A day in the life of the Steffen Sisters!: 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.