Bronx Zoo's toyland

From August 18 to 24, Fisher-Price will be hosting Play Week at the Bronx Zoo from 11 am to 4 pm each day. It will feature a super-sized playpen with lots of toys, a driving track, a vanity station for some arts and crafts, and special appearances by costume characters. A free gift bag with activity booklet and the new Planet Heroes DVD awaits each child visiting the play area.

We've now booked that weekend for a playdate. :P

Live ...at the New York Hall of Science!

July 17 . I received an email from Mary Record of the NY Hall of Science about being on TV. They needed energetic kids of all ages to play in the exhibits and be filmed on live TV. She wanted to know if I would be interested. Would I be interested? OF COURSE! :P I can imagine it being a really fun experience for both me and Andrew. We're in!

There were two television shoots over the weekend, and I can choose to attend one or attend both. On Saturday (7/19, 8:30-10am) CBS-TV will be filming live weather segments in the Science Playground while on Sunday (7/20, 5:45-9am), ABC-TV will do the same in the Hall's special exhibition, Magic: The Science of Illusion. I emailed Mary back to let her know that Andrew and I were interested in joining the Saturday shoot, and half an hour later, I received her confirmation. Mary also made a note to "dress your child in bright colored-clothing with no logos or words" and that "solid colors work best".

Albert has a scheduled eval and won't be able to join us, so I asked Mama if she'd come with us instead. The doting Lola, of course, is available.

July 18, 10pm. 'got the diaper bag ready. Still unsure which shirt Andrew should wear the next day. Tough call!!! All the brightly colored ones had logos in 'em. Would have loved for him to wear his orange or his blue Mets shirt. My other option was to have him wear a striped shirt. Would the yellow and blue stripes look better than the blue and pink stripes? Or would I settle for the soft lime green shirt? Man, I started to think how I'm making a big deal out of this. Fine, the green shirt it is (but I will bring the striped shirts, just in case...). Stars need a change of outfit after all, right? *lol*

July 19, 7am. I was up earlier than usual. On a Saturday! Hey, for the love of TV, hahaha. At 7:15, pupungas-pungas pa ang mag-ama. 'got myself ready, then I prepared Andrew's breakfast. He seemed to wonder why his morning routine is 1 1/2 hours off. Anyway, we were out the door by 8:05 and parking in the museum grounds by 8:20. We were ushered into the Science playground, where Mary welcomed us. Free breakfast for all attendees. Nice. Andrew was all set, but I needed my caffeine and I was not sure if Mama ate something before we left.

'noted that the lights had been set up in certain areas of the playground. I was hoping to see Dave Price (my crush since his Fox5 days), but I learned that Megan Glaros was doing the whole outdoor segment of the show. She's pretty and sweet. She interacted with the families during the breaks and she was friendly to all the kids.

By 10am, it was a wrap. As soon as we got home, we reviewed the recording of the show and ta-dah... here's our few seconds of fame.

(to follow once Tatay has uploaded it on YouTube)

It's time again for NY Restaurant Week!

Hot off the press tip from OpenTable.com!!!

Mark your calendar for NYC Summer Restaurant Week 2008:
July 21 - 25 and July 28 - August 1

Eat and be very merry! Make your reservations early (I'm serious!). As soon as I saw the email, I tried booking a late lunch at Asiate but "no tables are available within 2 hours of my 2pm request." Whatev.

For two weeks, experience NYC's finest restaurants and pay only $24.07 for a three-course lunch (or $35 for dinner). IF you stick to the menu (and drink water instead of wine or some cocktail), even with tax and gratuity, you're still paying a fraction of the usual price. IF you lack self-control like we do ("Yes, I'll have a gewurztraminer and..."), you may see a spike in the bill. Nonetheless, I still love, love Restaurant Week because we get to try out dining hot spots that are usually out of our budget. We choose our picks based on these criteria:

> $$$$ price category (which means we wouldn't normally eat there unless it's restaurant week) > place comes highly recommended
> location (e.g. River Cafe) or history of the place (e.g. One if by Land, Two if by Sea)
> we know the chef (the chef doesn't necessarily know us)

RW could be a hit and miss. Since 2002, the restaurants we've tried had us feeling good and happy about the food and the service (except at Inagiku last year). We've had...

the best time at Terrace in the Sky
the most romantic date at Josephs Citarella
the best steak at Smith & Wollensky and Delmonico's (Restaurant week aside, our personal faves are Uncle Jack's and Peter Luger)

We'll see if Morimoto will be in this special list after July 24.

And feel free to share your RW picks with me.

Note: Learn more about the NY Restaurant Week.