Picking Grapes

Here are a bunch of pictures taken while picking grapes on Saturday. Best part is that all of the grapes are free for the taking since David is a student at the university and is in the oenology/ viticulture program. The vineyard is actually owned by Guelph university, but is used by Brock as well. It is a research vineyard, therefore it has aprox 1-3 vines each of hundreds of different varieties. The vines and grapes are needed for research, then left to just rot off the vine. You can always count on David to find freebies and great deals!

Getting ready to make wine, from start to finish


Sarah loves it when I swing her downwards while she's in the Baby Bjorn. Lots of open mouth smiles and giggles!



Our little helper

As I put out my hand to take the photo Sarah also puts out her hand to admire.

Concert in the Park

Yesterday evening David and I went to the free Philosopher Kings Concert in the park. Every year the city gets a big known band to come play for the closing of the Wine Festival here in Niagara. It was great to get out together and enjoy the evening.



Yesterday afternoon I also made some grape jelly. It turned out great! I also made a little juice and am trying to decide if I want to make lots of juice and can it. We'll see how ambitious I feel.

Sarah's First Parade

For the last two weeks, St. Catharines and the surrounding area have been celebrating the Niagara Wine Festival. Yesterday was the Grand Parade, which marks the closing of the festival. The parade was well over an hour long. I think the highlights wouldhave to include the several groups of shriners that drove little go kart style cars and the Star Wars group. Sarah just watched and soaked the whole thing in.

This was the Nin Jitsu Martial Arts group. David thought it was pretty funny that they only had one Asian person in the group.
Shriners

This float carried the "grape king"
More Shriners

Lots of Brock students
Recycling is BIG out here. The blue bin is for cans, bottles, etc. The gray bin is for newspaper, cardboard, etc and the green bin is for compost materials.
This is a grape picker. It reminded us of a raspberry picker, but even bigger.
Little Sarah is sleepy from a busy morning.

After the parade we headed to Montebello Park for the wine festival. Many of the wineries in the region had stands set up where you could pay tokens to taste wine and/ or food. There was also entertainment and lots to see. It was strange to be in a crowded large park to see everyone just drinking wine. After the festival we headed to a research vineyard where David has labs at to pick grapes. He just bought a grape crusher, press and filter and is planning on making wine in the next couple of days. I think I'll make some fresh grape jelly today as well.

When we got home from picking grapes our neighbours, Jerry and Kathy, invited us over for some pasta on the back patio. We ended up spending the whole evening at their place just sitting outside chatting. By the end of the evening all of the neighbours (both sides and behind the back fence) were also over. It was nice to meet the rest of our neighbours and spend some time getting to know them. At 7pm I took Sarah home to feed her and put her to bed. Since her room and is so close to their house, I was able to just bring the baby monitor next door and not have to worry about her in the house. It's been interesting to see how people out here seem to embrace the idea of community much more than where we are from. Last Saturday we spent the evening with our landlords and their neighbours. Everyone just brings some food to share, all the kids play together and the adults just hang out.

This afternoon David has to go to the festival to pour wine and help out at one of the wine seminars (which he did last Sunday as well). Our neighbour Kathy has offered to come over and babysit, so David and I are going back to the park for a fee Philospher Kings concert. Should be a good day.

When we got home last night David and I talked about the idea of community and the clear differences out here. We are also seeing that God has put a lot (nearly all) non Christian people in our lives so far. Many are catholic background, but all have no personal relationship with Christ. We are realizing that God has put our mission field literally right on our backyard. We are curious and excited for the ways that he will use us in the lives of those around us. Please pray for us as we seek to be a light and show God's love to our neighbours and those we meet

First taste of Pablum

Today we fed Sarah pablum for the first time. I'm not sure what most babies do when they experience "solids' for the first time, but Sarah seemed to be pretty into it. She was all over that spoon, even trying to shove the bowl right into her mouth. It was funny to watch the food go in, then slowly run out of her mouth. She ended up eating it all, only leaving a wet bib. All in all, we thought she did pretty good. We'll keep trying each day this week and see how much better she gets at it.

Teeth and a TV

Today Sarah got her second tooth, now she has her front two bottom teeth. Her first tooth came in last week. We're pleased that she has done really well, so far so good with teething, yahoo!

This photo was a little difficult to take for obvious reasons. It's not the best, but it gives you the idea. Even though we are far away, we want you to know that you are still a part of our lives and want you to feel like you know what's going on in our life out here. Hence the funny teeth photo. I think it's also funny how she can look so cross eyed when she's looking at the camera flash.

Here's a pic of our new TV in the basement rec room. Sarah looks tiny in comparison, she's quite mesmorized by the TV. This was also where Sarah liked to play while I was painting the basement.

Our House

Here it is!

Our House in Thorold

Welcome to our cozy little brick house!

The room under the front patio is actually a cellar/ wokshop and can be accessed from the basement rec room. We're happy to have a garage, especially for winter!


The front view. Compared to most of the other houses in our community, ours is pretty sad. St. Catharines is called the "garden city" and there's no question why. People out here really like to garden and have cute little flower beds at the front of their houses. Perhaps next year ours will look a little better. And if not, oh well.
Notice our pink window trim and the mint green blinds, that's our room!

I'll try to post up the interior pictures later this week.

Around Thorold...

So here we are in our new little town... Thorold. I thought I would post some pics of some of the "places of interest in our town. Thorold has a population of 18 000 and is mainly Italian and Catholic. Ontario has public and catholic school boards. Thorold has 1 public elementary school, 1 high school and 2 catholic elementary schools. Thorold's claim to fame is that they are the most patriotic city. So many of the houses have Canadian flags out front. The residents can also register their flag on the city website to be included in the count.

Thorold also has a Tim Hortons and a Pizza Pizza (like Little Cesars, but a little better, it's the main pizza chain in Ontario). There are Tim Hortons everywhere out here, we only have 2 Starbucks in St. Catharines and one is inside Chapters. Yes, we have a Chapters!
St. Catharines is the main city where we do the majority of our shopping, etc. Interestingly, it's just 3 minutes down the hill.

Photo Disclaimer: These are not the most exciting, cute or even interesting pictures. Just thought I would give you an idea of the places that we see on our daily walks.

The medical clinic is just 5 doors down, literally. This is where we have our family doctor, nice and close, especially for those cold winter days.

Foodland, pretty much an IGA (same brands). Ontario has a ton of different kinds of grocery stores. It seems that 2 or 3 share the same house brand, ie Our Compliments, Presidents Choice, No Name, etc. I've already enjoyed having a grocery store just am 8 minute walk away, so handy!

We even have our own little thrift store, it's pretty tiny.

And my own dollar store, wrong spelling though. There are a lot of dollar stores out here. Thorold alone has two.

My new favourite Italian deli! Fresh meatballs and sauce made daily, not to mention homemade pastas and lots of different meats and cheeses. So many of the stores out here are in old houses, this made it hard to spot the stores at first. I discovered the deli when out for a walk one day.

We're not sure how Greg's TV stays in business, since technology is cheaper to buy new than repair these days. Oh well, the community is mostly retired people, perhaps thy haven't figured that one out yet. On the left hand side of the building is "Big Scoop" Ice-cream and pie shop. They actually sell really good ice-cream and treats, and just 5minutes away from home.

Sarah and Keisha like to Play

It's been interesting seeing how Keisha and Sarah are becoming more curious about each other. Several times throughout the day Keisha will pounce towards Sarah, acting like she's ready to play. Sarah will also try to reach out and touch Keish when she comes close enough. The fight for the toys has also begun. Several times this week I have watched as Sarah has rolled and inched her way across the room to get at Keisha's stuffed rabbit. In the same way, I keep having to take Sarah's white Abby bunny away from Keisha. I've got a really cute picture of the two of them each chewing on their own bunny. For some reason I'm not able to upload that photo. The two are on the way to becoming good little buddies.

I was able to get this video clip towards the end of one of their little play sessions. It's not that exciting, just gives you an idea of what I mean.

You never know what you'll come home with...

It's amazing how having a cute baby and a cute little dog draw people to you. It seems that whenever I take the little crew for a walk people are stopping to say hello, wanting to hold Sarah's hand and are talking to Keisha. It can be a bit much sometimes, but I appreciate peoples friendliness overall.

The other day I was taking Keisha for her morning pee walk when the neighbour across the road gave me a bag of plums to take home. Today while Sarah and I were on our walk, our neighbour to the right gave us the tomato sauce, zucchinni, tomatoes, basil and pepper. The other week our neighbour behind our house gave us more veggies. Yum yum, we are certainly enjoying the fresh goodies from everyones little gardens. At the moment our little "garden" is a full out weed patch, perhaps next year we will join the gardening crowd.


On another note, I met my new orthodontist today and was pleased that he was really nice and I felt totally comfortable in his office. He said that my teeth were coming along very well and told me that I should have my braces off in about 6 months, 9 months at the latest. Since he works with the same exact system of braces they can just pick up where my other orthodontist left off, yahoo! Such wonderful news for me, that means that at the latest my braces will be off by the end of May. I'm so glad that I went through with this all, before I know it I will have straight teeth and no braces. I figured that time goes by anyways, whether I got them on or not, so may as well get the braces and be done with the whole thing. Now I have something to look forward to in spring.

Sarah giggling with daddy

I don't know who is more amusing here, David or Sarah. I think I may have to go for David. I love how kids give us adults an exuse to be silly and goofy, they just love it! We are so enjoying Sarah's smiles and giggles, she's just so fun!

Sunday

Yesterday felt like our first busy day here -with people!

We checked out Scott Street MB church in the morning. I don't think I have ever been at a church where I felt so welcomed, especially with not knowing anyone (reminded us a lot of Bakerview). So many people were introducing themselves and greeting us, including pastors and staff members. There happened to be a luncheon after the service that we were invited to stay for as well. It was nice to chat with other people in our age range and find out more about the church. We've decided to check out a couple more churches before we settle anywhere. While the people were friendly and wonderful the church was a little old school. We were so glad to have such a positive experienec though.

At 3:00 Sarah and I went to a Pampered Chef party put on by my second cousins Christy and Bonnie. I didn't buy anything but it was nice to meet some new people and get to know Christy and her family. Her and her husband have the most adorable three children (5, 3 and almost 2)! I think my heart may have melted a little when Kaleb (3) called me auntie Shari and kept wanting to sit beside me and hold my hands. Then it made me miss home too. Especially knowing that I haven't even met little Chole yet.

I also met Christy's parents, John and Elaine, which are my dads cousins. Anyways, I am convinced my family are some of the nicest people and feel so blessed to be able to get to know the ones out here. I also can't believe how much the men look alike. John looks so much like his brothers and really reminded me of my dad. It's amazing how being with family can put ones heart at ease and give oneself a feeling of home again.

At 6 the men arrived, including David, and Jeff and Bonnie's two daughters. We all had pizza together for dinner and spent the evening just chatting. Sarah is so good! I can just put her down wherever we are and she goes to sleep. We got home at around 9, watched a couple of TV episodes and then headed for bed. And now another week begins.

Wine please

Tonight we went on a tour of Jackson Triggs Estate Winery in Niagara on the Lake. David is doing a project for school and needed to take photos of the vineyards, cellars and various equipment. At the end of the tour was a tasting. Sarah just wouldn't let me take a sip of my wine. Every time I brought the wine glass near my mouth she was reaching out to grab it, David and I had a good chuckle over this.

5 Months

As of yesterday, Sarah is now 5 months old! Here she is getting ready to put her feet in her mouth once again. Changing her diaper isn't as easy anymore with her sucking her feet and rolling onto her tummy the first chance that she gets. Our little munchkin, sucking her bottom lip.

I call this the seal position, laying on her tummy and rocking back and forth.She loves spending time laying on the floor looking around.

I can't believe that we've been here for a whole month already. Yesterday was the first day where the air felt a little different and I could tell that fall is on its way.