I thought it was really long and hot summer, but now we're approaching the end of July, it doesn't feel so bad. The air has been more comfortable than not in the past week, and of course we've been busy enjoying it.

On Saturday Taiyo wanted to go to the "Dinosaur Museum" so that's what we did. We biked uptown to the Museum of Natural History. He was in his caped t-shirt (he calls it a "spider-man shirt"), rain boots, and a blue plastic back scratcher as his "sword." His attire was added entertainment around the museum. He had a blast running through the dinosaur exhibit and also planet stuff in the lower level. Then of course he enjoyed having french fries in the cafeteria. This cafeteria has a little better options of food than most other museum. But still, french fries and juice were suffice for Taiyo. Such an American boy.

Next day, per his request, we went out to Hall of Science in Queens. When we entered the toddler playroom, Taiyo went straight to his favorite area: kitchen and dining. He laid out bowls and plates, and placed some food around the table. After spending quality time there, we checked out some exhibits upstairs. There's so much to explore in this museum, but we probably cover only a quarter of it at each visit. It's never so crowded, and it's one of the best place to go with him. I wish it was a bit closer.

I don't know if the heat wave had something to do with it, but my bulky old TV's tube burnt out last week. One morning, a light went across the screen and it went black. First I thought it was the cable, but no. There was audio but we were no longer able to see the image on the screen. It's still sitting there, but we've been TV-less for the first time, very first time for Taiyo, and in the summer heat we've been busier with activities once again.

Last Saturday was actually very comfortable. Per Taiyo's request, we took a bike ride uptown to the Central Park Zoo. After our usual routine of visiting the gift shop (I warn him that we're not going to buy anything, but somehow he always wins), viewing and talking to the penguins, feeding of sheep and goats, and having a hot dog and french fries at the cafeteria, we headed home.

On the way back, we stopped at Madison Square Park, where there's always some interesting sculpture. Taiyo totally loved these colorful blobs that made cool sounds and music when he touched! This is definitely must-see public art this summer with a little one. They would go nuts!

Next day, Taiyo wanted to play some golf, so that's what we did on Governor's Island. As we headed to the ferry, Taiyo started singing on the back of the bike, "Going on a boat, going on a boat.." He's so good at making up a song these days. The boat was a lot emptier than the beginning of the season. Every time I go there, this island's forgotten old feel, colonial buildings, cannons and forts remind me of Cuba, especially with this heat. When we got to the parade ground, Taiyo headed to his favorite tree house, then we practiced some patting at mini golf. But heat with suffocating humidity was just brutal, and I asked him if we could just go for a bike ride, at least to get some breeze. He suggested lunch instead, and we headed to the food court nearby.

It's a perfect outdoor dining area with some food trucks, and he picked a sandwich, fruit salad (although he only liked pineapple chunks), and orange/mango juice. He couldn't eat much of the sandwich, but he surely was thirsty. We made a quick round of the island and headed home. He gets so excited at this beautiful little island and never lasts more than two hours. Of course he was fast asleep as soon as we got off the boat.

So we certainly had some fun in the past week when I wasn't washing years of grime off the walls and the floor at SOY.

It's been so hot and a movie theater was an attractive option. And we both wanted to see the new Pixar movie Brave. It was so wonderful. I loved it. He loved it. And he wanted to see it again, so I sent him back to the theater with Yuka later in the week. I was able to wash some more grime off the floor that afternoon.

We met with Tim and Claire in the cozy little back garden at 1492 at 60 Clinton. It was perfectly quiet and almost empty early monday evening. To my surprise, Taiyo didn't even try watermelon gazpacho nor paella. Gazpacho was refleshing but paella was a bit undercooked. He did really like chorizo. He also took a picture of his feet. I had a very nice blueberry mojito and sangria. Mojito was much more interesting than sangria.

We were hanging out with Kathy on her roof on 4th of July, although it didn't seem we get any glimpse of Macy's fireworks on the West Side. But someone was shooting up fairly big fireworks right in the neighborhood. Taiyo was immediately scared and he just rushed out to the stairs saying, "Let's go home!"

On Friday we took a bumpy ferry ride across Hudson to Liberty Science Center. I recently realized that it can be a short trip crossing the river with the bike- although the ferry wasn't on time and we waited 30 minutes to get on one. And yes, Taiyo had a blast with every exhibit, and this is the only decent picture of him, laying down pcv pipes to polish his plumbing skills. It was wonderful, but turned out to be an expensive one, since they didn't honor my membership from Brooklyn Children's Museum. But nice change of scenery, and he enjoyed having a hot dog at the cafeteria.

This week I made three trips to a paint store, and four trips to Home Depot. After the last trip to Home Depot to finish my renovation job on Sunday, we stopped at Lenny's for a bite. He ate half of the big chicken sandwich, even with some lettuce and tomato. And of course this kind of casual quick dining is always easy for us, with plenty of room for him to jump around in between bites. And the sandwich was pretty good and filling. This is going to be one
of our trusted stop around town.

What a week it's been! I took a week off, but this really wasn't much of vacation for me. It began by scrubbing years of grease off the wall in the kitchen in the middle of the night. Then it was painted in light yellow "moonlight." I also scrubbed the floor and patched holes and replaced some tiles. Most of these were done in the middle of the night or late afternoon while Taiyo was sleeping. So it was extra tiring week for me- working through the night and still having to somewhat meet the demands of a menacing toddler. But of course we had fun, here and there and everywhere.

I really couldn't use my kitchen downstairs while renovating, so inevitably we ate out and ordered in a lot. It was also nice not to cook during a heat wave.

It was so hot and humid on Sunday, but this izakaya on Clinton Dodompa didn't have air-conditioning but they had all the front window panel open, which was kind of nice. Although it was so hot and noisy there, Taiyo agreed to stay this time. (One time we tried to go there but he said the masks were scary on the walls and we had to go.) So we had ramen (of course!) and gyoza (of course!) and some yakitori (he didn't care but they were lame anyway) and daikon salad (delicious but he didn't care anyway). Food was mostly ok, but it was just so hot and noisy! The waitress brought Taiyo a little cup of water with a straw, which is a good sign of a child-friendly joint. But it was so hot and noisy! Benches are easy and fun for little kids but no high-chair.

The story of our week will continue-