Tuesday, June 3, 2025

Today was cleaning lady day, so after Nanaw got everything picked up and put away, and the cats given treats so they would go downstairs, she and Chase went over to Chase's house. They took along a pizza lunchable because Nanaw doesn't know how to use the new microwave so they couldn't take one of the frozen dinners. When they got to Chase's house, he had a grand time playing with the Ring doorbell thing. At first, he hesitated about ringing the doorbell, but finally he did. He thinks it's really fun. While Nanaw watched soap operas in the living room, Chase brought in his knee hockey net and lots of things to play with. It was very interesting to watch him enterain himself. Tyler paid attention to both Nanaw and Chase and that was fun. Chase got his lunchable out of Nanaw's bag and fixed it for himself. When they got back to Nanaw's house, Chase said he had a headache so Nanaw gave him some Tylenol. They postponed school for a little while till Chase said his head felt better. Then they had a good school session, doing pages from the two Summer Bridge workbooks, a couple of math problems, five state capitals, listening to Alexa read the Mastermind to us. Nanaw gave him her phone to follow along with the book; Nanaw followed along with her iPad. After school was over, Chase went to the computer to look up something he'd seen on YouTube. There's a place in St. Louis called the Rawlings Experience where you test out bats and see how fast your swing and balls are. It's located at Westport and looks like it's fre. Chase really wants to go and told Daddy about it and Daddy said they probably could.

Monday, June 2, 2025

Today was Chase's first day at Running Club at Metter Park. Nanaw didn't leave early enough and they just barely got there at 7:30. The coach sent out an email saying they start at 7:30 so runners should get there before that so Nanaw and Chase will do that. When Nanaw picked Chase up she saw that he had a blue water bottle. She asked him about that, and he said he fixed it himself. Nanaw was so proud and so was Mama. Chase was excited about how well he did running. He ran almost three miles without stopping, and ran a 6 or 7 minute mile. His friend Hunter was there even though Hunter didn't get back from Iowa until 1:30 a.m. After Running Club Chase had a plan. His plan was to go to his house and pick up bats and balls and go to the Legion Park for hitting the ball and throwing the ball. He seemed to have a really good time doing that, and Nanaw had a good time watching him. For lunch, he selected a Michaelina's spaghetti dinner and said he liked it. At 2;30, they had their first day of school for this summer. Chase did three pages in the first summer book and 1 or 2 pages in the second book, which finally came today. He did some hard multiplication problems, did five state capitols and listened to an hour of the summer reading book. While listening, he played with Marc Andre and Matt Murray in the kitchen. They went through the first bag of bags from this year and only kept a couple of them, plus note cards and notebooks. Nanaw had a great time and hoped that Chase did, too. When Nanaw took Chase hom, three of his buddies came over to play: Brady, Cole and Hunter. Chase had baseball practice and couldn't play with them then, but told them to come back later.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, May 30 and 31, June 1, 2025

Friday On Friday, Chase only had half a day at the Wayne Gretsky Hockey Camp. Nanaw didn't realize that Chase's hockey camp was owned by Wayne Gretsky and that he has several camps in the U.S. and Canada. Chase had a really good time and wants to do it again next year, which is the last year he's eligible to go. When Chase got home, Mama, Chase and Nanaw went to St. Louis Bread Company on Telegraph Road for lunch. Nanaw contributed the gift card that Cole's mom had given her for giving Cole a ride home sometimes. Chase had a turkey and cheese sandwich and an M & M cookie. Mama had onion soup in a bread bowl and a cinnamon roll. Nanaw had bacon and mac and cheese and an orange scone. Everything was delicious. In the evening, Chase and Brady rode their bikes to the Legion Park. Chase wanted to go to the little Metter Park but Brady didn't want to go there.

Saturday On Saturday, Chase's team won two games in the baseball tournament, which meant they would play two games on Sunday. Chase went 3 for 3, so he had a great day at bat. After Nanaw got home from the little house, she went to visit Chase. He was eating his Dair Queen dinner when she got there -- chicken nuggets and some kin of cookies and cream ice cream thing. They went out in the backyard. And Nanaw watched Chase hit balls inside the trampoline. Nanaw had to Chase and retrieve any balls that went outside the trampoline. That helped her get 7,000 steps for Saturday. Nanaw left at 7:30 so that Chase could have his hour and a half device time on his phone.

Sunday On Sunday, Chase had two baseball games, one at 2 p.m. and one at 4 p.m. His team won both of the games so they were the champions. Mama sent a photo of the team wearing their championship rings and one of Chase showing off his ring. Chase went 3 for 4 on Sunday, and reached base on the 4th time because of a fielding error so he had a great day. Tomorrow is Nanaw's first day with Chase on his summer vacation. At 7:30, she'll take him to Metter Park for Running Club. He'll go on Mondays and Thursdays for most of the summer. Nanaw may try to go for a walk in the morning while Chase is at Running Club.

Thursday, May 29, 2025

Mama sent Chase's report card to Nanaw on Thursday morning. He did really well, mostly As, including san A+ in math (Wow!) and three of his teachers sent wonderful comments to him.

Geography Teacher: "Chase, thank you for all your hard work and attention to detail in all you do! It has been great seeing you speak in front of crowds and do so well! Thank you for your excellent sense of humor and quick mind. I look forward to seeing you in the fall. Have a great summer!"

Math Teacher: "I really enjoyed having you in my homeroom this year, Chase. I appreciate how motivated you are to do your best academically, especially in math. After playing games with you at Space Camp, I also learned to appreciate your sneaky sense of humor. Best wishes in 8th grade!"

History Teacher: "It has been a joy to have you in class this year. Your positive attitude and humor helped make our history class both educational and fun. I look forward to having you as a student again next school year. Have a wonderful and restful summer -- you've earned it!"

Nanaw went to visit Chase for a little while after he got back from hockey camp and before he went to baseball practice.

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Nanaw took the Bronco for an oil change on Wednesday morning, it reminded her of the times through the years that Chase accompanied her. There was a little three-year-old boy named Eli who really reminded her of those times. It took forever for them to do the Bronco's oil change, and Nanaw thought maybe hey were finding something wrong with the Bronco. But they didn't so she had another theory. Nanaw could see the Bronco in the bay next to the waiting room, and the mechanic seemed to be checking everything on the car.  So Nanaw's theory was that they probably don't get many new Broncos in for work so they were checking everything to find out how it all worked. In the afternoon, Nanaw packed up some bats and balls to take to Chase's house; two Big Chunga bats, two Baby Chunga bats, the blue bat and blue ball Nanaw bought for Chase at Schnuck's several years ago. While Chase was in the back yard hitting balls, and Nanaw was watching, three of his friends from the crew came to play: Brady, Cole and Drew. They played baseball till 5:30 when they left. Chase had to eat dinner and get ready for baseball practice. The first picture below is from Monday at hockey camp when Wayne Gretsky camp to visit and posed in a picture with the hockey camp attendees.

Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Today was Chase's second day at hockey camp so Nanaw didn't see him until the afternoon when he got home. Chase texted Nanaw about four o'clock that he and Daddy were almost home. Nanaw texted back that she would be on her way to come over and play. Nanaw had decided to take the Escape over to Chase's house because she had a chair and the park toys in the back of the Escape. Back when Nanaw and Chase used to meet Chase's friends (Hunter, Brady, Cole, Andrew and Will) at the little park, they would play with the things Nanaw had in the back of the Escape -- wiffle bats and balls, soccer balls, two scooper toys and two stick ball toys. So Chase and Nanaw went into Chase's back yard and played with all the toys (except for the soccer balls). It was great fun, and Nanaw was surprised that she did so well playing with the toys and not tripping and falling. At the end of their play session, Nanaw took a picture of Chase lifting Daddy's two 20-pound weights. Nanaw was very impressed that Chase could do it, and so easily. After their hot dog dinner, Mama and Chase went to Chase's baseball practice.

Sunday, May 25, 2025 and Monday, May 26, 2025

Sunday 
Chase didn't have a baseball tournament this Memorial Day weekend so he got to spend lots of time with the family. On Sunday afternoon, the family went to cousin Natalie's wedding reception at the Ballwin Golf Club. It was a great event, and everyone had a good time. The food was delicious -- and there were a lot of choices: roast beef, rolls, quesadillas, a fruit and cheese charcuterie board, shrimp cocktail, toasted ravioli, and crab stuffed mushrooms. Cousin Nichole made the wedding cake -- it was multiple layers with chocolate all the way through and totally scrumptious. Chase seemed to have a good time eating the food and sitting between Mama and Daddy and playing on their phones together. Nanaw had a good time watching them and doing lots of people watching.

Monday
Today was Chase's first day of hockey camp. Nanaw was surprised that they had it on Memorial Day it that's the way the calendar fell. The most exciting thing that happened was that hockey great Wayne Gretsky visited boys and had his picture taken with them. Someone also took a picture of Chase with Sebastian, a friend of Chase from past hockey events, and Mama sent the picture to Nanaw. In the evening, Nanaw came over to Chase's house for dinner. Before dinner, Nanaw watched Chase play fungo baseball in the back yard, then pitched several pitches to him. For dinner, they had ribs, hot dogs, and corn on the cob. After dinner, Mama and Nanaw had delicious almond pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Nanaw went outside to watch Chase hit ping pong balls in the front yard. They had a good time together, counting balls and laughing. Nanaw loves watching Chase play and laughing with him. Nanaw had Chase plug in his Fitbit so they could see if it has a stop watch / timer that he can use for Running Club, starting next week.