The Big Apple

After a full day flight routed through Cairo, we arrived in New York City. It felt good to safely set foot on Northern American soil. Even the chaos of Times Square and the Hershey and M & M store couldn't keep Elyssa's eyes open when we arrived.

New York has been the place that Elyssa has most looked forward to seeing this trip. Our first day was spent visiting some of her points of interest such as American Girl Store, lots of shopping ( to replace the clothes that we have worn out over the last 6 months) and seeing the Broadway performance of "Wicked". Easton our little Zoolander has also started a male modeling career, I just hope he can turn left...lol! (Zoolander joke).

The balance of the trip we did some more shopping, took a sightseeing tour of New York and also saw 2 other Broadway Performances of "Mary Poppins" and "Peter and the Starcatcher." With so little time and questionable weather, the boys were unable to fit in a Yankees game. Looks like we'll have to come back.
Elyssa was told quite some time ago that when she turns 10 years old, she could have her ears pierced. However, she happened to turn 10 when we were in Vietnam and the thought of a Vietnamese ear piercing/noodle house didn't seem like the most hygienic option. We all agreed that New York would be a safer alternative. At least this is what we thought... it turns out that all the side street piercing shops in Manhattan are a little sketchy with many doing tattoos/body piercing. Maybe the shops in Vietnam may not have been all that bad after all. After searching for several hours for an ideal place, our 10 year old now has her ears pierced and feels grown up.

Now that we're heading back home to reality, Jeff will be back to work and the gym and the kids and I will be heading to the lake for a well deserved vacation... lol! The last 6 months have truly flown by. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were boarding an early morning flight to Peru with feelings of anxiety and excitement. We have been so fortunate to not have had any serious sicknesses, injuries, travel issues or even bed bugs. Once we have had some time to absorb and reflect on this trip we will post a final blog of what we may have learnt about the world or ourselves.

Thanks so much for reading about our family's adventures. Bye for now.

To be continued?