Adventures of the New York Variety #3 and #4

Yay for more New York Adventures!  This past week provided two more opportunities to explore the area and have some fun.

 

Past New York Adventures (In case you missed these posts)

Going to the Buffalo Italian Heritage Festival with the Mongielo Family

Trip to Niagara Falls with my sister and her fiance (I guess I never wrote about that…. hmm.)

Shakespeare in the Park with Darcy and Touring Niagara County with my friend, Mark

 

Adventure #3  – Elmwood Arts Festival

I’m pretty sure Buffalo, NY has more festivals than any other place I’ve been.  My personal philosophy is that we’re snowed in all winter that we have to take every excuse they can get in the summer to be outside.  Seriously, I think there’s been SOME kind of festival every weekend I’ve been here (though I’ve only gone to two) and many weekends there are multiple festivals going on at the same time.

 

Anyway, on Sunday, my friend Tracy invited me to the Elmwood Arts Festival.  It was a beautiful day and fun to walk around and see all the art, hear the music, watch the parade, etc. before heading back to her friend’s house nearby for dinner. Here are some pictures:

 

Vendors with all of their homemade art and crafts

 

 

Music and Dance taking place on a stage at one end of the festival.

 

All wrapped up with a giant parade with the kids waving and wearing the crafts they made!

 

 

 

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Adventure #4 ~ Waterbiking on the Erie Canal

I’m constantly amazed at how our God provides.  Just as I was maybe starting to get a little lonely here in New York, God has provided opportunities to get out and hang out with other people.  One of those moments was when the Canfield family randomly called up Monday afternoon and asked if I wanted to come over for dinner that night. It was a delicious meal and was nice to share with such a wonderful family.

 

The fun continued after dinner when we went down to the Erie canal to ride waterbikes.  When they told me about them, I was thinking more like a paddleboat, but think more: stationary bike meets pontoon boat.  Well I guess you can just see for yourself:

 

Kristina joined up with us too (though sadly couldn’t do the paddleboats because of her knee).  BUT we had a wonderful time wrapping up the night down by the river (I believe it was the Niagara River) eating ice cream and sharing my pictures/stories from Uganda.

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Thanks God for wonderful people, wonderful adventures, and for being a wonderful God! 🙂