The Big Bad Wolf

Great Wolf Lodge.  Yes, this was our home away from home recently during our 2013 Steffen family vacation...or in our case, staycation.  You see Nana and Papa Steffen treated the whole clan to another fun filled few days.  In case you forgot, here was the low down on our 2011 trip.  They decided to make things easy for us and save us the sometimes not so fun driving with Heidi.  I don't care what city we were in, it was full of awesome. 



First of all, I got to see everyone and boy oh boy is that great.  I am getting quite good at counting, but I can't count as high as all the hugs I gave out.  I can probably count how many steps I took though.  Yes, I was held quite a bit by everyone.  No complaints here!  The first day the whole gang went to Worlds of Fun.  I was way too excited for all the water fun, so we stayed back and checked out the slides.  It took a bit of prodding the first time, but then I wanted to go over and over again.  They even took me on the big (whoa) slides with them.  We rode tubes down.  They were awesome.  Well, I didn't really like the yellow one...it was dark and water splashed my face.  I wanted in on the fun too, but I was denied.  That's OK....just playing in the water is fun for me!  After a couple hours of that fun we went with nana and papa to dinner at the nearby steakhouse.  You'll never guess what I ate (wink, wink).  Heidi left one of her coveted rings there.  Seriously, they have lasted 2+ years and I take my eye off that girl.  Ugh...  Anyway, it was a good night.  We made it back in time to get ready for bed and go downstairs and listen to the bedtime story and eat ice cream (I'm loving vacation btw).  Papa even got a tattoo...that he let me pick out.  That's love!  You want to know the most fun?  I slept in my very own big bed!  Mom forgot to get a shot of it, but it is true.  In fact, I did so good I think I have mom & dad convinced to get me a bigger bed for my room.  There is plenty of space so why not?  I have to have some discussions with mom with what colors I want before things go too far though.  Heidi on the other hand didn't do so great night 1.  Luckily she was upstairs in the loft so I could tune her out a bit.  Dad did his magic and she eventually got to sleep. 

Good thing because day 2 was a long one!  I went with dad and Uncle Matt to get bagels for the crew in the AM which was totally fun.  While the big boys then went out golfing, the rest of us explored.  We found the game room, I got spooked by Oliver the wolf.  Although, I am quite sure he wasn't a wolf, he looked like a raccoon to me and we don't like raccoons.  (They are mean to dogs.  See here)...whatever he was...keep him a way from me!  We also did some fun arts.  Gabby helped me make a bookmark and paint a cupcake bank, that I was telling mom all about when we got home only to realize that I left it there to dry.  Oh boy....  We were just so busy, I totally forgot.  After that we finally went swimming (I had my swimsuit on and was ready to go early!).  I had so much fun swimming and playing with Gabby.  Soon others also joined in the fun.  We eventually took a break to eat lunch and nap.  But after nap we got to go to more water.  This time to a German place...at least it sounded that way (Schlitterbahn).  They had a super fun area for Heidi and I to play in.  Will and Jay played with me a lot too.  They were so nice to me and helped me go up and down the slides.  They eventually went off to go on bigger kid stuff (as did mom and dad) so nana and papa watched me (aka hooked us up with ice cream,etc).   We stayed till almost close time so didn't make it back to hotel and have dinner till after usual bedtime.  That meant we then got to stay up late.  In fact, I got to stay up REAL late.  Gabby watched me and Will (Mallorie 'watched' Heidi) while the adults went out to a late dinner.  I was having way too much fun to go to sleep!!  She is a great babysitter, too bad she isn't closer to us! 

 

 

The next day we spent all morning in the water and loved every minute of it.  Unfortunately, we had to leave so we got all packed up and went out to a 2+ hr lunch.  Restaurants just can't handle our big group....although our cheeseburgers were good, it was no paradise!  We went home and good a good long nap in.  Just in time for most of the crew to show up to our house for the Royals game.  You all know how much I love going to the Royals games.  Well nana and Rachelle stayed back with Heidi so we could go to a night game!  It was great.  They had buck hot dogs...but they were nasty, so I talked pops into ponying up for a foot long corn dog.  Everyone I passed was impressed, and incorrectly stated that the corndog would win the battle.  They obviously don't know me well!  Despite that and eating some of Gabby's burger, and Mallories cotton candy...I also rode the carousel with Jason.  All in all it was a great (HOT) night....and the Royals won!  I started getting really tired so we headed out and watched the fireworks from the parking lot before heading home!  Needless to say, I crashed hard when I hit my bed.

It took a bit getting everybody up and moving, but we eventually all met up for a final brunch before they headed back to Hartington the next day.  I had so much fun with all my cousins, etc.  Thanks nana and papa for arranging a fun time!

All in all, great staycation.  But let's not forget something else big.  I turned 10 months old yesterday!  What does that mean?  Pictures of course and now school is starting to get me ready for transition from the tadpole room to the bears.  (Don't tadpoles turn into frogs...what kind of school is this?).  With that, I have been foregoing my morning nap.  Which actually has been totally fine.  I'm still happy and as mom says, I sleep like a rock for 11 hours until they wake me up in the AM.  (Which I'm not real keen on by the way...see Amelia and I do have some things in common!).  Tooth #5 has popped its way in, as they do tend to keep me up on their way - we are all ok with the rest taking a break for a while.  I can eat pretty much anything with what I have anyway.  Speaking of teeth....one of my favorite things to do is play with big sis.  By play, I mean I LOVE tackling Amelia (& vice versa)...Amelia always yells "no bite", but what can she expect?  She has the extra lbs on me, I have to use something.  Just kidding, all just love bites.  I am getting better at standing, but still can't quite get myself up, I'm still get around just fine on my tummy, so have yet to be motivated to actually crawl on my knees.  This way I eliminate those rugburns/spots on the knees.

This is how Heidi was when dad and I went
into her room to pick her up Monday.  Let's
just say the weekend got to her!

Bye-bye from us.  Heidi & Amelia OUT!




BOOM (take 2)

So I had this entire LONG post written, went to insert a video and BOOM it all deleted, never to be found again.  There was a waste of a lot of time.  Starting completely over from scratch, so forgive me if I'm not chipper.  A lot has happened since my last post.  Starting with the 4th of July.  I guess that is America's birthday so it requires lots of fun to be had.  I am going to start with this little video.



Yep, BOOM goes the fireworks....that is how the day ended.  But I will back up and tell you through the very long jam packed day.  In the AM, after making some cookies, we headed down to our neighborhood parade.  We didn't participate in said parade as mom & dad didn't want to drag us around the block in the wagon, but we met at the finish line.  That they call Gerbil corner.  That's right, they named it that.  Although we met lots of people, we never did get the story behind that.  But we did get a prize.  Yes, despite not participating, we were voted for ...being cute, I guess and got a prize!  On top of the toy, we got lunch.  They fed everyone hot dogs, chips, cookies, etc.  Needless to say, I had no complaints.  After we were done there we headed home to light off some fireworks.  We did some parachutes, smoke bombs, and my personal favorites...party poppers and snaps.  We have a lifetime supply of them, so they aren't just for the 4th I guess!

After nap, we went to a party at my friends Avery & Mae's house.   They know how to throw a party, always good food.  What?  I get a second hot dog for the day?  SWEET.  I am liking this holiday.  There were other yummy things too, but you know where my priorities are.  The usual cool kids were there....and this was actually the first time I saw baby Ingram Ludlow.  He was cute, but no time for small talk, so much to do.  They also had all these fun games.  My favorite was the rubber duckies in the swimming pool and the bouncy house.  Yes, you read that right.  I have come over to the other side and witnessed the awesomeness of bouncy houses.  I even got in when other kids were in it.  I know, I know!  I have actually come to quite like jumping on all things, beds, couches...and have been told I have impressive form.  Who needs gymnastics classes?  Apparently, doing the sit down fall directly on the floor is not a good idea though.  I did that last weekend and have a bit of a bruised tailbone to show for it.  Oops!

Anyway, So right when I was on full sugar high and having lots of fun, we had to rush out.  I was not so thrilled, but I got over it quickly as after the short drive back to our house who did I see also pulling up in the driveway?  My BFF Ava, her sister Vivian (who is already bigger than Heidi), and parents.  They drove up from their new home in Joplin...this day just keeps getting better and better.  Needless to say I immediately gave hugs and was ready to catch up!  We went to our backyard only to find hundreds of people out enjoying the perfect weather.  Yep, now I really love my new neighborhood...there were people everywhere.  Apparently the golf course turns into a big playground.  People were playing volleyball, Frisbee, you name it.  Ava and I had lots of fun running around, we even followed some big kids and did barrel rolls down the green hill.  I know, I'm so adventurous lately!  Perhaps the sugar high helped and the fact I was running on fumes as it was hours past bedtime. Once it got dark, we took our chairs up by the green to get a good view of the fireworks.  It seriously is so cool that we get to see the big fireworks show from our backyard and can avoid the big crowds and ashes.  I had a lot of fun telling daddy all the colors.  Heidi only made it about half way through and then she got sleepy so mom took her inside to get ready for bed.  I can't really call her a lightweight given this is the first year I have seen any fireworks.  I think she liked what she saw.  All in all, the 4th was an awesome day.  I'm so glad the Daltons came to spend the evening with us, I have missed seeing them every week.  Hopefully it won't be too long till we see them again!

Hard to believe Viv is 4 months younger, huh?

The penguin was posing better than me.

mom thought it would be fun to feed Leo the Lion our
trash.  Apparently he has been there since she was little.
Surprise, I wasn't that in to it.

But wait, the fun doesn't stop there.  The next day we drove up to Elmos!  My awesome dad was going to put a new A/C in for his friend Dale, so the whole family went up for the fun.  The drive up was great.  We made it to Elmo's house and got some Valentino's.  Yum.  Saturday, while dad hung out with his friend all day (oh, ok...he worked hard it was like a 10+ hr day!)...us girls had fun.  Elmo took us all to the zoo!  Not much of a surprise, but my favorite part was the train.  But I really liked the penguins and the camels.  Mom said the zoo is much better than ours, because it is small and all the animals are close.  Perfect for kids my age.  The weather was pretty nice, so that was a bonus too.  We picked up mom's favorite, Taco Inn, for lunch and went home.  We spent the afternoon hanging at Elmos painting and swimming in the pool.  Yes!  I had a blast in the pool too.  I was a bit of a wild woman!  Sometimes I just can't control myself! 

I loved the choo choo train.  Yes, Elmo and I match!

I touched the snake!

Around dinnertime we went searching for dad.  I hadn't seen him since bedtime the night before!  We found him at Dale's.  We haven't seen Ella & Abby for a long time, so it was a lot of fun.  Of course they all wanted to hold Heidi.  Of which she happily obliged, while staring them down.  I took the opportunity to enjoy some of their mommy, Mindy's, yummy cooking.  Me too, me too!  The Noeckers all came over too, and Tanja immediately started hooking me up with all kinds of yummy fruit.  She kept saying something about mom not feeding me.  Don't worry that isn't the case, I just had a busy day and fresh fruit was tasting really good.  It did motivate mom and dad to take us to the farmers market this past weekend where we got lots more fruit.  I am not kidding.  I will eat it all.  We are still trying to convince Amelia of the yumminess.  Mom even made her a purple smoothie, but she fought tooth and nail.  What are we going to do with her? It was a late night with all the girls (Kaiden stayed back), but it was a lot of fun.  I was held by a lot, I got to eat ice cream with the big girls, and swing on their hammock.  That was way fun.  I think I see a future Christmas present down the road.  It was getting quite late so we said our goodbyes till next time.  Heidi gave everyone high fives (her new trick), and waved bye bye like crazy.


All in all our trip to Lincoln was great, we had a lot of fun with everyone.  Heidi apparently didn't want to leave, because she let us have it on the way home.  It took a couple of stops/breaks to make it back.  We just need to turn her seat around so she can watch Lion King like me!  Hakuna Matata!

Here are lots more pictures to tide you over till next time!  Enjoy!  Amelia OUT!

Here is a video showing off some of my skills.  That's right, Amelia wasn't the only one who was good at rings.  I also just started standing more this week, that's right....as Amelia says...I'm not little anymore.  I am getting whoa.

Proof that Heidi picks on me!


Some pictures from our trip to the Farmers Market