And the Washington fun continues, with the Z fam! (July)

When we left Erin's house, we stopped at our good friends home for lunch a bit o' playing. The Tull family. Mike and Julie, their kids, Paige, Jonah, and Jack, and their awesome backyard.

A zip line is part of that awesome yard.

We also got to have breakfast one morning with the Christensen fam. It's fun to see them every year (usually) and reflect back on our pre-kids days in VA... they're the ones that had their little (not so much anymore!) Clara at the same hospital, same day as Bran and Nuala. I love that they're in Seattle and we can keep up with them! They're quite cool.  There's Anna and Clara with our kiddos.

It was such a great visit to Z's family! Of course. We get to enjoy the best weather that the Pacific NW has to offer, usually... And the kids (um, all of us) have such a fun time with the cousins, etc.

Poppie took the rascals on 4-wheeler rides.

Fun was had.

Visiting Poppies' rabbits...

This is a new little baby bunny. Our kids are kinda jumpy about holding things with claws. Even teeny tiny claws that don't even hurt a little. Nuala got over it to hold this little one, though. And now we have two kitties here at home, and they finally, FINALLY, don't mind getting scratched up a bit. Poor Maeve. But that's for another post.

Nuala underestimated the weight of this bunny. Do not worry... I got to her in time. After taking a pic, of course... (hey! I didn't realize the peril the bunny was in till after I snapped!)

Riding the ponies.  Man... I can never tell them apart. Booger and Peanut.

The kids have such a good time with Grandma Buttons and Poppie. There's always so much to do out on their property. I love that they're making such wonderful memories. And that we get to pick fresh raspberries. That's good, too. Oh, and it's really good to see our cats, who have gotten quite snooty towards us, it seems. I'm not sure if it's normal cat-snootiness, or extra-snootiness... but, it hurts, man... it hurts... remember the good days, Mushi?! When you ate the string and we had to pull it out of your bum... freaking out over every little thing... the head rubs... And Finnegan... going on walks with us... climbing our legs... did all that mean nothing?! Come now... sigh...

Ahhh... the tree fort thing. They played here a ton. This is a safe and satisfying game, as you can imagine. No crashes or tears or disagreements at ALL.

Hmmmm... These pics are somewhat out of order, but it doesn't really matter. I was just surprised to see our ONE Great Wolf Lodge picture show up here... Anyway. Heidi and Doug took us all (yes, ALL! as in 25 of us) to Great Wolf Lodge! It's that cool hotel with an indoor waterpark... very fun. And this is the only picture I have. See the fun water slides? See the animatronic trees? No? Well, that shows how much fun we were having... no time or inclination to take pics!! This is where Maeve wanted to sleep -- under the sink. Yeah. But then she changed her mind. But the park was so much fun!!! On one ride I banged my nose into Eldon's knee! Okay, that doesn't really tell much, I suppose, but it was really fun and crazy. The kids LOVED it, b/c how could you not? Someone (not from our group. Supposedly.) pooped in the wave pool so that had to be emptied out, but whatever...

Pretty Emma, at Heidi's new house.

Heidi taking Nuala for a ride on Sarah. I think. Heidi has a lot of horses! Heck, I get my kids' names mixed up and there are only THREE of them...

Bran's turn.

Sarah's (?) baby. He was kinda not-too-thrilled with us all taking up his mom's time. I have a funny video where he kinda charges me. Bran was unsure if he was going to be friendly or not. He was cute. A grumpy little baby.

Ahhh, but not grumpy enough to refuse a nose rub!

Thanks, Heidi!!

This is just really cute. 

Lils and Maeve helping Heidi feed the horses.  

Baby Bella!!! Soooo adorable. I just love her. She's a little chunkster, and has the cutest grins. Maeve couldn't get enough of that babe. Awww, now I want to hold her again!!!

Preston was very good at sharing his toys.

Bran and Presto -- buds!

Mia! Oh, she was cute with Maeve. Very good with little kids. I can't believe SHE'S not such a little kid anymore...

Maria's three littler girls with Nuala and a bunch of dolls. For some reason Maeve got ticked and refused to participate in this AWESOMEly posed shot.

She ran to the bathroom and got a drink instead. Huffily. (And Bran totally DOES do this when he's in a rush here at home. Saw it just yesterday when he was racing around with his neighborhood buddies. Runs into the bathroom and sticks his head under the faucet. It's easier for him, though, since he can actually REACH the faucet. Eh. Maeve's always up for a challenge.)

Maria -- and I'm realizing I have no pics of her in this post!!! Despite putting up 40 pictures, I really have become less camera-happy lately.  I'm fairly certain she will be making an appearance in the next post... Umpqua! Oh, yes... she will...  Anyway. Maria always has fun craft projects for the tykes to do. They spent all morning designing these cute iron-on monster shirts. They're so cool! My kids still wear them often. Maeve got a purple shirt and was very pleased.

Eldon, on the lookout for kids who need a-whackin'.

Never a dull moment. Never.

Maeve with Bells.

McKenna! Who was just dropped off at BYU-I! Crazy. She was just a cute little 5-yr old when I met her... Now look at her! All grown up... a beautiful college girl... *sniff, sniff*

They love Grandma Buttons and Poppie, they do...

The Rollins cousins, minus Sari's 4 kiddos, unfortunately.

It's hard to leave when you're having such fun with people you love!

Especially SUPER people!

Annnnd, some weapon and gadgets that Bran and Hunter made. Hunter (16) is quite talented at building stuff, and Bran really loves to do that too, so there are always some nifty creations floating around...

We made it back to Okinawa safe and sound. It was great to get home! But we had a wonderful time!!! And in between all this Rollins' fam visit, we all packed up and went to Southern Oregon for a week. Obviously you need to hear all about that, so stay tuned...