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.”

Monday, June 1, 2026

Two updates from Mama: Number one is that Chase and Daddy did go to church Sunday morning before Chase’s Bears 1 p.m. baseball game. Number 2 is that Saturday night when they came home from baseball, they ordered Papa John’s pizza. And of course, Chase had to have stuffed crust. On Sunday, they had Panda’s after losing game 2. Another update is that Nanaw is riding along Tuesday afternoon when Daddy goes to the Centene Hockey Center to pick up Chase from hockey camp. This is so she knows where to go when she picks Chase up on Wednesday afternoon. So Nanaw won’t see Chase any mornings this week because Daddy will be taking him to hockey camp, which starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m. Chase will come to Nanaw’s house after hockey practice so that makes Nanaw happy. Today, Chase was really tired from camp and mostly just lay on the sofa playing with his phone. Nanaw wanted to do a little school but he said he was too tired. But then he agreed to do 10 state capitals – what a sweet boy he is to do that for Nanaw. 

Sunday, May 31, 2026

Nanaw assumes Chase and Daddy went to church on Sunday morning because he didn’t have a baseball tournament game until 1 p.m. but she’ll double-check that with Mama. On Sunday, Chase had another day of baseball in St. Peters. His Bears team won their first game at 1 p.m., 17-4. See below for the write-up about Chase’s performance in the game. He got three hits!! Unfortunately, his team lost their second game. Mama said he didn’t complain when she took the second picture below, which is unusual for Chase because Mama and Nanaw are constantly taking pictures of him. Nanaw doesn’t get to see Chase tomorrow until late in the afternoon because of the Wayne Gretsky hockey camp, which is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Nanaw thinks Daddy is taking and picking him up on Monday and Tuesday, taking him on Wednesday morning and then Nanaw is going to pick him up on Wednesday afternoon. One of the times, Nanaw is going to ride with them so she knows where to go to pick Chase up. It’s at the Centene hockey complex where the Blues practice, somewhere out at Earth City. Maybe Nanaw will do a reconnaissance drive. 

Saturday, May 30, 2026

On Saturday, Chase had two baseball games with his Bears team, and he and his friend Tucker played on the B team. They won the first game 10-4. Mama said they had a long break between games so they went to Raising Cane’s for lunch with Tucker, his mom and Colin, another one of the players on the Bears. Unfortunately, the B team lost their second game so badly Mama didn’t give Nanaw the score. Now for Nanaw’s plan about how to do school for Chase this year. On Thursday afternoon, Nanaw had read the first Weather Academy lesson out loud to Chase in his room. She did it as much for herself as for Chase because she wasn’t doing a good job of remembering what she read online. So it made her start thinking about trying a different approach to school for Chase. Instead of having him spend two hours at the dining room table doing school work, she’s going to try breaking it into brief sessions interspersed with him playing on his phone, playing on the computer, playing knee hockey and pencil hockey, etc. So Friday, for their first three sessions, they did: naming the capitals of the first five states in alphabetical order in their book on states; reading the second Weather Academy lesson out loud; and solving five algebra equations provided by ChatGPT. Some of the other sessions Nanaw will try with him are: taking the touch typing lessons online so that he can really type and not just use two fingers; playing on the keyboard and making up songs; going through the class folders of papers from 8th grade and reviewing some of the material he’d learned; plus other things Nanaw hasn’t thought of yet. 

Friday, May 29, 2026

On Friday morning, Nanaw took Chase to his workout session close to his friend Drew’s house. She didn’t have any trouble finding it because of the reconnaissance drive she and Mama had done the day before. The workout sessions are an hour, and Nanaw had brought along her iPad and was going to watch soap operas she missed. But she couldn’t get Spectrum to work so she went back to Columbia to Schnuck’s and Dollar Tree. At Schnuck’s, she bought her newspaper and the big, yummy strawberries she likes so much. At Dollar Tree, she bought some extra pairs of reading glasses because she seems to either keep breaking them or losing them. For lunch, Chase had one of the Michaelina frozen dinners – wheels and cheese. In tomorrow’s Days of Chase Nanaw will talk about the new approach to summer school she’s going to try with Chase. At 5:45, Mama, Daddy, Chase and Nanaw had a birthday adventure for Daddy – dinner and a movie: They went to Marie’s for ice cream – a replacement for dinner. Daddy had two scoops of strawberry, Mama had one scoop of coconut, Chase had a huge purple waffle cone with two scoops of Superman ice cream, and Nanaw had a medium hot fudge sundae with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, pecans and whipped cream – yum. After Marie’s, they went to the Waterloo Cinema to see the Star Wars’ movie The Mandalorian and Grugo. Grugo is a tiny fellow who sort of looks like Yoda and who steals the show. The review Nanaw read about the movie said it was dull but Nanaw thought it was anything but dull. The whole move consisted of fights and wars and battles. Chase hadn’t wanted to go; he doesn’t like movies but he seemed to sort of like this one. Even Mama liked it and didn’t fall asleep. They all had sodas and everybody but Chase had popcorn. Nanaw hopes they have more birthday adventures like that. Nanaw had forgotten to take a picture of Chase for Days of Chase so he sent her a selfie when they got home from the movie.

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Chase and Nanaw had two exciting adventures today. The first one was at noon when Chase decided to cook buttered noodles for his lunch. He looked up a recipe on the Internet and began gathering the things he needed. First, he filled a saucepan with water, then put it on the stove to boil.  Then, he got out spices – garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Then he put together a small bowl with shredded Mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. He put the noodles in the boiling water and when they were cooked, he put melted butter, the cheese and the seasonings on them. He gave Nanaw a taste, then ate half of what he’d fixed. Later in the afternoon, he ate the rest as a snack. It was a very successful cooking session for him, and Nanaw was so proud. Plus, the noodles were delicious. The second adventure was that they started studying weather through the online, free Weather Academy. Today they studied the atmosphere, clouds and precipitation. Nanaw printed out the courses so she and Chase can read them aloud to each other to reinforce what they’re learning. Nanaw started sorting through Chase’s school papers she’d saved. Some of them she saved to go through during summer school, and the rest she threw away. Chase did an incredible amount of written work this school year. When Nanaw took Chase home, she and Mama went on a reconnaissance drive to the place where Chase does his workouts. Nanaw has to take him at 11 tomorrow morning. It’s very easy to find. Mama texted Nanaw at about 10:30, asking if Tee Tee was there. Chase had put him with the backup Tee Tees and forgot about him. Nanaw took a picture of Tee Tee with the backups and sent it to them, saying he was enjoying a delightful sleepover with his family. Today was Grandma Marge’s birthday.

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

On Wednesday morning, Chase brought over a $20 bill. He said he wanted to buy a game on Steam, which is a gaming site that he plays on on Nanaw’s laptop. The name of the game is Tape to Tape, and he spent some time today playing it. He really likes Nanaw’s laptop, which is just like Mama’s. Maybe some day Mama will get a new laptop and give her old one to Chase. Mama is still dealing with Chase’s school, trying to get them to deprovision his Chromebook from the school’s management sysem. There doesn’t seem to be anybody there who knows what to do to get the school’s material and control off the Chromebook. Chase would like to be able to play on the Chromebook at home and put games on it, which he couldn’t do when it was connected to the school’s system. In the afternoon, Nanaw asked Chase if he wanted to hang out with Amelie and he said he hadn’t heard from her. Nanaw said why didn’t he text her and he said, “Oh no, I couldn’t do that!” When Nanaw asked why, he just said, “I couldn’t do that!” Later, Mama and Nanaw laughed together about that. Nanaw suggested they do some school today but Chase said maybe tomorrow. Nanaw also tried the sports visioning thing she’d read about where, as an example, the person closes their eyes and envisions themselves holding a bat at home plate, the pitcher does a wind-up and pitches the ball, and they hit a home run. But Chase said he couldn’t do it because it takes him 30 minutes to envision anything and fall asleep. Nanaw doesn’t think he understood at all what she was talking about. She’ll have to try again.

Tuesday, May 26, 2026

Chase made arrangements to hang out with Amelie on Tuesday. They agreed to meet in the park between 11:30 and noon. Nanaw took Chase over to his house a little after 11:30. He rode his bike over to the park and met Amelie there. Eventually, they came over to Chase’s house and played basketball for a while. They played hockey in the garage and then went downstairs and played knee hockey. They finally ended up sitting on the sofa downstairs playing Roblox on their phones and then just playing on their phones. Nanaw went downstairs to get the cord to the Chromebook so she could charge it, and she said hello to Amelie and asked her if she wanted anything to eat or drink. Amelie said she’d like a glass of water so they went upstairs and got that for her. She’s a nice girl, friendly and talkative. She gave Chase a wonderful pocketknife with his name on it. She and her family went to Gatlinburg and that’s where the knife came from. Chase gave her a purple bead bracelet. Amelie had to go home at four and then Chase and Nanaw went back to Nanaw’s house for a while. Nanaw asked Mama if Chase could stay an extra half-hour at Nanaw’s and Mama said yes. 

Sunday, May 24, and Monday, May 25, 2026

Nanaw texted Mama asking for an update on what Chase did on Sunday, and Mama texted back that he didn’t do much. It sounded to Nanaw like a lazy day for everybody, resting up from vacation. Chase and Daddy went to church in the morning, and then Chase did some hitting in the back yard. For dinner, Daddy grilled hamburgers, Nanaw assumes Chase also did a lot of playing on his phone, as usual. On Monday, Memorial Day, Chase spent time with three of his friends: Cole, Hunter and Brady, at his house and at Cole’s house. Nanaw came over for a rib dinner and brought red-skin potato salad, Hawaiian rolls and cookie dough ice cream. The ribs were delicious and so was everything else. Before dinner, Chase played floor hockey with the stuffed animals and talked to Nanaw. He said he bought Amelie a present in Florida and later he showed Nanaw the purple bracelet he bought for her. He said she had also bought something for him on her family trip to Tennessee. Chase said he wanted to hang out with Amelie tomorrow, and Nanaw said they would figure that out. Nanaw brought her laptop along with her and told Chase it was going to have a sleepover with him, and he was happy about that – he likes playing on Nanaw’s laptop. Mama told Nanaw that Chase is going to the Savannah Bananas baseball game in August with his friend Tucker, and Nanaw knows he will enjoy that. Before dinner, Mama and Chase stood back to back in the kitchen to see if Chase had grown any in Florida, and it looked like he had so Mama measured him again. He was 5 feet 5 ½ inches, an inch taller than at the doctor’s office.

Saturday, May 23, 2026

Mama, Daddy and Chase got up early on Saturday morning and left Santa Rosa around 5:40, which Nanaw thinks might be 4:40 a.m. Columbia time. Nanaw keeps forgetting to ask Mama if Santa Rosa is on Central or Eastern Time. Nanaw will look it up right now. Santa Rosa is in northwestern Florida on the Gulf of Mexico and is on Central Time so they left at 5:40 Columbia time. Mama sent Nanaw a picture of Chase sound asleep in the back seat. She said he fell asleep right after they left and slept for a long time. It’s the picture below, and Chase is wearing a Truman shirt. Nanaw liked it a lot and asked Mama where she got it, and Mama said she thought she got it at Rally House. Mama thought they would be home by six but they actually got home around five. About five-thirty, Mama and Chase came over to Nanaw’s to get the pets. It made Nanaw so happy that he came along with Mama. Nanaw has missed him so much. They brought Nanaw a little bottle of small shells and sand – very cute. Chase asked Mama if he could stay at Nanaw’s for a while, and Mama said he could stay for an hour, which made Nanaw even happier. He played games on the laptop for a while, using the new little device Nanaw bought him for his graduation. Then he went into his room to play pencil hockey as they call it although pencils are not longer involved; he now uses much bigger things to shoot balls into the hockey net. He also watched the Stanley Cup game. Sylvester and Tyler sent Nanaw a $50 Amazon gifr card for taking care of them, and Nanaw sent them a thank you note, saying she was surprised they have an Amazon account. Nanaw took him home a little before seven.

Wednesday, May 20, Thursday, May 21, and Friday, May 22, 2026

So far on Wednesday, Mama had sent only a brief update, saying “Playing X-Box again” with the first picture below. The second photo is one that Nanaw took of the three Trumans and sent to Chase, telling him they missed his Truman. Then on Thursday, Mama gave this update on Wednesday:  “Xbox, swimming (we played pool volleyball), more Xbox.   Kristen and Kelly made seafood and then chicken for Chase and me.  Daddy, Chase and I took a golf cart ride to get ice cream last night.  Nothing planned for today except more pool time and I think we’re getting pizza for dinner.”  In the update for Thursday, Mama said Elias and Chase had dinner with her and Will. Then the boys and Daddy went to the beach but Mama stayed at the house. She said they went to get ice cream and then swam for a few minutes. Chase showered, and she wasn’t sure what he and Elias would be doing next but that the old people were going to bed! LOL. On Friday, Mama said they would be leaving Saturday morning sometime before 7 and would arrive home sometime in the evening and that it’s a 12-hour drive. Her Friday report was that the boys played XBox and then Elias went to lunch with his family, and Mama, Daddy and Chase swam for a bit. Then they went to Stinky’s so Chase could get a shirt, and they got soft pretzels.  They came back and waited for the rain to end so they could go to the beach. Mama said the only time it rained this week was at 5 p.m. Friday. Later, they went to the beach, then they got ice cream. Back at the house Chase played on his phone, and Mama and Daddy packed up most of their stuff. Mama said they would finish packing in the morning.  Mama said they miss Nanaw, which made Nanaw feel good! Mama sent lots of pictures, shown below.

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Mama texted the following update: Today (that would be Tuesday) Chase and Elias played on the X-Box and stayed inside for a while. Mama went to breakfast at a beach bar with a lot of the group. The boys finally came outside to swim. In the evening, Daddy went to Stinky’s to get dinner, and Mama stayed back at the house with Chase and Elias. Monica (Elias’s mom’s sister, his aunt) and her friend Melissa stayed back with them, too. Monica and Melissa have two little dogs they brought with them. Nanaw thinks that Mama is probably happy to have dogs on vacation with them so she doesn’t miss Sly too much. The cleaning lady came to Nanaw’s house today, and a miracle happened, with all four cats going downstairs. Nanaw took Sylvester to his house until the cleaning lady was done. He had to ride in the back seat because Nanaw had too much stuff in the front seat. When Nanaw got Sly back home, she finally mixed some canned dog food with his dry food, and he gobbled it down. Mama had said Nanaw should do that if he didn’t eat the dry food, which he didn’t. For the second picture, Mama said she made Elias and Chase pose for her. The third picture came at 10:13 p.m. Tuesday night, which Nanaw thinks is 11:13 Florida time – she’ll have to check with Mama. 

Monday, May 18, 2026

Mama sent a couple of update texts about what they did on Sunday and Monday. She said she finally got Chase to shower on Sunday night. Evidently he hadn’t wanted to shower; he must have been thinking that being in the swimming pool all day meant he didn’t have to shower. LOL She said they didn’t do much on Sunday. Chase and Elias spent a lot of time in the pool on Sunday, then went for a golf cart ride Sunday night to get ice cream. They also went to the beach. When Mama was writing the text, she said Chase and Elias were inside playing on their phones and the X-Box. Nanaw reported to Mama about the thunderstorms in Columbia. She told her that the thunder scared Sylvester, and he ran into Nanaw’s bedroom and hid under the bed. Mama said she’d kept hearing about the thunderstorms in Columbia, and Daddy said it was supposed to rain most of the week. Mama said it was sunny and warm there – Yay! She said she hadn’t been to the beach yet so they walked over there and looked at it. Chase stayed back at the house playing on his phone. Later, Mama and Daddy went to dinner with Uncle Stan and Aunt Becca but Chase stayed back at the house.

Sunday, May 17, 2026

Yesterday, Nanaw said Mama would provide an update on Chase’s activities on Saturday, and Mama did. She said: “We got here around 2:30 yesterday, had a beer at Stinky’s, then came back to the house and hung out by the pool. Chase and Elias played in the pool for a long time. There is a small shuffleboard inside, and Elias has his X-box with him.” So it sounds like the boys will have lots to keep them busy and happy. Nanaw took Sylvester for a walk in the afternoon, after he’d already pooped in the dining room. The first photo shows Chase by the big swimming pool, practicing his batting. The second photo is a nighttime shot of Chase and Elias in the small pool. Sunday’s activities will probably come tomorrow.

Saturday, May 16, 2026

Mama, Daddy and Chase left for Florida about 3 in the morning. They were headed toward Santa Rosa, about a thousand miles from Columbia. Mama says Daddy will drive most of the way because he says he can’t sleep in the car so he might as well drive. Chase sent Nanaw the first picture below – a selfie. Mama sent the second picture of Chase sleeping in the car. With Mama’s new car, there’s no place to stretch out and sleep but it looks like he made himself comfortable. Chase also texted Nanaw asking her to pick up some of the guys on his bed, especially the big stuffed dog who has a hole in his head that Nanaw needs to sew. In the afternoon, Nanaw went over to Chase’s house and picked up the guys and brought in the mail but hasn’t sewn the dog’s hole in the head yet. The third picture is Chase in kindergarten on his special day, showing his favorite book, Wally Woof’s Missing Bone. He used to have Mama read it to him every night at bedtime, and he finally memorized it. Mama didn’t text Nanaw any updates about Chase’s activities in Florida today but she probably will tomorrow. Meanwhile, Nanaw is sure that Chase is having a magnificent time hanging out with cousin Elias, probably swimming, playing baseball and playing video games!