Jake from Moon Lake hijacking mom’s blog once again. I’ve successfully navigated another trip around the sun. This past year was packed with a lot of adventures, but what else would you expect?
My third grade teacher Miss Janigo rocked the house. She kept me in-line and will always be known as the teacher who told mom and dad, “Jake’s a natural leader. He just sometimes leads in the wrong direction.” Who knew that was a thing? I just like to have fun.
In-between driving her crazy, I did manage to master third grade math and reading, along with acing gym and science. My cursive writing needs a little work but I come by it honestly – just ask my dad to write a sentence in cursive sometimes. I’m just saying.
Seriously, though, I do love school. I love my classmates, teachers and especially gym and recess. The only downside is our 10-minute lunchtime. Some days I feel like I might starve, but that’s partially because I cannot stop growing. Right now, the only way I’m going is up – I’m a lean mean machine that can easily put down 10-12 pounds of green grapes a week. My Sunday night ritual is a Jack’s pepperoni pizza. I’m also a huge fan of ramen, oranges, cherries and homemade popsicles.
I tend to eat a lot because I move nonstop. This year, I spent a lot of time playing basketball and baseball. I’ve been working really hard on my lay-ups and dribbling with both hands and definitely plan to be point guard next year. In baseball, I’m torn between pitcher and catcher. I started the season off a bit slow – even nervous to bat at one game – but then my first hit of the season was a homerun. This was followed up with quite a few base hits and the occasional strike out. I’m having a lot of fun. Mom and dad just like to talk about how proud they are that I’m developing some work ethic around getting better at something.
Speaking of work ethic, I held my first job this summer. Ok, so maybe that’s a bit of a stretch. I did sell Blueberry Festival Raffle Tickets for the Lion’s Club for a few hours. It was for a good cause, with some of the money going towards things like our playground in-town, but more importantly, I got 20% of all ticket sales. I ended the sale with enough money in my pocket to replenish my cash flow since I had drained it buying a new fishing pole.
That’s right. Fishing. I’ve fallen in love with fishing on Moon Lake nearly every night with dad. First, it means I get to stay up an hour past my bedtime. Second, it means I get to catch sunnies and bass nearly every night, often times with my buddy Nolan. One time I even managed to hook two bass on the same line. How cool is that? I’ve also been fishing at the mouth of the Brule River where I caught a nice looking Pike. I just upgraded my lures in hoping to catch some big ones in the coming year.
Perhaps, I’ll spend spring break fishing somewhere cool. This past year we went to Mendocino and San Francisco. I had an absolute blast chasing waves, hiking in Muir woods and the Redwoods, picking sea glass in Fort Bragg and hanging out in Chinatown. The Pacific Coast Highway was a complete bust with me getting nothing but carsick and destroying my blankie with a heavy round of strawberry chunk vomit. Despite the Pacific Coast mishap, the vacation was awesome with my absolute favorite part being visiting Alcatraz. It was amazing!
I also had a chance to check out Chicago. We took a 6-seat plane which was fun, as was hanging out in Chicago until it was time to leave. There was bad weather on the way back and we couldn’t get a flight home. The next available flight was 4-days later and the airline was less than helpful. Luckily mom ended up having a friend who happened to have an extra car available just outside of Chicago that we could use. What’s the likelihood of that? Regardless, we were grateful for the wheels and turns out that isn’t even that bad of a road trip.
COVID-19 is still hanging around but I avoided it. This past year I was nothing but healthy. Knock on wood but I’m feeling pretty lucky to have come out of this global pandemic primarily unscathed. I’m hoping the same rings true in the coming year.
Looking ahead, I’m excited for 4th grade. I’ll definitely be playing basketball and baseball again. I plan to master math and dive deep into history. I may even read and remind myself how to do cursive writing. I’m lobbying hard for an Iphone but mom and dad are holding firm on saying I’m too young for a cell phone. They also won’t let me get grand theft auto or bike around town unsupervised. That won’t stop me from continuing to ask. If nothing else, I remain persistent. After all, deep down I’m an Erickson, even though dad won’t let us change our name.
That’s the latest from Moon Lake. Here’s to being fine and nine!
Jake from Moon Lake
One Response
Jake you’re amazing! You are really growing fast. Grandpa Erickson would be so proud of you participating in 2 of his favorite sports. Keep up the great work! Happy Birthday…..watch for the mail running a tad late.