April Vacation 2012

By K.J. Cardinal

Sapphire Beach (St. Thomas, USVI)

This is without a doubt the most amount of time I've ever spent on one single post for The Cardinal Blog, and I guess it's only fitting because it's the first real vacation we've taken to an exotic destination since I launched the blog back in 2007. Needless to say, the vacation was a long-time coming and it didn't disappoint for a second.

I don't blame you if you don't read this entire post, but I had to do it so we will always be able to look back on what an amazing week we had. So, if you're not interested in the daily run down of our trip, then just be sure to scroll through to see the pics and most importantly the videos. Definitely some really cool stuff. Anyway, here goes...

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Sunday, April 15: Coney Island

By flying out of JFK instead of Logan, we were able to save over $200/ticket on our direct flights to St. Thomas. This was obviously a no-brainer, which meant we would head down to NYC the day before our flights to enjoy a day at Coney Island.

Sad way to start the trip... a sniper took out all three kids on the Merritt Parkway.

The only thing I really knew about Coney Island was that it annually plays host to the Nathan's hot dog eating contest... and quite frankly (pun intended) that was really all that Leo and I needed to know about the place.

We arrived around 11:30 a.m. and were able to get free on-street parking as it was pretty early for a spring beach crowd. [As an aside, Sunday trips to NY will be in our future as free on-street parking and a late-awaking city was a treat.]

This dog didn't stand a chance.

First things first, we did what every red-blooded American should do immediately when they get to Coney Island... and that's grab a hot dog from Nathan's.

Nathan's (Coney Island)

The hot dog's didn't disappoint, but the cheese fries were a surprise hit with the ladies and I was pretty psyched to get a 32 ounce draft beer in a paper cup. Kinda made me feel like I was sneaking beers in a movie theatre and pouring them into an empty soda cup... not that I'd ever do that, of course.

After fueling up, we ventured over to Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park, located directly on the boardwalk. I was rather surprised by the number of rides, especially for little kids, which were right in Anna's wheelhouse. We bought a bunch of tickets and off we went.

Sammy can't contain her excitement.

Leo was enjoying his time on my back in the MacPac, which meant that Anna could really dominate some rides. For the first of a million times on our vacation, Sammy proved to be the MVP of the trip as she hopped on the whales with Anna to get the festivities started.

Anna was in her glory as she bounced from ride to ride. First the whales, then the dragon coaster, then the train and the ducks with Leo and so on and so forth.

Photo op on the Wonder Wheel.

She really showed how she's getting older and more daring with ride selection. First, Anna opted to go on the big Wonder Wheel with Sammy and I. This isn't your traditional Ferris Wheel. Sure it goes super high, around in a circle, but the cart that we were in was on this free-flowing track that enabled the cart to roll and swing and sway while way up in the air. It was pretty scary for Anna, but she was unfazed by it all.

Deno's Free Fall.

After the Wonder Wheel, Anna mustered up the courage to go on Deno's Free Fall. This was a kids' version of the Tower of Terror, but still went pretty high and was the maiden voyage for Anna on a ride that "really got my belly" as she told me.

The very first "fall" that the ride took, caused Anna to have a brief look of panic on her face, but that quickly turned to elation as she loved the ride so much that she wanted to "do it again" immediately after the first run ended.

There's nothing in the world quite like seeing the look of pure joy on your child's face. Anna always lets her emotions show (for better or worse) and when it's for the better, her energetic personality just infects everyone around her.

Watching her on the Free Fall was not only a treat for us, but for all the other park-goers as well. I mean, her screams did tend to draw some attention...

This is one of my favorite photos that I've ever taken. I really outdid myself.

While Coney Island on a Sunday in April didn't have much more to offer than hot dogs and the amusement parks, the place was pretty cool and the kids definitely enjoyed themselves.

We piled back in the Xterra and headed to check into our hotel. After checking in, Sammy and I did some solid research on Yelp! and came across a dinner and dessert destination.

For dinner, we headed to Flushing and visited this Chinese joint called Sifu Chio. It was amazing. Without a doubt one of the best hole in the wall restaurants I've ever been to. For dessert, we hit up a place Sammy had heard of called Max and Mina's for ice cream. They didn't have as many off-the-wall flavors as we had hoped for, but they made a killer Black Raspberry that definitely rivaled Lone Oak... which is saying something.

We decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel as we had a 8 a.m. flight in the morning. Overall a fun, but relatively low-key, low-stress way to start our vacation. Now, off to paradise...

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Monday, April 16: JFK to Paradise

Gratuitous tourist photo #1. 

My 5:30 a.m. alarm came VERY early as we had to shower and pack up the car to head to JFK Long Term Parking. The kids were somewhat out of it initially, but the talks of taking a shuttle bus and an airplane definitely put a little pep in their step.

Leo & Pluto just chillin.

I was a little worried about the process of getting the kids through the airport and security, but Angie had picked up this luggage cart that we strapped Leo's car seat to and he was perfectly content just cruising through the whole process.

Angie really made a big push for 2012 Mother of the Year as she had prepared and pulled out all the stops for the first flight of Anna and Leo's lives.

Fully charged iPhones, iPads, MacBooks. Snacks. Toys. Candy. Gum. Lollipops. You name it, she had it. And boy-oh-boy, did it work like a charm. The kids were good as gold on the four-hour direct flight.

Flying in style.

Of course Anna didn't nap, and therefore wouldn't let me nap, but she was pretty psyched to have a window seat with her plethora of goodies, including noise-cancelling headphones and Puss and Boots.

Daddy was extra happy as the credit card machine on the airplane wasn't functioning properly so this meant that food and drinks were on the house. This type of stuff never happens... well, not to me at least.

As the plane was landing, Anna couldn't have been any cuter. She was looking out the window excitedly and was giving pretty loud commentary to every thought that was running through her head. The plane would dip with a little turbulence, and she'd giggle and say "it tickles my tummy". Then as we got close to the ground, she said, "This is cool... I'm a little scared... but it's OK." Her inner monologue was coming out of her mouth and everyone within ear shot was in hysterics.

I so wish that I had video footage of that. It was priceless.

We landed in 84 degree weather and vacation was officially on. Adam had warned us to be patient as everyone operates on "island time" and that was apparent the minute we tried to get our rental car. It was a rather lengthy process and the kids had so much pent up excitement and energy that the time from baggage claim to lunch seemed like an eternity.

Anyway, we got our white Ford Fusion from Budget and grabbed some lunch in Charlotte Amalie at the Fat Turtle. The waterfront restaurant was a great starter as not only was the service and food great, but the waitress was throwing some food scraps in the water feed the fish and it was quite a spectacle. Baracudas and other tropical fish came out to feast, while crabs and iguanas on the rocks were basking in the sun.

Needless to say, we were all psyched to be in the Caribbean and couldn't wait to hit the beach.

View from the living room balcony.

Before we did that though, we had to go check into our condo for the week. We stayed at the Elysian Resort in Cowpet Bay. We found one of Nancy's Condos through VRBO.com and the place was awesome.

Two bedrooms. Three baths. Open concept kitchen, dining room, living room. Ceiling fans and ACs in all rooms. Three separate balconies... one off of each bedroom and the living room. A wine rack stocked with wine and alcohol?!?! It was amazing... better than advertised.

We headed down to the beach at Cowpet Bay, less than 100 yards away, and then hit up the amazing Elysian Resort pool.

Cowpet Bay (St. Thomas, USVI)

Cowpet Bay was calm waters and completely empty in the late afternoon when we first ventured there, which was a pleasant surprise. A solid beach for the kids, but an average beach for the Caribbean.

Now, the pool on the other hand was spectacular. I knew the kids would love the pool, but I didn't realize how much I would love it as well. Every day we'd hit up a beach or two in the morning and then come back to the hotel to regroup, hit the pool, have dinner and then go night swimming.

There is this grotto area in the pool that has two entrances with little waterfalls over each. The kids were in love. We spent countless hours by the pool and ended up being a HUGE hit of the trip... as you can see...

She can sleep anywhere.

Day one in St. Thomas was so perfect that I didn't want it to come to an end. So, we went all out and hit up the fancy resort restaurant to treat ourselves to a high class dinner.

Delicious food, a friendly server, live steel drums playing in the background, open air seating. It was heavenly. Anna felt so comfortable in fact, she put her head on my lap and fell asleep :)

Our first day in the islands was complete and I couldn't wait for more.

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Tuesday, April 17: Coki Beach

Morning cartoons.

The sound of waves on the beach was a blessing to wake up to each morning. Just a perfect way to start the day... well that and having Leo come into bed to snuggle and watch a morning cartoon... couldn't get any better for Angie and I.

Our plan of attack was to get up early in the morning each day as the kids are definitely at their best before the late afternoon. So, we had breakfast and were out the door around 9 a.m. with Coki Beach as our destination.

Anna was convinced she'd catch him.

Coki Beach is the home of Coral World Sea Park, so it's kind of touristy, but I thought it had a cool local vibe to it. We didn't visit Coral World, but rather went to the opposite end of the beach and got a prime spot next to the rocks.

Friendly local vendors coming by to offer up lounge chairs, drinks, food, etc. wasn't entirely what I was expecting out of St. Thomas, but I also surprisingly didn't mind it... actually, I enjoyed it.

Snugglin' on the beach.

The kids explored the rocks, experienced snorkeling for the first time (on their cool snorkel rafts), Anna tried to catch a pelican, I had a bucket or two of beers, Sammy lounged in the sun, Angie enjoyed some local smoothies and the Caribbean jerk chicken for lunch was legit. Coki had a little bit of something for everyone.

Leo had a good time, but little did we know that he had some major chaffing going on with his swim shorts and inner thighs. It was a slight problem that left him a little gun shy with the salt water for the next day, but he battled back and finished strong.

We left Coki and headed back to the Elysian for more pool action and a much more casual dinner... pizza.

Angie and I decided that Wednesday would be our day in St. John... so early to bed and early to rise was once again the plan.

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Wednesday, April 18: St. John

I think I must've been pretty excited to go to St. John because I woke up around 5 a.m. and started packing up things for our day trip. We decided to take the car ferry over and it turned out to be a great plan.

By taking the car ferry, we could really explore the island faster and cheaper in one day and also got to experience some kamikaze driving. After the quick 15-minute ferry ride over, we hit the roads for Trunk Bay.

Along the way, I had to stop to capture this amazing view...

St. John (USVI)

Our early departure from St. Thomas meant an early 8:45 a.m. arrival at Trunk Bay... or as I like to call it... Paradise.

There were only probably a dozen other people on the beach for the first two hours we were there and it was my favorite two hours of the trip.

Trunk Bay (St. John, USVI)

Just a picture perfect setting. Pristine sandy beaches. Impossibly blue water. Green mountain ranges.

The waves were strong enough to knock me over if I was sitting chest-deep in water, but the sand was so soft, with no rocks at all, that Anna and I must've spent hours letting the waves have their way with us.

We positioned ourselves in the shade of a big tree that the kids ended up playing under and the whole time there was just something that I will never forget.

Anna lovin' life at Miss Lucy's.

After a long morning of playing on the beach, we took a drive and had lunch at this cool local restaurant, Miss Lucy's. It was kinda pricey for lunch and super slow service, but I'd eat there everyday for the rest of my life and be perfectly content.

It's right on the water in a rocky cove and the property that abuts the parking lot is full of goats. So, the long wait for lunch didn't seem so bad as the kids took turns roaming the area and enjoyed their smoothies at our table in the shade.

After lunch, we drove around to check out the other beaches. Angie and I were plotting our return trip already :)

Words simply can't do the scenery on St. John justice. I am so glad that we took a day trip over there and I will be dreaming about a return trip there until the day when we are fortunate enough to go back.

Our day in St. John was perfect.

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Thursday, April 19: Magen's Bay & Sapphire Beach

Our last full day on St. Thomas started with a long trip up to Magen's Bay.

Magen's Bay (St. Thomas, USVI)

I'm not sure if Trunk Bay left me with high expectations, but I was less than impressed with Magen's Bay. It was touristy and crowded and didn't offer much in the way of snorkeling or waves and I was just bored.

We stayed only a few hours before deciding to head out to find another spot.

[As an aside, that's the beauty of the Virgin Islands. If you are bored with a beach or if it's overrun with people, you can simply pack up shop and drive 15 minutes to another amazing location... which we did.]

We ended up at Sapphire Beach and it was awesome... definitely my favorite beach on St. Thomas that we visited.

Sapphire Beach (St. Thomas, USVI)

Sapphire had everything that I was looking for and it was a great way to cap off our last beach of the trip.

Boo!

After a late afternoon at the beach (we clearly didn't want our vacation to end), we headed back to the resort for dinner.

I was completely exhausted after dinner, but Anna, the Energizer bunny, wanted to go night swimming one last time. I knew that my dad would've taken me on the last day of vacation, so I took one for the team and took Anna out for one last dip.

I'm so glad that I did because we were the only ones in the pool and we had a moment that I will never forget. This was our conversation...

Me: So, did you have fun on our trip to St. Thomas and St. John? 

Anna: Yeah, dad. Thanks so much for taking me to cool places.

Me: Awww. You're welcome, Anna. Isn't it great here?

Anna: Yeah, but not as great as you, Daddy.

I can't make stuff like that up and it seriously caught me so off guard that I got all teary-eyed. It was without a doubt the perfect thing to say at the perfect time. Anna has the biggest heart of any kid I've ever met and I'm so glad she's mine :)

The entire trip she didn't nap once. She'd dose off for 10 minutes or so when we were in the car, but never a full blown nap. She was an absolute warrior and had a great week.

Leo continued to steal the show everywhere we went... just be being himself. The locals absolutely loved him. From our server at the Fat Turtle to the parking attendant at Coki Beach to our server at the nice restaurant at the resort, Leo had everyone eating out of his hand and made me smile at every turn... like he always does.

It was also so special to be able to take Sammy on an awesome trip for the final high school vacation. We ask a lot out of Sammy, so it was great to be able to reward her for doing well in school and being  a great big sister to Anna and Leo.

Lastly, the person that deserved this trip more than the rest of us combined was Angie. As a stay-at-home mom for nearly a year, Angie is the glue that keeps our family running and she needed a break. Sure we had the kids along with us, so it wasn't a break from them, but we prefer to do things together anyway. The change of scenery couldn't have been any better and the kids were great, so I know the vacation was special for her.

On Friday, we flew back to JFK and drove home to Hudson. Nothing too eventful.

Well, that's our trip in a very, very long story. Anyway, here's a video of our travels. Enjoy...

Leo's first Easter

By K.J. Cardinal

Sunday marked Leo's first Easter and our annual trip to Ludlow was in order.

Anna was particularly psyched in the morning, not only because the Easter Bunny hid Squinkies throughout her room, but because she got to see her cousins and go on Vó Nezzie's "jump-a-room" (AKA: trampoline).

Nezzy made a feast that got approval by all, especially Leo as he had ham for the first time and sweet potatoes.

By mid afternoon the house was an absolute zoo with kids galore running around all hopped up on sugar and we had a blast.

Here were a couple priceless pics I snapped, but you can check out more photos on facebook.

The Year in Photos: 2010

[WATCH VIDEO]

2010 Halloween polls are open!

By Angie Cardinal

The past three years, The Cardinal Blog has featured a voting poll so followers could determine which adorable Halloween costume Anna sported on Halloween. Last year your voices were heard as Anna was monkey-ing around Hudson. In 2008, she had a yabba dabba doo time as Pebbles Flintstone, while in 2007, a three-week-old Anna rocked a chili pepper costume at the request of the Cardinal Blog majority.

This year Anna has decided to be Tinkerbell, thus shunning the vote of the populous, and has her costume waiting in the wings. So naturally, Leo "willingly" becomes the subject of our 2010 Halloween poll to keep the tradition alive!

Your choices this year are:

CANDY CORN

SPIDERMAN

RUDOLPH

Sammy helped get these photos together so you can make an informed decision in exercising your Cardinal Blog follower's right to vote.

The poll, which is posted in the column on the right, will close at 5 p.m. on Thursday, October 28, so be sure to get your votes in soon!

Note: You facebookers out there, log on to TheCardinalBlog.com to cast your vote today!

Water bug

By K.J. Cardinal

Following in the footsteps of her big sister, Anna has turned into quite the water bug.

Today we visited Hopkinton State Park (you may recall we went there last year for a day as well) and we had all we could do to get Anna out of the water.

The "beach" there is rather small, but the water temp was perfect and the slow grade going into the water makes it ideal for little kids.

Immediately Anna showed no fear as once we let her at it, she just walked straight out. If Sammy wasn't there to teach Anna about how the water gets deeper, Anna would've just kept right on walking until she was in serious trouble.

Anna let me throw her up in the air and splash down in the water and thought she was pretty cool. She's still not psyched about submerging her whole head under water, but she did it a few times on her own... twice on purpose and a handful of times on accident.

I felt bad for Angie though because while Anna, Sammy and I were off in the water having fun, Angie and Leo were hanging out in the air conditioned car. We started off with Leo under this SPF 50 beach tent that we bought, but Angie thought it was just too hot for a two-week-old baby, so they hung out in the car.

She's the best mommy though, not only for taking care of Leo, but for hanging out in the car for a few hours with him so Anna could enjoy the beach. Thanks hon!

In case you were wondering, the only way we were able to get Anna out of the truck was to bribe her when the ice cream truck came rolling by. Probably the only time in the history of humanity that a parent was relieved to see an ice cream truck.

Leo's first tubby (at home)

By K.J. Cardinal

While Leo perfected the art of bathing at the hospital, yesterday marked his first tubby at home.

Just like with Anna, it was all hands on deck... this time the bathroom seemed a little more crowded because Anna was there to lend a helping hand too.

Angie did the bulk of the work, but Anna got to wash Leo's feet and I got to wash his hair... which was really the best part of the job because he loves to have water poured over his hair.

No nursing students or other parents on-hand to watch Leo get bathed this time, but having him in our house and Anna as an assistant made it a first tubby to remember.

I think we'll keep him

By K.J. Cardinal

After just over 24 hours of Leo, we've decided that we'll keep the little guy. I mean, he's just too damn cute and I have too much footage of him at this point to just give him up. See Exhibit A...

Anyway, day two of Leo's life was filled with lots of introductions to new family members, which was fabulous, but the highlight of the day for me was being able to see Andrew and Natalie meet their new cousin Leo.

I just can't begin to express the overwhelming joy that Andrew and Natalie were filled with when they met Leo. It was impossible not to get wrapped up in the moment.

Here's a video that has a few clips from the exchange, but I was really just living in the moment and not capturing it all because it was just too meaningful to miss behind the lens of a camera for me. So, while this clip is absolutely beautiful, trust me when I say that it doesn't even begin to do the whole scenario justice.


[WATCH VIDEO]

I think Angie put the whole scene into perspective best at the end of it all when she said, "my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much." It was so great... I wish Meme and Papa were still here to witness their grandkids in action, but I know that they'll get a full week of the Leo Lovefest when we go on our family vacation at the end of July.

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A few house-cleaning things to note. We will be in the hospital until Thursday. We originally thought we'd be leaving on Wednesday, but where Leo was born after 8 p.m. on Monday night, they'll keep us that extra night.

We plan to be around all weekend in Hudson just enjoying our new bundle of joy. So, if you're dying to see the little guy and aren't able to make it to the hospital this week, then shoot me an email and let me know when you plan on coming by. If you want to come by the hospital tomorrow, visiting hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Lastly, they just took Leo to get circumcised and I have this knot in my stomach. I know it's a rite of passage of sorts, but it's gotta make every man cringe just a little.

The Sammy Hill Show

By K.J. Cardinal



[WATCH MOVIE]

Christmas Tree 2009

By K.J. Cardinal

Once again we kept the Cardinal family tradition alive that my parents began many years ago as Anna, Sammy, Angie and I went and got our Christmas tree on Papa's birthday.

This was the first year that we've cut down our own tree as a family and I'm hopeful that we'll be able to cut one down each year. Definitely felt like more of a tribute to Papa in that regard because he would cut one down each year for us.

Anna wasn't into the cutting down process too much and when we brought the tree in she was rather unresponsive as well. But, once I plugged the lights in she opened her eyes real wide and shouted "Christmas!"

I couldn't have said it better myself.

After decorating the tree, all Anna wanted to do was sit in the empty box that we took the decorations and lights out of and cover-up like it was her little bed or something. Priceless as always.

Monkey highlights Hudson Halloween

By K.J. Cardinal

After cruising to a 23-10 victory over Candy Corn in the annual Cardinal Blog Halloween Poll, Anna "Monkey" Cardinal stole the show for Hudson Halloween.

Every Halloween, Hudson closes Main Street downtown and local businesses open their doors to trick or treaters for two hours. It's the first time I've partaken in the festivities and it was quite a scene.

Sure there were hundreds and hundreds of other kids and even dozens and dozens of other monkeys, but I think my monkey took the cake.

Angie, Sammy and I decided to walk downtown since parking is a disaster and it's just over a mile to downtown. It was a nice night, so we popped Anna into the MacPac, which she loves, and off we went.

Anna was really more interested in people watching and just walking in the middle of the closed street than scoring candy, but we still had a blast.

Hudson Halloween marked the second trick-or-treating session for Anna as she went to Intel Halloween on Tuesday night at Angie's work. The "real" trick-or-treating is Saturday night, so she'll have plenty of candy.

While we were downtown, we decided to go to the Horseshoe Pub for dinner. Anna was a good eater, so we decided to let her experience her first-ever Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Her reaction was simply priceless... I am so bummed I didn't get video footage of her because she was so giddy.

NOTE: The active followers of The Cardinal Blog proved that they are rather soft and/or care about Anna a lot as only two people voted for the Poodle (which Anna didn't want to wear) in the Halloween Poll.

Surprise party again

By K.J. Cardinal

Friday marked Angie's birthday and for the second-straight year I was able to pull off a surprise party in her honor. I don't intend to do this every year, but I figured that she definitely wouldn't expect it this year since I had her surprise 30th last year.

Instead of a party at the homestead, I opted for a group dinner out at Lotus Blossom in Sudbury. A grand total of 17 of us were in attendance, so it was quite the gathering.

Angie had no idea, which was even better. Horrible traffic all over Massachusetts had most people showing up after we arrived, but I actually think that worked out better because Angie had no idea who was showing up. So, every five or 10 minutes another surprise guest would show up. It was fun.

Anna was so well-behaved it was somewhat shocking. Not that she's a bad girl that often, but a 2+ hour dinner usually comes with some issue. Her good behavior can be credited to Scott, Aunt Kate and Norm.

Those three were all over Anna and she was all over them. All-in-all a great night. A handful of people came back to the house for a little after party, which escalated quickly and before I knew it, it was 4 a.m. Yikes.

Happy birthday Ang! You're the best wife/friend and mother to my baby that I could ever ask for... but goodness you're old :P

A weekend in the Hill

By K.J. Cardinal

This weekend we made a solid road trip up to Blue Hill, Maine, the hometown of Scott.

He threw a "ripper" at his parents' house that lasted three days and we had such a blast.

On Friday, we picked up Sammy from work at the Natick YMCA at 1:30 and headed right up to Maine from there. We knew the ride was going to be 4+ hours, but what we didn't know was that we'd hit traffic, accidents and construction along the way to REALLY slow us down.

We didn't end up getting to Blue Hill until 7:30, but we were so happy and surprised how well Anna did in the car. We actually got in the car to run errands and what not at about 12:30 and only made one stop on the way up (at LL Bean in Freeport to get a new tent).

So, Anna was in the car for pretty much seven straight hours and was as good as gold. We certainly are lucky with her in that regard. Not much is worse than a screaming kid in a car.

Anyway, Friday night we set up camp in the Murphy's backyard, grilled out and just hung out all night. It was a great mix of people... about half of the Surf with Murph crew and then a handful of other peeps that couldn't make that trip to Hawaii.

Scott's parents are so great... not surprising, I guess. But, Angie and I were glad to finally get to spend some time with the creators of the one-of-a-kind, Scott Murphy. Jim and Linda definitely reminded me of my parents in quite a few ways, but none more evident then their hospitality. Definitely made us feel like we were at home all weekend long and were never shy to try to push all kinds of food and drink on us. Thanks!

On Saturday, we really wanted to have Scott show us what the area was all about. This, naturally, meant a trip to Acadia National Park.

I had never been to Acadia before, but I'm really glad that we went. You could easily spend a few weeks up there hiking, camping and seeing every nook and cranny of the park, but Murph just took us to the highlights.

The biggest highlight of all was Cadillac Mountain. The drive up to the top was impressive enough, but the view at the top was nothing short of spectacular... as you can see in the family photo above.

After spending the day in Acadia, we ventured back to Blue Hill for a straight-up lobster feast. Scott's best friend from home, Adam (pictured left), is a lobster fisherman, so he got us a smoking deal on the 30 lobsters.

Adam gave Anna and her new "friend" Collin, an up close and personal look at the lobsters. He did the classic "put the lobster to sleep" trick and was explaining to all of us different parts of the lobster.

I have seriously eaten lobster my whole life and I learned some stuff from him that I never knew before... it was pretty cool.

Anna and Collin had sparked their friendship earlier in the afternoon, but by dinner time the two were getting pretty close. Collin, Scott's three-year-old God son, came up to me before dinner and said "May Anna have dinner with me?"

It was so hilarious and so cute. They then sat down and enjoyed dinner for three... Collin's one-year-old sister Mave joined them as well.

After dinner Anna chased Collin around the hot tub for about 30 minutes. It was a win-win for both us and Willie and Gina, Collin's parents, as it tuckered the little ones out.

On Sunday morning, Collin had to leave early and Anna was pretty upset. She was crying and staring out the window as they walked down the driveway. I think Collin might be Anna's first crush.

We hit up Marlintini's for a little local flavor for lunch and then came the Blue Hill tour. The downtown area is small, but definitely what comes to mind when you think of a small seaside Maine town.

The highlight of the day came when we stopped at the Blue Hill Park. It was low tide, so the water was very low, causing lots of mud on the beach area.

Anna wanted to go in the water, so we just let her have at it... fully clothed and all. It was so funny because she got her feet stuck in the mud and couldn't move. She starts yelling "stuck" and then "help me"! Take a look at the video below.

Also in the video, you'll see Scott and some others standing on top of a rock. During high tide, the water comes about halfway up the rock and people jump off of it. I wish we could've done that, but didn't hit it up at the right time.

All-in-all a fantastic weekend. Thanks so much to Scott and the Murphy's for having us over. We had an absolute blast.


[WATCH MOVIE]

Intel Family Day 2009

By K.J. Cardinal

Anna's Wednesday was filled with many firsts as we took her to the annual Intel Family Day here in Hudson.

She was able to get her first taste of Italian ice and cotton candy, pet an alligator and play Rock Band.

We had fun walking around to all the different things to do. The coolest thing they had was this "airigamist" (www.airigami.com) that takes balloons to make structures and whatnot. In the photo above, Anna is standing in front of a tropical picnic scene all made of balloons... palm trees, blanket, picnic basket, etc. Pretty neat.

Anna was a good girl and sat still while she had three stars painted on her leg. I didn't think she'd be able to pull this off, but she was as good as could be and was happy to ask for yellow and blue stars.

It was pretty funny watching Anna walk around after having the stars painted on her legs because she'd walk with her head down, staring at her new artwork. Reminds me of the video of me running down the court staring at my new basketball shoes when I was five-years-old... I should post that at some point.

Anyway, after the painting, we cruised through the little petting zoo they had set up. Anna really loves animals and never seems to be afraid of them. She wanted to go right over to this alligator and pet him.

We capped off the day with a stirring rendition of Eye of the Tiger by Angie, Sammy and Anna. They had Rock Band set up in a conference room and people could just go in and jam. As you will see, Anna was into it, but didn't want Mommy to use her symbol...



[WATCH MOVIE]

Pretty good times. Thanks Intel.

Anna, singalong and sun brighten up the weekend

By K.J. Cardinal

The sun made a surprising appearance for the second-consecutive weekend to help brighten up our trip to New Hampshire along with Anna being Anna and a singalong.

On Saturday morning, Anna, Angie, Sammy and I headed north to the Granite State for a party at Mike & Norrene's. My parents brought their camper and we brought our tent, so with accommodations for the night we could all really let loose and have a great time.

Anna did her usual daily routine of entertaining everyone. The Anna highlight of the day had to have been when she was in the back of Frank Foster's truck.

With a crew of 10 or so surrounding the truck, Anna used the truck bed as her dance floor and put on a show. I was playing music off my iPhone for her to dance with, so unfortunately I couldn't get video of it too. Trust me though when I say it was priceless. She's developing quite the arsenal of dance moves too.

After being Little Miss Center-of-Attention, Anna turned into Little Miss Snugglebug. As you can see in the photo at right, Anna really took to Mike and really loved just snuggling up on him for about 10 minutes. Actually, I'm not sure who liked it more, Anna or Mike?

When the sun went down, the campfire went up and out came my dad's guitar. He led one of his signature singalongs and we just had a blast.

Of all the fun things that I do with my family, I really have to say that the singalongs are by far my favorite. I'm sure at this point just about all of you loyal blog followers have participated in a singalong at some point, so you know EXACTLY what I'm talking.

For those of you who haven't been fortunate enough to partake in a singalong, you'll enjoy these along with the rest of us:

• Eve of Destruction
• Runaround Sue
• You Don't Mess Around with Jim
• Bad, Bad Leroy Brown

These are just four of the 20+ songs that my dad played on Saturday night. His set was interrupted by rain, which just prompted us all to run under a big tent that was set up and keep on rolling.

I gotta say that my iPhone once again proved to be clutch as I was able to record this footage so easily. The only "downside" of the footage is that I now have audio evidence of a lot of debauchery as well... most notably Sammy laying the smack down on Norm and an X rated version of Lassie... Andrew wouldn't know what to do if he heard that :)

Not sure if/when I'll post that footage. I guess some things have to be sacred, so if you want the full singalong experience, you'll probably have to just make it out to one. Or maybe you can buy the uncut version on CD someday!

On Sunday, we packed up the tent and went to Big Daddy's for lunch. My parent's have been raving about the bar/restaurant in Acton, Maine and their reviews were spot on... awesome food, cool atmosphere and ridiculously affordable prices. For instance, I had the triple lobster for $19.99... Busch drafts were $1.50... $0.25 wings... etc.

Sammy got the full Big Daddy's experience by riding there on the back of my dad's motorcycle. She had been on a motorcycle once before, but just for a short ride. This time she was smiling ear-to-ear for the 40-minute ride.


All-in-all another great weekend with the family... just gets us even more fired up for our week vacation with my whole family at the end of this month... 12 days and counting!