Happy Brand New Year!

So the last two weeks was like a blink. I took a whole week and a change off, but since the school was out, "Taiyo 24/7" was never that relaxing. We took a weekend trip to Washington D.C. "Vacationing" is still premature activity with him, mostly. It could've been fabulous destination if was ten years-old: all kinds of museums are there all for free, easily accessible from the airport, lots of good restaurants, and so on. But it's so full of tourists and quite crowded everywhere. Omni Shoreham Hotel we stayed was pretty nice. Since one of their selling point is "family-friendly," the place was full of families with small children. When we walked in the lobby, Taiyo mumbled, "This looks too fancy for me." But this first impression didn't discourage him- when we went down to the restaurant, he decided to check-out the comfort and fun level of the bench. He took his shoes and socks off, and started run across the bench. Fortunately the place was quite empty, and of course I tried to calm him down with no success. Since the restaurant's atmosphere was chic and elegant, I was impressed how tolerating the staff were. We did get a warning eventually for "his safety" to stop running across the entire length of bench, which was about 20 yards, but it took them a long time to express their concern. So the hotel was wonderful, and there was a great coffeehouse/diner across the street, and it was right by Metro and the Zoo. Overall, definitely recommended for family stay. I only wished that they had an indoor swimming pool. Also the escalator at the Metro station was so deep it really made me aware of my fear of height. I had to go up and down this horrendously long escalator three times during our stay and it nearly killed me every time. The trip was smooth mostly, and we had plenty of fun. The zoo was open late for beautiful "ZooLight" show with decorated trees, light sculptures and other kids activities. Taiyo also learned to wrangle a sea lion through the glass with his little yellow frisbee. The next day, we hit some museums at the mall, but Taiyo's main concern was what I would buy for him in a gift shop. He's so highly cultured in NYC environment, and museums were really not a big deal. We only saw parts of Air and Space museum, Natural History, and American History museum. Discovery Room at the Natural History museum was a big hit- we spent a whole hour in the little room full of hands on activities for small people. We ate well, mostly, and we also had amazingly bad pasta; I think it was because this "Pasta Italiana" was owned and operated by Indian people. They didn't know what they were doing in the kitchen. Garlic bread was strange. Barely tasted garlic. Taiyo had kids' spaghetti and meatballs. It was bland and tasted like generic bad diner food. My pasta was with canned artichoke hearts and boiled bacon pieces and cumin seeds. It barely had flavor. And what's up with the cumin seeds?? It was truly inedible. And yet this place was not cheap. Location, location, location. It was right across the Metro station, and near the zoo. The next day we had much better luck across the street at District Kitchen. It was a perfect spot for us: creative and original small plates with good drink selection in casual setting. Taiyo felt so comfortable roaming around the restaruant, but all male staff were well-tolerating. Everything was fresh and delicious. After gourging on home made ice cream sundae, he exclaimed, "This is the best restaurant ever!" That was definitely the highest praise he's ever given to a restaurant. So yes, after all, despite of some frustrating moments, it was successful vacation.