Easter 2012

By K.J. Cardinal

Wow. What a day. We starting things off at home with a quiet Easter breakfast with just Angie and I and the kids.

Ang fired up some eggs, of course, and then Anna and Leo opened their "Easter baskets"... AKA the best things the Dollar Tree has to offer. At four and a half and 21 months old, it doesn't take much to amuse our kids.

Anna soon became inseparable with her little dog stuffed animal, while Leo fell in love with his fireman's hat... and so did we.

After breakfast, we made our way to Ludlow to celebrate with Angie's family.

As expected, the day was all about cousins. Anna, Julia and Kassie were glued at the hip all day, while Leo just kinda mingled around and made everyone's day... he tends to do that.

Nezzie got the girls matching dresses and the boys matching sweater vests and shirts. Naturally, the girls were all about donning the new attire and posing for pictures, but the boys weren't too into a photoshoot... as you can see...

We were treated to quite the feast by Nezzie and then the kids took advantage of the nice weather by playing outside. The girls are at such a great age that they all get along together and just live it up when they're in each other's company. It's so much fun to see.

Anna capped off the day by taking a walk to Lisette's parent's house to check out their bunny rabbits. She was so excited when she returned and you can see it on her face in this awesome photo that Lisette snapped...

Another great holiday with the kids. As soon as Leo takes his fireman's hat off, I'll let you know. Happy Easter!

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.

Happy Turkey Day

By K.J. Cardinal

We spent Thanksgiving day out in Ludlow with Angie's family and we had such a great day.

Anna got to see her cousins, play with two dogs and eat cake. What more could a girl want? The fact that one of the dogs was a Boston Terrier (the same kind my Papa used to have), made the day even more special.

I have tons to be thankful for this year... perhaps more than I've ever had to be thankful for... the most amazing wife, kids, family and friends that a guy could ever ask for. This year has been the most hectic of my life, but also the most rewarding. I'm so appreciative of everyone's support and help along the way.

Here are a few pics from yesterday in Ludlow. Enjoy!

Fantastic Fourth

By K.J. Cardinal

Despite a rain-filled month of June, the weather FINALLY cooperated over the weekend so we could get outside to celebrate the Fourth of July.

On Saturday we headed out to Ludlow for a party at Angie's Uncle John's house. I had never been to their house before, but it was great. The inside of the house is very nice, but the outside was even better.

The pool with a sandy beach area was great, but the kids' playhouse (pictured behind Anna & Julia in the photo above) really stole the show. When I say "playhouse" I don't mean your typical plastic structure... this was a wooden house with windows and doors, shingled roof, couch, mini fridge, etc. It was sick... I'd consider moving in there if/when Angie kicks me out.

Anyway, we had a great time at John & Theresa's. Pretty much the entire Dias crew (Angie's mom's side of the family) was there and it was great to hang out. Here's a family photo op that I snapped...


We were all pretty exhausted after a long day at the party, so we decided to head back to Hudson late that night.

Yesterday morning we woke up and decided to take advantage of the good weather once again. This time, we opted to head to Hopkinton State Park.

We had never been before, but had heard good things about the place, so we packed up and headed out around 9:30 a.m.

The "beach" wasn't too impressive, but it had clean water and sand, so Anna was in her glory.

She was having a grand ole time just splashing in the small puddles on the beach and building "castles".

While I was walking around taking pictures of Anna, I decided to step in a puddle and splash her. As you can see in the photo below, I got her pretty wet, but she was less-than-impressed. I kind of felt bad, but the look on her face was so cute and she wasn't really upset, so it was all good.

After playing on the beach for a while we went for a walk/hike around the pond. When we took off walking, Anna was pretty excited so she started to run. She tripped on the uneven walkway and took a digger.

She hit her forehead on the concrete and was pretty shaken up, but she was OK. It really wasn't that big of a deal, but probably the second biggest injury of her life. I don't want to jinx it, but we've been pretty lucky in that regard so far. However, I'm foreseeing more injuries in her future now that she's climbing on anything and everything, running like a mad woman and is fearless at times.

You can kind of see the bump on her head in this photo, above her left eye, but again it wasn't that bad... looked a lot worse when it happened. Anyway, I took this photo of my girls while we were on our walk.

We left the beach and stopped at this place in Ashland called TJ's for a little lunch. They had outdoor seating and good food, so it was right up our alley. Not sure if it was because the weather was so nice, but it almost seemed like a biker hangout, which was cool with us... especially Anna, who has come to love "modecycles"... we'd love to go back with Meme & Papa sometime.

After lunch we headed home for a little more time outside. We dragged Anna around the neighborhood in her new red wagon (pictured above). Thanks John & Theresa for another great hand-me-down. Equipped with cup holders and a built in cooler... it's needless to say that Daddy and Anna with both get plenty of joy out of their new toy.

We capped off the day by having Scott over for dinner and grilling outside. We let Anna have frozen blueberries for dessert and it was quite a mess. But, a cute mess and a great way to end a great weekend with my girls.

Anna's first Portuguese wedding

By K.J. Cardinal

Yesterday marked Anna's first Portuguese wedding and she really lived it up.

For those of you who have never been to a Portuguese wedding, it's definitely not your typical wedding. It's longer than any wedding you could ever imagine with more people and more food than you've ever seen.

Out in Ludlow, everyone gets married at the Portuguese club in town. The reception hall is huge... holding well over 300 people and is always jam-packed for weddings.

The ceremony was at noon with the reception immediately following... which goes ALL NIGHT. The reception is so long that they serve lunch AND dinner and the entire time it is OPEN BAR.

It's insane.

Anyway, Anna endured her first such event yesterday with flying colors. She loved the best man's toast because I hooked her up with some milk in a plastic champagne cup and she couldn't get enough of it (pictured above).

With all the people and excitement everywhere around her, Anna obviously had a hard time taking her nap at her usual 1 p.m. time. So, we just rolled with the punches.

Around 6 p.m., Anna was clearly tired, but was having a hard time falling asleep. I went and took her for a ride to get her to fall asleep. We were not more than two-tenths of a mile down the road when she was lights out.

I turned the car around and came back to the reception hall to put Anna in her stroller to sleep. I was a little worried that she would wake up when we walked back into the reception hall with the music blaring, but she was pretty much dead to the world.

She slept for about an hour and when she woke up it was time to get her dance on.

As I've mentioned countless times, Anna loves music and also somehow has a natural rhythm. When she hears a song she seems to know how to bob her head or shake her shoulders... it's priceless.

When Anna first got out on the dance floor she just kind of stood there looking at all these people, probably thinking "What on earth are these idiots doing?"

Once she got over the sight of a bunch of suburbanites trying to dance, she was up for some dancing of her own. She even dared to be in the center of this circle...


Throughout the course of the day, including on the dance floor, Anna took a serious liking to her Titi (Aunt) Lisette. The two were in separable for a while, which was so cute.

Overall it was a great day for Anna. We are so lucky that she is always so well-behaved (as long as she's not overtired) and just goes with the flow. It's such a relief to just know that she can adapt to pretty much any situation and continue to be the cutest girl on the planet.

We have a few more weddings coming up this summer and fall, so she'll be a seasoned veteran on the wedding scene by the time her second birthday rolls around in October.

A Cardinal Christmas

By K.J. Cardinal

Christmas for this Cardinal family was once again filled with lots of travel and lots of fun.

We continued the annual tradition of celebrating the holiday on Christmas Eve in Ludlow and Christmas day in New Hampshire. We again mixed in a stop at our house in Hudson to sleep here on Christmas Eve so Anna could wake up in her own house on Christmas morning to open presents here.

In Ludlow we planned to open gifts at 9 p.m., but things got pushed back a ways and by the time we got around to opening presents Anna was already sleeping on my lap on the couch. So, we woke her up to open up her presents, but unfortunately she was so groggy that she wasn't really into it.

The first (and only) gift that she opened in Ludlow was a baby Cabbage Patch Doll. As you can see above, she thoroughly enjoyed it, but she was gassed after just one gift and proceeded to sleep on my lap the rest of the night.

On Christmas morning, Sammy woke Anna up and carried her down stairs where Angie and I were waiting. Anna saw her rocking horse (AKA "rock, rock") and was psyched. We had a hard time holding off in buying Anna her "rock rock" for Christmas because every time we'd see one in the store she'd go nuts for it.

Anna also opened the remaining gifts from Ludlow on Christmas morning as she was now much more alert. Angie's Aunt Fatima got Anna this hilarious little outfit. We all liked it so much, that we decided to bring her up to NH in her new get up. Mink coat on Christmas? 'Nuff said.

The ride to NH was pretty uneventful and it actually saved us a few minutes since we were going to Tiff & Pete's new house in Northwood as opposed to Mom & Dad's up in Farmington. Tiff & Pete's new house is so great and VERY spacious, so we had lots of room to spread out and watch the kiddies open their gifts and whatnot.

Anna was more interested in playing with Andrew's everyday toys that were in the playroom and livingroom than opening presents. No one really seemed to notice or care that Anna wasn't opening gifts because we were all too busy watching Andrew be hilarious and Nat Nat have at the wrapping paper, bows and boxes.

Eventually Anna got around to opening her gifts and she got some really great stuff. My favorite photo of Anna from the day is the one at right. Anna opened up this cute hat from Gail (I'm assuming handmade?) then I put it on her and she felt the need to lay down on the tissue paper with it. I'm not sure if she liked the way it felt on her head or what, but it was pretty funny. Thanks Gail!

After eating the annual Christmas Day feast of Beef Whellington, we headed to Farmington for the night and to get ready for the Cardinal-Denton brunch the next day.

We usually have separate parties for my mom's side of the family and my dad's side of the family, but nothing really got planned by either side, so my mom stepped up and invited the entire crew over for one big brunch on Dec. 26.

At first I thought it was going to be pretty hectic with that many people, but quite a few folks couldn't make it because they had to work, so it wasn't too bad.

Unfortunately my cousin Billy and his family (Kathy, Samantha, Ethan and Kaeleigh) couldn't make it because Sam is in the hospital fighting off this nasty infection in her leg. This was a MAJOR bummer for me. Not only because Sam has been having quite the battle with this infection, but also because my cousin Billy is one of my favorite people in the world. Plus, I missed my annual photo with Ethan, which has turned into a pretty cool ritual... he's such a good kid.


Despite missing Billy's family, we still had a great time... as Katie mentioned in her previous post. It was great to see both sides of the family together and it was awesome to see that my grandfather was doing well. His body may be failing on him with Parkinsons, but his mind and sense of humor are still right on point. He always amazes me by remembering stories I've told him about Pack Network and whatnot and we got a chance to chat about that stuff for a while... I think my inner dork comes from him :)

So as you can see, Christmas was action packed over the span of just three days. We really had to squeeze everything in this year because I left for Hawaii on the 27th. I had a blast in Hawaii, but Christmas is my favorite time of the year because I get to hang out with family. Thanks Mom for setting it up so I could get to see everyone AND go to Hawaii. What a treat!

Anna and Rocky

By K.J. Cardinal

Yesterday we ventured down the Pike to Ludlow for lunch with the Malaquias clan and Anna made a new friend.

Rocky, Tia (Aunt) Lisa's dog, and Anna quickly became best buds. I'm kind of surprised that at some point Rocky didn't nip at Anna or just flat out bite her because Anna was all over Rocky.

She would chase him around the house only to pull his ears or hair when she would catch him. He was super nice though and didn't mind Anna's antics at all.

At one point, Anna was actually crawling around on the kitchen floor and Rocky was chasing HER. It was too cute.

Also today marks Jimmy & Nezzie's (Angie's parents) 35th wedding anniversary and yesterday was Lisa & Ray's sixth anniversary. Happy Anniversary!

Corey graduates, Anna turns into Devil

By K.J. Cardinal

Earlier tonight Angie, Anna and I made the trek out to UMass for Corey's (Angie's brother) Ludlow High School graduation ceremony.

Corey and his cousin Vanessa (both pictured at right) were the big draws for the Malaquias-Dias clan, which is always quite an entourage. The ceremony was descent. Pretty short and sweet, so I liked it.

Anna is in the process of cutting her top teeth, so she's been uncharacteristically cranky at times lately. Usually only for an hour or so a day, but that's still an hour more than usually.

So naturally I was a little unsure of whether or not it would be a good idea to drive her an hour and a half to sit in the stands at a graduation ceremony, but as always she was awesome.

She handled it like a champion. Between all the clapping, hooting and hollering and even a few air horns here and there, she just inquisitively looked around, but was really unphased by it all.

I was acting as photographer following the ceremony and I managed to capture this photo of Anna with Ang, Vanessa and Lisette where it appears that Anna is turning into the Devil. I usually correct the red eye in all photos that I post on the blog, but I had to leave Anna's eyes red in this shot just to accentuate the devilish details.

Anyway, after the graduation we bolted back home so I could catch the end of the Celtics game. When we walked in the door the C's were down by 10 at the start of the fourth quarter. The minute I turned it on, they went a 19-4 run to put the game away.

The Boston Celtics are going to the NBA Finals!!! I am beyond excited about this and will probably dedicate a few more posts to my team over the next few weeks.

Well, I'm sure I'll have some great posts following this weekend's festivities as tomorrow is Andrew's second birthday! Should be fun.

Memorable Memorial Day weekend

By K.J. Cardinal

Another week, another great weekend.

On Wednesday afternoon, I left to go to Atlantic City for the 2008 NEC Baseball Championship with Adam and Norm. Other than getting a camera stolen, we had a great time down in AC.

We produced PackCasts for seven games and did several things that we had never done before. All in all a good week, but the drive home on Saturday night seemed to take forever as I didn't get home until around 1 a.m.

I got to sleep in a little on Sunday morning and then we were off to Ludlow to celebrate JuJu's third birthday. Lisa & Ray threw the party at their house and it was a lot of fun. Lots of kids, sun and beer, so it's a no-brainer of a good time in my book.

With such a busy winter and spring for Pack Network, I can't even remember the last time I was able to make it out to Ludlow to see everyone. All is well, but the biggest difference was how big Kassie's getting.

As you can see above, Kassie really loves "Baby Anna." She reminds me of Andrew so much with her because she's really gentle and sweet and loves to rub her hands. She's so great.

The Atlantic City trip, coupled with a day of drinking beers in the sun, definitely took its toll on me. The picture to the left is from the second nap of the day that I took with Anna...this one around the fire pit.

Yesterday morning we woke up and headed to the Ludlow Memorial Day Parade. It's somewhat of a Malaquias rite of passage and I can't believe that I have never been to it before. I guess that's because for Memorial Day I'm always at some college baseball tournament and never able to make it back in time.

Anyway, it was a momentus day for Anna as it was her first parade. She loved being outdoors, but didn't offer up much reaction to anything that passed by...dancers, marching band, ATVs, a really loud cannon, etc.

After the parade we made our way back to Angie's parent's house for a BBQ. We blew up Anna's small inflatable pool for Anna to play in with Kassie and JuJu.

The water from the hose must have been too cold for Anna because she wasn't too into it, which is unlikely because she loves the water. So, we just took her out and set her on the grass and she had a good old time just picking at the blades of grass and watching JuJu and Kassie have a blast in the water.

We got home late yesterday afternoon and I still feel tired from last week's trip to AC. Working 18 hour days and only getting three hours of sleep a night for four straight days was rough.

A VERY busy winter and spring should make way for a more enjoyable summer, which in turn should mean more blogging. So, hopefully these once a week posts will turn into three or four a week...gotta keep Meme happy :)

Christmas 2007

By K.J. Cardinal

Anna's first Christmas didn't disappoint, that's for sure. Her "holiday" really spanned from the 22nd to the 27th and she got to enjoy several parties, lots of family and tons of cool presents along the way.

On Saturday, we had the Cardinal side of my family down to our house in Hudson for a holiday get together. It was the first time nearly all of them had made their way down to visit us at our "new" house and the first time some of them met Anna so it was a momentous occasion on several fronts. Anyway, the party was a blast. We had TONS of food, lots of kids and countless laughs.

Getting together with the Cardinal side of my family is definitely one of my favorite things to do each and every year and I was glad that Anna got to experience her first one in the comfort of her own home. I'd really like to thank Ethan (and Billy & Kathy) for missing his hockey game on Saturday night so they could come down for the party. I was so psyched they came and got to stay late because it's not that often that we get together and it's always great when we do.

For that shindig, Meme, Papa, Auntie Tiff, Uncle Pete, Andrew, Aunt Kate, Auntie Sheila, Auntie Carol, Uncle Bill, Billy, Kathy, Samantha, Ethan, Kaeleigh (pictured w/ Anna above), Missy, Pat, Marissa, Jackson, Vicky and Emma were all here. When you throw in Angie, Anna and I, that made for 23 people...what a party!

On Sunday, Angie, Anna and I headed out to Ludlow to spend a few days with the Malaquias clan. We stayed at Angie's sister's house that night and it was great to hang out with Lisa, Ray, Ryan and JuJu. For those of you who haven't met JuJu, she has to be the cutest little girl I've ever seen. And, I'm so lucky that she likes me. After sleeping over on Sunday night, she woke up on Monday morning and the first thing she said was "Where's K.J.?" She's the best.

Anyway, on Monday (Christmas Eve) I went and took Angie's nephew Jaden sledding. We attempted to go to one hill, which was all ice, so we eventually ended up at the Ludlow Country Club. It was a lot of fun. Jaden's really turning into a great kid. He's super polite, funny and fearless on a sled. We had a blast.

Angie's family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve, so their big gathering was on Monday night. We usually wait until midnight to open presents, but her family was kind enough to agree to break from tradition slightly so Angie, Anna and I could get back home to Hudson at a reasonable hour.

Like usual, Vo Nezzie made tons of food for everyone to eat and we had lots of fun. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention one unfortunate event of the evening. Everyone was getting ready to open presents and all the kids were sitting in the living room when all of the sudden, Jaden proceeds to projectile vomit all over the living room. He cleaned out the couch and the area rug. It wasn't necessarily funny, but once he was OK we all shared a good laugh.

We headed back to our house around midnight and got to take our time waking up on Christmas morning. Anna had a good night's sleep and we got up in the morning when Sammy's Dad dropped her off at our house. We all opened our gifts and then we got the best Christmas gift of all.

I was upstairs changing Anna when she proceeded to go into a giggling fit. It was so hilarious. I was able to call for Angie and Sammy and they came in to witness it too. Definitely the highlight of the day for us.

Once Anna stopped laughing, we headed up to Farmington to visit my family. It was great to have Sammy along for the trip up to N.H. She only comes up to Farmington every other year for the holiday, so it's always great when it's "our turn" to have her for Christmas.

I was really excited to give my parents their gifts. Pack Network got my parents a video iPod for all their help, Angie and I got them a sweet remote controlled dock for it and I also got my dad a membership at Farmington Country Club. Needless to say they loved everything.

As we've come to expect, Andrew was ridiculously cute when he showed up with Tiffany and Pete. He loved the Red Sox Mr. Potato head and the toy tractor (just like Papa's) that we got him, but his favorite toy was definitely the tent that my parents got him and the toy guitar that my dad got him. We had so much fun.

I got a bunch of great gifts too, but I really want to thank Katie for her gifts, they were definitely my favorite. Both gifts really came from a Counting Crows and Live concert we went to over the summer. The first was a guitar pick from David Immergluck (the Counting Crows lead guitarist) that Katie caught at the concert. She put it in a cool shadow box and fixed up an apparatus so it looks like it's floating in there. Her other gift was this picture frame that has pictures of me and Anna and it says "I don't need no one to tell me about heaven, I look at my daughter and I believe." It's the lyrics from Live's song Heaven. Both gifts Kater made and she definitely put a lot of time and thought into both. Thanks so much!

We stayed over three nights and last night Anna had another one of her giggle fits...this time for Meme. It was so cute. I have some great footage of it that I'll post soon, but this is by far the longest post that I've made, so I'll check out for now.

Be sure to check back soon for that video along with a new feature that I'll be launching on the blog soon called "The Cardinal Vault."

Happy Thanksgiving

By K.J. Cardinal

Anna spent her first Thanksgiving out in Ludlow at Angie's parents house. It was her first big holiday and also her first big party.

The turkey that Nezzy (Angie's mom, pictured right) cooked was amazing and looked so good that we had to get a picture of it...of course, with Anna. The bird weighed 22 pounds, almost twice as much as Anna, so as you can see it was quite a feast.

After dinner we spent the next six hours playing a new trivia game that Angie bought, Smart Ass. I highly recommend it to anyone that's in the market for an affordable Christmas gift. Everyone from Sammy to Angie's parents were really into it and the fact that we literally played it for six hours should show how much we all like it.

Anyway, Anna reminded me a lot of her Aunt Kate when she was little as Anna was able to pretty much sleep all day in the loud and rowdy kitchen as we all sat around the table and played games the whole day. She didn't even flinch, fuss or cry at all when everyone was shouting out answers.

It was a great day all around and Anna continues to impress us with her ability to sleep through practically anything.

Happy Thanksgiving to all...especially Aunt Kate in Ireland...we miss you!