Well, actually it's been 14 - but who's counting.  N and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary in the Niagara area.  I love Niagara-on-the-Lake and that is where I wanted to stay but alas there were much sweeter deals to be had in Niagara Falls so we opted to stay in Ontario's "mini Vegas" and enjoy the relatively close proximity (10 minute drive) to the peace and serenity that can be found having a picnic while staring at beautiful vineyards.

We got a beautiful "falls view" studio suite at the Niagara Hilton.  While it was a beautiful room with great views of the falls, our stay was not without it's share of problems.  First, our room was supposed to be non-smoking, but there was a faint smoke odour and there were ashtrays in our room.  When I called the front desk, they claimed that this was because people like to burn incense in their rooms.  I laughed because cigarette smoke and incense hardly smell the same.  They did offer to come deodorize the room but I was annoyed that they had lied - there is no way our room was non-smoking.

We dined at Brasa, a Brazilian Steakhouse in the Hilton.  It was an all-you-can-eat steakhouse with a large salad bar and where "Gauchos" walked the floor with spits of different cuts of meat.  You waved a disc at them if you wanted them to come to the table and then they'd carve the meat right at your table.  It was very very good and very very expensive (though everything about Niagara Falls is over-priced).  We got up to fill our plates at the salad bar and when we returned to our seats (which had been a wonderful, cozy spot by a window with a nice view), they had seated new people at our table.  We were then re-seated but we didn't get as nice a spot the second time round.  However, the staff were very professional; they apologized profusely many times and we did get a free dessert for the inconvenience.  Even with the little bumps, N and I agreed that we would return to Brasa. 

We had a delicious wine with dinner.  It was called, "Red Moose,"  a 2007 Zweigelt from Konzelmann's Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  Konzelmann's is our favourite Niagara winery and this wine is fantastic.  We stopped there on our way home and picked up a few bottles.  If you are lucky enough to see this one at your liquor store you should give it a try.  We loved it.

After dinner, we wandered through the Fallsview Casino and then took in the fireworks over the falls (there are fireworks every Friday and Sunday evening in the summer).  Overall, it was a great way to celebrate 5 years!

The next day we had the buffet breakfast at the hotel and then spent the morning wandering around "kitchy" Niagara Falls.  If you have never been, imagine walking into the biggest tourist trap known to man-kind and there you have it, Niagara Falls, Canada.  We stopped at the Rock N' Bowl and bowled a few games and then wandered down to see the falls up close.  

In the afternoon, we wandered throughout Niagara-on-the-Lake.  We snacked on fresh fruit and took in the loveliness and small town charm of the place.  We walked the main street, bought jam at Greaves (best jam ever!), checked out the fruit stands, visited a winery and then declared our mini break over.  Time to head back to the big city.

 Late August = fresh peaches in the Niagara Area.  Yum!

My flickr set from this trip can be found, here.

 

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Ahh... there is something about a wedding that seems to bring out the worst in people. The week leading up to my cousin's wedding was laden with hot tempers, crabby attitudes and sour expressions. When you come from a family that is casual to a fault -- outfitting yourself for a wedding brings the blood pressure to the breaking point. As my family loves to procrastinate -- we were even putting finishing touches on our outfits the morning of big day.

However, I knew we were in for a good day when I arrived at the family homestead at an extremely early (for them) 9AM and was able to pry my sister from her peaceful slumber without instigating WW400 (we are well past 2 in our family). Not only did we look fantastic, we arrived early -- a double feat! Here's what Neil and I looked like:

The ceremony began. What you need to keep in mind is that my nephew, Harrison, is four years old and extremely fidgety. It is hard to keep him sitting still. Now if you remember, I said my family was early. Here's what he looked like 20 minutes prior to show time:

Here's the bride coming down the aisle -- so pretty!

So, it seems to reason that after sitting patiently for 20 minutes, a 4-year old would think he'd been behaving fantastically, so right on cue, as the bride and groom stood facing each other, church quiet, priest about to speak, he decided that this would be the perfect time to point out he'd been sitting perfectly angelic for a very very long time and that is exactly what he did.

Very loudly, so that everyone, in the church could hear, Mr. Harry asked, "Is it over yet?"

Everyone, bride and groom included, laughed.

Now, Mr. Harry is a smart little lad. Had that been the end of it we'd have all thought, 'aww that kid is really cute.' However, recognizing that we'd granted him attention and enjoyed it (we laughed didn't we??) he wanted more attention. So, about 5 minutes later, after ceremony the had begun, the little shit, farts -- loudly. I was sitting in the pew ahead of him and found myself feeling bad for my sister as there was nothing she could have done. Worse still, about a minute later, I could hear my sister speaking quietly to Harry, I imagine it was something to the effect of, 'honey, it's very very rude to fart in church,' when Harry replies quite loudly, "but mom, I wanted to smell it!"

Oh. dear.

Now I felt a weird combination of feelings: horror, for my sister and the bride (it will probably be forever heard on their wedding video), unbelievable mirth because, come on, it was freaking hilarious -- aww from the mouths of babes (and in this case the behind of babes!). I felt trapped in the giggle loop (for those of you who watch BBC's coupling) When you think of or hear something extremely funny in a situation where it would be highly inappropriate to laugh -- the giggle loop occurs when you overcome the desire to laugh and it comes back stronger moments later, hence repeats in a loop.

Somehow, we managed to get through the rest of the ceremony without anymore mishaps. Here's the bride and groom with their wedding party after the ceremony:

Now doesn't everyone looks nice?? (though if I'm being honest I'd say that the brown suits the guys were wearing should be sent back to the 70's -- but hey, that's just me being my catty self.)

Now after the wedding, but before the reception -- my family kicked it into retarded mode. As we were all busy primping for the day in the morning AND on time for the ceremony, it came to our realization at this time that we were STARVING! So we decided to go to McDonald's and order food. I suggested ordering a large number of Bacon Cheeseburgers as they are small, delicious and only $1.39. When we calculated the number we'd need to feed the masses back at the house, however, no one wanted to place the order. Tim came through though and I still find listening to him order this massive order hilarious:

Now it may seem like we are crazy to order 12 cheeseburgers (and I'll admit I was shaking with laughter as Tim ordered this....) Truth be told, however, we were informed at the drive thru window that the guy couldn't understand why we were laughing about 12 cheeseburgers. So I asked him what he'd find shocking and he said 30 so I guess we had a ways to go to stand out.

So all in all, Shannon's wedding will go down in history for "the fart" and for ordering 12 cheeseburgers. Oh and for my Auntie Heather oozing happiness (partially due to white wine - though I'm sure she was happy for Shannon too) and proceeding to tell us repeatedly how much she loved us!

Guess what, Auntie Heather, "we love you too." Seriously!

To see pictures from the ceremony click here .

To see pictures from the reception click here .

We haven't killed each other yet -- anyone else amazed?