Summertime Rewind... East Coast time

*Note: I have a lot (as in: a LOT) of catching up to do. I've said it before, and I'll say it again... I'm trying to keep this as a family journal of sorts, and I've definitely been better at it... Ohhh, yes. Anyway, I'm recapping our summer in a delightful series called... Summertime Rewind: (other half of title here).  I'm sure you will enjoy these as much as I do!  Okay, probably not, since it's not focused on you and your family. Unless you are part of me and/or my family.  But... hang on tight, because here we go... back in tiiiimmmme...! (1 of 6. Yes, SIX! It was a busy summer. I'll include this little note with each procrasti-post, and I might just dot a few more-up-to-date ones here and there, too... if our blog doesn't explode from the flurry of activity. The poor thing's had a lay-around-on-the-couch-eating-cheetos kinda summer, while we've been gallivanting all over the place. It's not used to this... this... posting thing. Oh, man. Don't even let me think about the last post or two about Bulgaria I need to write... Out! Out of my head!)

June 20 - July 7, 2012

We stayed with Tara and Marcus, and cute Tressa and Nora, for our first week back in the States in June.  Those little girls just keep getting bigger and cuter, and we had a fabulous time with them.  Zac left us after a few days to go climb a mountain out West. Mt. Adams, I do believe. So the rest of us just played, and played, and played...

Nuala and Bran got snorkeling gear, which they used every chance they got, all across the US of A. Until I lost Bran's mask in Washington State (tremendous guilt about that), but that's another story.

Hehehee... I just like this one. Bran won the "Pretty Princess" or something like that, game. He collected all his (blue!) jewelry first, and won the tiara, becoming the prettiest princess of all!

We hit up the beach there in Maryland one Saturday. It was fun, and full of cuteness. See? Tressa's wearing her "wedding dress".  I highly doubt Tara and Marcus will find one this affordable when the big day actually arrives...

Woohoo! Tanks and helicopters! Living on a base (or a fort, I guess? Fort Meade...) has total perks.  And no, you are not supposed to climb on the tanks. We, fortunately, did not see the sign until we were almost done there.

Just because it's so gross:  Tressa shoved this toilet paper... hmmm... now it's been so long I can't remember! Maybe a piece of a cotton ball? Well, something like that... Anyway, it went up her nose. Waaaaay up her nose.  Tara had to get tweezers to extract it. And it just kept coming and coming... It was pretty horrific, yet simultaneously riveting to watch.

Uuuunnnncle Gary!  He's a pretty in-demand guy.  We actually kinda got to hang out a lot, which was a lot of fun. He even came and saw Brave with us. He didn't get too scared.

Hahaha :)   Maeve was probably wondering what the heck Uncle Marcus was doing, drinking Nora's bottle.

Maeve = Cute

Uncle Gary with Nuala and Tressa. Tressa was really, REALLY into dancing. She kept wanting Bran to be her partner, but the little stinker was less than cooperative.  Uncle Gary danced with her, and she was quite thrilled.  This is not a dancing picture. That's just a slightly related story.

A joyful picture, indeed. It was bedtime. We piled all the kiddos on Uncle Gary for one last pic.  Tressa obviously just wanted to rub her lovely curls in everyone's faces... ;)

Cute, smiley Nora! She is so adorable. She does remind me quite a bit of Maeve at that age.  Sigh. Only a year ago... 

Not as smiley here, but still adorable! Maeve just wanted to help "baby Nora," and hold her and be with her and mother her. Pretty much all the time. Nora was not keen on that plan. She was focused more on independence, and the two paths totally clashed. (I think that phrase doesn't quite work like I want it to, but you get the drift...)

Muffin Man at the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum.  I'll admit it. This pic is staged.  He totally HAD been pointing at something, and I was trying to take a pic, but then he started to zoom away (kids. can't keep still.) so I dragged him back and he very grudgingly stood and pointed AGAIN for me. Moms can be SUCH a drag.

Oookay. At this point Z had returned from his mountain climb, and we all had moved from Fort Meade, Maryland, to the Virginia side of DC.  We all had some processing to do for this move to Okinawa, so we needed to be closer to Z's work.  We also popped by and visited Great Falls Park, where Zachariah and I spent a lot of time pre-children rock climbing.  Man, we really did. It was so much fun, and I can't believe it's been so long ago! We were actually supposed to meet Z's cousin, Greg, there and we were all going to climb in this little area that's perfect for different levels... the kids and the grownups. However, there had been this small, yet apparently intense, storm the night before, and a lot of power was still out... traffic signals down... trees blocking roads... and Greg couldn't make it.  It was freakishly hot, though, so we just oozed our way to the falls lookout and then back to the car.

We went to Greg and Megan's house instead, where Bran's week was made because Greg allowed him to hold his gun (he used to be a cop).

Maeve fell in love with Scarlet, and we all enjoyed Megan's delicious cooking. TWO nights in a row, in fact! It was really fun seeing them. Megan was pretty much about to pop with their newest little addition, but was such a gracious hostess. She's since had the cute little guy, thank goodness, and probably feels slightly more comfortable.

We also go to see our one-time neighbors, Matt and Laura, their lovely dog, Maz (who we've known since he was an adorable pup) and meet their two-year old, Mady. She's about a month older than Maeve, and they were really cute together. I mean, really... how could they not be?  

AND, we went and saw my long-ago roommate, Liz! And her family! They are super cute and I love them.

Oh, AAAND... (I know, it never ends...) we went to my former place of employment, National Wildlife Federation, to see my former boss, John.  I got to work with him in the photo department of National Wildlife Magazine, in those pre-kids days.  Yeah, I got pregnant with Nuala and Bran... let's see... less than a week after I ended there. Ended because we were supposed to be moving to the Republic of Georgia, halfway around the world, two weeks later. That didn't happen, but the IVF worked, thankfully, and I ended up being quite occupied with all that entailed... All that randomness was just to point out that this was my immediate prior place of employment, before my two new tiny bosses.

John was a great guy to work for, and I loved seeing him again. It sure has changed there in the 6 years I've been gone, but it would still be, and really was, such a lovely place to work.  That's the (at the time) upcoming edition of the magazine on the wall behind us.

And here the kids are checking out the upcoming editions of Your Big Backyard and Ranger Rick. 

Outside the front of the building.  It was so beautifully wild there.  They worked hard to keep it a natural habitat for all sorts of creatures.  And the windows were huge.  Someone would yell, "the woodchucks are out!" and we'd all hop up and creep towards the picture windows to watch the little families of woodchucks waddle about, etc.  It was quite nice, indeed.

We were able to celebrate the 4th of July while we were in the DC area, so we headed over to Fort Meade again to hang out with the fam and take part in the festivities there. Aislinn and Curtis and their gang had arrived, and Erin and Rob were getting in that day...  Cute matching outfits on Nuala and Maeve, huh? HUH?

Bran, Rowan, and Declan. Practically inseparable.

For some reason I just love, love, LOVE this picture. The little legs... how T is standing... It's all just dang cute.

Zac and Marc and Declan and Bran got on this whirly spinny thing.  They went fast. And did not puke. Yay, them!

I, not to brag (okay, yes, to brag), rocked these free throws. Unfortunately, there was really no one around. It was too hot. In fact, I had to force my husband to stay and take pictures of me (see? I can't even pretend that he just took these of his own free will. I was like, "take pictures of me being awesome at basketball.") Even Bran had to ditch.  Well, I had fun.

I love this shot! Who DOESN'T love a grill fireball...tower...inferno...thing...?

Playing in the backyard... waiting for delicious food... just a-hangin'...  It was a great Fourth! 

And these two. Brigit and Nuala, walking on the Mall the next day.  They'd been apart for a whole YEAR at this point... lots of catching up to do!  

Up next:  Outer Banks...