Mobile Annie and Mannie: 04/01/2006

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For those who need a little guy fix.

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The house is being painted a light pink.

Some pics of the little guy.

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Some pictures from the visit to the Little Guy's doctor. He needs a straw hat, this little Huck Finn!

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After finally getting home about 20 h late, we all decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. The chain restaurant is located in the mall, which I took a picture of.

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Scenes from Reagan International. So we made it out of Jacksonville on the 7:30am. Apparently both Anne and I pulled the thorough search card in the TSA lottery. But the personnel was efficient, and went quickly.

The weather in the NYC and MA areas caused delays in a whole line of DC-NYC and DC-Boston shuttle flights. Our flight got bumped to 12:45. From our terminal, we can see the Washington Monument and the National Cathedral. The pictures show the Washington Monument and then the ccathedral. In the distance. Barely. Oh well. Anne and I will plan a trip here some time.

The last picture was taken at breakfast at a sports bar. The waitress was kind to Simon and us, since she thought Simon was really cute. Anyway, Simon certainly was being his usual flirting self.

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These pictures are from 4/23/06

Simon does itsy-bitsy spider on his own!

Most of Sunday was spent at the Jacksonville Airport. Our plane had an engine not start. It's an old ATR prop plane. American Airlines issued the food and hotel vouchers.

We were assigned to Clarion Hotel. Our room was not clean. Hairs were present on furniture, cigarette burn marks were in the soap dish. The room had a faint smell of sewage. Anne was angry about the whole situation, and we were disgusted by the hotel. The hotel clerk just gave us a neighboring room. We did not think that would improve our experience there, so we went back to the airport to the AA counter to ask them to attend to the matter. They did not budge. When we called AA, we were told that these complaints should be directed to the website Nevermind that no one gives any weight to web or email comments. We were in position to have the matter addressed as it developed, and American Airlines washed their hands of it. The picture above is from the counter.

We ended up paying money to spend the night at the Holiday Inn, the same one from the previously night.

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We are strapping Little Guy into the car seat and leaving Jekyll Island. We stayed a week in the Ocean Breeze cottage.

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Little Guy really likes live music.

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Scenes from The 'Rah' Bar. Little Guy met his cousin at the pier, and a group photo was taken of the clan. Very nice weather.

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Snapper turtle.

Loggerhead turrtle.

A skeleton of a dolphin.

Pictures from Tidepool, a Univ. of Georgia and 4-H collaboration.

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I am reading on the beach.

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Wow! Someone is a talented sand sculptor!

What a view!

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The Italian Villa.

The happy group.

The Courtyard at Crane Cottage. We had a good lunch.

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An oak tree.

Faith Chapel

Villa Marianna.

More scenes from Millionaire's village.

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On the way to visit his cousin, who rented a house near Little Guy's on the Jekyll Island.

Little Guy likes playing and cooling off in the surf.

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I claim status as the first person to blog on the beaches of Jekyll and Cumberland Islands. I used hblogger to enable this feat of geekiness and technological wonder from my Treo. Although Cumberland Island is a National Park, intended to be preserved in a pristine wilderness state, it nevertheless has 1-bar of service from Sprint. Even on the seaside of the island.

If I am not the first to blog from these isles with the surf caressing my feet, please let me know. I based this claim on considering the rarity of photographers with the Treo, who blog, who also purchased mobile update software, and who actually are geek enough to bring the toys onto a wilderness preserve in Georgia.

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On the way back, Little Guy fell asleep on Grampa Z's shoulders.

There are wild horses on Cumberland Island.

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Scenes from Cumberland Island

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On the ferry to Cumberland Island

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Latitude 21 deg, a good restaurant. The shrimp is excellent. They have a spicy alfredo linguine and shrimp dish that was killer.

The view from our Restaurant.

Awww... Little Guy had a good moment at dinner. He fussed a bit. We had met the proprietor of the 'Rah' Bar, Dan Dickerson. He was a nice guy, and actually brought us a side of fries. Simon had these and the bread at dinner. He probably was done after that.

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On the trolley. We are in the handicap car, so the Little Guy can remain in his stroller while the tour proceeds.

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Scenes from the aptly nicknamed 'Millionaire's Village.'

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Outside a Trolley station.

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Where we ate for lunch.

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Grampa Z and Little Guy.

Surf's up today!

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We visited St. Simon's Island today, and we lunch at Brogen's. The burgers were good, and so were the onion rings.

I am working here for a bit. The shadowy block in the foreground is my laptop. The picnic area is covered and has an electrical outlet. I get to overlook a playground where the Little Guy is, the Atlantic, and an opposing island.

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Well, not everyday can be sunny and in the mid-80's. It's only mostly sunny today.

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Wow! Mommie has a niece and a Little Guy on her lap!

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Is he...eating the light?!

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More beach.

A self-portrait. Who blogs from a beach? Me.

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When the Little Guy visits Jekyll Island, he lives in style!

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Two more views of a Jekyll Island Beach. The Z-clan arrived around 3PM, and we all settled into a rented beach home. We met more of the clan on the beach. The views here come courtesy of a deck at the Blackbeard's Restaurant.

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A game of beach bocce.

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The Little Guy loves the beach!

The Road to Nowhere.

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Look at the little guy, riding in style!

Where is the Little Guy going? To Jekyll Island!

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The Little Guy sleeps well on the plane.

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What a good boy on the plane!

Ack! Stuck! In O'Hare Airport!

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The airplanes capture Little Guy's fancy at the airport.

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Something has caught his attention!

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Ummm... Daddy, can we leave your work yet? My sippy cup is almost empty.

Rain and sun!

What a good boy! Waiting for Mommy!

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Pictures as the little guy went to daycare.

Yummy!

Little guy at play!

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Daddy took these pictures on Monday.

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Baby is so happy at Harvard Yard!

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The Little Guy gets really happy when he's reading!

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This has become my favorite bookstore. The store has large windows in front, a coffee bar, a nice children's section, and many events featuring local authors. Of course, the square footage of Porter Sq. Books is probably less than the area of the lobby for a Border's or Barnes & Noble store. The inventory is smaller than that of the chain bookstores. However, the store does have a website with an electronic storefront. One can order books for delivery by phone or online. He can also have the books delivered to the store for pick-up and save on some money.

www.portersquarebooks.com

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What so transfixes the little guy?

A jazz duo at Johnny D's!

Afterwards, the little guy becomes engaged by dogs and birds!

Mommy points out something interesting!

Wow! This guy is so happy! It must be that he was sick last week! He screeches! He flirts!

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We wanted snacks for lunch. So we went to Murray's Cheese Shop, which was recommended by a walking tour published in the NYT.

We rode the Chinatown bus, and the NY stop is near Canal St. As the SoHo pictures showed, this is not the day to walk around the city. But we trekked to Greenwich Village for the cheese. And a napoleon, which was bought from Rocco's Pastries across from Murray's.

Where is Mommie going?

To get some desserts!

Then, it was more time spent in the rain, hunting for the subway station to take us uptown to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We met a friend, who had come back from Cameroon. During the dash to and fro, Daddy found out that there is a fine line between getting mugged and having the MTA take your money due to vending machine malfunction. The machines need to take your money first before getting the proper error signal to inform you that it can only accept coins! Curses, NYC!

Icky day!

No relief... it rankled the nose!

Ahh... Park Ave. I will buy it for $400, please!

An interlude. A quiet time, in the rain. Where are all the rich folk? Oh, in their limos.

Where did the Met go?

Oh, there it is.

A close up.

The Grand Lobby.

A display of the collections at the Met.

Greek and Roman Art.

A 1700 year old statue. I hope future excavators hit this room and not the Modern Art one. I also hope they mistakenly think this era produced the statues.

I believe this is Olivia's (the energetic piglet) favorite painting.

(Update: it isn't. The actual Degas ballerina work hangs at the Musee d'Orsay. We
also found the Autumn Rhythms #34 that Olivia didn't like as much. But my
the batteries on my phone ran low.)

Hatshephut exhibit. The queen who was pharoah.

The "Madonna and Child." By Duccio. The most expensive acquisition ever by the
Met. Over $50 million.

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Walking around SoHo.

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A shot of a cloudy and rain drenched NYC skyline. From the bus window. I believe we are on the Manhattan side of the Washington Bridge. Why do I think that's the bridge? There was a statue of Washington as we got on the Bridge.

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Here's the start of a day trip to NYC. For the geeks who read this, I have a bookmark to the NYC Guide. This is an online resource supplied by the NY Times. I am posting this 'on-site' usi?g the Treo phone. I am also able to look online and browse the NYC guide. NYT publishes a short description of a walking tour of lower Manhattan Neighborhoods. Really Neat Technology (and It certainly beats carrying Fodor's or the Rough Guide.)

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Some scenes from the celebration at Dali restaurant, a tapas bar.

Daddy has known the man since high school. That's his wife (they had two weddings, and will celebrate a third time later this year in her home country of Brazil. Multiple weddings are the way to go!)

This lady is a friend from the same department as Daddy.

The lady with Mommy defended yesterday! Congratulations!

The guy on the far left works with Daddy. This picture was the only one with good lighting for him. Sorry, Real Doctor! (He is an MD/PhD student.)

Doctors! And none of us can take blood pressure!

The man of the hour: what a cute partygoer, helping Daddy celebrate! What a good son!

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Daddy, look at the rain! Ooh... neon!

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After I finished defending, Mommie took me out for lunch at the Bristol Lounge.

And look! Little Son has picked Daddy up after his defense!

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Helping Daddy getting ready for his defense! What a good boy!

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What a nice boy! He's helping Daddy by accompanying him to lab so he can present to his boss!

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What a nice boy! He's helping Daddy by accompanying him to lab so he can present to his boss!

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Preparing Simon's spot at the table.

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Helping Daddy get a car inspection. What a good son!

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Mommy will notice that the Little Guy had a change of clothing. Let us just say that the little guy is feeling sick. You wouldn't know it from his demeanor, though. This is still a happy little guy!