We were heading to Times Square to catch a show. This is probably the neighborhood you must come with low culinary expectations. Food are mostly bad to mediocre and higher priced. Services are usually fast, though. All the tourists traps are what I would normally avoid, but with a four-year-old, it could be a rather pleasant experience. After passing by a few boring Irish sports bar, I saw "Planet Hollywood." Taiyo was immediately excited. "Yes, I want to go there!"

And this visit turned out to be just what I expected. We were greeted by a photographer when we walked into the restaurant, who placed us in front of a blue screen for a souvenir shot (which of course I did not purchase.) The decor only was just so worth the visit for Taiyo. Airplanes and trains hanging from the ceiling! Rhino head and big car parts! Big murals of Chinatown and New York City and whatever! So disgustingly touristy but so fun and amazing to a four year old. It's basically bumped up fast food with reliable service, since being in Times Square you'd usually served by a cute and friendly actor type. And that was exactly what we got. 80's hit music in the background, the noise level is just comfortable for not feeling conscious about young companion. Most of the tables had at least one child under 10. And the food was rather gross - terribly-tall-and-impossible-to-bite pretty burger was so dry and tasteless. But Taiyo loved his kid's mac & cheese that was macaroni with melted velveeta. And he genuinely loved the place so I felt it wasn't totally waste of money. Although I would seriously avoid setting my foot ever again there, because the food is really gross, we may do something like this again. It just reminds me that I'm not so typical American. But I do recommend the place for dining with kids. They really love it.

A little show at New Victory Theater was another gem. "Still Awake Still" was simple cute funny cabaret show that made little kids giggle and laugh so much. How they love to laugh is so amazing. One thing we eventually forget to do as we get older. After the show, we trekked to Bryant Park for carousel ride, then to Grand Central Station for the Train Show, and had a bad crepe at Ciao Bella in the food court. Please do not have the crepe at Ciao Bella- the mix berry crepe was smeared with strawberry jam (too sweet), and crepe was dry and tasteless it seemed like a frozen crepe. Taiyo ate most of it but he didn't finish. For $6, I'd like something more edible. So food-wise it was horrible day, but still a fun-filled nice day with Taiyo.

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.