red carpet

so last Monday I decided to go visit my parents for a few days.
Just lulu and I, a bit of a girls only trip.
We had a nice quiet drive down, with lulu snoozing the whole way.
we were off to a great start.
we arrived at my parents and they were practically waiting in the driveway.
Sans the red carpet, but might as well have had one laid out.
They were ecstatic when I told them we were coming.
we decided to go for lunch, which was great.
I don't normally have wine at lunch, but hey when you're in niagara-on-the-lake, Canada's largest wine region.
one must indulge.
I forgot how nice it is to enjoy a leisurely lunch (mostly) handsfree...grandma was all over lulu.
perfect. this is going to be a great week!
Incidentally we ate at a place called Zee's on queen st. in NOTL.
it's was really good.
most of NOTL is a bit of a tourist trap when it comes to food (though it is improving with some new restaurants opening)
I would definitely recommend this place if you want to sit on a veranda sipping a nice glass of wine on a hot summer day.
I had the lobster and grapefruit salad, really good.
we spent the rest of the afternoon driving around looking at the beautiful fruit farms and wineries.
I could see myself living in a rural setting...
well maybe not full time, but how nice would it be to have a country house somewhere surrounded by cherry trees or vineyards?
I could see it now, lulu running through our field picking daisies, me tending to my organic vegetable garden,
big daddy tinkering away on some project in the barn......
who am I kidding?
I barely do the gardening here at home and our garden is the size of a postage stamp,
and well, big daddy's philosophy is let's hire someone to do that stuff because he works so much that when he has any free time he wants to just relax...
Okay so maybe better in theory but it's nice to fantasize about alternative places to live.
who knows maybe some day?
but back to the visit.
my parents prepared a fabulous dinner,
they were treating me like royalty,
was it like this before lulu or are they perpetually buttering me up for more visits? hmmm.
I'm thinking this is like a slice of heaven...I really should visit more often....
not just because of the great setting and the delicious food and wine,
but it was so nice to see lulu with her grandparents, she really does adore them and I see them in such a different light now.
They really are the most enthusiastic and caring people...I'm a lucky girl to have them in my life.
It's hard to imagine I ever had any "issues" with them in the past.
They are certainly quirky but what family isn't?
In fact I'm probably one of the more quirky members of the family..
well maybe the most picky.
so things were going so well...ahhh I could get used to this....and then....