Christmas Eve #1 and #2

We had two Christmas eves this year!  One the week before to celebrate with Grandma Betty and one on the actual day to celebrate with Grandpapa too! 

First we stopped at Grandpa's sister houses Aunt Lois to say Merry Christmas 

The over to Grandma Bettys to celebrate Christmas with her!

The sisters who were there!

The Hulihan Siblings

Christmas Eve #2 - we got to celebrate at Tommy and Christine's with everyone!

One of the cute babies there - Emeric! Just turned one!

David practicing holding two babies at once - Emeric and Sabine - preparing for the TWINS he and Amber will be having in 2016!  Everyone was so excited as the announced it in person with a ultrasound photo of two babies wearing Santa hats! 

Here it is!

The Christmas Eve Crew!

A special family photo with Grandpapa!

It has been years since we had our Grandpapa with us for Christmas, but all growing up it was never Christmas without him, so it was a nice to have him visiting this year from Idaho and it felt like a real Christmas eve! 

Here is a link to more photos from these days!

Carpinteria Family Reunion 2015

Reunion Time!  The whole fam bamily (minus Kelsy with her newborn!) got together this summer in July for our annual Hulihan family reunion!  We love getting together most of the 23 grandkids, 7 siblings with spouses, my mom and dad and assorted other cousins and aunts and uncles!  We are lucky enough to live by one of the most beautiful places in the USA - Carpinteria Beach!  So a camping we went this summer so we could spend a few days together enjoying one another's company by the beach and campfires! 

The view by our campsite! 

Grandpa's here!

Lots of baby snuggling with baby Emeric (here) and Declan too!

We were lucky to have my aunt and cousins from Minnesota join us too for their first CA reunion!

Exploring the Carp Tar Pits!


Shayla and Cash exploring the Tidepools!

All the cousins at the Tidepools

Most of the group (minus my parents) at the Tidepools

Beach time!

The ladies got to have some beach time by themselves!

Tree climbing with our cousin Neil who came all the way from Japan just for our reunion!

Some of the cousins!  They all had a great time and we were happy to make memories together we hope they will cherish all their lives!

Until next summer...

The Nature Trifecta!

Yay January in Santa Barbara/Goleta is one of our favorite times to enjoy the Nature trifecta that is a close drive away from our house and such an amazing nature experience!

The Trifecta is the Goleta Butterfly Grove/Ellwood Butterfly Preserve (www.goletabutterflygrove.com). Monarch butterflies migrate to Goleta each November through February and the butterflies combined with the amazing views of the ocean and walking/hiking paths in this grove make it one of the most beautiful places ever! And the Carpinteria Tide Pools!! This time of year there is super low tide and the Carpenteria Tide Pools are amazing to see as you can see so much with the low tide! The third part of the trifecta is the Carpinteria Seal Rookery off of Bailard adn CArpinteria Avenue.  Jan-Feb is height of birthing season for the seals and you can stand on the bluff and watch them for hours!  WE had too much fund at the other places this time we didn't make it to the Seals but had a stop at Tomol Interactive Play Area - a fun park at 390 Linden Avenue, Carpinteria instead! 
Tide pool time! 

We met up with Amy's family and my parents and Doug and Sheelah for our adventure!

The cousins at the Buttterfly Grove.

My nature lovers! 

Amy with her babes! 

What a view! 

The gang! 

Me and Shayla 

Lots of tree climbing at the Grove too! 

Butterflies! 

Exploring! 

Coco loves her sea slug! 

My other favorite people!  What a fun, beautiful day! 

The kids had a great day too!  Until next time!

Family time!

The last weekend of May, two of my out of state sisters and their families came to visit California!  It was great to have many of the cousins together!  We spent some time at Grandma Bettys and celebrated Dads, Amy's and Isaiah's Birthdays and then went to Carpinteria Beach to spend time with Doug & Sheelah and so the out of towners could enjoy the beach!   We all had a great time and I got to meet baby Declan for the first time too!  Such a sweet baby!  

Traditional sand bury - this time it was Christian who got buried!

Three oldest girl cousins in attendance!

Mitchell loves sand! 

Our view 

And (although out of order!) a get together at Grandma Bettys!

Meeting baby Declan for the first time!!

Some of the cousins (should have had Grandma Betty get in this photo!!)  

Funny faces!!

And traditional drumsticks from Grandma!

Fathers Day 2013

I shared this collage on facebook because I am so lucky to have 3 wonderful dads in my life!  

Fathers Day is a time to celebrate them and remind them all how much they are loved and appreciated! 

So...love you all!

For father's day we went to Jon's sisters house to spend time with his dad and grandpa.

Here is Shayla and Grandpa Nelson.

 
FOUR generations of Nelson men!

 
All being silly!

 
They love daddy!

 
Finger and Nelson cousins with Grandpa and Dad