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Be still my beating heart. The restaurant that taught me what fresh New England seafood is all about is coming to Atlanta - just around the corner from my office. Yes, Legal Sea Foods, that 50+ year-old institution begun by a nice Jewish family in Boston, is expanding to the A-T-L. Joining franchise locations in  Florida and the D.C. area, the 9,000 square-foot restaurant will anchor the still-under-construction  Hilton Garden Inn adjacent to the Georgia Aquarium - and no, whale shark nor beluga whale is expected to be in the menu. If I were one of the Alaskan King Crabs, I might be nervous however. I have such fond memories of going to the Chestnut Hill Legals when I was at Brandeis, from the ‘men only’ dinner my dad and I shared when he drove me to Waltham from Savannah for my freshman orientation week to the ‘impress the girlfriend’ dinner where my meager credit card limit had already been exceeded, resulting in a hasty sprint down to the mall to retrieve some cash from an ATM. I can already taste the steamers, chowder and  yes, the belly-included fried clams.  The only negative - opening is not expected until NEXT winter. I’ll be biding my time until then.

Tags: aquarium, atlanta, Boston, hilton, legal sea foods

With family in town, an extreme lack of sleep, a nasty cold for yours truly, etc., I’ve not posted here in a few days. So here are some updates.

All week, Noah has had his uncles from Savannah in town - Jerry and Seth - as well as Grandma Rita. Visiting from the great Northeast (Rochester, that is) were 8X grandparents Sherrie and Marty - who in a matter of days will be 9X grandparents when the other Amy in the family has her first next week. But I digress. Click here for the gallery.

Sunday was Noah’s big day, when, as is the custom after eight days, our friends and family converged at our home for Noah’s bris. He was a trooper, and it was great to see all our friends and loved ones who could attend, and know that those who could not had us in mind. Click here for the gallery.

Now anyone who has two children has probably gone through the jealousy phase. Sam has been remarkably resilient, although he’s had his moments. The best cure for this is, of course, lavish attention from grandparents, so they accompanied Sam to the frogs exhibit at the Fernbank Museum this week too. Gallery is here.

And having been cooped up inside with the exception of one trip to the pediatrician, Amy was itching to get out on Tuesday, so we bundled up Sam, Noah, Amy plus Marty and Sherrie for a trip to the Georgia Aquarium. Sam seems to enjoy it more with every visit, and Noah seemed to really enjoy the lights and movement of the fish. More photos in the gallery here.

Tags: aquarium, baby, fernbank, first, noah, sam, week

Sam and I spent the Sunday before last at one of our favorite spots - the Georgia Aquarium. We were there very early, and beat the crowds. On top of that, we managed to watch as the sea lions were fed - they were amazing. Sam nearly took a nap in the quiet of the main tank viewing room, but didn’t succumb in the end. Full gallery is here.

Tags: aquarium, atlanta, georgia_aquarium, Photography, sam, sea_lions

So today will feature a fast update as I’ve been too darn busy with work to post any updates for some time now. Please check out these galleries, and I promise to be back soon with more and more frequent content posts.

In my most recent photo set, we headed out for a walk to the neighborhood playground with Sam in tow this past Sunday. More pictures here.

We hosted a small get-together for the Super Bowl, and Sam was gung-ho for all the action. He, like dad, is sad that we have at least another six months before we can watch football on the tube again. Click here for more photos.

On a recent sunny but chilly day, we headed to Zoo Atlanta with the Silvermans. Check out all the photos, especially this one of a lion’s breath visible as he roars from atop his habitat.

We also finally renewed our membership to the Georgia Aquarium. The pass now allows us to get in without a reservation, and is a big improvement over last year’s system. Sam and Amy have already gone several times during the day - perfect for the cold months here. Anyway, we had a great time on this visit - photos here.

Here’s a cute picture of Kate and Jay Sandhaus’ little guy, Alex. We got together for dinner a few weeks back at the local kid-friendly hangout Dakota Blue. Alex slept most of the time, but his parents were much more alert, even at the end of a long week on a Friday night. More pics here.

Finally, there is this picture from early January and a few others when Sam decided he wanted to play along with Daddy on the Xbox360. Smart little guy - I look forward to years of getting my butt kicked by his much better reflexes than my own!

Tags: aquarium, atlanta, friends, Photography, sam, xbox360, Zoo

Animal lovers around the world are surely saddened today upon hearing the news that the bubble-blowing beluga whale from the Georgia Aquarium was euthanized this morning after a long illness. Gasper is pictured at right being his playful self during a visit in March, 2006. Purchased from a facility in Mexico, Gasper arrived in Atlanta on Oct. 17, 2005. Upon arrival, he was severely underweight and had visible skin lesions. He was later diagnosed with osteomyelitis, an infection of the bone (interactive explanation at AJC.com, registration required). I look forward to seeing the sculpture being developed for the Aquarium’s entry plaza.

Tags: aquarium, atlanta

Looking for something to do this Sunday, I discovered there were open slots at the Georgia Aquarium. Wanting to take advantage of our annual membership, we gathered the troops and headed over. We missed Gasper the Beluga, but Sammy had a great time. Being able to stand on his own (unlike our last visit in February), I think he enjoyed some parts a great deal more, especially the big tank window above. I still have to rant about some aspects of the facility, though. First, I booked online, and was supposed to get an email with my tickets. Well, they finally arrived, at 1:30pm for our 11am visit. Second, it’s just far too crowded. The flow of people through a facility like this one is a classic challenge, and I don’t think they’ve done a very good job. Although tickets are for one hour slots, in reality people come and stay most of the day. So the later you come, prepare to feel like a spawning fish yourself! Anyway, it’s all worth it to see Sam enjoying himself. The amazement in his eyes is clear above. Full gallery is here.

Tags: aquarium, atlanta, sam

So we joined the brand-spanking new Georgia Aquarium last Fall, and soon after the opening discovered that you need roughly 6.5 years of advance booking to attend on a weekend. Actually, it’s more like 3-4 weeks, but being new-ish parents we just didn’t have much luck planning that far ahead given our work schedules and the little guy. We did finally manage to visit last weekend, and managed to enjoy ourselves, taking photos along the way (gallery here). If you have an aversion to crowds, you may still want to hold off. The place does not handle the flow of visitors very well, with various eddies and tide pools of visitors bunching up and screwing up my photos enjoying the varying views of the marine habitats. I’m a huge fan of aqauriums, and when I heard the main tank here is one of the largest in the world, I expected to see something like the old New England Aquarium I fell in love with during college. There, a continuous ramp wrapped around their centerpiece, a huge tank. In the Georgia version, there are only a few smaller windows into the main tank plus a huge ‘theater-like’ main window some 61 feet wide and 23 feet tall. It’s very impressive - but with the huge crowds, the setup of several (five to be exact) ‘exhibit areas’ tends to have visitors clumping up and blocking the best views. Patience is a virtue here!

technorati tags: georgiaaquarium, photography, undersea

Tags: aquarium, atlanta, Photography, sam