Joe's Place is a great pizza and pasta place for those days when school and extra-curricular activities run right into dinner. Nothing fancy, no frills, just good, honest pizza you can eat when you're wearing cleats, a tutu, or a scout uniform.

They have a full menu of pizza pies (not by the slice) and pastas, plus a kids menu that covers all of the typical bases. Our favorite time to visit, though, is when they offer the pizza buffet. Salad bar with just enough toppings and dressings and homemade soup are a healthier start to the meal, then dive into the hot bar with several fresh pizzas, meatballs, ziti in a red sauce, chicken, and -- my personal favorite -- doughy garlic breadsticks. Kids do pay a smaller price for the buffet, of course.

Hold on to your hat when they bring the drinks. Kids get drinks in a cup with a lid (no surprises there), grown-ups get a small pitcher (no exaggeration).

Bertucci's is one of those places my family goes when we don't feel like going to the same old places we hit. It's a family friendly restaurant with ambiance and menu that feels like one of those places you could go without the kids.

Bertucci's authentic Italian fare offers dishes that range from light and seasonal to creamy and comforting. They have a good selection of salads, individually-sized portions of pasta, and brick-oven pizza. The kids menu covers the same ground as the grown-up menu with portions and options targeted to make kids happy. The kids like watching the pizzas being prepared in the open kitchen and cooking in the brick oven.

My one reservation on the kids menu may be all in my imagination: I'd swear the pizza crust and sauce are sweeter than the grown-up versions. If you have kids that are sensitive to sugar, it's worth a taste test or a question to the staff.

In addition to the typical crayons and activity book of most chain restaurants, kids get a piece of non-edible pizza dough to play and shape while they wait. Our local Bertucci's usually offers to bake any creation for the kids to take home, but our kids just enjoy playing.

McLean Pizza is a good, ol' fashioned mom-n-pop pizza and subs joint.

There are no gimmicks, no toys or crayons, nothing flashy. What you do get here is some of the best pizza in the greater DC area, friendly staff who take good care of you, and prices that won't break the bank.

We stumbled into this neighborhood place when we first moved into the area, and we've been back about once a week ever since. It's that good. The owner/ operators know lots of their clientele by name and can remember your usual order after just a few visits. But if you're a first-timer, they'll still make sure your food gets to you fast, just like you ordered, and in an atmosphere that'll make you feel like a regular right away.

The pizza dough is made fresh twice a day, and you can taste it in the pizza. There are a few salads on the menu for those looking for healthier options, but mostly you're going to find comfort food: pizza, hot and cold subs, and pasta.

Jason's Deli is a favorite hit for our family any day of the week.

There are several locations in the area and in other states (see their website), but we most often visit the Tyson's Corner location in Falls Church, VA. It's bustling with business folks at lunchtime, quieter during evening hours. It's family friendly at any hour, though.

Here's how it works: Line up, grab a menu, and order at the register. They give you a plastic number card to take and display at the table of your choice. Just a short while later, they bring the food. While you wait, enjoy complementary crackers, garlic toast, and mini muffins (corn or gingerbread).

GREAT kids menu with lots of healthy-but-delicious choices at very reasonable prices. Even my incredibly picky eaters can find what they like. The grown-up menu is extensive and offers choices from healthy to decadent.

Jason's uses fresh, local, and organic ingredients whenever possible, which means that the taste is great and the food is healthy. Lots of sandwiches, both cold and hot. Several prepared salads and a really fresh salad bar. Lots of soups, some stuffed baked potatoes (my tip: order the smaller portion...it's a full potato. The regular size is two!), and even some pasta options. And at the end: free soft serve ice cream.

Jason's is a place we can take anyone. The food is yummy and healthy. Portions are generous. Prices are more than reasonable. They're happy to customize to suit your tastes, and you can even get smaller portions of most menu items for those with smaller appetites. On top of that, the staff is friendly and go out of their way to make your experience great. My son once changed his mind after ordering and they swapped his food for what he wanted without charge and with a smile.

There's no wonder this place gets all kinds of accolades. Well worth checking out!

This place has marketing and packaging down to a science. My in-laws wanted to take the kids on a weekend trip and heard good things about Sesame Place. The website is well done and they make it easy (but not cheap) to book tickets to the park and hotel at one time, plus add on extras like meals with the Sesame Street characters. Everything comes at a hefty price.

While the map shows that about half of the park is dry and half is wet, it does not clearly say that it's difficult to do a dry-only day at the park. True, there are shows and dry rides, but once there, it feels like the water attractions dominate the park. No entrance without swim gear, so don't think you can just get wet in the clothes you're wearing, either.

My 2 and 4 year old did enjoy the shows we saw and the dry rides, but the amount of fun didn't seem to add up to the prices we paid for parking, admission, and food. Due to a few days of cold rain, we didn't make it into the wet end of things.

The park gets really poor marks for cleanliness and amenities. Folks, it's a theme park based on Sesame Street: why didn't anyone on the design team think to install kid-sized toilets and sinks in the restrooms? And both days that we were there, the smell in the bathrooms and trash on the floor were horrendous! I saw more than one little kid gagging from the smell. Even though we were there at off-peak times, finding a table in the cafeterias was nearly impossible, and the tables and floor weren't clean when we did. Poor ventilation made the room hot and stuffy, even on a mild day. And I'm surprised that the crowded tables in the cafes and seating in the shows met local codes for disability access. Yuck!

Similarly, both shows we attended were piped through loudspeakers that were set WAY too high for little ears. Half of the kids present were covering their ears or crying from the volume.

Like most amusement parks, the rides were run by teens. They were effective, but minimally, and not terribly friendly. Even if it's late in the season, the park should expect more from their employees.

My kids love Sesame Street, but after this trip, they asked (on their own) to go back to StoryLand in New Hampshire for our next vacation instead. Looks like we won't be back. Too loud, too crowded, too dirty, and just not kid friendly.

A final note: the creators of Sesame Street designed the show to bring literacy to disadvantaged kids, and they give careful thought to the developmental appropriateness of everything in the show. I'm sure they'd be horrified to see that this park caters to the wealthy, ignores the basic needs of children, and does nothing to foster literacy or love of reading. Sad.