50/50 sphagnum peat/perlite or silica sand. You can also use LFS (long fiber sphagnum) by itself but IMO the roots will intertwine in it and make it harder to separate them if you ever do a complete media change which is recommended every 2-3 years due to mineral buildup. Yes you're going to have to use distilled or RO water if you don't save rain water. I now save water via a 55 gallon drum. It is possible to distill your tap water but hardly worth it. It will cost more in gas/electricity than just buying the water.

The only difficult thing about Times Square is the sheer volume of people. It can be a challenge getting a group of five people down a city block all at the same time, lol. Unless your focus is theater going I wouldn't necessarily stay right in Times Square unless you really want that experience. (You can google Times Square cam and see a lot of street scenes online. ) If you're after a more genteel city stay with cleaner streets and leafy trees along the sidewalks, with close proximity to museums, you will want a location much farther up. With five people you may have trouble with taxis--- some will not take that many and you will have to take public transportation or two cabs. So it becomes even more important to stay near your places of interest. One thing I would urge you to do is visit the Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan. The former is packed with kids, and the latter has great workshops for kids if you're interested in that. The Museum of the City of New York also has great family programs you can register for online. There are wonderful playgrounds in Central Park and I highly recommend spending time there. Not a fan of zoos but there is one in CP, along with the carousel. One suggestion for a quieter stay, if that's what you want, is the Battery Park area near the SouthStreet Seaport. This is much quieter--- some might say dead, lol, at night---but gives you a good location for the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Staten Island Ferry, Circle Line tours around Manhattan, pretty easy access to Brooklyn via water taxi, Chinatown, the 9/11 Memorial, Fulton Market, etc. The Fraunces Tavern is also in the financial district and is an often overlooked "attraction." There is a small museum of revolutionary war art and artifacts, and the tavern is still a working restaurant. You will be taking public transportation everywhere else, but that is pretty straightforward. Rates are best on weekends as hotels in this district cater to business people during the week. Its a lot to consider --- and all depends on what you really want to see. In June you should be able to get a good deal on hotel rates. With a family of five my personal priority would be on room size and location. Booking directly with the hotel usually nets the best rates and avoids any third party booking site "misunderstandings." Finally, when you call a hotel don't forget to ask of there is road or building constriction on either side of their block. That can make or break a hotel stay. Good luck!

When we had to move to Atlanta for Dh to go to school he drove the huge moving truck with my car towed behind. He loaded the cat, german shephard and our goldfish. He got about 2miles down the road when he decided to return home. He handed me the cat, in her carrier, and told me there was no way she was going with him. He stopped to potty the dog, and himself, and get gas/food. The goldfish did not survive the Tehachapi mountains in so cal and is buried somewhere in the Mojavi desert. I flew with my 4mo baby in her carseat and the cat in carrier under seat. That was horrible because I had a carryon, baby in carseat and cat in carrier. I had to walk 20' at a time in the terminal carrying the bag and baby while shuffling the cat carrier on the floor. People just sat and watched me, no one offered to even open a door for me. It was a nightmare. Upon returning to CA 2.5yrs later my dh again drove the huge truck with our dog but this time he towed his truck on the flatbed. I drove my car with my cat in carrier and my 2.5yr old in carseat. We got her some fries and she kept poking them into the cat carrier because she thought the cat would eat them. We stopped in Shamrock Texas for the night and managed to sneak the pets in the motel with us. We got separated somewhere in Barstow and it was late and foggy when we got to Fresno. I decided to stop at a motel because it was something like 2am. Dh continued to our home in No Cal. He can drive and drive. I would not recommend doing a cross country trip in two days with three kids but I managed with a 2.5 and a cat just fine. But I think you could have a good time with your kids as long as they had activities and breaks. A stop at a fastfood with a play area is always good. They can play while you order the food. Also, with the older kids you can pick landmarks for them to keep track of where you are on the trip. On one of our trips to Utah my 11yr old dd was really getting on my nerves so I had her count the various flowers we passed. That kept her occupied for many miles. When my dd was 15mo we drove from Atlanta to Florida. She decided that was the time to be potty trained. We tried to put a diaper on her for in the carseat and she would not have it. At one point she started saying "poo poo" but the next rest stop was about 25miles. She held it to our amazement. But it did make things stressful for a bit. Any trip can be fun but always plan for disaster.

hi nancy. the 12" pullout is my regular trash. i wanted/needed a large trash can (family of 5). no off the shelf ones that would fit the space were big enough so i made my own out of 1/4 in luan and covered it with old wallpaper. the vertical tray thing was from my previous 50s built, custom built kitchen. i just carefully removed it from the old cab and screwed it into our new one. doesnt look all that coordinated but it was my #1 must have in the new kitchen. and the feet are standard wood feet from home depot, painted with the color matched. because we plan to have electrical run through the island (electrician ran the wires and they are ready to go in the basement) and because the marble is so heavy, we built a wood box out of 2x4 and faced it with leftover plank flooring. the box sits in about 7"???? (not at home so i cant measure). the feet are essentially just decorative diane ps i love answering ques about my kitchen!!! thanks!