I had planned to attend ASRS in NYC as an opportunity to visit family and friends. But with my parents stuck in Davis and Melody attending a conference in Florida, it became a mission to keep Westley alive as I planned our father-son itinerary in the Big Apple. We secured an Uber car-seat from JFK after our red-eye and quickly unpacked at my parents’ home before heading out. Westley was not a fan of my everything bagel, but enjoyed our subway ride to Dumbo to visit Brooklyn Bridge Park. Here, we watched locals work out, swing, roller skate, and play handball and pickleball along the Manhattan skyline on Pier 2. I politely declined Westley’s request to assassinate me at the playground, and instead shared a burger, fries, and Oreo shake at Shake Shack to escape the heat. From there, we walked past a dead rat to cross Brooklyn Bridge, stopping for photos and a Brooklyn hat before passing City Hall to reach the Oculus station and 9/11 Memorial. My first visit to Ground Zero since the tragedy 21 years ago felt especially poignant having spent many high school days there, and watching videos with Westley at the 9/11 Tribute Museum was unexpectedly emotional for me. We hydrated with boba tea and street vendor mangos to burn if back off at the Battery Playscape and SeaGlass Carousel on the way to the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. Our exhausting first day ended with dinner with my cousin Minh’s family. I awoke Wednesday to share my childhood toys and crafts with Westley, then headed to the OIS meeting while Westley got drawing lessons and new bakugans from Minh and my nephews. I picked him up for a slice at Korner Pizza and cone at Carvel on the way to our hotel, where a detour through Rockefeller Center and FAO Schwartz ended with an indoor booma and E.A.K. ramen for dinner. I stayed up late to practice my talk, and walked with Westley to Javits Center next morning to upload it, but got kicked out of breakfast due to a sketchy building policy prohibiting children. We instead explored fighter jets, space shuttle, and submarine at the Intrepid, shared pizza at Gotham West Market, then returned to Javits in stealth mode for my talk, as my friend Parisa watched Westley fashion wikkistix. We were relieved to return to the hotel, where Westley completed his Daiso 3D frontloader before returning to Times Square for visits to the Disney store and FDNY Fire Zone, udon at Tsuro Ton Tan, and macarons at Mia’s Brooklyn Bakery. Melody finally joined us Friday morning to enjoy Krispy Kreme donuts and NYC views atop the Empire State Building that reminded us of Curious George’s adventures. Lunch at Carmine’s with Eric and Sumit was heavy and exhausting, but BT21 paraphernalia at Line Friends helped energize Melody and Westley for our afternoon at Central Park Zoo. Unfortunately, animal feeding was over at the Children’s Zoo and the RC sail boats were absent at Conservatory Water, but we recovered over dinner with Nancy and Meenakashi, whose Central Park West sunset view overlooking Lincoln Center’s summer dance made for a relaxing end to the long day. On Saturday, we embarked on a Flushing food tour with New Flushing Bakery’s egg tarts, Joe’s steam rice roll with curry fish balls, White Bear’s chili oil wontons, Chongqing noodles at New World Mall, and lian pi from Xi’an Famous Foods, but were disappointed by the closure of Sibling’s potato noodles and Golden Shopping Mall. A potty break interrupted our subway ride to the American Museum of Natural History, but we made the next showing at the Hayden Planetarium before hanging with Jing’s family at the dinosaur exhibits and Ed’s family for dinner and dessert. After a final ad board Sunday morning, we headed to K-town for BCD Tofu House and H-mart kimbap for our return flight. The National Museum of Mathematics offered fun, interactive exhibits of patterns and puzzles which kept us busy up to retrieving our luggage for the flight home. We would’ve appreciated a break before returning to work, but it was fun tracing landmarks from the New York City song lyrics with Westley as he navigated crowds, smells, and subway in my hometown.