Letchworth State Park

This past weekend we decided to get out of Rochester and go for a good hike. Amit wasn't on call, so we had some freedom to go explore! After considering the Finger Lakes, we decided we wanted real hiking, so we headed back to Letchworth, one of our sites from Easter weekend. We chose to hike one of the trails that runs right along the gorge, which made for some great photos!

A great day for hiking!

We loved the scenic overlooks!

 Hmmm... I wonder what's down there?

The gorge is amazing.

So we actually did all that hiking along the gorge to find a way to get down to the water. Well... we were a little high up, but as we were leaving, Amit decided to try one last little parking area and see if that would work. Guess what? It did! After a very short walk, we found water!

What a beautiful little place to wade!

Run for the shore!!!

Emma is still a little iffy about the water, 

but she seemed to have fun!

She was scared of the rapids,

but wanted to check them out anyway.

She had to stick her head under the water, too.

Doesn't she look so happy??

We love this girl!

 Emma hasn't spent much time in the car lately -

I think she misses how close to us she can get.

You might wonder, how do we refuel after hiking?

It's not entirely primal, but oh, it is so worth it!

Chocolate frozen custard with chocolate sprinkles.

Emma shared in our frozen treat by licking the air.

Yum!

It was great to get out in nature, just the three of us. It's a great chance for us to talk and spend some quality time together. I will definitely miss these hikes when I'm back in Boston. We're already making hiking plans for Labor Day weekend and might even throw in a fun trip this weekend. Looks like my semester of student teaching in Massachusetts is a great excuse to get our fill of local adventures!

Our DIY'ed Craft Table

We just got our latest issue of Family Handyman, one of the highlights of our month. Inside, they had an article about a shop table that looked rather easy. Amit showed me the plans (one of the rare times he's seen the magazine before I have) and I knew exactly what to do! We have a big, finished basement, that we've designated our workout/craft room. (It will be a great way to avoid having craft projects sitting on our kitchen table.) While we have the space, I don't have a table down there yet, so we knew this would work!

We used this workbench as our inspiration, skipping the drawer and bottom shelf since I wanted to be able to sit at the table. After sketching out our FH-inspired plans, we set out to pick up our supplies and get started!

Our supplies:

Then I painted and painted...
(Right next to Summer Project #2,
post to come soon!)

After making the legs out of 2x4s 

and adding trim to the table top, 
we were almost done!

(Oops... Looks like you're getting even more of a sneak peak of project #2)

Caution, wet paint!
(Which managed to get all over me and in my hair.)

In the basement and ready for some crafting!

I'm so proud of our table! It looks great and I can't wait to make some projects on it. We're planning on making a second table, so that they can go side-by-side to make a long counter top or back-to-back to create a larger work surface. We'll make sure to post pictures when the second one is complete, but I'm already planning some other painting projects around the house, so who knows which one will be complete first... 

Fun on Seneca Lake

We've lived in Rochester for over a month now and still hadn't managed to get down to the lakes and tour the wineries. Mom and Ron's visit last weekend was the perfect excuse to go! We live about an hour from Seneca Lake, so it is the perfect destination for a Saturday road trip!

Our first stop was Three Brothers Winery and Microbrewery. This was definitely our favorite stop of the day. We had fun touring all three wineries on the grounds. The microbrewery didn't only have beer, they had some amazing root beer too!

What a great view!

 We picked the perfect day to drink some wine!

On our way to one of the wineries!

Our next stop was Finger Lakes Distilling. Amit was really excited to try their varieties of whiskey, gin, and vodka. We brought home a bottle of rye whiskey that he really liked.

Another great view.

The distillery.

Ready for our next stop!!

On the road...
Loving the view!

After our stop at Fox Run for lunch, we headed to Belhurst to enjoy some wine on the lake.

What a view!

After our long day of wine tasting!

We had a great weekend showing off our new home and can't wait to explore the rest of the Finger Lakes. Oh, and drink our new bottles of Seneca Lake wines! 

Rochester Eats

We've manged to find some fantastic places to eat in Rochester, so we were so excited to have someone to share them with! Ron and Mom's visit was the perfect excuse to go to our favorite restaurants. Some of the meals were even primal!

We live right down the street from The Beale and on Friday nights they have a fantastic fish fry. Ron is known for loving a good fish fry, so we took them to the other location downtown for dinner.

We ordered the fried pickles and 

mud bugs (crawfish tails) for an appetizer.

They were great!

Our fish!

(And Amit's pulled pork)

On Saturday, during our tour of some Seneca Lake wineries, we stopped by the Garlic Fest at Fox Run Vineyards.

Garlic Italian Sausage and Garlic Fries.

It was delicious!

If that didn't make us full enough, we dragged Mom and Ron to our favorite Rochester restaurant - Dinosaur BBQ! 

My Big A** Pork Plate!

A delicious dessert - 

Raspberry and Sweet Potato Pecan Pie!

  

We headed to the Erie Canal for lunch after church on Sunday. We had great view of the canal and some excellent Greek food! It was a great end to our weekend!

The perfect Sunday lunch!

All this writing about food is making me hungry again. Guess we need someone else to visit us!

Quick NY Update

It feels like it has been forever since I posted an update... Oh wait, it has! Almost a month. Sorry! My summer semester is officially over, except for the one last paper I need to write. Since I don't feel like writing a big, long, reflective paper right now, I figured I would blog real quick.

We're really enjoying Rochester! Amit is keeping very busy with work and is still learning lots of new stuff. I'm keeping busy with school, but I'm so ready to have the next few weeks off before I start my student teaching.

Here are a few photos that we've taken over the last couple of weeks...

Emma has definitely made herself comfortable in the new place.

"Uh, Mom... Did you know there are squirrels outside??"

Besides that, not much has been happening with us. I have a feeling pictures of teeth and my laptop would not be fun. Thank goodness we had plenty of fun last weekend to blog about! Time to type my paper... then write about our adventures in the Finger Lakes!