'Ice' Scream for Summer

I know, technically summer is over. I mean we are back in school. But I haven't even talked about us finishing up last year. So sit back, grab a drink or a snack, and enjoy a summary of the summer of '19!

Of course we kicked the summer off with celebrating the last day of school...with some ice cream! Boy the year went fast.

As per typical years, we also had a cousin graduate. This year it was Gabby's big day. So of course we had to make the drive up and celebrate her. It was lots of fun. Not only did we get to party, but we got to ride a pony!!! You know that has been my dream forever and nana made some calls. We each got to go on a ride around on the horse. I went on 1st, I had to show my big sisters they didn't need to be scared. I loved it, and really didn't want to get off! I hear ya, sis. I SO want to move somewhere where I can have a horse of my own. Unfortunately, I don't foresee this happening until I move out - mom and dad don't seem to jump at the opportunity.

mom says she is keeping this for my
graduation

We also celebrated mothers day with mom with the 6 hour drive home. Haha...just kidding, we gave her lots of cool homemade goodies. And we stopped for some dairy queen on the drive. Not sure if you have yet to get the summer theme of eating lots of ice cream?! Staying on that subject, we also had fathers day. You know why don't they have those further apart? We did lots of art for him and I'm sure tried to celebrate with more ice cream. Now if he agreed to that, I no longer remember. The downfall of getting so behind on these posts! 

Ok, my turn for the next update. SIERA. Yep, Siera moved in on mom's birthday and spent the whole summer with us. It was THE BEST. I mean, she wasn't really here as much as I would have liked. Because she went to work all day long, but we did our best to make up for lost time when she got home. We had lots of walks, talks, kickball games, girlie times of doing hair/nails, we loved just watching her get ready down in her room too. She taught us crazy songs from camp that mom loved us singing around all the time. I put in a video of Lena singing one below for your enjoyment. She was in SO many weddings, which meant she wasn't around many weekends, but it means she had some super cool dresses. We have to rely on mom to take pictures for us, so most of our good times were not documented, but here are a few of the highlights with Siera. She did crazy things like climb high up to paint our stairway wall, and even took Nala on a bike ride in Lena's seat! She hung out with us on the 4th of July, walking in the parade and watched fireworks! Oh...but before that, we got to celebrate her birthday with her. We learned about her sweet tooth so we picked out a candy ice-cream cake...and boy was it yummy. 

I miss having her here so much. Me too, Heidi...me too. I miss her too! I ask about her ALL the time, I just choose to be shy and still hold strong on not letting her put me to bed. One day.....maybe.

Ok, now I get to update you on our trips for the summer. My favorite. I love going places! We kicked off the summer spending Memorial Day weekend down in Arkansas. Yep, checked off a new state. We went to visit Ava!! I really miss my BFF. We also got to finally meet their newish babies (Evelyn & Luke). Yep, Ava has 4 little siblings. Crazy, eh? They got a new house in Bentonville and it was SO nice. All of us big kids got to sleep upstairs which was fun. Except one night we had a tornado warning, so then we had to go in a closet at like 2am. Its all a bit fuzzy. We had fun exploring the area with them. We went on a pretty hike, played in splash park, had ICE CREAM, went to indoor swimming pool and just had fun together. Outside of them all waking up so early, I want to spend every day at their place! 

Next up, was another new state. We went to Colorado. In the mountains!

And want to know the awesome part. Grandma Elmo met us there! Wait. I'll back up. First we drove to Denver and met up with dad's friend Tommy. He had a pretty house and 2 little boys to play with. We weren't there very long, but they were nice and fun to play with. And apparently they are having twins coming too...so I'll have to talk dad into driving out there again, I love playing with the babies. 

After our time there, we drove up to Breckenridge. That is where we met Elmo! You know what was crazy? It snowed! In June. What? None of us packed gear for that! She stayed at our condo with us! We didn't realize how many steps our place had, so I am sure that she regretted that a bit...but we were worth it i'm sure. : ) We had a bunkbed just like we want at home so all 3 of us can sleep together! We spent one entire day up on the mountain, we took a gondola high (which mom totally got nauseous on....weekling) and we got to do TONS of things. Like rock climb, ride roller coaster, alpine slide, ropes course, zip line & tubing. My favorite was the roller coaster! We were so lucky grandma was there to hang out and play with Lena so that we could ride the big rides with mom and dad. We had lots of good meals and talks. We also went to a nearby lake where we went kayaking and to a fun park. I liked the big troll we saw. I loved riding the bus! I got to sit in the bus and not have to buckle up! 

Dad was real impressed with my outfit choice
for the day.

After saying goodbyes to Elmo, we headed back East and went to the Royal Gorge. They had a cool tram that took us over the gorge and we of course walked over the bridge. It was high, but to be honest we really just wanted to get to a hotel with a swimming pool. I mean, isn't that what trips are about? We were so excited once we finally got there. We actually just chose every evening to eat at the hotel and swim longer. :) I love the hot pool! Keep in mind, Amelia is not one for being outside in the heat. So she really liked the hotel. I did too...I mean, they are always fun. But I liked Col Springs too. I especially liked the hiking we did in the Garden of the Gods. Even Lena did good. After hiking, we got to go have Rita's Italian ice. They have icees and ice cream!! I loved it!

Last but not least, we had our bi-annual Steffen family trip. Well actually it had been 3 years since the last one, but who is counting? Wait. I am. I love any trips with everyone and Heidi didn't remember the last one, so I was getting sick of telling her about them! Ha! This year we went to Omaha, but since we were headed that way we left a day early and stayed in Noeckers RV in Ashland (while dad went and helped BJ put in his A/C. We love when we get to see Tess and Norah - and this time there was an impromptu get together with some other friends. We went in the lake and played all night. My favorite part was playing with their dog Scout. I really love him. I played so hard that I slept like a log. As did we all...well except mom and dad, apparently there was a crazy storm that hovered above us all night. 

The Steffen clan can fill an empty restaurant!

 
The next day dad left us to go have a golf outing with papa, Matt, & Brian. Sounds like they had lots of fun. We on the other hand got to check into our hotel in Omaha. Nana, Rachelle, and Gabby came early with us so we got the party started. I think Gabby liked us doing her nails. We loved the hotel as there was a huge middle area that we got to run around and play in. They even had a chess game as big as us!

Everyone else came the next day and we had lots of fun spending time together. We went to this super fun place called fun plex. It was like a worlds and oceans of fun, but more our size. I even got to rides. Papa rode on the carousel with me and Rhonda took me on a bunch of rides. It was awesome. Yes, we all loved it! We also went to the zoo! It was hot, but we suckered lots of people into giving us piggyback rides. My favorite part was going on the sky safari. We saw a lion and lots of other cool things - without walking. :)  Then we got to all go back to the hotel and swim in the waterpark. I was sad because the slides kept getting shut down, and they wouldn't let me hang out by everyone in the hot tub, but still had fun swimming with some people. I also especially liked a trip to a fancy steakhouse for dinner. We got to ride in Matt's RV and eat steak! It doesn't get much better! Oh wait, it does get better. The next day we got to go back home with them to Hartington for a few more days of fun. We got to camp in Rhonda's RV in her driveway and take trips to the pool/park. Lots of playing with Will!

Us and papa were the only ones who
actually wore our shirts!

And a view of over tired, cranky Lena

And a summary of other highlights of the summer, in no particular order. Heidi ran a ninja warrior course and rocked it.

Lots and lots of trips to the park and pool.

Going to be a LONG time till she can ride

More rides at the Johnson County fair. And yummy treats!

We made trips to the zoo, blueberry picking, and the farm - where we got to hang out with mom's friend Sarah's girls. We had met the older twins - but not the younger, so that was a lot of fun. Girl overload!!

We had our annual 4th of July party. A lot of the usual crowd was there. Unfortunately for the 1st year ever my BFF Ava wasn't able to come. It was just too hard with all 5 of the kids. I was really sad. Yes, she went off crying a lot, but eventually got over it so we could have fun. It was hard...I miss her! Anyway our neighborhood parade keeps getting bigger which is a lot of fun, but makes for quite the time maneuvering around everyone on our bikes. We had fun with our friends playing, eating lots of food, and doing some small fireworks (parachutes and sparklers)...our neighbors had some big loud fireworks - which Lena did NOT like. Apparently either did the police, because they showed up later. Yeah, those loud fireworks are scary and hurt my ears! I like watching them though. Kind of. Actually this year was really weird because it was cloudy. I guess we count ourselves lucky it didn't actually rain. Boy has it rained a lot this year (as of now, we have had 53" at our house). Made for a summer where we just didn't get a lot of outside playing because it was wet or really buggy. Also why we didn't make trips up to Matt's cabin. Lots of flooding and road closures.

My softball finished up (although I am still throwing in a video of me getting a triple below), and I took the summer off of any sports/activities other than swim lessons. I on the other hand was quite busy. Swim lessons, gymnastics AND tumbling, and softball. My first love is gymnastics for sure, but I had a lot of fun playing ball with some of my friends from pre-school.

We haven't gone to as many Royals games...but we do have fun there.

Mom told me once I was potty trained I could start going to gymnastics too...but that hasn't happened yet. If anyone asks, I am more than happy to show off my skills. I can do cartwheels and bridge ups 'just like' Heidi. I guess I will have to keep on asking her. I do like it whenever I find a golf ball in the yard though. YES. I am officially potty trained. All summer they kept telling me I should, but I just didn't feel like it. Then dad told me I didn't get to go to nana's house with Mimi and Heidi if I was still wearing diapers so I decided I would give in. Never looked back. Diapers one day to never again - even at night. Mom was thrilled when we took back the entire box of pull ups and wipes she had bought at Costco thinking I was going to hold out another month. See sometimes I do make them happy!

Ok the remaining pictures are just a few more highlights. Things like watering our school garden this summer, LOTS of walks (I LOVE walking Nala!) , I LOVE our family bike rides - often to parks or lunch spots, and definitely some stops to throw rocks in the creek, I loved going to the drive-in movie as a family and going on a painting date with mom, and just lots of fun bonding with sisters! I can't believe how fast the summer went. Here's hoping that the school year goes just as fast. Ill update you on new school year and birthday's next time! Until then, pictures and videos galore! Steffen Sisters OUT!