we love summer

Only one more month of summer left! We've been still busy getting out despite of the stifling heat. On Saturday we headed out and enjoyed riding in the "summer streets," traffic free green streets in the middle of the city. It must be so terribly annoying for automobile travelers, but I think this is one of the best cool experience for cyclists and runners in summer. It was a bit too hot to make it all the way uptown, so we stopped for lunch at Big Daddy's on Park Ave and 20th Street. Diner is always Taiyo's favorite choice, and this one was definitely more fun than the other usual diner.

As we entered, Taiyo caught a sight of muffins on the counter, and his mind was so set on it. Very friendly waitress brought him a cup with a straw for water, and there were crayons and a coloring sheet waiting for him at the table. Themed Americana decor was fun and cute, and there were enough room for him to run around. We dined next to portraits of Pamela Anderson and John Wayne, and Taiyo also loved to study Trivia cards (for young people) on the table. Other diners, mostly young or family, were enjoying the sight of this little caped boy bouncing around. Food was ok, a little better kind of diner food, and I did enjoy my bloody mary and he did very much enjoy his muffin, although I thought they were a bit dry. He didn't need one any more, but there were plenty of high chairs in the back, and this is certainly a good place to hang with a little one. Recommended. On the way home we caught a bit of theater acts on 10th street. There's so many things we stumble upon in summer it's really fun time of the year.

On Sunday he was quite undecided. First we were thinking of going to Intrepid, but by the time we were ready to go out he wanted to go to the zoo. But when we went downstairs he changed his mind again, and we settled for a movie- which was good for me. It was damn hot and humid again. So hoping to have some relief, appropriately, we went to see Ice Age. There was a Simpson's short movie titled "The Longest Daycare" starring Maggie Simpson. I thought this was the funniest, cleverest thing I've seen in a while. It was the thing that made it truly worth seeing Ice Age, which was ridiculously over-the-top kind of movie. Oh, yes, it was entertaining, but every minute was action, disaster, fights, running, sliding, crashing, and so on. Taiyo enjoyed it very much after all, although he always gets a bit whiny in the second half, and we stayed until the very end of the end credit, which always make us the very last to leave the theater. He held the bit of remaining popcorn in a bag in his hands as we mounted on the bike outside.

In the evening, we made our trip to the South Street Seaport, which has often been our Sunday night outing. Since it started pouring out, the kiddy rides in the food court was especially busy this week. After spending some time around the ride, we tried to get some burger downstairs at Johnny Rockets, but after 15 minutes there were no sign of getting any service, so I said, let's go to another place. We went a block down to Paris Cafe, a place that's been there forever.

Fairly empty dining room was perfect for us. We got a big table by a fish tank, where Taiyo enjoyed watching some colorful fishes. Although he asked for a burger, he didn't have any of it, not to my surprise, and he only had some fries and bread and oyster crackers that came with seafood chowder which I enjoyed very much. The older waitress was so nice to him and before we left the guys playing golf game in the bar area let Taiyo mess up their game a little. As we left the place Taiyo said, "That was a good place." Recommended.