Sunday, July 31, 2016

When Nanaw got to Chase's house on Sunday, Chase and Daddy were in the back yard, playing in the sprinkler. It's a Dory sprinkler that Chase wanted Daddy to buy. Chase spent a long, long time running through the sprinkler and moving it around the yard. Nanaw had to keep moving out of the way of the sprinkler so she didn't get soaked. Mama said Chase and Daddy had gone out to visit Grandma Pat Sunday afternoon while Mama went to see the downtown loft of her friends Tom and Melissa. Mama has gotten obsessed with the Sharknado movies and after dinner, she and Daddy and Chase and Nanaw started watching Sharknado 4. Chase got very excited about the sharks flying through the air but then lost interest and started playing with Daddy's iPad.

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Nanaw went over to visit Chase early on Saturday morning before she went out to Aspenhof. Jackson and his mom and dad were still there after their slumber party with Chase and his parents. Mama fixed biscuit donuts for breakfast (powdered sugar donated by Nanaw). Nanaw played with Jackson and Chase in the living room for awhile, then everyone went outside to play baseball. They invented a baseball game where they used the skimmer nets to catch the ball. Jackson and his mom and dad were going to a birthday party later in the day, and they left their dog Dolly at Chase's house, then picked her up after the birthday party. Mama told Nanaw that Daddy took Chase to 5 o'clock mass on Saturday evening and that Chase misbehaved. Mama couldn't remember what he'd done wrong but said it was so bad that Daddy told her not to give Chase the surprise present she bought for him at the store. Nanaw later asked Daddy what Chase had done, and it turned out that he took his Angry Birds along with him to church and was "launching" them everywhere, including toward the woman sitting in front of him.

Friday, July 29, 2016

Friday was an adventurous day for Chase and Nanaw. In the morning, they went to the Train House. They were fortunate enough to get there in time for the 9:15 Creation Station session -- it wasn't sold out when they got their tickets. Chase had a good time, as usual, He played for a long time at the big table with the wooden vehicles and buildings. He and Nanaw and the stuffed animals (puppy and elephant) spent time in the reading area, and Nanaw read half of the Chugga Choo Choo book -- Chase lost interest in the reading area after the first half of the book. (Interesting note: In her speech introducing her mother at the Democratic National Convention, Chelsea Clinton mentioned that the Chugga Choo Choo book was one that her mother Hillary Clinton reads to her daughter Charlotte all the time.) Chase got his popcorn and visited the caboose but there was no train ride. Next week Nanaw will try to make a train ride happen. After the Train House, Chase and Nanaw went to Dollar Tree to get surprises for Jackson's visit Friday evening. They bought two stuffed snakes, two stuffed frogs, two pool skimmers, two baseball bats and balls, and Chase's favorite, two cans of silly string. Chase was very happy that his friend Jackson and his family were coming over for a sleepover. The boys played with their new dollar Tree toys (the silly string was the greatest hit of all, of course, and the messiest), swam in Chase's pool and had make your own Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner. Jackson slept on his blow-up mattress on the floor of Chase's room -- he preferred that to sleeping in Chase's bed.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Thursday was cleaning lady day so in the morning Nanaw had to do her usual straightening up. When that was done, Chase and Nanaw set off on their adventures. Their first stop was Dollar Tree where they got some glow sticks for Chase and Jackson to play with when Jackson comes to visit on Friday night. Nanaw was supposed to get more things for Jackson at Dollar Tree but she spent the money on Chase so she'll go back on Friday and buy more Jackson things. After Dollar Tree, they went to Schnuck's. Next, they went to Walmart for regular grocery shopping. When Nanaw took Chase home, Mama wasn't there yet. She had called Nanaw to tell her that she'd gotten stuck in traffic, and still had to go pick up pizza for Friday night so she probably wouldn't see Nanaw. But Daddy was cutting the grass and Chase wanted to go swimming so Nanaw stayed till Mama got home and could watch Chase in the pool. Once again, Nanaw forgot to take pictures and send them to Mama so once again she took a few at the end of the day.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Chase and Nanaw had a special adventure on Wednesday. They went out to the little house at Aspenhof. First, they went to Washington Walmart, looking for various things, including blank VCR tapes (they didn't have any). Next, they went to Marthasville Lumber to look for kitchen and bathroom cabinets and fixtures for the little house (Nanaw is going to have the bathroom and kitchen cabinets at the little house renovated. Chase was very good at the lumber store. He looked around at everything and stuck close to Nanaw -- it was very cute. After the lumber store, Chase and Nanaw went to the little house. Nanaw turned on the electricity, especially the air conditioners, and Chase played with his special box of toys. He also played with the new Star Wars Ewok Nanaw bought for her at Walmart. Chase loves the little house (on Thursday, he kept saying he wanted to go again). Chase said it was Tee Tee's favorite place in the world -- what a cute little boy he is. After they left the little house, Chase and Nanaw took the long way home so that Nanaw could stop at the Warrenton Walmart and Wentzville Walmart to look for video tapes -- but no one has any. So Nanaw will have to buy them from Amazon. Nanaw forgot to take pictures and send them to Mama so she took a few at the end of the day.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Chase had several adventures on Tuesday. The first one was finding the lost Norman the guinea pig from "The Secret Life of Pets." Norman was lost downstairs but now he's home with Chase. Chase's next adventure was something he made with his mega blocks. He showed his creation to Nanaw and told her it was a gun to shoot bad guys. Actually, Nanaw thinks it looks like an AK47. The next adventure was a visit to Mama's work at Wells Fargo. All of Mama's co-workers were happy to see Chase -- it's been a really long time since his last visit. Mama's boss Ann gave him a little duck, and she shared the department's candy with him, putting it in a little orange Wells Fargo bag. After the visit to Mama's work, Chase and Nanaw went to Union Station to see the trains. They also planned to go inside Union Station but because of the renovation construction, Nana couldn't figure out how to get in, so they went home. Next, they went to Waterloo Walmart, then Chase took his night-night nap. Mama was going out to dinner with Aunt Becca so Chase had an evening with Daddy. When Nanaw left Chase's house, he and Daddy had all the Play Dough spread out on the kitchen table, and they were going to make Angry Birds.

Monday, July 25, 2016

The first thing Chase and Nanaw did on Monday morning was to create Angry Birds out of Play Dough, just like Chase did with Mama on Sunday night. Nanaw's Angry Birds were very odd looking. Chase's and Nanaw's Monday adventure was a visit to the Science Center, one of Chase's favorite places. Nanaw had promised that their first stop at the Science Center would be the air ball display (which Chase really likes) and that they would wait for their turn. But when they got to the display, Chase decided he wanted to play on the other air display with the PVC pipes. Amazingly enough, he played there for 45 minutes or so, running back and forth putting the little yellow balls down the pipe. There were several other little boys there, and they all played together very cooperatively. After the air display, Chase played in the sail boat area and had a good time racing the sail boats with other children. Chase and Nanaw then went downstairs to play in the dinosaur dig area where Chase had a good time until he walked away and said he wanted to go home to his house. Later, Chase told Nanaw that someone had taken his shovel so that's what made him want to leave. Nanaw told him next time to tell her and she would get his shovel back. Then he told Nanaw that next time he would get another shovel himself -- what a cutie he is.