I have chugged down the month of September, and here we are, already feeling October air. And this was an important month for Kizawa household; it's me and Taiyo's birthday!

This year we had Taiyo's big party at the Children's Magical Garden at Norfolk and Stanton on Sunday 23rd. It was so perfect to be at this wonderful community garden Taiyo and I have been visiting all summer. Our friend Michelle opened the gate for us for our party, then later our party was crashed by another party: jazz festival celebrating John Coltrane's birthday. It was so perfect for music loving Taiyo, and they even played 'Happy Birthday' song. Taiyo carefully observed the musicians, especially the drummer. It was my birthday the day before, but ever since Taiyo has arrived, I had a privilege of forgetting my birthday. Ours are only two days apart. So yes, that's all I did on my birthday, preparing for Taiyo's party. That's fine with me---by not celebrating, I don't feel I'm another year older! I was baking his cake in the middle of the night- I hardly bake a cake and this was certainly the biggest cake I've ever done. And of course in the middle of finishing the cake, at 2:30am, I heard Taiyo wake up on the monitor, and he had to come downstairs to see the cake. I thought the cake was nowhere near perfect, but I got so much compliments. Phew. Everything paid off. But it was the most tiring day of the year, much more than Thanksgiving, and I'm glad there's only one birthday a year, and it's over, and I'm truly grateful of all the help from my staff and friends to have made this happen.

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.

I don't know if the heat wave had something to do with it, but my bulky old TV's tube burnt out last week. One morning, a light went across the screen and it went black. First I thought it was the cable, but no. There was audio but we were no longer able to see the image on the screen. It's still sitting there, but we've been TV-less for the first time, very first time for Taiyo, and in the summer heat we've been busier with activities once again.

Last Saturday was actually very comfortable. Per Taiyo's request, we took a bike ride uptown to the Central Park Zoo. After our usual routine of visiting the gift shop (I warn him that we're not going to buy anything, but somehow he always wins), viewing and talking to the penguins, feeding of sheep and goats, and having a hot dog and french fries at the cafeteria, we headed home.

On the way back, we stopped at Madison Square Park, where there's always some interesting sculpture. Taiyo totally loved these colorful blobs that made cool sounds and music when he touched! This is definitely must-see public art this summer with a little one. They would go nuts!

Next day, Taiyo wanted to play some golf, so that's what we did on Governor's Island. As we headed to the ferry, Taiyo started singing on the back of the bike, "Going on a boat, going on a boat.." He's so good at making up a song these days. The boat was a lot emptier than the beginning of the season. Every time I go there, this island's forgotten old feel, colonial buildings, cannons and forts remind me of Cuba, especially with this heat. When we got to the parade ground, Taiyo headed to his favorite tree house, then we practiced some patting at mini golf. But heat with suffocating humidity was just brutal, and I asked him if we could just go for a bike ride, at least to get some breeze. He suggested lunch instead, and we headed to the food court nearby.

It's a perfect outdoor dining area with some food trucks, and he picked a sandwich, fruit salad (although he only liked pineapple chunks), and orange/mango juice. He couldn't eat much of the sandwich, but he surely was thirsty. We made a quick round of the island and headed home. He gets so excited at this beautiful little island and never lasts more than two hours. Of course he was fast asleep as soon as we got off the boat.

So we certainly had some fun in the past week when I wasn't washing years of grime off the walls and the floor at SOY.

It's been so hot and a movie theater was an attractive option. And we both wanted to see the new Pixar movie Brave. It was so wonderful. I loved it. He loved it. And he wanted to see it again, so I sent him back to the theater with Yuka later in the week. I was able to wash some more grime off the floor that afternoon.

We met with Tim and Claire in the cozy little back garden at 1492 at 60 Clinton. It was perfectly quiet and almost empty early monday evening. To my surprise, Taiyo didn't even try watermelon gazpacho nor paella. Gazpacho was refleshing but paella was a bit undercooked. He did really like chorizo. He also took a picture of his feet. I had a very nice blueberry mojito and sangria. Mojito was much more interesting than sangria.

We were hanging out with Kathy on her roof on 4th of July, although it didn't seem we get any glimpse of Macy's fireworks on the West Side. But someone was shooting up fairly big fireworks right in the neighborhood. Taiyo was immediately scared and he just rushed out to the stairs saying, "Let's go home!"

On Friday we took a bumpy ferry ride across Hudson to Liberty Science Center. I recently realized that it can be a short trip crossing the river with the bike- although the ferry wasn't on time and we waited 30 minutes to get on one. And yes, Taiyo had a blast with every exhibit, and this is the only decent picture of him, laying down pcv pipes to polish his plumbing skills. It was wonderful, but turned out to be an expensive one, since they didn't honor my membership from Brooklyn Children's Museum. But nice change of scenery, and he enjoyed having a hot dog at the cafeteria.

This week I made three trips to a paint store, and four trips to Home Depot. After the last trip to Home Depot to finish my renovation job on Sunday, we stopped at Lenny's for a bite. He ate half of the big chicken sandwich, even with some lettuce and tomato. And of course this kind of casual quick dining is always easy for us, with plenty of room for him to jump around in between bites. And the sandwich was pretty good and filling. This is going to be one
of our trusted stop around town.

What a week it's been! I took a week off, but this really wasn't much of vacation for me. It began by scrubbing years of grease off the wall in the kitchen in the middle of the night. Then it was painted in light yellow "moonlight." I also scrubbed the floor and patched holes and replaced some tiles. Most of these were done in the middle of the night or late afternoon while Taiyo was sleeping. So it was extra tiring week for me- working through the night and still having to somewhat meet the demands of a menacing toddler. But of course we had fun, here and there and everywhere.

I really couldn't use my kitchen downstairs while renovating, so inevitably we ate out and ordered in a lot. It was also nice not to cook during a heat wave.

It was so hot and humid on Sunday, but this izakaya on Clinton Dodompa didn't have air-conditioning but they had all the front window panel open, which was kind of nice. Although it was so hot and noisy there, Taiyo agreed to stay this time. (One time we tried to go there but he said the masks were scary on the walls and we had to go.) So we had ramen (of course!) and gyoza (of course!) and some yakitori (he didn't care but they were lame anyway) and daikon salad (delicious but he didn't care anyway). Food was mostly ok, but it was just so hot and noisy! The waitress brought Taiyo a little cup of water with a straw, which is a good sign of a child-friendly joint. But it was so hot and noisy! Benches are easy and fun for little kids but no high-chair.

The story of our week will continue-

Last sunday, I convinced Taiyo to go check out the Science Fair at the Washington Square Park, although he wanted to go to the zoo. "Let's go to the Science Fair first, then we'll go to the zoo. He agreed. The fair looked amazing, but when I tried to lock the bike, I realized I forgot the lock. After he posed in front of an orangutan, and a big grasshopper on stilts, Taiyo still wanted to go to the zoo anyway. So we headed back home first, and biked all the way uptown. There was Israeli Parade on the Fifth avenue, and it was hell to go across to the park. It was one of many parades you wonder- why do we have to have this? Because we have more Jews in NYC than the entire country of Israel? We managed to get to the zoo eventually, and he first spent a quality time in the gift shop, and picked up a toy to make me buy. He was going to be obsessed with it for maximum two days. Then we went to see the penguins, and oh boy it was so crowded in there but being so small and determined Taiyo can make his way right at the front to enjoy. After that he wanted to go to the cafeteria and have some burger and french fries. I really hate this cafeteria; it gets so hectic and service at the food counter is so slow, rude, and unorganized, but Taiyo always insists. So we did. Fortunately we beat the serious rush when it started raining steady outside. By the time the rain subsided he ate pretty much all the fries and some of the burger, and he was tired. "Should we go home?" He nodded. Oh yes, just for these little things he made me bike all the way uptown. That's ok. This was still not much of workout for me anyway. I used to run up there and do a loop or two of the park. Tomorrow is Puerto Rican Parade- I really have to talk him out of getting up to the zoo.

Today he just wanted to go to the park with a sandbox. I asked him, "Do you want to go to Union Square park, or Thompkins Square park?" He replied, "I want to go to Thompkins Square park." No problem. We get there, and he ran around for a while and it started to rain again.

I tried to talk him into having a brunch across the street, but he just wanted to get a slice of pizza next door. So we did. By the time he chugged down a slice the rain subsided and we took a short ride home. He kept saying he wanted to stop at the toy store, but I simply pretended I didn't hear.

The memorial day weekend felt like more like mid-summer than the beginning of summer. We were blessed with strong sunshine and overwhelming humidity. Taiyo and I have been already back on the bicycle for a while, and oh, yes, it's the greatest way to explore the city. On Sunday we rode up to Intrepid to see some ships but the line was pretty long already at noon. Taiyo wasn't crazy about getting in the line and I was definitely not crazy about getting in line. "I want to have breakfast," Taiyo mumbled. So we turned around and stopped at Pier 66 Maritime along the waterfront path.

This turned out to be the great destination for us. First he enjoyed walking on the old railway as we entered, then there was an old train car he loved to hang out for a while. The popular deck on the roof was pretty full, but there were plenty tables around the ship to settle. After we ordered, they gave us a device to let us know our food was ready to pick up. Very nicely set up, wonderful relaxed outdoor setting with a view, and there were plenty of other families with kids. While waiting, Taiyo scooped out all the little fruit bits from my sangria, then he was focused on the french fries. He didn't care for the burger or wild mushroom asparagus crostini, althouth they were all nice and fresh tasting. This will be one of our favorite stop this summer. Highly recommended.

Further down the river we hit the carousel at Chelsea Piers. He got on a seal next to a big white rabbit, which I got on. Ice cream bar after the ride was also extra yummy. He crashed soon after we got back on the bike.

Next day, it was again sunny and humid, and Taiyo asked me in the morning "Where are we going?" "Where do you want to go?" "I want to go to the zoo!" So back on the bike, we rode up First Avenue to the Central Park. We did all his favorite stuff, seeing the penguins, listening to the sea lions howl, feeding the goats, and eating (more) french fries at the cafeteria.

Then finally we got on the Carousel in the Central Park. In the past attempts he fell asleep before we got there or it was closed off season. We both enjoyed the ride very much. Riding through the park, I very much miss my running days- I probably ran through this park hundreds of times- in the snow, in the rain, in the heat, and everything in between, and now I enjoy this park in the whole different way. Now I know more about all the other great things around the park. Of course Taiyo fell asleep on the way home.

Later for dinner, we checked out Pala on Allen near Houston. This didn't seem like a kid-friendly pizza restaurant, but they had at least one high chair, which Taiyo was offered immediately. The pie took about half an hour, but it was very tasty and fresh, and different from thin crust pizzas we normally enjoy. Our choice was the simple one, Bufala Cruda, with buffalo mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and basil, and Taiyo mainly enjoyed the chewy crust. He didn't touch my spinach salad with pears, walnuts and gorgonzola. The waiter was very nice to Taiyo, asking him how he liked the pizza. But overall, it really didn't feel like a kid-friendly joint. And the bathroom was really dark it scared Taiyo. Even if you were not a parent, you may wonder how they can clean the bathroom with that light. If your kid can wait for a pizza for half an hour, it might be ok place to dine.