Hard to say goodbye...

Today was our last day in New York. After packing and cleaning this morning, we headed to our favorite waffle truck for our final breakfast.

 Then we headed back out to Queens to meet 29 of Joe's extended family members! His cousin Tommy got everyone tickets to go see the Golden Dragon Acrobats.

 The show was fantastic. It is really unbelievable what these men and women can do with their bodies. Wish I'd been allowed to take pictures. We did at least get a picture of all of the cousins! It was so much fun getting to meet and hang out with all of these people. I wish we had been able to spend more time together.

The Queens Theatre is located in the area with the beautiful Unisphere...

and CitiField, where the Mets play....

We took the shuttle and subway back to Manhattan for one last stop at Laduree. Out of all of the macarons she's tasted, these are her favorite! We had to pick up a few for her, and a few for her to take back to Miss Nicole.

 Cooper and Joe picked up their last pieces of New York pizza.

 The boys wanted Mr. Softie for dessert. Joe grew up having these milkshakes, so it brought back some great memories.

 Zoe and I decided to share the waffle sandwich with speckuloos ice cream. It is truly one of the best desserts I've ever had!

We wanted one last picture together. We have had such an incredible adventure! Unfortunately, just before this picture was taken, I was leaning into Zoe, and my chair tipped over from the uneven bricks underneath. I took quite a fall, and poor Zoe got stuck under me! We were laughing, but boy did it hurt.

We put the last of our things in our suitcases, got in our shuttle van, and said our goodbyes to our temporary home and neighborhood.

This was our local subway stop...

 and the Starbucks on the corner...

 Heading over the bridge, with our last view of the city skyline...

 and the sunset before arriving at JFK.

 Our late night red-eye flight ended up being delayed a couple of hours. We were all exhausted and everyone a bit irritable with having to wait almost 5 hours in the airport. We were so happy to finally get on the plane.

 Our last view of the city lights below...

 Being in New York for the summer was such an incredible experience. I feel so blessed that we were able to go and that Zoe was able to have such a wonderful opportunity for dance. We explored so many places, met some amazing people from all over the world, ate our way through the city, and laughed a lot. It was bittersweet to say goodbye, but we couldn't wait to be home with our dogs again, and catch up with our friends!