Saturday, DH and I celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary!
I still have to scan in our wedding pictures, but this is one of me and my sister-in-law/maid of honour!
We spent a quiet day at home, then picked up dinner and wine to share with our good friends.
Sunday morning, we were on the road early, heading to our oldest son's home. We dropped off their Christmas gifts, grabbed their overnight bags and headed toward Niagara Falls. Our younger son and his wife met us at the hotel, and after checking in, we all piled in our van and headed out to explore the vineyards in the area. That part of southern Ontario is at the same lattitude as northern California, and is a huge wine producing area. We stopped at Jackson-Triggs Winery, and went on a guided tour of the vineyard, and the underground wine barrel storage area. We were given 3 generous wine tastings along the way, then used our hotel coupon for 3 more at the wine bar after the tour. Two of our family don't drink, but generously shared their wine with everyone. We made it back to the hotel in time to take the shuttle to dinner, where we laughed and talked for several hours. My two SDIL's were tired, so when we returned to the hotel, they enjoyed some good books while our two boys came to our room and played some fun card games with us.
It was difficult getting everyone up and going in the morning - DH and I are fairly early risers, so DH went for an early walk to the falls, while I sewed a few hexagons and watched the falls from the comfort of an armchair! We finally got everyone up, and went for breakfast (really brunch), returned to check out of the hotel, then headed out for another adventure. Monday we visited Iniskillin Winery, much older and larger than the first one. We went on a tour here as well, but had our wine bar tastings before the tour. The weather was warm and sunny, and we were able to watch a truckload of grapes being delivered, sorted and de-stemmed before heading to the juicing tanks. This winery has been a huge winner in the Ice Wine competitions for several years, and one of the samples after the tour was an ice wine made in 2011, that was aged in oak. I don't usually like sweet wines, but this one was wonderful, but a bit above our budget!
We said farewell to our son and daughter-in-law, and they headed in one direction, while we returned our other pair to their home. The traffic into Toronto was busy, but moving at normal speeds, and it was clear sailing all the way home.
This time of year is always a bit sad for us, as we don't usually see our family until spring, but his year, our younger son and wife will be spending 2 weeks with us in Florida!
Now I had better get back to checking lists and packing - my brother and his wife are visiting from China and will be staying with us for a day, so I have to be prepared early this year!
congrats! you have me beat by a couple years for anniversary - have fun in Florida
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