River, Woods, Grandma's House

I've talked about a certain Sean character on the blog several times--not nearly as often as I talk about Rachel, though. You guys should really know who she is by now ;-). Well, from now on, you will also be expected to know who Sean Christopher Hardy is!

Who he is, to be exact, is one of Josh's and my dearest friends and (as of today) Rachel's adorable boyfriend.

This past weekend, our family had the great post-Thanksgiving opportunity to have Sean over for dinner at my grandparents' property out in Canandaigua. I'm not just saying this in case Sean is reading, but we really had a blast with him there. At our worst, we mostly just eat, sit, and watch TV at Grandma's these days, but having a guest over made Rach and I want to go romping through the woods to give a glimpse into the world we knew when we were kids.

Down by the creek, we walked across the bridge my Grandpa built many years ago that has since then served as a dam and caused mounds of silt to pile up in what used to be a clear pool next to the bridge. It was flooded, so it was quite a miracle that none of us (ahem, me) fell in.

Perfect pic of her!

Next to the creek is an old hunting shack that was there even before my grandparents bought the property. We should have guessed that it was much too rotten to have any structural integrity whatsoever. Nevertheless, I demanded that Rachel crouch in the little cabin so that I could take a picture. When the floor collapsed and she landed on her bum, this is the gem I ended up with.

Dey be da cutest

 

Aw, now dat is cute

The woods were beautiful at sunset, and my companions didn't look too bad either, as you can see. Haha! That evening we also had the opportunity to take advantage of another blast from the past for Rachel and I--riding in Grandpa's 1922 Ford Model T.

It was magical.

I was in the front seat. They didn't leave without me.

 

We rounded off the evening with a cutthroat game of bocce (Team Seanchel . . . or Rasean . . . won by a hair) and watching The Amazing Race. Nobody else in my family follows the show, but Josh and I have bets on certain teams as per the tradition of the young adult group we watch with. We were really into it. In the end, Josh's team sadly got eliminated :-(. It's less sad when you realized that his team was made up of two almost-70-year-olds who gave everyone else a serious run for their money.

Anyway, my team (for Amazing Race, not bocce) is still in it! Woot. All in all, a fabulous day. I wouldn't have changed a thing--except the fact that my Grandpa didn't like my amaretto cheesecake. More on that later.