A Cardinal Fourth

By K.J. Cardinal

The Fourth of July turned into a nice little Cardinal shindig at our house down in Hudson.

The day started off with us thinking that Aunt Kate and Uncle Matt were going to come down for a quiet afternoon to hang out and see little Leo, but a quick phone call to Meme and Aunt Tiff had the entire family down.

Aunt Kate was probably the MVP of the day if you asked Anna and Leo.

After having Anna help her with her make-up the other day, Aunt Kate brought Anna down a present that consisted of different nail polishes and types of make-up. Anna was in her glory.

She immediately had to have her finger nails and toe nails painted and then proceeded to give everyone in the house a little eye shadow and blush. When I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE. Anna is such a girly girl at times.

As for Leo, he continued his string of unbelievably perfect behavior by just hanging out all day, sleeping and eating. He got to take a real solid nap on Aunt Kate and I think she fell even more in love with the little guy... if that's humanly possible.

Uncle Matt came down to finally take a gander at Leo and was kind enough to bring Bauer too... which was another big hit for Anna.

Anna was spoiled by cool Mater gifts from Uncle Matt too, but Leo was the one that really lucked out. Uncle Matt pulled out his bag of tricks and gave Leo a four-DVD set of the complete He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series. Such an awesome gift, given the fact that I was obsessed with He-Man while growing up. I can't wait to knock the dust off all the He-Men that are still up in my parents attic when Leo's old enough and watch the entire series with him. Such a great gift, Matt. Thanks!

After present time from Matt, we had lunch with leftovers from a catering gig that my parents brought down... shrimp, steak and tons of salads. What a great score for all of us!

While we all ate, Anna did a disappearing act under the dining room table with her new best friend, Bauer. She just wanted to lay next to him, patting him and rubbing his feet and tail. It was priceless.

We hung out for a few more hours with Meme and Papa and then the real party started once Andrew and Natalie showed up around 4 o'clock.

The kids are all at such a great age and get along so well. They went on the swing set, played in the kiddie pool and the sand box, but the most fun came when I broke out the hose.

Andrew proceeded to be a "fireman"... basically just spraying everything in site... most notably Natalie and Anna. It was hilarious, as the girls were loving it, almost as much as Andrew.

As if we weren't all already psyched up for the Cardinal vacation at the end of the month, the Fourth was just a nice little preview of the fun to come and we can't wait!