Thursday, August 20, 2026

Thursday was a much quieter, less complicated day than Wednesday for Nanaw. Things are going well with getting Chase to school on time. They leave the house at 7:25 a.m. and get to Gibault by 7:45. That gives Chase a few minutes before he has to be in Home Room at 7:55 a.m. Funnily enough, the biggest thing about school to Chase so far is lunch. He’s very interested in what they have for lunch each day, and he’s very happy with the meals. Today they had chicken strips, and Chase said they were good. He said he ate the fruit for a change, and it was a pear, and it was good. On the drive home from school, Nanaw asked again if Chase would agree to let her view his Schoology dashboard. Nanaw would like to see what he’s learning and learn along with him. There was a silence before Chase answered Nanaw. Then he said, “I would prefer not.” Maybe Nanaw will try again, and she’ll tell him she wants to learn along with him, and she won’t bug him or nag him about anything. When he got home from school, he put the finishing touches on his drawing of a container for art class. He drew a picture of his Blues water bottle, and Nanaw thinks he did an excellent job. He’s not an artist but he did his best, and Nanaw thinks it’s great. Nanaw took a picture of Chase’s drawing, and it’s the second picture below. When Nanaw took chase home, Daddy showed her the squiggly, animated mouse he bought for tyler. Unfortunately Tyler didn’t like the mouse and left the room whenever Daddy tried to get him to play with it. So Daddy gave it to Nanaw for her cats. Mamaw’s cats really liked the mouse toy and play with it whenever Nanaw puts it out for them. In the evening, Chase had hitting practice and then baseball practice. He didn’t get home until after 10 p.m. so he was late getting to bed. But it’s only one night a week. 

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

The sleepover worked out very well, and both Chase and Nanaw had a good time. Chase woke up all on his own at 6:45. He got himself dressed in his purple House shirt, then ate his breakfast. Nanaw had a jam-packed date today. First, she took Chase to school, then she picked Mama up from St. Clare, where Mama had her procedure. Nanaw brought a Pepsi and a bag of marshmallows for Mama to snack on. Next, Nanaw had a teeth cleaning appointment with Teresa at the dentist’s office and then she had the church meeting. Next, she went to pick Chase up from school. They were supposed to take Brady to the Columbia library for a tutoring session but it turned out that he had to play golf with the golf team. So they didn’t take Brady to the library. On the drive home and at Nanaw’s house, Chase told Nanaw about his day. For lunch, Chase had a bratwurst. The other choice was ribs but Chase doesn’t like barbecue. For homework, he had a sketchbook assignment for Art and a biology assignment. He finished the biology assignment at Nanaw’s house. His sketchbook assignment isn’t due till Friday so he’s going to work on it at school tomorrow and then if it isn’t done, he’ll work on it after school. The assignment is to draw a container, and he’s going to draw his Blues water bottle. Chase had a workout session at 6 p.m. today, and he’s happy that Tucker and Connor will be there. Nanaw isn’t sure who Connor is so she’ll ask Chase tomorrow and report back.

Tuesday, August 18, 2026

Chase’s second day of high school went well. He had chicken crispito for lunch and said it was good. Interestingly enough, they list two entrees on the menu but Chase says they usually have three, so you have a bigger choice. Mama sent an email about a mass tomorrow when everybody is going to wear their House shirts. Chase’s House is named Justice and his shirt is purple – lavender actually. The Houses are groups of students who gather together for various things. Chase will provide additional information when he has it. So far, the thing Chase is most interested in is lunch. LOL Nanaw asked him about the popular kids at Gibault, and he said there aren’t any. He said everybody gets along with everybody else. Tonight is Chase’s sleepover at Nanaw’s. Chase had Sonic, and Nanaw had a Crunch Wrap Surpreme from Taco Bell. After that, they went to Chase’s house to pick up his clothes for tomorrow (the purple shirt and uniform pants) and have Mama sign a paper about a syllabus. Then they came home and built a fire in the fire pit to toast marshmallows. Nanaw put up chairs and a table for them to sit and look at the fire in the firepit and at the fireworks solar lights in Nanaw’s front yard. It was fun! Then Chase took his shower and went to bed, followed soon by Nanaw. 

 

Monday, August 17, 2026

Today was Chase’s first official day of high school. He seemed ready for it and not nervous or anxious. He didn’t show any anxiety about the two orientation days or the first official day, which made Nanaw happy. When Nanaw went to pick Chase up from school, she had a nice chat about soap operas with Brady’s grandma, Debbie. They’re both driving Broncos, and they park them together in the waiting area while they chat and wait. On the ride home, Nanaw learned a little about Chase’s first day of high school. He said the day was all right. He ate lunch with Joey and Brady, plus a guy named Oliver that he didn’t know but who was in some of his classes. He said Joey is in all of his classes except Art because Joey is in Band. His math teacher is also his homeroom teacher and the baseball coach, and Chase says he likes him. For some reason, Chase said he liked that Gibault gives them plastic utensils, napkins, and salt and pepper. He said the toasted ravioli for lunch was good. Chase had some homework – a Spanish assignment and about 20 math problems about the order of operations. Both assignments were pencil and paper homework, and Nanaw asked Chase about that. He said Gibault was digital but they also did pencil and paper assignments. Mama said to have Chase home by five so he could have dinner before his workout at 6 p.m. Mama, Daddy and Nanaw all talKed with Chase about his day when Nanaw brought him home. That was fun!

Saturday, August 15, and Sunday, August 16. 2026

Bears baseball started up again with practice on Thursday evening and a tournament on the weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Mama texted that unfortunately, the tournament didn’t go well for Chase and Tucker’s Bears team. They lost two games on Saturday and one game on Sunday. But the boys had fun, and that’s what’s important. On Saturday, Mama, Daddy and Chase had Dairy Queen for dinner. Then Daddy and Chase went to the driving range. Nanaw sent a text to Mama asking what she thought of Chase’s interest in golf. Mama had an interesting take on it, saying she thinks he enjoys it because there’s no practice and no pressure to be good on a team. Nanaw replied that she hadn’t thought of that, and she thought Mama was right. On Sunday afternoon, when they were finished with baseball, Tucker, his dad Brent, Chase and Daddy went golfing. Mama texted Nanaw a photo of Tucker and Chase that Brent took. Mama says Brent is good with photos. For dinner, Chase, Mama and Daddy had Mama’s chicken pasta, at Chase’s request, which Nanaw thought was cool.

Friday, August 14, 2026

Friday was Chase’s second day of orientation at Gibault. For lunch, he had chili crispitos, which he said were sort of like taquitos. Chase said they went over many of the same things they did yesterday – the classes and the location of the classrooms. He brought home a copy of the school map, which will be helpful in finding his classes. They worked on the Schoology dashboard to learn how to use it. That’s the way they’ll get their homework assignments and turn in their assignments. They’ll also get reminders and messages through the dashboard. Chase said they’d still have some pencil and paper homework assignments and that Gibault isn’t totally digital. Chase said both days were decent and that seemed to mean he liked the school. Nanaw asked Chase to tell her who from ICS was going to Gibault, and they counted 16 students. In the evening, there was a pot luck dinner in the school cafeteria for the families of the students new to Gibault. Daddy didn’t go so it was just Mama, Chase and Nanaw. Chase went to sit at the table of students and not with Mama and Nanaw. Mama and Nanaw sat at a table with Brady’s mom and dad but at a different end. They sat with one of the Gibault staff and learned a lot of interesting things about the school. The food was delicious, with so many different choices. The meat was pulled pork that was yummy. For dessert, there was cake from a bakery in Columbia, and Nanaw loved the white cake with white icing. After dinner, the students disappeared. Chase went off with Brady, Joey and Drew – the three friends from the crew who now go to Gibault. The other two, Cole and Hunter, are going to Columbia High School. When it was time to leave, Mama and Nanaw went searching for Chase. When they found him, he reluctantly agreed to give them a tour and show them where his classes were, which was a great ending to a great evening.

Thursday, August 13, 2026

Today was Chase’s first day of orientation at Gibault, and he was supposed to be there at 7:55 a.m. Chase and Nanaw left home in plenty of time to get there by then. Nanaw took pictures of Chase before they left and sent two to Mama. Then the Gibault principal took pictures of the Gibault freshman with the Gibault mascot, including the picture of Chase below. Then Chase showed up in a photo on Gibault’s Facebook page with several other students. For lunch, they had chicken patties, green beans, and a fruit drink.  Chase now has a map of the Gibault classrooms and common rooms so he knows where to go for classes – always important! He promised to show Nanaw all the things he’ll be doing and learning, starting Monday. They have a digital classroom called Schoology where they do all their class work. They have e-books for text books and all assignments and work are done online. It’s a whole new world for Chase, and Nanaw is excited to learn about it. Uncle Mike came over today to visit, cut the grass, and put a new taillight in Nanaw’s Bronco. He’s the best! It’s unbearably hot outside, and poor Uncle Mike got really hot so he took a cool shower.