Seasons Greetings!

This is the latest I’ve published our Christmas letter, which has ultimately turned into a year-end letter, but that’s life sometimes.

The Stricklers are happy to report another relatively successful orbit around the sun. 2024 was pretty good to us. Read on for our highlight reel.

Eliza is now seven years old and is becoming more and more independent.

She reminds me a lot of myself when I was a kid. She loves art, making crafts, playing with barbies, and reading. She took swimming lessons this year and enjoys being in the pool. She also played soccer again this year and plans to play next year, too. It’s fun to watch the kids play, and hang out with my fellow mom friends while they practice and play. Eliza continued to be in Girl Scouts this year and has graduated from a Daisy to a Brownie. She’s in her fifth year of dance and is lucky to be in that with a few of her best friends. 

Seger recently turned five years old and is always on the go.

This year he started preschool, and absolutely loves it. He only goes a few mornings a week, but the amount he’s learning is amazing. He keeps asking about how to spell words, and I think he’ll be reading in no time. He also took his first round of swimming lessons this year, and played soccer like his big sister. He really wanted to be in dance, like Eliza, so we signed him up and seems to be loving it. He’s got a mini-dirt bike with training wheels that he rides all around the yard. He also learned how to ride his bicycle without training wheels this fall, so I’m sure the dirt bike training wheels will be off in the spring. Here’s hoping for no ER visits!

We got to go on a couple of pretty neat adventures this year. In April I mentioned to Derrik that it would be fun to take the kids to go see the total solar eclipse somewhere in the line of totality. A couple days later he had an itinerary and we decided to make it happen. We hit the road early and made our way to Salem, IL where we watched the eclipse. On the return trip we stopped at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, and the John Deere Museum in Waterloo, IA. We put on a lot of miles in a short time, but I think it was worth it. I made a video about the trip and put it on my personal Facebook page, so feel free to follow the link to check it out!

We also decided to take the kids on a trip to Sault Ste. Marie to see the Soo Locks last summer. The kids both seem to have the same fascination as their parents with the Great Lakes and the big ships. Our journey began by driving up to Duluth, then through Wisconsin, and over to Michigan. I put my toes in three of the Great Lakes (Superior, Huron and Michigan) in as many days. Someday I’ll get to the others! 

The Soo Locks were pretty cool to watch. We also spent a bunch of time in their visitor center where Seger practically wore out their toy boats and locks, and Eliza did a scavenger hunt. One of my favorite parts of our trip was visiting the Museum Ship Valley Camp. It’s a museum that’s all on a big old ore carrier that’s docked in Sault Ste. Marie. I made a video about that, too and you can check them out here on TikTok and Facebook.

The last leg of our trip began by boarding a ferry, the SS Badger, and crossing Lake Michigan. We boarded in Luddington, MI and a few hours later docked at Manitowoc, WI. When we were in the middle we couldn’t see land, and that was pretty wild! If you ever have a chance to make that trek, I recommend it! I made a video documenting the highlights of the trip, and you can watch here on TikTok or Facebook.

Other highlights of the year included:

  • Tapping our black walnut and boxelder trees and making syrup
  • Visiting Duluth a couple of times to see my bestie, Shannon, and her visiting me 
  • Derrik went racing in Casa Grande, AZ and St. Louis, MO
  • A trip to Cragun’s Resort in Brainerd with a bunch of our friends and their families 
  • Spending the 4th of July camping on Lake Mary with friends 
  • Visiting the Pope County fair
  • Hosting campers at Octane Acres for Memorial and Labor Day 
  • Hosting deer camp for the crew, and filling the freezer!
  • Our annual grown-ups trip in November (thanks grandmas!)

Derrik is still busy as ever with DS Powersports. We just wrapped up another successful holiday season at the mall, and we’re glad it’s over! He’s still helping with racing and has been going on some of the big trips, with a couple more coming up. (I don’t mind when he’s gone a few days here and there because then I can watch some rom-coms without judgement!) When he’s home there’s always projects to tackle, and he’s usually got Seger beside him learning and helping. 

I’ve been keeping myself busy with all things homesteading. I really enjoy having my chickens, making sourdough breads and bagels, canning and dehydrating, and learning how to be more self-sufficient. I’ve been doing the local farmer’s market for the past few years and have made some friends along the way which has been fun! I have also been in a book club for the last couple of years, and while it’s hard to get a group of moms together sometimes, when we all gather it is a lot of fun. I’m still working for PrimeWest, and I’m still learning new things every day. I really like the people that I work with, and that I get to work from home most of the time!

If you’ve made it this far, thanks! We had a good year and we hope you did too. As we get older we realize that time is our most precious currency, and if you’ve spent some with us this past year, we thank you. Our friends (and family) are pretty awesome, and we hope to see more of you in 2025. 

With Love, 

The Stricklers