So we were there again- at the Disney World. Yes, we were hoping for the magical vacation that they advertise to sell, and yes, I was really convinced that we are not Disney-type, but we still didn't totally hate it. It was Taiyo's idea to begin with. He really wanted to go back there. He really wanted to dine at the castle, so I paid some $$$ to have a breakfast there. The food looked pretty and they gave us Mickey-shaped muffins and stuff, but it was mostly gross. They kept our orange juice glass filled. Large older ladies costumed as medieval maids served us. Then there were these wigged princesses with heavily painted faces making appearance. And here's what Taiyo did. It's just insane.

And aren't you impressed how professionally they all pose for the photo? Even though this kid is acting like a psycho, slicing up his beloved kitty? (By the way the sword was supplied by the castle) So for all these photo alone, maybe it was worth the trip. And of course yes, it was really lovely to spend a few days wearing only t-shirt outside, dipping in a pool under sun, and walking on a beach. Also, I must say, I was extremely impressed with this super American brand. So many people believe in it, too. You can see that they love being there! As much as I hated being there, it was also seriously fun. Look at the pictures above again.

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.

So this year, Taiyo really believes in Santa. School is partly the blame. But I believe most of the information comes from media. "I know he's in his workshop making toys for kids right now." "How do you know that?" "I saw it on Elmo." So I was debating whether Santa should come to our house for the first time this year. Most of the adults I consulted said yes, Santa should come. So I suggested we go see Santa at Macy's yesterday. Taiyo was so animated and decided to work on his wish list. Well, I had to write it down of course while he dictated: a toy race car that I can control, a toy airplane that I can control, a toy spaceship that I can control, a teeny tiny toy box of LEGOs, a spaceship that can fly all the way to the outer space. He signed his name. So we headed to Macy's at 6 o'clock Sunday night. We didn't know what we were headed to. I expected a long line, but maybe an hour wait? How naive I was. I've never done this before. I've never even considered it. When we got to the 8th floor, yes, there was a long line, and I saw a digital clock: "Wait Time to see Santa" then underneath: "3:30." I asked a big solemn-faced elf standing nearby a damn question. "Three and a half hours? Is that accurate?" He nodded. I couldn't believe people were willing to wait that long to see some fake Santa guys to have picture taken. And of course they were all with small kids! I told Taiyo that we couldn't see Santa because the line was too long, and he was disappointed that he couldn't deliver his wish list. But he didn't protest too much because I told him we can still mail him the list. I was somewhat relieved that Santa didn't get the list- Taiyo wasn't going to get any of them. We went downstairs and admired the window holiday display. Something you'd appreciate a bit more with kids. I totally enjoyed looking at Taiyo so enchanted.

My turkey was perfectly roasted with bacon on top. It was my biggest Thanksgiving dinner with 16 of us including kids. Everything was so good and beautiful, the company was fantastic, and of course I have no decent photo to prove. And so much more happened between now and then, and it was already December, and feeling the end and the new beginning approaching.

Three years ago when I started this blog, I was so excited with possibilities. He was just beginning to eat all kinds of food, and actually enjoying them. He was open to try anything, and was always excited to eat. I thought in a year or two, we would've covered even fine dining restaurants all over town. Well, development doesn't always happen in one direction. Often only food he ask for is pizza or pasta on weekend. He probably heard me complaining to someone; he declared the other day, "I like boring pizza." But we tried a new restaurant this week, although it feels like regressing a bit- IHOP on 14th Street near 2nd Avenue. At 12pm on Sunday, the waiting area was already full. The hostess told us the wait is about 15 minutes. I never want to wait for a table, but Taiyo wanted to wait. He would wait for that bit stack of pancakes. The wait was just about 15 minutes. The service was efficient and fast. They gave him a coloring/game sheet and crayons. So it was not so bad. Of course the huge stack of pancakes with banana, strawberries and whip cream on top was like an amazing lunch for Taiyo. He went at it, without stopping, and chugged down 90% of it. My chicken crepe was not bad. It was just about what I expected. As much as I hate to admit it, since it's just another chain restaurant, since it's like going to MacDonald's, since it's way too predictable, since it feels cheap to be there, it was not a bad experience. We may go there again. Better coffee, at least stronger, would help.

Then on Veteran's Day, we did something neither of us have done. We visited Queens Museum in Flushing Meadows Park. The beautiful steel Unisphere was so gorgeous under the sun and that sight itself was worth the long train ride. It was a family day for the museum which just reopened after renovation. The place was happening but not terribly crowded. We had to check out "Panorama" of course, the architectural model of NYC five boroughs that includes every single building from 1960s. Taiyo was quite impressed, but he kept asking me where Japan was. "It's too far away. You can't see it." He didn't want to accept the answer. Then we walked over to Hall of Science and played a while in their "Science Playground," another thing we've never done. Then we made super-giant bubbles inside the museum for a while. We always love this museum. It's always worth the trip- but it is far. Only if we could fly.

Halloween came and went. My little muscled superhero (Captain America this year) did enjoy dressed up and go trick-or-treating briefly. He tested his strength against other superheros he encountered. But he is my kid. We are not so mainstream after all. Usually one hour was his limit on wearing his disguise. Yes, having a child you realize how important this holiday is, but this is another super commercial mainstream holiday- we really couldn't care less. I told him, "We are going to go trick-or-treating maybe only three places." He was fine with it. We went to two restaurants and a deli, and he still scored enough candies we were done for the night. Maybe because of the mild weather, we had more trick-or-treater traffic this year. Or maybe we really had to make it back for the lost time last year for Sandy. Oh how dark it was a year ago!

Then Marathon sunday came and went. This was the most important day of the year for me for ten years before Taiyo. It still pains to watch the race. But it is really nice time to look back fondly. It was big enough and crazy enough with half the field; I really can't imagine running with 50,000 people! I don't think I can do it again, but I surely miss it. Every time was like triumph and defeat at the same time. It's really, really hard at times and still so much fun other times. You run through five boroughs. It's just an amazing race. I couldn't convince Taiyo to go across the bridge this year, so we just watched it on TV at home. It was still very emotional experience for me. Maybe I'm crazy enough to do it one more time one day.