Thursday, October 04, 2012

Summertime Rewind: the Rollins clan up Washington way

*Post 5 of 6, in the enchanting little Summer Rewind series...
July 29 - August 12, 2012
After the few days at Erin's, we packed up the car that Heidi had lent us and moved our crew to the Saunder's abode, to spend time with the Rollins' side of the family for the next three weeks. Two of Zachariah's sisters, his brother, their families, and his parents are all in the same area, so that is really handy. Just one of his sisters lives in Oregon, so we got to hang out with ALMOST everyone for two weeks, and then met up with Sari and her kids the third week.
Poppie was building a new enclosure for a python at this reptile zoo, so we all invaded the place one day.  It's always fun to see various creepy-crawlies, especially when you get to pet them. The kids thought it was really cool to see Poppy and all his tools at work, too.

Aaaaaghhh! It's eating my hand!!!
A nice, fat rattlesnake. Maria's favorite.
I found this pics from the ride home. Nuala and Mia are totally the most ladylike little things ever! Not. And I wouldn't change them one bit!

This dog's name is Ellis. He was super cool. Maeve loved him.  I can't remember what type he was, so we'll just go with the "super cool" type.

We went to the beach one of the days.  It was fun and the water was freezing! but it sure is pretty!
Grandma Buttons throwing Hunter into the waves.  haha! She's a tough grandma, but he's definitely got her out-sized now...

Z's buddy, Mike (really we should just call him "Uncle Mike."  The kids actually usually refer to him as "Monster Mike" though), took us on a tour of the chip factory he manages.  It was really neat! I wasn't expecting it to be as interesting as it was. Plus, he's a good tour guide. Another plus, we got lots of delicious samples, and hair nets.  The kids really loved it.

Then we went back to the Mike and Julie's place to eat a delicious dinner and chat while the kids all roamed around their awesome backyard, wearing themselves out.  Here's Maeve on the super-long zipline. She's got strong little arms, and a good grip, but that's a loooong way to go...

Jonah and Bran Man.
Maeve loved Paige. Nuala did, too. Heck, who DOESN'T love Paige?  I didn't get a picture of Tull kid #3, Jack. He's five and quite adorable.
Cousin Rylee is soooo good with little kids. Here he is zooming Maeve around the backyard pool.  Maeve loves him!
Yummmm... I guess. If you're into ripping open crustaceans and eating their flesh.  Not my favorite, but hey, I'll take the pictures! Crab night at the Saunders' place! Actually, the crabs were delicious, but still, not my thing... I know, I know... good riddance, Fiona... more for everyone else! ;)

We stay at Maria's place, aka the Saunders', and make the 20 minute trip to Poppie and Grandma Button's home throughout our time up there.  Oh man. Their place is kid paradise. Bunnies, chickens, horses that Aunt Heidi always lets them ride, 4-wheelers, waterslides... kid paradise.  I like this pic of Maeve and Grandma having a little chat in the bunny house.
Snuggling a baby bunny.
Nuala loved them! Maeve and Bran were slightly wary because of their teeny tiny claws that you can barely even feel, but Nuala just wanted to keep on holding those adorable little furballs.
Here Poppie is showing us how big the momma rabbit's feet are.  Nuala is amazed. Clearly, she has never looked closely at MY feet before. Or her own, for that matter, poor girl-taking-after-her-mother...
The smaller four-wheeler. This helmet was gigantic and super heavy. Bran loved it.
Going for a spin. That's Heidi's dog, Sophie, watching. She's a standard poodle, and is really cool. Not snobby at all.
Cousin Preston looooves the baby bunnies, too.
Nuala on... Peanut? Or Booger? One of Heidi's two ponies.  I can never remember who is who unless they're right beside each other.  
Later Heidi broke out the BIG guns! Guns = Horses.  This is... oh, shoot. Sara? Sagira?  Is Sagira that big yet? Sigh. Well, one of the big horses. That's Maeve. She's thought she was the awesomest thing ever, getting to ride a big horse.  By the way, Heidi is pregnant! She's having a little girl in December! Preston will be such a cute big brother.
I love this picture! Poppie and the girlies, after church.  
Emma is so patient! Sat here for Maeve to brush, and brush...and brush... her hair.
Playing in the river! These Washington rivers are downright freezing compared to Texas rivers, but we went to this one twice and it wasn't too bad... I was amazed. Still made me gasp in shock when I got in, but I didn't have to get out 2 minutes later due to hypothermia. I lasted about 3... kidding! A bit longer.
We always go camping when we're up with Z's family, but this year our summer was so packed full that we just couldn't squish one more large-ish endeavor in. And that's what the annual southern Oregon camping trip is with Z's extended family: A large-ish endeavor.  A super FUN one, that we were really sad to miss, but we just couldn't do it.  The consolation prize: backyard camping! We're looking forward to seeing ya next summer, Umpqua!

We also went up the ice caves one day. I'm sure there's an official park name, but I've only ever called them "the ice caves," because that's what my married-into family calls them.  On the hike up, Mia and Nuala, and then Bran, too, kept running ahead and hiding so they could jump out and scare the rest of us.  When I took this picture of them, Bran said I needed to say that they were "the Three Scarers!"  So, there you have it: The Three Scarers!
Brrr... snow! Of course, since we ARE at the ice caves.
Nuala is crazy. This is a freezing river. Glacial runoff and all...You saw the snow and ice we just hiked a little ways down from.  We were sticking our feet in the water, exclaiming about the frigidy of it, but Nuala and Mia had to take it a bit farther. They stripped down to their panties, and practically went swimming. Yep, then they commando-ed it home. Cuh-razies! They had fun, though!
Emma, Maeve, Mia, Nuala, and Lilly. :)  
Lilly turned EIGHT while we were there!  For her birthday, Auntie Maria took all the girls to get a manicure or a pedicure, in preparation for our trip to Disneyland. Woohoo! At that point, even I had never had either of those done.  The girls LOVED it. 
The next day the "big girls" all went and got pedicures. Most of us got Mickey on our big toes.  One of the ladies there made awesome Mickey heads. The other one did not. We all hoped and hoped for the awesome-Mickey artist, just to avoid the awkwardness of having to call her over later to fix less-than-awesome-Mickey-artist's work.  Then we went out for Thai food! Yummmm!!!!
Hehehee... they make me laugh! This was at my THIRD -- and final -- birthday celebration, where I got many lovely presents AND a delicious lasagna dinner.  A summer birthday definitely pays off. Especially when you have an awesome family.  We had a blast with the Rollins' crew. I love our overseas life (for now), but it would be soooo, so, sooo much fun to live closer to our families.  
Up next: Disneyland!

3 comments:

pauline said...

That looks like so much fun ... at Grandma Buttons' and Maria's... and Heidi's horses ... N looks averaged-ly sized on the pony... but, then, along comes M on the BIG horse...heeheehee. Love the pool, and the zipline, and the BIG dog (Ellis)...I want him :) Nobody can turn down free chip samples! What a cute little 4-wheeler; I'm thinkin' Bran was SO excited to be on it. I love M brushing E's hair ... very beautiful and inviting "brush me" hair indeed! The contrasting weather conditions in a fairly short distance... ice & snow, imagine that! Love the cute li'l bunnies too... they are wonderful action pics of everyone. What a nice job for Poppie...working at the zoo! Isn't it wonderful to have so many great cousinsF :) Thanks for sharing! Love, Mom (Dad too) xox

pauline said...

... hmmm ... that final "F" was just a typo, but I don't know how to remove it now... xox

Tara said...

Sounds like a kid paradise for sure! The kiddos are so cute holding those bunnies, I love Nuala's expression with the bunny foot picture. Maeve looks so super tiny on that big horse, what a brave girl! No surprise there...glad y'all had a fun time!