Seattle: Rollins Time (with friend time randomly in the middle)

And, the REST of the Seattle part of our SUMMER trip back to the States. Please don't judge me. Unless you judge me to be a long-winded procrastinator, because you would be correct. That is a bad combo when it comes to blogging. Anyway, above we have Preston and Bran, buddy-buddy watching something on TV. Probably Phineas and Ferb.

A few of the cousins gathered around Maria's cool, tall-ish table. This was birthday cake for Lilly, who turned the big SEVEN while we were there!

Tired Maeve getting Auntie Maria snuggles. Awwww....

We went whitewater rafting with Z's family. The big people did. Well, except for poor Heidi, who broke her foot skateboarding before we got there and was out of commission for the summer fun. She was a good sport and came along anyway, even though she was itching to do everything. The rafting was awesome! Especially when Grandma was ejected from our raft and rode some... intimidating... rapids solo. It was really funny, actually. One of these days we'll get the pics from that trip and this grandma part is well worth revisiting.

We went to Leavenworth on the way back from rafting! Yay! I've never been and I've been wanting to go forever. Or at least since I've known about it. So maybe 7 years. Close to forever. It's a Bavarian-esque little place, and we had fun walking around and going in all the cool little shops and eating DElicious ice cream and buying candy. Abe was really excited to be there, too, as his froclicking about on posts made obvious, hehehee... No, but really, the flowers everywhere were gorgeous.

Here's Heidi, runnin' Z down on her little scooter. Okay, I'm laughing right now. Honestly, that scooter was hilarious. Isn't her cast cool?

Poppie and his pal, outside the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I got some yummmy peanut brittle there... I know! I didn't even get chocolate! I don't know what was up that day. That's just weird. And, actually, that bear was stinky and kinda gross.

We got to see our friends from back in Virginia again! Oliver and Kristin are out in Seattle with their two girls, so we get to pop by and catch up every now and again. They JUST bought this beautiful, brand-new house... so, so, so beautiful... and they took us by for a pre-move-in tour. Here are the kiddos. Clara, who is Nuala and Bran's same-day-same-hospital-first-"playdate"-EVER birthday buddy, and little Anna. They're a fun little group o' kiddos, that's for sure.

Their house has a nice little slope to the front yard, perfect for rolling down. We loved catching up with them.

Maeve with Hunter and Mia.

It was great there at Maria's house. Big kids were always out sleeping on couches or beanbags or something, since we ousted a bunch of them from their beds (thanks, guys! ;), so when Maeve would wake up at too-early-o'clock, I'd nurse her and then Z would take her out, but would always be back within 2o minutes or so because some older cousin had taken charge. Here we have cute Rylee, much-loved by Maeve. She took a mini morning nap in his arms.

Maeve, Poppie, and Pup-pup.

We went out to Grandma and Poppie's place, of course. First order of business was to go say hi to our kitties, Finnigan (above) and Mushi (below). The original twins.

I'm pretty sure they were overjoyed to see us, as evidenced by the excitement on their little feline faces. We love 'em. I'm glad they got a good home when Finnigan decided he'd disqualify himself from flying internationally and then never have another mysterious seizure again.

Maeve was thrilled with all the animals there. They have horses and ponies (Heidi's), cats, dogs, cows, rabbits, chickens, and pigs. I think that's it for right now... But here she is, heading out to say hi to one of Heidi's horses. I guess this one's a pony. Booger, I think. Heidi let them ride again, but somehow I ended up without any pictures. Gasp! I'm not sure if this post can survive not having them, but we'll see. (Speaking of which, we also saw the Tulls, our friends who have appeared in such posts as the Antarctica trip, and the more recent big-huge-caravan through Turkey and Greece. But I forgot the camera. We still love you, Tulls!)

Grandma has a beautiful front garden. These are just some lovely flowers in pots, not the garden, but also beautiful.

Sharing strawberries with Poppie.

Nuala and Bran playing in the big sandpit.

YEAH! Chicken feedin' time! Maeve was not perturbed at all by the scrabbling mass at her feet. She even tried to hand feed them.

Some of the pigs-that-are-not-named-so-no-one-really-gets-attached-to-them-prior-to-butchering-time. I'm sure they'll be just as yummy as their predecessors.

Here we are, waiting in line at a most awesome indoor pool. BIG slides, a lazy river, a hot tub, a great small-kids play area... It was really fun.

Abe, Z's youngest sibling and only brother, and his wife, Courtney, with N&B.

All the siblings and their spouses went out for one last meal at a Thai place, with Grandma Buttons and Poppie. Oh, and we're missing Andrew, Sari's hubby, who couldn't come up from Oregon. But it was a fun, and quite delicious, evening!

Z and his fam, minus his dad who had to leave for work: Abe, Zachariah, Grandma, Maria, Sari, and Heidi. I love Rosie's and Maria's expressions, haha!

The morning we left... Sari and I finally dressed our one-day-apart munchkins in their matching outfits (was it OUR fault Seattle decided to remain firmly planted in spring-like temperatures most of the time we were there?? no.). They were super cute, but not too keen on posing.

Cutest little outfits, though! Who else could pull off orange leggings but an adorable toddler? Well, yes, I know you're saying to yourselves, "Fiona, YOU probably could. You can make ANYthing look good!", and I appreciate that, I do, but I'm sure I couldn't make them look THAT good. Hmmm.... yeah, close, I guess, but not quiiiite there...

Mia and Bran. Don't mess with them.

All the Rollins grandchildren, except for Preston. Looks like Poppie is sitting in for him, though, so he's represented. All 13 (and one on the way!).

Hunter and Spiderbaby. Maeve really liked doing this. Good thing Hunter is super buff, because that's an arm killer.

And this is not in Seattle, but right after we arrived home in Bulgaria. Bran was super excited to see his little brown puppy, whose name I am not sure of because it's different everyday, but he's always a favorite! He didn't get to come to America because Bran was too worried he'd lose him. Anyway, he was sooo happy to see him, so he fixed him up a dinner and let him eat right beside him. Now, normally we frown upon dogs on the dinner table, but this was a somewhat special occasion so we made an exception.