Monday, June 8, 2026

The young man who cuts down trees came by Nanaw’s house Monday morning to cut down the branch of the redbud tree in the back yard that was brushing against the house. He also used his Dingo to remove the pile of branches in the back yard. Nanaw’s plan for Chase on Monday was that they would start their computer programming project with ChatGPT after the tree guy was gone. Chase did his usual complaining about not wanting to do it but finally agreed. He did really well with it, better than Nanaw. This is a good thing for Chase to do, no matter how much he complains. It’s better for him than all the time he spends on his phone watching YouTube videos and playing games on the computer. They also started memorizing the presidents of the U.S., doing the first five, and they did another five state capitals. The one thing Chase refused to do was to start the online courses on touch typing. He said he was playing a game on the computer that he couldn’t stop. Nanaw was not happy about his refusal but told him they were going to do it on Tuesday morning when they got back from his dentist appointment. At 1 p.m., they went to his workout session. He seems to really like the sessions and seems to work hard at it. He came out afterwards soaking wet from all his activity; Nanaw had to put his clothes in the dryer. He says he likes the guy doing the workouts and likes what they do so good for him. 

Sunday, June 7, 2026

Nanaw checked with Mama about yesterday’s second game, and Chase’s team won the game 10 to 3, and Mama said it was a good game. On Sunday, Chase had two games but Nanaw isn’t sure where – St. Peters or Fenton. She’ll find out but she thinks it might be Fenton. The first game was at 3 p.m., and they won. The second game was at 5 p.m., and they lost 14 –1 but Chase had two hits and that’s good. After the game, they went to visit Wally’s with Tucker and his parents, the Pollnows. Mama said Chase enjoyed walking around Wally’s with Tucker. Wally’s is close to the ball field in Fenton so that’s why Nanaw thinks that’s where the boys played. They had Dairy Queen for dinner. Chase has a really busy week next week, and Nanaw will have a busy week driving him around to all the places he has to go. On Monday, he has a workout – called BBA, which means Building Better Athletes. On Tuesday he has a dentist appointment. On Wednesday he has an ortho appointment. On Thursday he gets a haircut and has a workout later in the day. On Friday he has a workout at 10 a.m. Nanaw had all kinds of ambitious “school” or “learning” plans for next week but maybe they won’t all happen. She wants them to get started on learning a computer programming language called Python. When Nanaw told Chase about it he didn’t seem too excited but after he thought about it he said that might be good because maybe he would need it later on. ChatGPT is going to help them learn it to that will be fun. The first photo below is a screen shot from mama’s calendar on her phone providing all of Chase’s activities next week. The second picture is a sort of goofy-looking selfie Chase took of himself and sent to Nanaw.

Saturday, June 6, 2026

Chase had two baseball games on Saturday in St. Peters. The first one was a 9 a.m. and they won it 12 to 6. Mama texted Nanaw during the second game and said they were currently winning 8 to 2 but Nanaw never found out the final score. She said Chase had a nice double during the second game. In the afternoon, Nanaw went to Irina’s graduation party at Uncle Mike’s house. The pool was open and lots of people went swimming. Nanaw had a nice chat with Peggy and learned all about the history of Lally’s place, the nonprofit tutoring place where Aunt Becky works and so does Peggy. Nanaw thought it was really interesting to hear the details of how Mary Pat started the tutoring nonprofit. In the evening, Mama texted Nanaw again to say she didn’t know what time Chase’s first game would be on Sunday but that she was going to try to go to the grocery story on Sunday morning. She asked Nanaw to text the list to her for what food she needed for Chase next week, so Nanaw did that.

Friday, June 5, 2026

Today was Chase’s last day at the Gretzy Hockey Camp. He seems to have really enjoyed himself although he was worn out and usually fell asleep on the drive home. He didn’t say anything about whether Wayne Gretzky stopped by the camp, which he usually does, so Nanaw will ask him. One of Gretzky’s son heads up the camp and sometimes comes out on the ice. Mama took him to camp on Friday morning and then went to Creve Coeur Park for a couple of hours to drive around, take pictures and take a walk. Then she went back to the Centene building and watched Chase skate. She took some pictures of him on the ice and sent them to Nanaw and made a Facebook post with them. Mama and Chase came and picked up Nanaw for lunch. They went to Bread Company on Telegraph Road, one of their favorite places. Mama and Chase had French Onion soup in a bread bowl, and Nanaw had Caesar salad. Mama also had a yummy-looking pastry. Chase got to stay at Nanaw’s house during the afternoon. He played pencil hockey and on the computer. He didn’t play as much on his phone as he usually does. Mama said it’s been a busy week so they were just going to chill tonight, with dinner from Jimmy John’s and watching the Cardinals baseball game – which they won 10 to 3. Mama, Daddy and Chase all had to rest up for a weekend of baseball out in St. Peter’s.

Thursday, June 4, 2026

Because the cleaning lady was rescheduled from Tuesday to Thursday, Nanaw had to clean the house again Thursday morning. Then she went to the gas station and the Telegraph Road Schnuck’s to get a newspaper. Then she parked in the library parking lot to watch her General Hospital soap opera until the cleaning lady was done. Mama took Chase to hockey camp this morning and then picked him up. About 4:15, she dropped him off at Nanaw’s house. Mama said he took a brief nap on the drive to Nanaw’s, just like he did the rest of the week. Hockey camp must really wear him out. Mama told Nanaw that she asked him the other day if he’d talked to Amelie, and he said yes. Mama asked if things were okay with them, and he said yes. He’s not real talkative. He had baseball practice tonight, and Nanaw asked if he was too tired for baseball, and he said no, he’d be fine.

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Uncle Mike came over on Wednesday afternoon to cut Nanaw’s grass and visit with her, and Nanaw wasn’t paying attention to the time. She had to pick Chase up from hockey camp, and she should have left earlier than she did. She took highway 141, which takes a little longer than the 270 and 70 way, and the traffic was heavy. So she was a few minutes late getting there for Chase. She called him when she was a few minutes away and reassured him that she would be there momentarily. She brought snacks for him, and he also bought snacks for himself at the little Schnuck’s place at the Centene Hockey Center. On the ride home, Chase fell asleep, just like he did Monday and Tuesday with Daddy. Traffic was even worse on the way home because it was rush hour so it took even longer, and Uncle Mike had left. Mama texted Nanaw that she could keep Chase till 5:30. He had free swing at 6:30, and she wanted to make sure he had enough time to eat dinner.

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Daddy picked Nanaw up on Tuesday afternoon to go to Centene to get Chase from hockey camp. The idea was for Nanaw to see how to get there for when she picks him up on Wednesday afternoon. It turned out that there’s an easier way to go rather than 270 to 70, You can get right to the entrance road by taking highway 141. So that’s the way Nanaw is going. Daddy and Nanaw got to watch Chase skate for about an hour or more and that was fun. He really skated well and did all the activities well. Daddy told Nanaw hockey camp was the only camp Chase asked to go to. It’s fairly expensive but worth it because Chase is learning a lot. Next year is the last year he can go – 15 is the top age. Mama had dinner with her work family tonight at Bartolino’s to celebrate their boss Wendy’s retirement. Mama had pizza, of course. Wendy is going to take care of her grandchildren, just like Nanaw did with Chase. It’s the best “job “ in the world, and Nanaw loved every moment of her 14-½ years with Chase. Nanaw sent Wendy a congratulations on your retirement card and told her she’s going to love her new “career.”