A Whole Bunch of Stuff

Pictures:
Ericka with the Riverfront Park Bloomsday sculptures
Ericka's Regional photo
Watching our flooding river rage down at the park.

It's been too long and I have so much to update. Ericka has been doing okay but we have had some hiccups. The problems in school have continued, but it's more with the adults than the kids. She is doing fine with her school work but the social stuff is getting old. She has a girl in her class who she just does not get along with and the school counselor is trying to force them to be "friends". If Ericka tries to avoid this girl she will go tattle on Ericka saying that Ericka is being mean etc, and then Ericka finds herself in the counselor's office or principle's office having to explain herself. They are actually taking her out of class or taking away her recess which is unacceptable. She is trying to avoid conflict but keeps getting accused of committing "relational aggression", which is some stupid term they use for a kid who purposefully leaves another child out to cause "social and emotional pain of another". Whatever happened to the ability to decide that someone just doesn't deserve to be our friends? Ericka is not mean to this kid but will do everything to avoid having to play with her or do work with her because this girl is physically aggressive. This girl is cruel to Ericka, leaving bruises from kicking her and leaving a nasty gash to Ericka's side from pushing her down a hill (I even took pictures) but the counselor believes that everyone can learn to be friends through talking, something has not worked thus far. I absolutely do not agree with this lady's philosophy. She is trying so hard to make sure that noone's feelings get hurt but in the process she is actually causing more problems. I agree that Ericka should be civil and not be outright rude, but we have always taught her that if someone is mean to her that person doesn't deserve her friendship. We have told her that she should only put her energy into people who make her feel respected and do things to show they care. There are so many other things going on there that just tweek my nerves. I am just happy that she will not be returning to that school and neither will Nathan. We have decided to enroll them into the elementary school on the base. It is in a different school district which means we will have to drive them back and forth everday to the base and back but it will be so worth it. Troy and I went yesterday to "interview" the principle and counselor to get a feel of how they do things there. We told them about what has been going on at this other school and they were left just shaking their heads. This other district has 6th grade in elementary school which seems to me a better situation for Ericka. I don't think she is socially ready for middle school, especially now that her self confidence has been stripped. We hope to give her another year where she can build that back up again before having to move on. The base school is really nice. There are several programs that I have yet to see in any other elementary the kids have been too. There is track for all grades, which both kids want to do. They have a math and science club that Nate can't wait to be part of and they also have several other things that set them apart. Their testing scores are extremely high with reading being over 90 % passing. The way they do things there is so different. The principle took us on a tour of the school and it's really nice. The building is only 4 years old, they have a high school size gym, all the classerooms are large. The school library is huge and they have a nice courtyard where the kids can go and read. The name of the school is Michael Anderson Elementary (named after one of the astronauts killed in the Columbia shuttle accident) I guess he went to the original school when he was a boy so they honored him when the new school was built. The kids were all very quiet and well behaved and it was peaceful. All the adults and most of the students were dressed up in fairy tale costumes because they are learning about types of literature. They also invited both kids to come and spend an afternoon meeting the teachers and kids that they will be with next year. It will be nice since all the military kids know what it's like to be new. The kids are so happy with the idea of being on base they didn't care that they will be having to make new friends again. I hope that it works out and that Ericka will be better off not having to go to middle school quite yet. She went on a field trip to the middle school yesterday and said she was not ready to go there yet. I think she is also not wanting to leave her brother behind. They were both relieved when they found out that they will be in the same school for one more year.
Besides that stuff, skating season is over as far as meets go. She qualified for Nationals in two relays but we just can't afford to go this year. We are still going to practice until July, keeps the kids busy and they still want to go. She is already training hard for next year. She was bummed when she fell in her final race and didn't place in her division. Even though she fell she came in 5th out of 16 girls who started. She was first in all her Novice heats so it was really disappointing to her not to be on that podium for division but it's a lesson learned. She will be at the top of her division next year so that will help her.
The only other thing we have been dealing with is an eye problem. She developed a sty a about a month ago and the darn thing kept getting bigger despite treatment. We ended up having to take her in twice to have it cut and drained so she has been a little uncomfortable. To add to that she took a nasty fall at practice, and was hit in the chin with a skate so she looks like she has been in a few fights. She's a tough one though. She is excited for summer and all the fun stuff we have planned. We hope to go to Silverwood a few times, visit grandparents, go camping, and of course a trip to Gigi's in Cannon Beach. I think once she is out of that school she will be back to her old self in no time.

SKATE MEETS ETC

Well let's see, first I will go over the Auburn meet from January.
Elementary Girls Novice = 3rd Place in 500 meter 4th place overall (out of 14 girls)
Elementary Girls Standard (elite) = 6th Place overall (out of 10)
Elementary 2 Mix Relay =2nd Pl in heat, 3rd Place overall (out of 10+ teams that started)
Ericka did pretty good. Her and her partner did a really good relay. She was the starter and gave them a good lead. She just had a couple of bad starts but overall she did well.
She did her first Dash for Cash race. This is when each skater goes out on their own and gets timed for one lap. The fasted time in that division wins and they get whatever cash was in the pot. There were 7 girls in Ericka's division, 3 that were 2nd year elementary and 4 1st years. Ericka didn't win but she got the fastest time for the 1st years, she got 11.73 seconds for one lap. She had been skating since 5 am that morning, raced the whole day and DFC was at 9:30 pm so that time wasn't even her best. (her best time is 10.78) to give you an idea, world champion indoor skaters average around 8-9 seconds. It was a good meet for her and she found out what she needed to work on for the next one.



Next the Bremerton Meet (Feb 23-24)
Elementary Girls Novice = 1st Place in all heats and semifinals 2nd Place overall (out of 15)
Elementary Girls Standard (elite) = 6th Place (out of 10)
Freshman 4 Girl Relay = 1st Place (out of 5 teams)
Freshman 4 Mix Relay = 3rd Place (out of 6 teams)
Elementary 2 Mix Relay (with Nate) 5th Place (out of 10 teams)
Elementary 2 Girl Relay = 4th Place (out of 10+ teams)
She knew what she needed to do and did it! She raced her little heart out. She got to do some relays with the older kids and was able to keep the lead they had. She got tons of compliments and came home with 3 medals. Her and Nate got out of their heat in 3rd pl in the relay, they worked well together, next year they will relay at all meets. The elementary 2 girl was quite interesting. They had heats, which they made it out of and then they started the final. This relay is 20 laps, each girl doing 2 laps 5 times each. They were in 3rd pl and only had 2 laps to go and one of the teams fell and got injured so they whistled the race over. They let the other division do their relay and then restarted the elementary race, not enough time to rest. So Ericka started again and got a huge lead and had them in 2nd but at the last couple of laps in the end both girls got too tired and weren't able to keep their lead so they got 4th overall, but it's the best racing I have seen Ericka ever do. She was breathing so hard she went over to the coach and just laid right down on the floor, he had to drag her over to the side. She did great starts, passed when she needed to and even passed both of the biggest skaters in her novice division. There were a lot of people who said they couldn't believe how fast she has gotten since last season. It helps that she can finally go to every practice and has one of the best coaches out there (besides Joe). She also wants to go back to Nationals this year so she has a goal, which helps.

Anyways, she is doing good. She is still getting high grades. She wasn't able to qualify for the Highly Capable program, her math scores weren't high enough but her reading skills are topping the charts so she qualified for a different program instead. The only difference between the HC program and what she is in is that the HP program gives them advanced work and a study plan for all subjects. She will only be getting advanced work for reading/spelling/writing. It also means that next year when she goes to Middle school they will allow her to take enrichment English classes. I think it worked out better in the long run, she has trouble with math like I did (but thankfully not as bad) and I think she would have been overwhelmed with that. She also was afraid of being called one of the "brainy nerds". This way she will be kept in a normal class but just be given harder work in the few areas she excels at. They have already been doing this to some extent though. I will say that I am very happy she will be out of this school soon. It has worked well for Nate so far but it's been harder for her. Their way of dealing with girl conflict is a joke, and I will just keep it at that. As long as she is getting good grades and she is happy with everything else we told her not to let the adults ruin it all for her. It's amazing and scary how a group of "educated" people can be so stupid and they are the ones responsible for my children's education, makes me tempted at times to become one of those renegade parents and just pull them out and get tutors (that I can interview before handing over my kids). I am actually serious! They have a program here through the school district that is more of a charter program that goes through 8th grade. The kids learn at home or in small groups (at their level) and they have to meet with a certified teacher once a week and have so many hours of community involvement (volunteer hours etc). It is tempting and she would probably do even better.

Faces

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Cleared Up

Well the problem at school has been resolved, finally. After several times of Ericka being called into the principle's office they were able to figure it out. The other little girl admitted that she had lied about a few things because she was angry. The girls talked it out and are now getting along better. Ericka learned a few lessons about social games. She learned the hard way that adults don't always make the right decisions either. She talked to the school counselor about the principle humiliating her by coming in the class before he even knew for sure she was guilty. Either way it's cleared up and hopefully it stays that way.
She is happier with that out of the way and has some good things that have happened over the last few days. She got an A on her math test which is awesome since this subject seems to have been giving her some problems. Between her teacher and her dad helping her she has figured it out. She also found out that she won the poetry contest. So she gets to have another piece of her work published. They also just tested her for the TAG program so we should find out if she qualifies soon. I hope that if she doesn't make it that it doesn't crush her. We have explained that it's extremely hard to get into and that if she doesn't it's okay.
Anyways, we will have a very busy weekend coming up. We have our first meet of the season in Auburn and Ericka has been practicing hard. She will be racing in almost all the events she can.

She is doing Novice Elementary Girls (for kids who haven't placed at Nationals) 300 m &
500 m

Standard Elementary Girls 300m 500m and 700m
Elementary 2 mixed relay and Elementary 2 Girl relay
Freshman 4 mixed relay
Last man out race ( every lap the last person has to leave the floor until top 3 or 4 people are left)
Dash for Cash
She will be having heats in each distance. So if she makes it to finals she is going to be one tired girl. They are expecting almost 300 skaters. Wish her luck!!!!

Christmas Break & A Mean Girl

Ericka had fun during her Christmas break, she spent most of the time at home relaxing or at the rink. We went down to the Tri-Cities to visit family. We weren't able to see everyone we wanted to but they were working so we will see them next time. We went over and visited Troy's brother Mark and got to play with cousin Mathew. She had a good time reading to him and chasing him around the house hearing him giggle. She got grandma Cindy hooked on the Wii and they played some pool, which Ericka figured out really fast. She was happy with all her presents and has been reading her new books she got.
She was ready to go back to school since home gets boring after a few days. Now, only after a couple days back we are dealing with problems with another kid in her class. She has a girl in her class who has decided to bully Ericka but goes home and tells her parents that Ericka is being cruel and verbally abusive to her. I got a call from her mother telling me that if it doesn't stop she is going to the Principle and has already talked to the teacher. Ericka's teacher never called or told me anything so I assume she probably knows that it isn't Ericka causing the problem, this made the other mother mad and feels she isn't being heard etc. This girl and Ericka were friends at the beginning of the year but she got mad at Ericka because she says Ericka stole her job helping the autistic boy in the class. The boy responds better to Ericka and she gets him to talk more so the teacher has her working with him instead. When Ericka won the essay things got worse because this girl wasn't allowed to enter the essay contest because she didn't turn hers in on time. This girl is almost 12 and towers over Ericka but somehow her mother thinks Ericka is bold enough to take her on. Ericka can be opinionated and bull headed but she has never gone out of her way to be nasty. This girl has been given her own cell phone which she has been using to call ours and prank call. We took her skating a couple of weeks ago because Ericka thought that she would give the girl another chance but it didn't work. She has threatened to punch Ericka and Nathan both and just got caught throwing things at Ericka during class the other day. She sits two desks away from her and will whisper taunts trying to get Ericka in trouble. She teased her so bad yesterday that Ericka ended up in the school bathroom crying. I wrote the teacher a letter and we are going to the school today to talk to her and the counselor. I knew she was having some trouble with this girl but figured it was just typical girl games but unfortunately things have gotten out of hand. I think it stems from the girls being competitive and it is starting to affect Ericka's school work too. I talked to the teacher and she even said she noticed that she isn't volunteering as much and has purposefully messed up just so she doesn't look smart etc. We both agreed that things need to be dealt with immediately especially now that the girl is also picking on Nate too. This girl has threatened several times that she will get Ericka in trouble so that she won't get into the gifted program. I am hoping that the school does what they need to in order to get this over with quickly. I just don't want to get anymore dang phone calls from her mother, like they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Christmas Funnies

Thought I would add some pictures we took tonight. Ericka wanted to be silly and as you can see it wasn't hard for her. There isn't much going on in Ericka land right now. She is still doing good in school and skating. She is excited for Christmas and loving the fact that she will be out of school for two weeks, she likes school but a break now and then is nice. I'm sure she will want to bake cookies and fill up on sweets as usual. We will be snuggling up watching all those good Christmas movies and chugging down the hot chocolate and cider.

Conferences

Ericka's conference was today and she is doing good. She is on the honor roll and got a certificate for perfect attendance. She will be tested for the Highly Capable program after the Christmas break. They don't do an actual IQ test but they do several different tests to see how they perceive written language, how they comprehend difficult social concepts and a bunch of other things. I'm really curious to see how she does. Her teacher, like most of the others say she has one heck of a stubborn streak and likes to do things "her way". NO... REALLY? Like I haven't figured that out by now. She's definitely opinionated and no one is spared, she tells it how it is and oh well if you disagree, she reminds me of her father. Her teacher gets a kick out of her and says that Ericka makes her work harder but in a good way. They have a person who comes in and "coaches" Ericka on how to work on more difficult types of assignments. Like Nate, if she isn't busy she just gets in a funk so they are doing what they can to keep her busy and motivated to keep improving. So far it seems like this is probably the best school she has been in. It's too bad that she only has this year left before going to middle school. Now that will be a trip!

Thanksgiving, A Trip To Seattle etc

Ericka had a busy holiday weekend. We went to Grandma Cindy's for Thanksgiving and celebrated with GIGI and Grandpa Bob too. The kids helped peel potatoes and Ericka helped set the table, so she did her part. We ate some good food and just hung out watching football. We woke up Friday and headed off to Seattle for our marathon. We spent some of Friday visiting with our friends in Fedaral Way. Ericka got to play with her friend K and enjoyed seeing her new house. On Saturday we ran in the marathon and Ericka ran pretty much the whole mile. She got stuck behind some slower people but we didn't want her more than arms distance, considering the crowd. She said the marathon was fun but thinks it was a one time kind of thing, she says she'll stick with skating meets instead. I think I agree with her. After the marathon we took the kids to the Pacific Science Center. Ericka had a lot of fun looking at all the dinosaur fossils and space exhibits. She had a good time but we were all ready to get on the road and go home. We got back to Grandma's last night and stayed another night, then drove home this morning for practice. Ericka hadn't been out on the floor two minutes and fell. One of the other kids skated by and accidently clicked her skate so she went down. She is fine but her knee is a bit sore. She is tired and was really cranky so we didn't end up staying for session today, she came home and was out cold within minutes. She got up just long enough to eat some dinner and was back in bed. We have conferences this week so we will find out when she will be getting tested for the gifted program.

OUR YOUNG AUTHOR

Just a quick update, we are pretty busy right now. I will have to write more later but had to let everyone know that Ericka won the essay contest for our region. She had to write about a non-fiction topic with 250 words or less. She chose to write about what it's like to have a brother with Aspergers. She is happy, she worked very hard on this. They announced it over the school intercom, she had her picture taken with her principle, and will be in her school paper and maybe the local paper too (The Spokane Review). This is her first essay she has written and she says she is going to keep writing. She will now be entering a poetry contest with the help of her teachers. I will try and figure out how to post her essay so you can read it, but it might be awhile, be patient!

ERICKA'S VIDEO AT REGIONALS ELEMENTARY 2 MIX RELAY

One of our team people video taped this for us. The first video is of Ericka's relay heat. She is the one with the white helmet cover that is in 3rd during the heat. Top 3 qualify for the Final. The second is of the Final where they placed 5th(top 4 qualify for Nationals). There were 11 relay teams to start with and 6 made it to the final race. The video stops right before J crosses the finish. Considering half of the kids were a year or more older than her she did really well. She was 9 and her relay partner was 12, so that gives you the age range for this event. I will have to get some new video of her now, she's gotten a lot faster since then!!!!!

ERICKA AT PATTISON'S HALLOWEEN PARTY

Ericka as BatGirl (top hat belonged to a friend, but she liked it so much she kept taking it from him). Playing a game of Limbo

She had a lot of fun hanging out with her friends at the party. They played games and just goofed around. There were a couple of other kids from the team who came dressed up too. There was quite a crowd so we got to see a lot of fun costumes. One kid came dressed up as an outhouse. It was funny to watch the kid try to skate, we got a good laugh.

SOME FUN STUFF

We added some of Ericka's best skating photos, so enjoy. Some of you may have already seen some of them but we did add a few new ones too. Once the meets start we will add more as they come. We added some of Ericka's favorite songs too. You will have to click the play icon twice, It's fun to look at the pictures as the music is playing. Ericka thinks it's cool to watch if a fast song comes on. We are trying to figure out how to add video so you can actually see her skate.

School Pictures Are Here

Here is Ericka's 5th grade picture. She was happy that they had a purple background, it's her favorite color. They turned out good this year, thank God!

(we added Ericka's Regional Picture, you have to go to the older post link on the bottom)

National Championship Photos

We finally got Ericka's Nationals picture. She was disappointed that she didn't place but she tried. It was a tough group of girls and most were twice her size but she did what she could to keep up. She is doing whatever it takes to make it again. She got a taste and now she is going all out and working twice as hard. It was an eye opener for her and now she knows what she has to do to have a better chance this season.

We thought we would also add some action shots of her too for those who haven't seen them.

September Update

School has started as well as skate season so we are really busy. School is going great so far for Ericka. She likes her new school and really likes her teacher. She is getting straight A's and will be tested soon for the gifted program. We won't know until after the Christmas break if she qualifies. If she does she will still be in her classroom but just have harder work. She will also have other opportunities to be around other kids like her through special clubs. She scored really high on her state tests which helped the school get the process started. Her teacher had her enter an essay contest and she just turned it in. She wrote it on what it's like to have a brother with Aspergers. She read it to her class and they all clapped and cheered for her. She was happy to help "educate" her peers. The teacher sends home progress reports every Friday and wrote that she is having a hard time keeping Ericka busy. She has a boy in her class with autism so she has been helping him a lot. I guess she is one of the only kids he will respond to, which makes her feel special. She was also asked to be a conflict manager. They are kids who try and help other kids get along and try to help kids who are bullied. I don't want to sound like I'm bragging but this kid has done a lot lately that has made us very proud.

As I said before, skating season has also started and she is doing really well. Shaun has her skating with all the adults and teenagers and she is keeping up. She wants to go back to Nationals so she is working very hard. Shaun has to remind her a lot to slow down during pace line, she can't stand skating slow. She sometimes goes to beginners speed class and helps Shaun by showing how to do the drills. Her first meet isn't until the end of January so she has time to get ready. She will be moving up to Elementary divison (10/11yrs) this season. Elementary is the first division where they can skate novice and or elite. Since she has never placed at Nationals she qualifies for novice but wants to skate elite too. We will see how she does and go from there.
We finally found out what was going on with her ankle. They say she has a fibroma of the leg muscle. She had MRSA in her leg and they think that it caused the tumor. It is just being watched for now. The doctors don't want to mess with it unless it gets bigger or starts affecting the bone. It's a benign tumor so other than being an irritation there isn't much to worry about for now. They say she can skate as long as she can deal with it. Her leg gets sore after practice but we have figured out ways to help it not hurt so much.

She is just happy they said she could skate. She has also been really busy reading, which she does all the time. She's just a really busy kid who seems to be pretty happy.

Celebrating My 10th Birthday

Ericka celebrated her 10th birthday at her Nana's house. She was able to spend some fun time with family, friends and even a favorite teacher. The kids had a soduku competition, played bingo and rolled down Nana's big hill out back. She had a great time and even got a ride in grandpa's viper. Uncle Mark made some really tasty hamburgers, he makes the best! She had a great time and says Thank You to everyone for her gifts.

AUGUST UPDATE/1ST DAY OF 5th GRADE

I know it's been awhile since I last wrote. We have been very busy with getting ready for school and just trying to enjoy the rest of summer.
We are still waiting to see what is wrong with Ericka's leg. We took her in to see a ortho and he referred us to an ortho surgeon. The ortho surgeon wanted to get a tumor specialists opinion. We take her back in this Thursday to find out more. It is very frustrating having to shuttle her to each doctor just to have them say " see us in two weeks, blah blah blah". She is getting pretty irritated herself. She won't ride her bike or run. She can skate but it's painful and she gets mad and cries. She is really worried she might not be able to start the new season at the end of this month. She wants to skate more than anything.
Our friend Shaun is forming a new team up here in Spokane and has invited her to join. He is the original coach from Federal Way who got her started 3 years ago. His uncle owned the rink here in town. Shaun moved here last year and bought it. He is now settled enough that he is comfortable starting a team. She will miss skating for CDA and coach Joe but it's just so far to drive. Shaun's rink is only 20 minutes away. This will be her first year that she will actually go to ALL the practices. The first year we drove up once a week for practice. This last season she was only able to make half the practices (yet still made it to Nationals YIPPEE). She is really excited and is hoping things with her leg clear up soon.


She turned 10 Sunday and I can't believe it! She has grown so much the last few months. She is still short but I keep having to buy bigger clothes. She will be taller than me soon, no surprise. We just hung out with some good friends, ordered pizza and let her open a couple of presents. Her big birthday party is this coming Saturday. We are driving down to Kennewick and having it at Nana's house. She can't wait and is hoping to see a couple of friends from Hawthorne.


Today was her first day of 5th grade. She was nervous this morning but seemed to get over it quickly. Her teacher is only in her second year of teaching so she's younger than any other teacher she has had so far. Her name is Mrs Jamison. Ericka says that Sunset is much better than Betz and is glad she is going there now. She is happy she doesn't have to ride the bus this year. I have to say I am too, she was getting an "education" that I didn't care much for ( she rode with high school kids). She says she met several other girls and has already made some new friends. Other than getting lost at the beginning of the day she says her first day was fun.

Summer Full Of Fun

We have many things to update here so it will be long.
First off we had a great 4th of July. We skated in the parade down in Coeur d'Alene with the team. It was fun but our feet were really sore by the end. The kids had fun showing off. Ericka then got to spend the rest of her day at Riverfront Park in downtown Spokane. We walked around and looked at all the booths. She went on all the rides and then we just sat around waiting for the fireworks. It was a really good show but still not as neat as the Ft Lewis shows. We miss the military party, they know how to have fun. Civilians just don't quite have the same kind of patriotism as the military folk, for obvious reasons. When we got home we had some fireworks of our own to set off. The city of Airway Heights still allows some fireworks, so the kids were really excited to set some off. Ericka has never been able to because they are outlawed everywhere we have lived. I think her favorite were the sparklers. We sat for a while and watched all the neighbors set off theirs.
A few days after that we went to Troy's brother Doug's wedding. Ericka had an excuse to dress up and look pretty. They had it down in Columbia Park. It was really hot but she had fun getting to see her cousins.

Then the fun really started, we were on our way to Nationals. We started in Washington, went through Idaho and into Montana. The next day we went from Montana to Wyoming then through South Dakota into Nebraska, but our hotel was in Iowa. Ericka went through 7 states in two days so she picked up a few souveniers from each state. She was a great traveler. We drove with the coach, his wife and one of their daughters, Chelsea. The girls sat in the back and watched movies and played games. We got there late Friday night (13th) and drove by the stadium. The next day we went to Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. That place is big and has to be the best zoo we have ever seen. I guess it is considered one of the best in the world. We got some good pictures of the animals. The monkeys of course were our favorites. There was a gorilla that stole our hearts. He was a big sweetheart, came right up to the glass and made faces at the girls. The next day was Ericka's first race. She had one each day from Sunday to Wednesday. The morning of her 5 lap race she was sick but still went out and gave it her all. She didn't make it out of her heats but she tried her best anyway. It was a tough group of girls and many were twice her size. She was right up there with them but not enough to advance through. She still had a lot of fun and was just excited to be there. She met some of her favorite skaters that she looks up to. She and her friend Dakota danced with Michael Cheeks, he is a skater from North Carolina who comes to our meets. He is really tall and all the kids follow him around. He is Joey Cheek's brother, for those of you who don't know who that is, he won gold at the Olympics in ice speed skating. She also got to meet Derrick Parra, another gold medalist skater. She still wants to meet Apolo Anton Ohno, maybe she will someday.

Once all the racing was over we left Omaha and started the trip back. We stopped at Wall Drug South Dakota. It's a little town out in the middle of nowhere full of souvenier shops. She found some neat stuff. We were able to see a massive thunderstorm while on the highway. Since it's so flat you can see for miles so we could see lightning everywhere. She thought that was quite a show. She was bummed we don't have storms like that here to watch.
We went to Yellowstone and saw Old Faithful erupt. She didn't care much for the sulfur stench but was amazed at all the geysers. She was a bit freaked out that she was walking on top of a volcano. We saw several animals. We had a female elk come right up to us while we were on the bridge. I even got a picture of her "smiling" at us. We got back on the road and got home on the 23rd. It was a long drive but so worth it. We got to spend a lot of mom and Ericka time and we had a blast. We have a lot of good memories and fun things to laugh about from our trip.
Now we have been home a week and things are back to normal. She is back to picking on her brother and saying she is bored. She spends time reading and is in the local library reading club. If she reads so many hours this summer she gets a reward.
The next couple of weeks probably won't be much fun for her though. She has a growth on her leg that has to be removed. I took her to the doctor a couple of days ago and he referred her to a specialist. She goes in on August 7th. He wants a biopsy to make sure it's nothing serious. Either way it has to be taken out which means surgery. She was going to skate in the local marathon but that is out now so she is upset. It also means no skate session for probably a month or so. She should be healed by the time next skate season starts so she is happy about that atleast. Oh and before I forget she had her first couple skate the other night. One of the other rink rats has a major crush on her and got up the nerve to ask her. His mom even took pictures!
Well there isn't much more to report. Life is back to just hanging out and enjoying what is left of summer.

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.