dice games to pass the time. After the midday meal and some visiting with friends, we beat the heat with red, white and blue popsicles which were a hit with everyone! Most people stayed inside to enjoy the icy treat because sitting outside was just too uncomfortable. Afternoon church was cancelled but we gathered to play more patriotic dice games from earlier in the day and this time we had an even bigger crowd than before! We may not have shot off any fireworks, but Mother Nature definitely put on a light show after supper with an evening thunderstorm.

The holiday on Tuesday pushed back Mass until Wednesday and it was wonderful to spend the morning in prayer and reflection with Father. After lunch concluded, the mail came and since there was none the day before, we sure had a big stack to go through! Fruit Bingo kicked off the afternoon and we were so grateful to see Kathy Shingledecker and Marlene Zimmer stop by to help with set up, clean up and candy prize passing. This week we had two winners of the big money ($1) for blackout: Maria Christopherson and Barb Halling! Way to go ladies! Afterwards we celebrated National Graham Cracker Day with a Chocolate Covered Graham Cracker Social.  Add in an ice-cold glass of milk to wash it down and you have a delicious afternoon treat!

Harriet Rothe swung by Thursday morning to read the news from all the surrounding areas; we always enjoy having her here to keep us up to date on the happenings in our communities. Everyone participated in sharing and many had similar stories to tell. After lunch, the afternoon began with many ladies receiving manicures; a brilliant robin’s egg blue was by far the most popular nail color this week! Later on we connected with residents one-on-one for “Buddy Boxes;” our newest offering in Activities allows us to visit with folks who don’t come out to activities. We had fun interacting with and engaging them with sensory boxes, toolboxes or sewing kits. Supper followed and then it was an evening filled with Pokeno with Aaliyah!

Our Friday morning Shuffleboard game drew only a handful of residents, but we still had a ball trying to score the most points! We had a three-way tie for fourth place: Bill Joyner, Judy Thorn and Barb Halling; Maria Christopherson was the third-place winner and Alice Brantner took second place. Milda Bautch was our first-place winner this week! We enjoyed a bit of lunch and then there was time to enjoy the beautiful summer weather on our front porch and back patio.  The afternoon brought a small group of folks to the dining room for Snack Makers and this week, we made Monster Munch. We combined pretzels, Chex, Honey Nut Cheerios, M & M’s and white chocolate for a deliciously sweet and salty mix just in time to serve it for Happy Hour where we listened to the delightful tunes of Rich Schroeder. Our busy day ended with supper and then Movie Night; this week’s flick was “Flubber!” If any of this sounds like fun, stop by the care center sometime; we would love to see you!