Grandpa met at Phili Int'l
The USAir morning flight from Boston's Logan to Philadelphia International Airport touched down right on schedule. Paul had his regular exit row coach seat, the one that gives first class leg room at coach prices. He grabs his two carry-on pieces and heads for the curb outside the Baggage Claim area of Terminal C.As the '93 Golden Acura pulls to the curb, Paul notices that baby is asleep in his car seat in the back. Quietly , he slips into the back with baby and straightens him out so that his sleeping position is more comfortable. As the car hits the highway, the sun light keeps flashing in baby's closed eyes. Soon little Anthony opens his eyes and looks straight at Grandpa Paul. BIG SMILE. He recognizes me! He recognizes me. Huray for little Mr. Danger Mouse!
Paul plans to stay about 10 days in Phili and enjoy Anthony. His new nanny,Margaret will be giving care, but his Dad will be on the West Coast re-starting his work on a new project at Microsoft and his mother will be working those god awful hours at HUP. Yep, Grandpa Paul will get his own batteries recharged by little baby.
New Camera
The senior staff photographer for the Bau Family Online News has purchased a new digital camera, a Kodak model DC240 Zoom with 1.3 Megapixels picture quality. Just three years ago, over a million pixels would fall only to professional photographers. Today, this camera by Kodak is priced down into the advanced amateur catagory. It'really amazing how quickly technology advances these days.David doesn't think that readers of the Bau Family Online News will necessarily see the difference in picture quality as most monitors are the gating item, and not the input from the camera. However, when prints are made from this new camera, the difference should be very noticeable.
So readers, see if you notice any difference in the quality of Baby Pics in the coming issues.
A Trip to Chinatown
Grandpa Paul decided to do a provisioning trip to Phili's Chinatown while David was on his Seattle trip. David's first trip back to work after a 3 month paternity leave-of-absense left little vegetables or Chinese food in the freezer. Heidi wanted Chinese "instant noodles" and frozen dumplings. Paul wanted Char Su Pork and fresh vegetables for the coming week.Why not take Margarete, Anthony's nanny who is new to the Philadelphia area and show her Chinatown and how we shop. Meanwhile, why not have lunch downtown together? At the "Tastey" in the downstairs of the Chinatown Mall, one can eat really suculent noodles dishes for about $3.50 to $4.00 each. The trick is keeping Anthony entertained while the adults eat. This usually entails, one carrying Anthony, while the other eats quickly.
At the groceries we purchased: bar-b-que pork, roast pig, a large variety of vegetables, a box of instant noodles, and lots more. At the pastry shop we purchased egg-custard pies. And we had a treat at the Tastey. All of this was accomplished in less than 90 minutes as measured by the Kinney Garage parking attendant... $6.50 thank you very much.
The Godfather & Anthony
This past week, Grandpa wanted to show Margaret, Anthony's nanny, where to buy the best cheese-steak sandwiches in Philadelphia so he drove them the old Italian section to visit Gino's. As usual, parking was not a problem, and as we approaches Gino's, a large well dressed elderly gentleman approached Grandpa Paul who was carrying Anthony. "Is this the treasure of life? This is such a handsome baby", stated the old gentleman. "Indeed it is" answered Grandpa.The old gentleman signaled to one of his soldiers who was seated on a bench behind us. "Give him one", directed the old gentleman. The soldier, also about 65 years of age, came forward to offer a large chocolate Easter bunny. The soldier was clearly disappointed when Grandpa told him that neither Baby nor Grandpa could eat the chocolate.
As we went to order our Cheese-Steak sandwiches, Margaret kept telling baby Anthony... "never take candy from a stranger". Anthony is such a handsome baby, that strangers are always approaching him. We must be careful that no ones wants to steal him away!
Mademoseille de Paris
The pastry shop, Mademoseille de Paris is not more. That's correct, they've closed their doors. Paul wanted to buy birthday cake for Heidi and the best pastry shop in Philadelphia made excellent cakes, chocolates and pastries. Something was wrong when they didn't answer their phone at the old number.No problem, a short drive to S.18th Street would still land us a treat. The signs were still there as Paul parked his car 1/2 a block away. But no, the door was locked and the windows were papered over. "It's those high rents of Rittenhouse Sq. You really have to do a lot of business just to pay the rent" lamented David.
So Paul ran down to Le Bus, a great bread maker and bought 1/2 a lemon cake for the occasion. 1/2 a cake! What happened to the other half? Tell Heidi we ate the other half before we remembered it was her birthday!
Viva Las Vegas!
Kevin returned from his vacation in Los Angeles and Las Vegas healthy and well-rested, but a little lighter in the wallet. How much did he lose at Vegas? Well, let's just say the amount he lost could have bought more than a loaf of bread, but couldn't have paid for a night at a Four Seasons Hotel.Kevin visited the new super-modern J. Paul Getty Center and museum. The only way to access the Getty complex was by a single tram line, which was kind of neat. The architechture of the museum was more interesting than the actual works of art contained within, although they did have some nice pieces, like Van Gogh's Irises.
The rest of Kevin's vacation was also nice-- his friends Gary and Brian also took him to Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier.
