Taiyo was up early in anticipation of our big trip to Queens. The sky was blue and air was cool. We went to check out World Maker Faire at Hall of Science. It's a festival of creativity, celebrating the Do-It-Yourself mindset. It was this amazing fair, crazy mixture of circus, arts, music, crafts, and science and technology geeks. There were also hands-on experience to aquire useful trade skills like hacking and lock picking. We saw coolest sculptures, musical instruments, drumming robots, a car covered with singing and dancing fishes and lobsters, rode on solar-powered carousel.

Most of the activities were not for toddlers, but Taiyo was still able to find enough things to mess with. He was so fascinated with a little electric circuit he built and kept pressing the button to shoot up a little propeller into the air for half an hour. This is going to be our must-attend event every year. Highly recommended for anyone, kids or adults. Hall of Science itself is the best place for kids. We didn't have the time to explore the regular exhibit, but they have the coolest mini-golf, where Taiyo went crazy running and climbing around. It's a big trip from our place downtown Manhattan, but it's always so worth it.

Back in the neighborhood, we went for an early dinner at Minca on 5th Street between A and B. Soon after we sat down, the place filled up, even thouth it was only 5pm. If I ask him what he wants to eat these days, Taiyo often says, "Gyoza." So I knew he was going to love this place. The space is tiny, and there's not much room for strollers. There's no high chair, but they are pretty kid-friendly- the waitress promptly brought Taiyo a glass of water with a straw, a small bowl with plastic fork, soup spoon, and a pair of chopsticks with plastic holder to help him use them. Taiyo ate all the skin from gyoza (that's what he cares for most of the time, anyway), and slurped ramen noodles. He loved the food enough that he didn't mind not having the room to jump around in between his bites. Considering the small space and the fact that they get pretty crowded, it's probably not the great choice to dine out with kids, but the food is darn good. I think they got the best Japanese ramen in town.

Afterwards we hit Tompkins Square Park playground. Maybe he was inspired by the Maker Faire earlier, Taiyo sat down in the sand box and worked on his twig installation for quite a while. He didn't even notice lots of sand were going into his shoes. He nomally freaks out if a little bit of it gets into his shoes or clothes. Creativity overcame his fear.

It was a hot sunny day. On September 11, 2001, I came back from a workout at the track, took a shower, and turned on TV, like any other morning. The World Trade Center was burning. I grabbed my video camera and headed out on my bike. At the corner of Delancey and Suffolk, we could see the smoking tower. Within two hours, I witnessed both towers collapse in front of my eyes only blocks away on the West Side Highway. It is the hardest thing to remember in my life. Not just that day, but days, weeks, and months to follow. I didn't really want to do anything to remind me of that time. Taiyo was too young to acknowlege this past event. So we just headed out, like any other Sunday. Just for fun.

We crossed Manhattan Bridge to the Brooklyn Bridge Park. Last weekend on the ferry I noticed the old carousel on the water and wanted to check it out. It was still not open for public, but there were plenty for us to explore! Taiyo ran around the playground, climbed up on a sculpture, and threw stones into the brown water of East River with other kids. Helicoptors circled around above to remind us what day it was.

Across from the kids' playground was Bubby's. I figured this cannot be a kid-unfriendly joint because of the location. Sure enough, there were many families diningn with kids, but we were still offered a low table, upstairs, but away from the window by the waiters' corner. Did they know that we were not from the neighborhood? They gave him some crayons but Taiyo didn't like the sheet they gave him for drawing. Dumbo became such posh new neighborhood quickly, it's still beautiful but I probably wouldn't care for the neighbors even if I had that kind of money to live there. So the food arrived, and I was like, this is $20 omlette? It wasn't bad, but it was kind of sad: nothing special. Just little omlette with over toasted toasts and cheese grits they charged me for another dollar. Really? Pancakes from kids menu looked pretty sad also with a few silver dollar pancakes with just bananas on top. Taiyo enjoyed it anyway, but I thought some additional berries would've been nicer. I give credit for them though for having a changing table in the bathroom. I would go back there if it was half the price. Recommended if you have some money to waste.

After lunch we continued north on the park and found the little playground perfect for the littlest people. It was also great for parents since if you park yourself on the comfortable bench, the whole park was still within your view- you'd always be able to see your kid without getting up and following them around.

Then we had to make a stop at Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory at Fulton ferry landing. They seem to have a great review for ice cream, but it was just some ice cream for me. Taiyo of course loved it, but only had half of the strawberry ice cream. There was a wedding phot shoot going on outside, and Taiyo provided them background music with his harmonica.

In the evening I watched 9-11 documentary on TV and cried and cried. Remembered the candles that were lit on every corner, faces of missing persons posted at every bus stop, train station, and hospital, downtown streets covered with white dusts, and strollers abandoned by waterfront. One good thing that came out of it for me was that I decided to open SOY, a place where you'll get good food and nourish both your body and spirit. Here I am, ten years later, still providing Japanese comfort food for the neighborhood. One day I wish to tell my son all about it.

Already our last staycation report! The rain was stopping in the morning, but day ahead looked miserable. So our choice today was one of the best places to spend a not-a-great-day-to-play-outside day: Children's Museum in Brooklyn. It's actually one of the best place in New York for a little one, period.

This is a beautifully designed museum that provides hours of interactive and educational fun. From our first visit early this year when I immediately purchased a membership, we truly enjoyed coming here every time- on snowy day, rainy day, cold day, steaming hot day. Taiyo has many favorite activities- playing with sand, (but he doesn't have to step into the sand box!) answering the phone, (there's hundreds of phones in this place!) driving a bus, working at a cash register at a grocery store, making a pizza, riding a Vespa, and so on. Another thing I love about this museum is that they provide lots of culturally diverse elements of the city, and visitors totally reflect that. You always see a great mixture os people from different culture. Taiyo was over-stimulated and super tired by the time we finally fled between rain.

We stopped at Melanie's by the subway at Fulton and Nostrand.
Their catch on the sign is: For Healthy Eating Experience. They have smoothies and vegetarian options, but they serve plenty of meat. It's plain spacious ugly interior, but we're dining with kids! It serves the purpose. There were two mannequins in the window that looked like just dropped off from a trashy langerie shop. But for $7, they give you so much food that you cannot finish. Rice, two sides and choice of meat. Unfortunately being late for lunch, some of the veggies on the steam table seemed too dry, but that shows that they are following the health department code of temperature requirement. Taiyo basically only cared for rice with bits of beans, but I also enjoyed stewed chicken, cooked spinach and chick peas. Food is fair. Double doors, but easy entry with a stroller. Recommended.

Late Caribbean lunch was sitting heavy on my stomach. Taiyo wasn't even asking for gohan, but when I suggested, "Pizza?" of course he didn't object. We headed to Nonna's right behind us on Clinton. It's just another neighborhood pizza joint, but fancier pizza! Some people claim this is the best pizza in the city. Their recutangular Nonna slices come with various toppings- Taiyo's favorite is vegetarian, although he shakes off most of the topping, and I got one with grilled chicken, arugula, and balsamic reduction. Yummy! It's another easy quick dining option that's also easy on the wallet. $8 for these two slices is a great value. We've never been there with a stroller, but entry is probably ok. There's some room for a stroller in the small dining area. Recommended.

Taiyo is swiching gears lately- he's getting up significantly earlier, taking less naps, and as a result there's often cranky toddler for me to deal with. Although he still makes me laugh a lot of times, there's numerous moments throughout the day when I really want to shoot myself. But I don't have a gun to shoot myself with, so I have to come up with something to distract him. "Let's go outside." He nods. "You want to go on a subway?" "Yes," he nods.

First stop: High Line. We got on High Line at west 16th Street- the elevator was out of order, but Taiyo happily walked up the stairs. You see many strollers up on High Line, but stairs are steep and you need two adults to rig up one with a child in it. 23rd street and 30th street elevators were working. It is a really cool park but there's nothing more than to walk around. Artsy environment and interesting perspective to the city is definitely interesting. It's also very white, I found. If you're in a minority group, sometimes you feel that kind of environment. But it's still so beautiful and cultural: it's a dilemma. The new upper part of High Line was just a walk, anyway. I think the lower portion is more interesting to do. Before we hit 30th Street, Taiyo was asking for gohan(food) again. We came down but the beer garden underneath was not open yet. I couldn't find anything decent inland, and Taiyo went for an early nap. I kept walking. Reminiscence on 23rd Street, a must-stop with a kid, was unfortunately closed. They have great selection of little toys that won't hurt your wallet.

I entered Madison Square Park, since I thought he would have a ball under a giant white sculpture of a obscured head. This is a very kid-friendly park with a nicely designed kid's playground. They also hosted many free kids concert which we missed through the summer.

I walked through midtown, Times Square, then he finally woke up near 8th Avenue. Since he asked for gyoza, we stopped in for lunch at Yum Yum Bangkok on 8th Avenue between 45th and 46th streets. There were three Yum Yums almost next to each other- you think they must be pretty good to have three locations. The entry was easy with a stroller, and they immediately offer us the darkest back corner away from the crowd. Dining with a baby, they often treat you as a third class citizen, but I take it as they expect us to be noisy and messy. Fine. But Taiyo behaved so well, using his plate, and although it was so dark to access the food, Taiyo liked the plates we ordered- curry puff, steamed dumplings, and pad thai- and they tasted all right. But curry puffs were greasy and mushy, and so was pad thai. Kids would still always like the sweetness of Thai food. You have to beware that some dishes can be spicy. The waitress warned us our first choice, seafood soba, was spicy, which was a nice consideration. It was an easy choice of dining, but food-wise, there must be better choices around there.

Then we hit Intrepid, a museum where I may have never visited if I didn't have a little boy. Even a little girl would enjoy getting on a little helicoptors and boats, and seeing all kids of military planes on the upper deck. It's a small museum, and the tower is hard to deal with since they don't want the little ones to touch things up there, but the exhibition space has good number of stuff to get on and mess with. It was still a hot summer day, and after Intrepid, we jumped on a Water Taxi that was just docking outside of Intrepid. It was hop-on, hop-off boat tour ship, although it was too late for us to get off the boats- they were almost making the last loop. Taiyo loved running around the lower indoor area, which was nice and empty because most of the people were on upper deck. The guide on the upper deck was pretty lame, but this was a tourist ship after all. After one loop we continued on to their final stop at South Street Seaport and Taiyo was freaking out again because I won't let him push the stroller around the floor. I let him scream for a while because this is a tourist ship after all- don't they expect tourists to be noisy?

When we got off the boat, of course it was time for "Gohan." Taiyo urged us to stop at Johnny Rockets at the Seaport. When I was 18 working in Tokyo, Johnny Rockets was a cool hangout with old-fashioned American decore and yummy hamburgers. They let Taiyo pick a talbe- which was a little table by the window for two, appropriately. He got a pack of crayons and a paper to color. A casual restaurant in busy tourist area cannot be kid-unfriendly. They have a kid menu like a mini hamburger, but I knew he wouldn't care for it so just ordered one for myself and sweet potato fries, which was done right, nice and crisp. He was totally happy with that, beside the napkin dispensor and the old-fashioned little juke box with buttons to press and panels to flip on the table. Run by mostly minority teenagers, the service was a bit slow, but they all liked Taiyo, and it was nice experience and my hamburger, Rocket single, was pretty good. Recommended.

Our staycation day 2: we finally got to the beach- kind of. We took a train ride down to Coney Island. My plan was to hit the Aquarium first, but as soon as we got off the train, Taiyo started chating, "Gohan, gohan!" for food. So we went down to the boardwalk and hit the first stand- which is actually my favorite spot. Just ordinary hot-dogs and burgers joint, but they got nice fresh clams. Taiyo ate all of outside of his corn dog. He didn't care for the dog itself. I asked him if he wants to down down to the beach, but his answer was firm "NO." He still dislikes sand, and he mostly avoids sand box in every playground. So this enormous sand box in front of him was probably the most fearful thing.

We went back to the aquarium and of course he had a blast! This is the must-visit place for kids, especially very small ones. There's so many little fishes they can see up close, or giant walrus who'd rest right against the glass, some knobs and buttons to mess with close to the floor- I often don't even notice them but of course Taiyo finds them. It's small enough and not overwhelming, and being indoor is also nice in cold weather or hot summer day like today. So we wandered between the tanks for almost an hour and half, observing many, many fishes, jelly fishes, turtles, eels, frogs, sharks, even a little aligator, then we decided to check out the sea lion show. It was so hot out, and the show was kind of sad with just one sea lion, and Taiyo was not impressed. He wanted to go. So we hit the boardwalk again.

There's another must-stop in Coney Island for little kids- Deno's kiddie park! Last time, about six months ago, Taiyo go on one ride, and he looked like he had mixed-feeling about it. But this time he ran right up to the carriage ride and said he must get on. Then one by one, he pretty much got on every ride he was allowed- a fire truck, choo-choo train, three different kinds of boat, a motorcycle, a jeep, an airplane, and of course the carousel. I asked him again if he wanted to get down to the beach- "NO!" In three hours we had the best of Coney Island, and by the time we reached the train station he was asleep.

We kicked off our last summer weekend morning in Bryant Park on 42nd Street. This is a beautiful oasis in the heart of manhattan, filled with such calmness, especially on weekend morning. Taiyo first got busy siting alphabets with the box of wooden magnetic letters. He quite accurately sited most of them. Then there was a dance movement workshop on the lawn, which we joined in briefly, but Taiyo noticed the carousel and ran screaming toward it.

He did three rides on a white bunny- he simply refused to get off and I had to keep running back to the booth to pay for another. It's a cute little ride for $2, or $15 for 10 rides. When I went back to the booth the third time, the lady said I should've gotten a 10-ride card. He could've ridden the whole 10 rides. They played French chansons when the ride went around. Something you wouldn't do if you're not with a little kid. I enjoyed the lovely ride. There were children's books to read by the carousel but if stayed around he would've wanted to go back to the ride. So I snatched him to Kinokuniya, a Japanese book store, across the street. There, of course he went crazy grabbing cute little books and tiny stickers.

I thought maybe we could lunch at a Korean place on 35th street, but he suddenly started demanding food right in front of Pax Wholesome Foods on 6th Avenue. Entry is easy, but there's only four little tables downstairs, and it will be tricky to go up the stairs to more spacious dining area upstairs. We left the strollers downstairs and Taiyo happily walked up. I wished they had larger windows, which would've made the dining area more airy and pleasant, but hey, this is a fast food. They probably don't like people to stick around too long. Maybe that's why they make these chain stores a bit unattractive. There's no high chairs, which is fortunately no problem for us. Food was actually pretty fresh and good, although pre-made sandwiches are usually not attractive for me. Taiyo very much enjoyed Mozzerella Pesto Melt Pressata sandwich, and of course loved the fresh orange juice. Taiyo kept checking out the Korean girl behind him, but he didn't get a responce so he flirted with a young black girl a few tables down. It was good casual dining option.

Later in the afternoon, we took a ride up to 34th Street along the river and visited Glass Garden at NYU Medical Center. It's a beautiful little indoor and outdoor garden with a pond and birds. I used to live only a block away from there and never knew about it! I only heard about this secret garden on some kids activity listing on internet. I must say this is truly a best kept secret around town. Taiyo of course enjoyed meeting all the birds in cages, and this guy even saidi hello to him.

There was also wonderful children's playgarden right outside, where Taiyo was greeted by a naked girl. Of course he loved the place! I must say this was the most well-designed little public playground in the city for a tot with lots of different activity- little house with doors, little sandbox, little slide, a hammock where the naked girl's father was sleeping, musical tubes to bang on, with a rocking horse, several wagons to push around, a scooter and a trike, and it was so relaxing and beautiful with flowers and herbs all around. This is going to be our new favorite spot.

We headed downtown on second avenue and stopped at Shima, a Japanese restaurant at 12th Street. Twenty years ago I lived a block away from there and I worked at the spot when it was a different Japanese restaurant. Interior was completely different, and it was just I thought it may be: rather uninspired Japanese restaurant with exactly the same menue with 300 other places around town. They offer all the basic "Japanese Food" Americans expect to have in a Japanese Restaurant. But the place was spacious, and staff were all friendly, food was nicely presented according to the manual, and Taiyo very much enjoyed shrimp tempura, rice, miso soup, and shumai. The bento box was good value, and this is definitely no surprise dependable dining option. Recommended. They also have outdoor tables on the avenue, but the traffic is steady and felt a bit noisy and dusty to dine out.

To top our busy weekend, we stopped at Toy Tokyo on Second Avenue at 5th Street. Of course Taiyo went crazy checking out little toys on very isle. The place is full of tiny fun things that you cannot leave without spending a few bucks. I got him a tiny kewpie doll, which he lost on the ride home. We have to go back there to get another one.

It was the last day of August, a hot summer day, appropriately. We headed on bike uptown- it was nice to see the green bike lane extending all the way up to near the park on First Avenue. When we got to the Central Park Zoo, it was already full of kids and mommies and nannies. Taiyo of course had to first go check out the penguins, then polar bears, snow monkeys, sea lions, and coloful birds and lemurs in rain forest. He loved watching the musical clock by the zoo, then we went feed goats and sheeps at the Children's Zoo. Taiyo just wanted to keep feeding the animals, but I talked him into feeding ourselves. Time for lunch.

I wanted to go for a better dining option, but Taiyo insisted going into the Zoo's Dancing Crane Cafe as we were passing by it to get to our bike. He was already so tired, cranky and loud, I had to give in. Fries and ketchup was all he needed to be content. I bumped it up with a pack of apple juice. Well, it's not great food or selection, same as most other cafeterias in children's venues. Fries, chicken strips, pizza, burger, sandwich and maybe some salad, all not so appealing to me and also pricey, but it is so conveniently located. We stopped in a bunch of times here before when dining out was not so much of option, because Taiyo wouldn't be able to sit still and wait for the food or grab everything on the table or his eating skill was not developed enough it was always so messy and stressful for me. It is no worry busy noisy cafeteria with bunch of kids running around and screaming, and there's plenty of tables inside and outside, plus plenty of high chairs if you need one. Recommended for practical reasons. Taiyo of course slept through our ride home.

After getting our laundry done, it was time for dinner again! Taiyo's mind was already set for pizza, so we headed to Lil' Frankie's on First Avenue and 1st Street. The hostess set up in the dark dining area by the bar. Ok, I felt that we were offered a low table but it was still cute setting, right in front of the old pictures of Lil Frank. Taiyo did like the pictures on the wall, and he laid down to check out the comfort level of the plastic covered bench that we were sure not going to worry about staining. When the waitress came over, she exclaimed, "I know you.. you're the kid from SOY!" She said she came over to pick up food one day recently. It was nice to be recognized and we felt quite at home. We ordered too much food- Margherita pizza, that was just so perfectly done and simply delicious, fried zucchini because I thought Taiyo would like it, and Fava bean soup, which wasn't bad but not necessary. Of course, Taiyo, the little happy diner, charmed people around the bar, and it was just wonderful pleasant dining experience. Very much recommended.
After dinner, it was so beautiful out I took a long ride home going through East River Park. Newly finished section on promenade with lights was nice, but Taiyo was sleeping again.