Crazy Ralph!!

I just love my husband. Does this make you think of anyone?

Golf Game

We met with Teresa and Jim at Nobleton Lakes for a friendly game of golf!! The weather was beautiful and the course was virtually empty. We took carts and played a round of 18 holes. The last hole was done in the dark (we resorted to best ball for this hole). We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Niagara Region Wine Tour

We went on a Wine Tour with our church on Saturday. The day started off with drizzling rain but cleared up when we got to our first winery. Penisula Ridge was the first stop that we made. We had a brief explanation of the wine creation process and had an opportunity to look at the Vines first hand. Then off to the good stuff "wine tasting". We had an opportunity to sample a white, blush and red. In my opinion and also shared by others, I wasn't too impressed with this wine. I found it very expensive and the taste a little flat. Each winery carries similar wines, but the taste is so different. It's driven by the soil, climate, ripeness of the berries etc. We were able to do a little shopping and then we headed off to Port Dalhousie where we enjoyed a nice lunch. Unfortunately the sky's opened up and it poured. Some of our group got soaking wet. The rain stopped long enough for us to have a walk along the pier though, which was nice.
We then went on to the Welland Canal and stopped to explore one of the locks. Unfortunately there was not shipthere at that time going through, however we did experience a delay later in the day as one went through while we were driving to the next winery. We waited about 10 minutes while the lock filled up and the ship was released to go on to its next destination. I think we were lucky as the lock was most likely almost full of water or we would have had to wait much longer.
The 2nd winery was much nicer. We enjoyed the wine and brought home a couple of bottles to enjoy. We finished off the day with a bbq dinner at the Lindhouts cottage on Lake Erie. It was very windy there and cool so we ate inside. The meal was delicious and it was a nice ending to a fun weekend.

Garden Joys

It's halfway through the summer and time to start thinning back the garden. Considering the heat and lack of water, I'm surprised at how well they have been doing. Granted, some of my newer plants (the front garden specifically) have not done well, the rest has done awesome.

I went to Reeves today and purchased some new Hydrangea's and other plants to dig into the side of the house. I need lots of fillers as I lost many plants during the renovations. It will be fun seeing how it looks next summer.

Ralph has made his plans for the deck. We're going to bring it right up to the pond on one side which means I'll loose a part of the garden. That's ok though, I'll transplant the flowers elsewhere. I think it's a great idea and I can't wait to see how it looks.

Laura and Jay's Link

For those of you who were not aware, you can access Laura and Jay's blog via our blog as well. Simply click on this Link Jason and Laura and it will take you to their site. It is also located on the left hand side of this blog if you scroll down aways...

Happy Birthday Dad!!

We all got together yesterday to celebrate Dad Helmus and Tante Martha's birthday. Thank you to Arlene and Doug for hosting the bbq for the family. It was really nice to be all together. The weather was beautiful and the children had an opportunity to enjoy the swimming pool. Ingrid shared the wonderful news about the upcoming arrival of a new Grandchild. Congratulations to Nathan and Robyn. That is fantastic news! We can't wait to greet the new arrival who is due in January. Our family is continueing to grow. Isn't that awesome.

Our vacation

We had a wonderful 2 weeks of vacation. Not one day of rain!! Can you believe it. It was actually too warm for me to work on my scrapbook. The weather was great. We spent alot of time on the water and enjoying ourselves. Our purpose was to relax and we certainly got a good rest. I worked on my gardens and Ralph helped Ed build an overhang for one of the other campers. Oakley spent time with us in the water and Laura and Jay, Jordan and Hailey and Brad came to visit us for the long weekend. It sure was great. We even went golfing twice. Ed and Christine joined us the 2nd time. It was a lot of fun.