Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Chase was in a much better mood on Tuesday and was eager to go to the Science Center. He played with his usual areas on the way in: the cars, the rain area and the arch building. He went into the Mars section and spent a lot of time building a Mars Rover and testing it out. This was a whole new area at the Science Center, and Chase liked it a lot. His favorite, of course, was the outside area. First, he and Nanaw visited the chickens. There were six of them, and they were beautiful. One of them was making a peeping noise, which delighted Chase. He played for a long time at the water area and had lots of fun pumping water into buckets and straining it through a grate. Next, Chase and Nanaw went downstairs to the dinosaur area. Chase played in the dinosaur dig for awhile, then they went to play with the stuffed dinosaurs. But they were gone so they didn't go into the lab room. On the way out, Chase and Nanaw went to see the big outdoor concrete dinosaurs: the triceratops and the tyrannosaurus rex. Chase loves them and posed very willingly by them for photos to send to Mama. In the car, Nanaw took a picture of Chase with Mama's van, which Chase brought along. His plan was to have a demolition derby with the van and some of his big cars when they got home -- and that's what he did. Unfortunately, the van had an accident with its rear bumper and Nanaw had to super-glue it back on. Nanaw told Chase they were retiring the van from demo derbies because it was so old. Mama and Nanaw figured it's at least 44 years old. At the end of the day, Chase and Nanaw had school, and it went better than usual. Hopefully, Mama will have the same experience tonight.

Monday, July 30, 2018

The plan for Monday was to go to the Science Center. Chase and Nanaw got there about 10 a.m. and surprisingly enough, there wasn't anywhere to park on the lot; the street parking was full also. So Nanaw took them to the History Museum, despite Chase's protests. He fussed and whined the whole time they were there, ending up crying so they left. The children's area of the museum has been vastly expanded and is awesome. Nanaw plans for them to go back when Chase is in a better mood. Next, they went to Florissant to go to the jeweler; Nanaw lost a diamond from her ring and needs to get it replaced. Unfortunately, the jeweler was closed, even though online it said it was open. So Nanaw plans to go back on Wednesday. They'll revisit the Florissant library also. They stopped there after the jeweler and were blown away by the children's section. The whole lower level is dedicated to children, with activities, mountains of books, and toys. Just amazing. In the afternoon, Chase and Nanaw had school. Chase fooled around as usual but Nanaw kept trying to keep him on track and focused.

Sunday, July 29, 2018

When Nanaw went to visit Chase on Sunday evening, Mama told her that Chase had a good time at Sami's party and did lot of jumping and ate a lot of pizza. In the afternoon, Chase and Daddy went out to Wentzville to visit Grandma Pat. When Nanaw got to Chase's house, he and Mama were doing homework, as Mama calls it. (Nanaw calls it school.) It wasn't going well. Chase was supposed to be calling but instead he was acting silly and not focusing; in other words, the way he always acts for Mama and Nanaw. He finally finished coloring, and he and Mama decided to make snow cones. Chase brought his Thomas stool into the kitchen so he could watch Mama. Unfortunately, the snow cone maker didn’t work, even with Daddy working on it. Chase was very disappointed so Mama got out the blender and put ice in it. And voila! The blender made shaved ice, and Mama made snow cones for her and Chase. Nanaw took the snow cone maker back to Walmart on Monday and got Mama's money back.

July 28, 2018

Nanaw went to visit Chase on Saturday morning. Daddy was golfing with Uncle Stan, and Mama was going to the grocery store. So Chase and Nanaw had their own adventure; they went to the County Library to do the scavenger hunt. This time the hunt was for 12 musical instruments. Chase learned several new words, including harp, ukulele, mandolin and lute. At the end, Chase and Nanaw had difficulty finding the maracas, the final item on the scavenger hunt. The smart little Chase found it on the stand where the scavenger hunt cards were. The library was selling the blue book bags for $1 again so Nanaw bought three of them and gave one to Chase. He had chosen two library books, and he put his books and his checkout ticket in the bag -- it was very cute. Mama was home from the grocery store when they got back to Chase's house. They did a little bit of homework, and then it was time for Mama and Chase to go to Sami's birthday party at a bounce house. Next, Mama and Chase had lunch with Aunt Becca at Who Dat's. Mrs. Herrmann was there with her family, and Mama and Chase were excited to see her. In the evening, they took Dolly dog home to Jackson and his mama and daddy.

Friday, July 27, 2018

Mama had the day off on Friday so she and Chase and Nanaw had a major adventure. They went downtown to visit the new Arch museum. But first they took Sam and Dolly for a walk, and Chase rode his bike. He's getting really good at it. At the Arch, Chase was so excited about being there and getting to see the Arch up close and touch it. They had to walk a long way from the parking garage to the Arch, and by the end of their adventure, Nanaw was tired out. They walked around until they found the new entrance and the new museum. There was a long line of people waiting to get in. You had to go through a security checkpoint and put things in a plastic bin -- like purses, phones, belts, watches, sunglasses, etc. Very interesting. On the way into the museum, there was a huge map on the floor, and Chase was intrigued by it and walked around it. The museum was full of TV screens, big and small and lots of very impressive displays. Chase and Mama really liked the miniature version of the St. Louis riverfront and especially liked it when the buildings lit up for pretend nighttime. Nanaw didn't have any favorites -- she liked everything and plans to go back for more visits. On the way home, Nanaw decided she was too tired to go on any more adventures, and she would go home and take a nap. Mama, Daddy and Chase went to play putt putt in the afternoon. In the evening they went to the demolition derby at the Monroe County Fair with the Muckensturms, and Mama said they had a good time.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

On Thursday morning, Chase asked Nanaw if they could make a fort on the dining room table and use the comforter from his futon. Nanaw said, yes, they could but it would have to wait till the afternoon because they were going to the Magic House in the morning. They got to the Magic House about 10 a.m. and were happy to see that it wasn't very crowded, not like last Friday. But after a while, it started to get crowded, especially with a group of older boys and girls from a summer camp. Chase had a great time visiting some of his favorite things. He brought Sam Stingray along, and also Tee Tee. They visited the kinetic ball display, the hockey area, the pulleys, the aquarium, the sand area, the vet, the library and the outdoor Nature Play area. As it got more and more crowded, Chase decided it was time to leave the Magic House. In the afternoon, Chase and Nanaw built a fort on the dining room table, using his comforter and the two soft penguin blankets. Chase brought all his "people" into the fort, along with some cars, a couple of balls, a skull, and football. At the end of the day, Chase and Nanaw had another good school session. It really works well to make a list of what they're going to do and then let Chase check items off the list as they do them.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

First thing Wednesday morning, Chase and Nanaw went to the post office to get postage put on something that Nanaw needed to mail. Chase told Nanaw that Sam Stingray is a boy because he doesn't have eyelashes. Evidently, that's how you tell the difference between boys and girls. Nanaw had planned for Chase to go to the water park at Sylvan Springs Park but he told Nanaw he didn’t' want to go. He said he wanted to put the fish in his wading pool and to have the Elmo sprinkler outside so that's what they did. Chase seemed to have a great time playing in the water. He washed his Big Wheels again -- very cute. He played Ninja Warrior, jumping in the wading pool, then running through the Elmo sprinkler. In the afternoon, Chase and Nanaw had their best session of school ever. Nanaw made a list of what workbook pages they were going to do and what books they were going to read, with check boxes to check off when they finished. It went quite well, much better than usual. Nanaw informed Chase that they are going to the Magic House on Thursday, no matter what. After Nanaw took Chase home, she went to the library and checked out two I Spy books for Chase (and Mama?): Christmas and Animals. Chase instructed Mama to tell Nanaw to add to Days of Chase that he will never like burritos! LOL!!