FIRST WEEK OF SUMMER

Well she "graduated" 4th grade with all A's and one B. She got high marks for everything as usual. I wish I would have been able to do that as easily.
Ericka has been out of school now for a week and so far she seems to be happy. She has been spending a lot of time reading and of course skating. She has already read 3 books, I need to take her to the library so she can do the summer reading program. She has been participating in those for two years. We have a good time going to the library and finding fun books to read. She loves to read to Nate and it's one of the few times they are together without bickering. I have tried to only allow a little TV time each day. I don't want her just sitting around doing nothing.
We are getting closer to our trip to Omaha. I am really looking forward to spending some mom and daughter time. She is really excited but the closer it gets the more nervous she seems. It's understandable, knowing that she will be skating in front of all those new people. I think she will do good. The coach has been timing her laps at practice. She is averaging about 11.38 seconds per lap. Her best time for a 5 lap race is 58 seconds. The national record for her division in a 5 lap race is 50 seconds, and that record has stood for 9 years. We have told her that if she doesn't place thats okay as long as she has fun while she is there. She gets to meet the world team and Derrick Parra (olympic champion) so she thinks that is "cool" she even gets her picture taken with them if she wants. They are having a big party for all the skaters with a dance off and tons of other fun stuff. The car trip will probably be long and draining. She already has a list of things she is taking to keep her busy. Ericka loves to travel so I am keeping my fingers crossed that she won't ask "are we there yet" too many times. The coach is making her a map of our route so she will know where we are going. She'll also have another older girl in the van to talk to and hang out with.
Not too much more going on really, we don't lead overly exciting lives at the moment, she's been pretty lazy so far this summer.

Someone is very EXCITED!!!!!!!!

Although she likes school she is really happy to be getting a break soon. She is counting down the days until Nationals. We are driving over to Omaha with our coach and his family. It will be a long trip but it will help getting to split gas. Troy and Nate are going to stay on the homefront and try to find ways to entertain themselves while we are gone. I am looking forward to getting to spend some mom and daughter time. We won't have to hear the boys whine about how bored they are etc. We will have lots of fun hanging out with the other people from our region. The coach says that Spirit Night is really fun. The different regions do things to represent themselves. I am looking forward to watching the old quad skaters battle it out. They also have where it's all the World Class/Pros and the crowd gets a bit crazy(that is during Spirit Night). I think Ericka will have fun, even if she doesn't win. The experience will be worth it for her. She has been giving it her all at practice. She stays out on the track with the big girls and has been keeping up. She is determined to stand on that podium. She knows that it might not happen but I'm hoping that it doesn't crush her confidence. She made a goal to beat the faster girls and place at Regionals and she pulled that off, so I won't underestimate her.
There are several kids from our region who are going so she'll get to hang out with people she knows. The first few days she will be racing so she'll be nervous, but once she's done it will be play time. I'll probably end up chasing her around the stadium. I'll have to find something to do myself. You can only watch people go in circles so many times before you go nutty.