Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Chase had a major adventure on Tuesday. He went to a super water park in Collinsville, Illinois. His friend Brady invited him to go along with his family. In addition to Chase and Brady, the adventurers included Brady's sister Emma and her friend Jessa, Brady's mom Michelle, and Brady's grandma Joyce. They left about 11 in the morning and didn't get back until about five. Michelle said none of the kids wanted to leave the water park because they were having so much fun. Chase said he and Brady played with Emma and Jess a little bit but mostly they played together. For lunch, Chase said he had a pretzel, and Brady had nachos and chicken tenders. Chase told Nanaw about the water slides in the water park. He said one of them was really cold, and another water slide was dark, very dark. Nanaw asked if it was scary, and Chase said, yeah, a little. Chase wants to go back, and Mama said she'll take him some time. Chase did his AR reading today before he left for the water park, and that means he's reached the halfway mark in the county library summer reading program.

Monday, June 27, 2022

Chase did his AR reading in the morning in the Big Nate Blasts Off book. He's getting really close to being halfway in the St. Louis County Summer reading Program. In the afternoon, Chase and Nanaw had school. They did state capitals; division flashcards; long division problems; multiplication problems; and a punctuation worksheet. They also read part of the kids magazine Xplor they got from Powder Valley when they visited on Friday. Chase's exciting news of the day was how well he did in his baseball game. Nanaw and Uncle Mike both came to watch the game. Uncle Mike got to see Chase get some hits and steal some bases. He also got to see Chase pitch. Chase struck out several batters and did a really good job. Everybody was very proud of him. The team won the game 10 to 7. Chase says when he grows up, he's going to be a professional baseball player and a professional hockey player. Woo Hoo!

Sunday, June 26, 2022

On Sunday morning, Chase and Daddy went to church. In the afternoon, Mama and Chase went to the uniform sale at ICS. Mama got some wonderful bargains on shirts and pants. In the evening, Nanaw came over to Chase’s house for dinner. Chase was playing a baseball game on the TV in Mama’s office when Nanaw got there so Nanaw sat with Chase watching him play. Mama had bought beef hot dogs at Costco. Nanaw didn’t think she’d ever had beef hot dogs before. They weren’t bad but Chase and Nanaw didn’t like them. But the corn on the cob was delish. After dinner, everybody went outside to play with poppers, super poppers and snakes. It was grand fun, and Nanaw really liked it. After the fireworks, Chase went swimming even though it was chilly outside. Chase and Daddy played water baseball while Mama and Nanaw watched, along with Tee Tee, Clayton, and Fredbird. 

Saturday, June 25, 2022

On Saturday morning, Chase came over to Nanaw’s house to visit while Mama went to the grocery store. For a while, he played with the tablet. Then he and Nanaw went outside to play in the front yard. First, they played catch with the sticky things that Nanaw likes. Then Chase said he wanted to play baseball, so they did. First, Nanaw pitched to Chase while he batted. Then Chase pitched to Nanaw while she batted. Chase asked Nanaw if he could give her a few batting tips he learned at Cardinals baseball camp on Thursday. Nanaw said yes so Chase showed her how to stand, how to hold the bat and what to do with her feet. It definitely helped — Nanaw got lots of hits. In the afternoon, Mama, Daddy and Chase went up to the ICS playground for a special event to say goodbye to Father Nick. Then they went to Fireworks City in Arnold to buy fireworks for the Fourth of July. They were going to have dinner at Fitz’s but it was a 30-minute wait so they went to Outback instead. Daddy had steak and shrimp; Mama had steak; and Chase had Mac and cheese.

Friday, June 24. 2022

Chase and Nanaw had an amazing adventure on Friday morning. They went to Powder Valley for the first time in a while. They visited all their favorite things: the big turtles upstairs, the two salamanders, the two huge poisonous snakes, and the various displays. Unfortunately, the bee hive has been attacked by waxworms and is under renovation. Downstairs, they went to the aquarium, hoping to see their best Powder Valley friend: the turtle who buries himself in the gravel at the bottom of the aquarium. And he was there, as shown in the last picture below. They explored the backyard display and the tree house. It was a wonderful visit, one of their best. School on Friday was a little different. They did a Spanish crossword puzzle, read some social studies articles about civic duties and activities, and then Chase did some games on ABCYA. Next, he did his 30 minutes of reading for the summer library reading program. He’s at 450 minutes, only 50 minutes away from 500 minutes, which is halfway through the program. He’ll get a free book for the halfway goal in the program. The first picture is of Clayton the Coyote, a little stuffed animal Chase received for his work on the magazine drive. Clayton had a sleepover with Nanaw last night, and she promised to send a picture of Clayton in her bed to Chase.

Thursday, June 23, 2022

Chase had a really exciting day on Thursday. He went to a Cardinals baseball camp at the Legion Park in Columbia. There were lots of former baseball players giving the camp. One of the current players there was Steven Matz, and Mama made sure to get her picture taken with him and Chase. Mama said Chase had a wonderful time and learned a lot from the players. Chase's friends Brady, Cole Bryce and Sam were there, which made it even more fun for Chase. She said the players did a really good job of coaching the boys. Chase went to the Cardinals baseball camp last year also, and he said it was a lot better this year. After he camp, Mama and Chase went swimming with Chase's friend Brady and Brady's sister Emma. Mama and Chase both said they had a wonderful time swimming. Mama dropped Chase off at Nanaw's house later in the afternoon so that Nanaw could spend time with the bug.

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Yesterday, Chase finished the Big Nate: Thunka, Thunka, Thunka book he was reading for his 30 minutes of AR for the library summer reading program. Today, he started a new book -- Big Nate: Blast Off. He's getting close to being halfway through the reading program. While they were having school, out of the blue Chase said to Nanaw, "Thank you for being such a good grandma." It was so sweet. For school, they did division flashcards (at Chase's request), state capitals, multiplication problems, long division problems, multiplication equations, spelling words, area and perimeters, fractions, math word problems, and reading comprehension and a crossword puzzle about ocean waves. Mama had Nanaw ask Chase what he wanted to play with her in the evening. Chase said he'd think about it. Eventually, he told Nanaw to tell Mama they could do the Carnival games on the WII. Mama sent Nanaw the first picture below from eight years ago on the carousel at the Zoo.