Her birthday group at Pattison's & her cake




















First day of 6th grade

I took the summer off from blogging but I'm back now. Ericka is doing good and enjoying the 6th grade. She had fun this summer and even spent a week with grandma and grandpa. After her week in Pasco we all met at the beach and stayed there for a few days. She ended the summer with a birthday party at her favorite place, the rink. It's hard to believe that she is already 11 years old. Surprisingly this was her first rink party, odd considering how many years we have been taking them skating. She had a good time celebrating with her friends and family that drove up to spend the day. She likes summer but by the end she was bored and ready for school again.
School on base has been wonderful so far. She has made some new friends and I'm happy to report there has been no bullying at all. She is one of the smallest in her class but that is nothing new. She is getting good grades so far and likes her teacher too (Ms Rose). Her teacher focuses a lot on reading so Ericka has been reading some good books. Math has been a bit tough but they are helping her with that and she is catching up fast. In 6th grade they have the option to be in band and she didn't want to do that. The kids who aren't in band instead do the school newspaper, community type projects, and some other fun things. They recently went around base planting trees and picking weeds. They are also planning to send letters to the troops for the holidays. She gets to go on a field trip to the dam on the 20th. She seems to be much happier at this new school. Out of the six she has been in this is her favorite she says. We also found out that she passed all three sections of the state testing (WASL). Her reading level was only 6 points from being off the charts. They are trying to keep her from being bored but the books that are at her level are a bit too mature. She doesn't like being told she can't read certain books.
Other than school keeping her busy, she is now in the first month of her 4th year in skating. She is excited for another season and since she is at the top of her division she should do well. Nationals are in Illinois this year so maybe we will get to see Chicago, we'll see, it's awhile from now though. The first meet will be Nov 8-9 in Everett, a meet we have never had so it sounds fun. The team is getting bigger and she has a lot of kids to skate with so it makes for fun practices. She is in the adult group again this year but has to continue to keep up and so far she has. She is happy and doing much better than she was a few months ago.