The Daily Minute

Every day, we make a 60-second video in which we report or opine or regress. We seldom offer useful information. Matthew often wears hats.

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Good night from Sunrise Beach, Missouri, where we’ve spent a few days with good old friends who also have four kids. When the twelve of us get together, it’s a welcome kind of chaos. There are no expectations. Just the pleasure of time spent with people we love. The activity is unimportant.

I’ve continued to be under the weather, so I’ve spent more hours than expected lying in this bed with Dumbles on my legs, looking out at the lake. But still we’ve managed to fit a lot into these days.

We slept in and ate well and laughed a lot. Tim fixed our broken shelf. On St. Patrick’s Day, we ate sheperd’s pie and received tiny letters from leprechauns. We hiked and visited the ruins of a castle in Ha Ha Tonka State Park. We explored Bridal Cave. We caught catfish and fried them. We rode go carts and played Nerf gun capture the flag. We celebrated Robin’s birthday with waffles and bacon and cake.

Tonight, all eight kids performed a very strange play I will not attempt to describe. It was delightful and funny, but you really had to be there, I’m afraid.

Tim and Robin and their kids are like family, and with family is a good place to land for a while in the middle of a long year on the road.

Tomorrow we head out again, our GPS pointed at Branson, Missouri, where we’ll see a few shows before heading down the road to Arkansas.

#busloadofbooks

The Daily Minute: 3.19.23 In which Matthew gets st

The Daily Minute: 3.19.23
In which Matthew gets stinky bait, Robbi gets a leaf, and our children get nothing for dinner.

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Good morning from Sunrise Beach, Missouri, where m

Good morning from Sunrise Beach, Missouri, where most of us are about to eat bacon and waffles and one of us is not.

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The Daily Minute: 3.18.23 In which the ice rink is

The Daily Minute: 3.18.23
In which the ice rink is closed and some of us are sadder than others.

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The Daily Minute: 3.17.23 In which we have broken

The Daily Minute: 3.17.23
In which we have broken all the toilets and matthew does his leprechaun kicks.

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Good night from Sunset Beach, Missouri, on the ban

Good night from Sunset Beach, Missouri, on the banks of the Lake of the Ozarks.

There was no reason to set the alarm this morning, so we didn’t and slept until 10:40am, which was definitely a record for the tour. We’re spending a few days with our friends Tim and Robin, who just happen to have extra beds for each of us.

I got up briefly but felt awful so went back to bed and stayed there for much of the day. As I drifted in and out of sleep, Dumbles lay on my legs and gazed at me mournfully. Behind him, I could see the lake, a 93-mile reservoir made in 1931 by damming the Osage River. With a surface area of 54,000 acres, it was the largest manmade lake in the United States at the time and is still one of the largest manmade lakes in the world.

Eventually, I felt better enough to get up and headed down to the dock where Tim and his daughters had caught two catfish. Then we walked up to the garage, where Tim taught Alden how to ride a motorcycle. The lesson lasted all of 45 seconds. Alden hopped on and tore down the road. She seems to have enjoyed herself.

Tim started smoking a turkey at 9am, and by 7pm it was ready to serve. We ate it with cole slaw and homemade mac & cheese. It was even more delicious than you imagine.

While we set the table, Jasper started a family with his new wife Delilah and their baby JJ Slider. Please do not tell his Chestertown girlfriend Suzie.

After dinner, we played bingo, which I did not win. Now I have returned to my bed in hopes of feeling back to full strength tomorrow.

I love this place and this lake and our friends. Tim and Robin are down-to-earth, generous people—the perfect hosts for a well-timed stretch of down days before our pace picks up again.

#busloadofbooks

The Daily Minute: 3.16.23 In which Alden Swanson r

The Daily Minute: 3.16.23
In which Alden Swanson rides a motorcycle.

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Good night from Sunrise Beach, Missouri, where we

Good night from Sunrise Beach, Missouri, where we plan to sleep in tomorrow morning.

Today began with an early trip to Fox Studios for an interview with reporter Amelia Mugavero, who joined us by the bus to ask a few questions about the tour—and even took a peek inside.

Then we drove downtown to the Gateway Arch. Designed by architect Eero Saarinen, the 630-foot tall marvel is the world’s tallest arch and the tallest human-made monument in the Western Hemisphere. Up close, it’s absolutely stunning.

Afterward, we had burgers with our friend Ed and his wife Heather before heading to Build-A-Bear’s Global Bearquarters, where we met up with our friends Alison Morris from First Book and Julien Kaufman from Build-A-Bear Foundation.

We started in the Workshop, where the chief bear stuffer Cori gave Read Teddy a tune up. She unstitched his back, temporarily removed all six of his hearts (one for each member of our family), and added a fresh batch of stuffing. I’m happy to report Read Teddy survived the procedure and has never felt better.

Then Julien generously let each of us select and design our own stuffed friend. There were so many options. But eventually we chose—Kato a penguin, Augie a Pokémon, Alden an axolotl, Jasper KK Slider (of Animal Crossing fame), and I a yellow peep with pjs and matching sleep mask.

Then Julien took us on a tour of Bearquarters, where met people from the various teams—including Sean Ramirez, the person who designed Read Teddy!

In addition to the 125,000 books Build-A-Bear is donating to Title I educators through the partnership with First Book and our tour, they’re giving away 125,000 “reading buddies” to kids in Title I schools across the country. Our family packed a box of bears to send to a school and then buried ourselves in a great pile of bears. I mean, wouldn’t you?

Eventually, we said goodbye to Alison and Julian and drove southwest to the Lake of the Ozarks, where we reunited with our old friends Tim and Robin and their girls.

Tim was waiting at the end of the road that leads to his house and led us the rest of the way on his go kart.

It was the perfect end to a wonderful day.

#busloadofbooks

The Daily Minute: 3.15.24 In which we visit Build-

The Daily Minute: 3.15.24
In which we visit Build-A-Bear’s global HQ and meet Read Teddy’s dad.

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The Daily Minute: 3.15.23 In which we kick off our

The Daily Minute: 3.15.23
In which we kick off our last day in St. Louis, by visiting the magnificent Gateway Arch.

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Good night from the Central West End of St. Louis,

Good night from the Central West End of St. Louis, Missouri, where we’re about to collapse at the end of a long and wonderful day.

There’s so much to say about our day with the students and teachers of Central Primary School in Ferguson—and our evening program with the families of Harris Stowe State University in St. Louis. But we have to get up early for a TV interview tomorrow morning, so we’ll save most of the photos and stories for another day.

For tonight, we just want to say thank you to Julie Gagne who let us crash at her house last night and who hosted such a wonderful visit to Central today. Julie is a stellar teacher and mentor, a loving guide to her students, an anchor of her community, and a person we’re so glad to have as our friend.

We love you, Julie, for who you are and all you do for the world. Thank you for today.

#busloadofbooks

All is well in Glen Carbon, Illinois, where Jasper

All is well in Glen Carbon, Illinois, where Jasper has fallen asleep on the couch, but not before tucking in Read Teddy for the night.

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