Tuesday, August 7, 2018

For the first time ever Tuesday morning, Chase asked for school. Nanaw suspects that it had to do more with going to Magic House Camp after school rather than school itself. But Chase did a great job at school. At one point, he wasn't working very fast on the math problems, so Nanaw said she was going to put a load of laundry in the washer and that he should work on his problems. She came back in a couple of minutes, and he had done all the problems correctly -- yay, Chase! When school was done, Chase asked Nanaw, "Is it time now to go to Magic House Camp. Nanaw said no, it was still about 3 1/2 hours till it was time for camp. Chase really loves the Magic House Camp and is eager to go. It rained really hard most of the day so Nanaw and Chase couldn’t go outside and play soccer in the front yard. Nanaw borrowed one of Chase's soccer balls after practice last night so they could practice at her house. When Nanaw took Chase to Magic House Camp, there was a long line of cars dropping off campers, and Chase became very impatient, saying, "What's taking so long?" When Nanaw let him out of the car, he ran over to his camp counselor and they did high fives -- very cute. When Nanaw picked Chase up, he had a map of Kenya and a bracelet that he made. He said they went upstairs to Kenya today and learned all about Kenya. For a snack, they had animal crackers and apple slices. He said he loves Magic House Camp and can't wait to go back tomorrow.

Monday, August 6, 2018

Chase had a busy day on Monday with Magic House Camp in the afternoon and soccer practice in the evening. Chase and Nanaw played in his room in the morning, then they had school until it was time to go to Magic House Camp. On the ride there, Chase listened to his Thomas book reader and followed along with the books. He read four of the books on the way to the Magic House and really seemed to have fun doing it. (On the way home, he read the other four books.) At camp registration, Chase received a ball cap with his name on it. When Nanaw picked him up, he was chatting with one of the counselors -- it was very cute to see. He was so excited about camp and said he wants to come back every day till Friday. He said he had a great time, and he told Nanaw all about it: They made earth cookies with blue and green icing; they went downstairs to the basement. He said it was about 100 years old, and there were a lot of Magic House things stored there. They colored their white hats, made binoculars and brought home a real pair of binoculars. He also brought home a "passport." Chase did very well at soccer practice, except for falling down a lot. They learned new skills at first, and then played a practice game. It was fun to see the boys playing; they all did a great job.

Sunday, August 5, 2018

When Nanaw went to visit Chase on Sunday evening, he was so excited to tell her that he and Mama found Waldo on the Jurassic / dinosaur page in the Where's Waldo book. He took Nanaw into the living room, sat down on the couch with her, got the Waldo book and the "finding glass" (magnifying glass) and showed her where Waldo was. Waldo was very tiny and barely visible so it ws sort of tricky. Then Chase showed Nanaw the two other Waldos he and Mama found. Nanaw promised Chase that they would go to the Florissant library again and see if they could find Waldo on the Jurassic /dinosaur screen. Chase was also excited to show Nanaw his soccer uniform -- number 8 -- Mama's favorite number. After a delicious steak and corn on the cob dinner, everybody went outside. For awhile, Chase and Nanaw played with his demolition derby cars; he managed to destroy both of them by crashing them down the steps. Next, Daddy and Chase played baseball for awhile. Finally, Chase and Nanaw played school. He read the last Biscuit story in the book; Nanaw told him that they would start the book all over again on Monday. He's getting to be a good little reader; he reads with expression and knows most of the words in the stories he reads. The he did an activity in the reading comprehension book. He did very well with it, once again, when he concentrates and focuses, he's very good and very fast.

Saturday, August 4, 2018

When Nanaw went to visit Chase on Saturday morning, he wanted to go downstairs to play with Mama's toys she saved from her childhood: the McDonalds, the doll house, the school house and the village. Chase and Nanaw set all the buildings up in the middle of the floor in the downstairs family room and then played with them. Chase delivered the mail to the various buildings and discovered that the mail for the police station and the barber shop was missing. Eventually Nanaw found them under the flaps of the cardboard box the buildings are stored in. After playing with the buildings for awhile (there was also a pretend fire they had to put out), Chase and Nanaw picked up and packed up the buildings. Chase and Nanaw did school, and Chase did very well -- at least when he focused and paid attention. Later, Mama told Nanaw that they went to Dollar General so she could buy school supplies to take to work to give to the less fortunate boys and girls. Mama also ordered new, larger uniforms for Chase online from Old Navy, so he'll be set for school. When Nanaw went out to the little house, she took a picture of the cistern without the concrete cistern and sent it to Mama and Uncle Mike.

Friday, August 3, 2018

Mama had the day off from work on Friday so she had an adventure with Chase and Nanaw. First, they took Sam for a walk in Dupo Park. They walked through the woods, and it was a really long walk. Chase played on the exercise spots as they walked along. After the walk, Chase played on the playground for awhile. Then they took Sam home and continued on their adventure. They drove up the Illinois side to the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area so Mama could see the confluence and the sunflowers. She liked everything. Fortunately, there were still a lot of beautiful sunflowers for her to see. Then they went to Grandview Plaza to see if River City is still there. There's a vitamin store but it has a different name. Next, they went to Pirrone's in Florissant for a wonderful pizza lunch. Then they drove to 1920 Allan Drive and 90 St. Edward to show Chase where Mama, Uncle Mike, Pawpaw and Nanaw used to live. Then they went to Helfer's were cousin Nichole and Kathleen work. Mama bought lots of goodies: a Cardinals' cookie for Chase, a chocolate éclair for Nanaw and two Paczkis (Polish donuts) for herself. On the way back home, they stopped at Telegraph Road Schnucks. Mama bought flowers for Auntie LaLa's birthday. They went to visit Auntie LaLa and Uncle Chris and Little Will on Friday night.

Thursday, August 2, 2018

On Thursday morning, Chase made his Ultimate Speedway into an Ultimate Demolition Derby and used his Cars cars to crash around. It was very cute. Chase and Nanaw's adventure for the day was a visit to Powder Valley. When they got there, several children were climbing on the big frog. The frog is always Chase's first stop at Powder Valley so he sort of stood off to the side, like he was waiting in line, until the other children left. Then he climbed on the frog, and Nanaw took several pictures of him on the frog. Inside, they visited the two big snakes, the three tree frogs and the tarantula. Then they went down the hall to visit the small fish in the small aquarium. They went into the puppet room, then got copies of the newsletter so that they could do the scavenger hunt. Even though they've done the hunt about 10 times, Chase still wants to do it every time they come, and he still enjoys every minute of it. Nanaw told him next time, they're going to do the activity that's inside the newsletter where you identify lots of things in the house and yard. At the big aquarium, Chase's friendly turtle was buried. Then all of a sudden he shot up out of the water and swam around for awhile. Chase was delighted. When they got home, Chase had a "bike wash." Nanaw fixed a bucket of soapy water and gave him a brush. He was very happy about it. Then he filled up his wading pool and Nanaw got his swimming fish out for him.

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

When Chase got to Nanaw's house Wednesday morning, Chase wanted to ride his Big Wheels and have breakfast outside so that's what he did. He was in a really good mood and that made Nanaw happy. Chase and Nanaw went to Florissant again later in the morning. But first the went to the Telegraph Road library to renew Nanaw's and Chase's library cards. Then they went to the jeweler in Florissant and left Nanaw's ring to be fixed. It's supposed to be ready by August 18. Next they went to the Florissant library again, where Chase played for a really long time. He was especially excited about the big screens on the wall. He played the hungry caterpillar game and the where's Waldo game. He also played in the kitchen and with the ball loop. He had a lot of fun and Chase and Nanaw will go back to the Florissant library and maybe take Mama. In the evening, Mama, Chase and Nanaw went to the Magic House as Chase's prize for completing the library summer reading program. They ate dinner at Arby's first, then had a wonderful time at the Magic House. Chase was very good and acted as a perfect tour guide for Mama.