Fourth Grade

Fourth grade is a big year and we just can't believe that Leah is already making the jump from primary to intermediate. We know that she's ready for all of the fun and privileges of being in the bigger kid school, but that comes with a pretty hefty price tag known as 6:30 wake-ups!  This girl is a sleeper and it's going to be quite the adjustment. Other adjustments include switching classes, getting to walk/ride bikes to and from school without a parent, and having the chance to sign up for all sorts of neat after school clubs. Leah is excited and we can't wait to see how she does in her new adventure at Bentley!

What is your name? Leah Ann Sturm

How old are you? nine and a half

What do you want to be when you grow up? a teacher mom

What is your favorite food? French onion casserole

What is your favorite drink? kiddie cocktail

What makes you happy? my brothers

What makes you sad? when I get made fun of or getting hurt

What is your favorite thing to do at home? play outside with friends

Who is your best friend? Josie

Where is your favorite place to go? Florida

What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? homework

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? dance

What is the best part about Joel (brother)? He likes to play with me.

What is the best part about Caleb (brother))? He likes to play with me.

What is your favorite book? The Babysitters Club or Smile and Sisters

What is your favorite movie? A Dog's Purpose

Where is your favorite place to eat? McDonalds

What is your favorite thing to wear? shorts and a t-shirt

Sixth Grade

Thank goodness sixth grade is still not considered junior high in this town. It's hard enough to accept that this year will be the last one before he becomes a teenager....I would really lose it if he was also an official junior higher! Caleb is, however, finishing up his final year of intermediate school and he is more ready than ever for the school year to begin. He's always been a very social and scholarly kid, so school is where it's at for this boy! There's no doubt that he'll rock it in sixth grade and we can't wait to see what this year holds for Caleb.

What is your name? Caleb

How old are you? eleven

What do you want to be when you grow up? something to do with animals

What is your favorite food? tacos, chicken pot pie, and dessert

What is your favorite drink? pop

What makes you happy? friends and family doing stuff with me

What makes you sad? when people hurt my feelings

What is your favorite thing to do at home? probably play with friends

Who is your best friend? Ruby, Jack, Alec, Micah, Noah, Beau, Mason, TiTi

Where is your favorite place to go? the lake

What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? talk about fun stuff

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? play sports

What is the best part about Joel (brother)? Hahahaha....that he actually plays with me.

What is the best part about Leah (sister)? She is nice to me.

What is your favorite book? Harry Potter

What is your favorite movie? Marvel

Where is your favorite place to eat? home

What is your favorite thing to wear? clothes in general

Second Grade

Second grade has always been one of my favorites. It was a favorite for me as a child and was also the grade I had the joy of teaching for several years. This age is magical! The kids are still so lovable and innocent, yet are capable of so much and display a lot of independence. There's no doubt that Joel is ready for all that second grade entails. He is a solid reader and great in math. He's curious about everything and loves to learn. He's always been eager to keep up with Leah and Caleb, so the vast amount of information he'll learn this year will only help his cause. Joel's biggest concern so far is that his best buddy from last year has transferred schools and he fears that he won't have any friends. Thankfully, we saw a ton of familiar faces at his walk through day and it looks like he's got a class full of great kids! It's going to be an awesome year and we can't wait to see Joel soar in second grade!

What is your name? Joel

How old are you? seven

What do you want to be when you grow up? an electric engineer

What is your favorite food? Grandma's chicken chili soup

What is your favorite drink? milk

What makes you happy? Chief

What makes you sad? whenever I eat disgusting foods

What is your favorite thing to do at home? play the kickoff game with Caleb

Who is your best friend? Steven and Zavian

Where is your favorite place to go? the lake

What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? cook

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? go out for dates

What is the best part about Caleb (brother)? He plays the kickoff game with me.

What is the best part about Leah (sister)? I get to play school.

What is your favorite book? Wonder

What is your favorite movie? Racing Stripes

Where is your favorite place to eat? Dominos

What is your favorite thing to wear? Footie Jammies

Lake Trip #2

As we've done in the past, we took an extra long trip to the lake to enjoy one last hurrah before school starts. August is such a fun time to be at the lake. It tends to be a bit quieter and more relaxing. We soaked up the endless relaxation and hopefully it'll carry us through the hectic days to come when school starts!

Some highlights from this trip include the puppy playdate we had with two of Chief's litter mates. Chief, Gus, and Goby all swam and played like maniacs! It was so fun to see these little pups together. Another highlight was getting to have Nyla experience the lake for the first time. She might not be as much of a lake girl as I am, but she still seemed to enjoy it! We also loved getting to see Chief turn into even more of a water dog than he was earlier in the summer. This boy could honestly spend every waking moment in the water! A final highlight was getting to surprise the kids with a stop at the St. Louis Zoo on the way home. We were thrilled to find out that this zoo had red pandas, so we knew it would be worthwhile to stop (since Caleb is still obsessed)! The zoo was beautiful and we are so glad that we made a stop there! We also enjoyed getting to meet up with cousin Meredith and Aunt Sharon, who drove out to St. Louis to have lunch with us after the zoo. It was the perfect ending to a perfectly wonderful final vacation of the summer!

A Family First

For the first time ever, all three Sturm kids got to go to a wedding! We took plenty of pictures to make sure we didn't forget the fun that we had. It was a beautiful wedding and it made me feel quite old to see the little girl that I once babysat all grown up and getting married!

Epic East Adventure

For the third year in a row, we spent a week of our summer taking a mega road trip and covering more distance than some people cover in a lifetime! Our goal this year was to see (most of) the major cities out East. 

Day one was just a lot of driving. We had a jam packed car, with three adults (TiTi came with for the first few days), one teen, and three kids. We left on Saturday afternoon and broke up the long drive by staying along the Ohio/Pennsylvania border. We got up early on Sunday and hit the road again to pass through Pennsylvania to New Jersey. Our stop for the night was about an hour outside of New York City and was also the (current) home of one of our favorite former Slammers players - Alfredo. We spent the evening at the Somerset Patriots game and enjoyed getting to watch Alfredo play again.

Day two we ventured into NYC. It was a challenge getting into the city, but once we were there, we parked the car and left it until we were ready to head out the next afternoon. We spent the entire first day taking a bus tour that allowed us to hop on and off as we wanted. We covered a lot of ground and it was awesome getting to see so much of this infamous city! We ended our day visiting the 9-11 museum and memorial, which were absolutely amazing.

Day three started with an early wake up and a ferry ride to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was breathtaking to see the Statue of Liberty in person. We also really enjoyed seeing Ellis Island and wished that we could have had more time there (perhaps without whining kids) to explore. There's something so remarkable about walking on the same grounds that our distant relatives might have stepped foot on when they came here for a chance at a new life! After our morning in NYC, we packed up and headed for the peaceful shores of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Along the way, we made a stop at Yale University...since I have an odd fascination with Ivy League schools. Plymouth was a beautiful, old town that looked just like a quaint New England town is portrayed in the movies. We were able to walk to the beach and Nyla was able to put her feet into the salty ocean water for the first time in her life! Leah, who normally LOVES the beach, did not like the fact that this beach was filled with tiny crabs. After our visit to the beach, we headed into town for ice cream and a visit to the infamous Plymouth Rock. It was just that...a big rock!

Day four started with a trip to a really awesome reenactment village called Plimoth Plantation. We got to experience life as a Native American and a Pilgrim. There was so much to learn from the experience and, more than anything, we learned that we'd have a really hard time surviving in those days! After our journey back in time, we headed north to Boston. Our first stop was to see Fenway Park. We took our own walking tour around the outside of the park, and that was enough for our hot and tired crew. Sadly, a big storm came through the city that evening, so we didn't get out to see as much of the city as we had hoped to. Tyler, who had been to Boston for his two week training when he got hired, gave us our own driving tour in the rain. We got to see a lot of the main highlights of Boston and, of course, took a detour to see the campuses of Harvard and MIT.

Day five was a looooooong day. It started with a really neat tour of Boston that went along part of the infamous Freedom Trail. We opted to take this tour because it was a bit shorter than the normal Freedom Trail tour and was geared towards kids. Our tour guide was phenomenal and made it so interesting for the kids and adults. Despite the cool temps and constant drizzle, we loved the experience and would recommend it to anyone visiting Boston with kids! After our tour, we hopped back into the car and began our journey to Philadelphia. Unfortunately, there isn't really a good way to get from Boston to Philly. We chose to take the route that had us going straight through NYC and we REALLY regretted making that choice. We spent a ton of time just stuck in standstill traffic. We finally made it to our hotel around 9pm that night and we were all toast!

Day six was spent with a few hours in Philadelphia. We started by going to the US Mint. We all really enjoyed the self-guided tour. After the mint, we walked over a couple blocks to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Sadly, we missed out on being able to get tickets to take a tour of Independence Hall, but we did get to see the Liberty Bell. Afterwards, we headed to the home of Betsy Ross and took a tour. Leah was the most excited about this, as she did a wax museum biography project about her in second grade. We wrapped up our morning in Philly and headed west to Pittsburgh. Along the way, we made a detour to see the Flight 93 Memorial. It was a breathtaking memorial and we are so glad that we took the time to visit. After our slight detour, we got back on the road and headed into Pittsburgh. We took in some of the best views of the city by riding on the Duquesne Incline. It was a great end to a jam packed day.

On day seven, we woke up and began our trip home. We made a short stop in Grandpa Ron's hometown of Beaver Falls, where we (of course) had to stop for donuts. We also visited the cemetery just outside of town to see Tyler's Grandpa and Grandma. It was a wonderful way to end our whirlwind of a trip. We covered so much ground and just scratched the surface of all the magnificent history that is tied to this part of our country. We would certainly love to go back and explore more of what these amazing cities have to offer. Each one of these cities could be explored for several weeks, and we only spent several days there! Regardless, we are so thankful for another year of safe and memorable travels with our family.