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