The Walterizzos go to the Italian Festival

Walterizzo is our made-up Italian name. We feel sort of left out around Buffalo because so many of the people here are Italian and have awesome last names like Perello, Cirocco, and LaFratta so sometimes we like to call ourselves the Walterizzos. Anyway... last weekend was the big Italian Festival here in Buffalo so we most definitely had to check it out! We actually have a Little Italy section here in Buffalo and it's only a few miles from our house. It was a lovely evening, so we went to experience the Italian Festival.

Here is the entrance with all kinds of festival type rides and games.

Here is a shot inside the festival, and as you can see it was very packed!

Wes and a giant lemon.

We didn't realize how much food was going to be available! There were so many different little stands with all sorts of Italian foods, but we decided on Salvatore's for a couple of slices of pie (pizza pie, that is).

Since this was a new experience for us too, I thought I'd share some of the interesting sights one would see at the Buffalo Italian Festival:

I'm sorry Pinelli Foods, but we just thought the photo they chose for the huge banner was hysterical (click on the picture to see it enlarged).

The big bocce tournament. We just recently learned what bocce ball is and played it at our church picnic several weeks ago. Apparently it is really big up here.

The t-shirt booth with shirts like this for sale:

And a very interesting statue/money thing to raise money for a local Catholic church I suppose:

There were so many sweets to choose from, and I finally decided on a giant Italian pastry thing:

It was definitely a fun, delicious, and interesting experience. I believe the Walterizzos will be back next year!

Catching Up

Well, it's been a while since our last blog update. It's time to catch everyone up on what has been going on in the B.lo with the Walters! Here is a recap of the last couple of months:

Our small group has been going great. We still meet every week on Tuesday nights and discuss the scripture from the previous Sunday's message, pray together, and occasionally go out for a fun outing. Last month we had a grill out at a park by the river and had a great time.

I (Leslie) got to see New Kids On The Block in concert again! They came to Buffalo and a group of girls from church were going and invited me to come along (they knew I was a hard core fan). It was fun seeing them for the third time in my lifetime!

We've been busy, especially Wes, but he always makes time for some of this each day:

Our dear friends Brad and Allie came up to visit us the first of July! We were so excited to have our first friends visiting Buffalo and we got to show them some of the sights. We took them to the Lake Erie harbor to walk around:

And then of course to Niagara Falls! It was their first time seeing them and they really loved it. However, I just have a picture of Wes and me there. Oh well.

We also walked around our neighborhood, Elmwood Village, and they loved it so much. We went to dinner at an awesome downtown restaurant and they loved it there, too! We were glad they enjoyed their trip and hope they come back to see us soon!!

Earlier this week a group of people from Restoration Church participated in a 5K, including Wes. We had t-shirts made with our church logo and website on them, so maybe some folks found out about us through this event! Here is a shot of all the guys before the race:

And they're off! That's Wes with the white t-shirt and black pants.

And then following the run, what else would you want to do but stuff yourself with free hot dogs?!

Here is the entire Restoration Church group. They did awesome!!

Hope everyone is having a great summer!