Archive for October, 2011

All Hallows Eve…..Hallowe’en……Halloween!

Trick or Treat! Today is the day kids dress up as fairies, goblins and superheroes and run from home to home filling their bags with Treats. What has been lost on this day over the years is the Trick part of the evening. Some households actually spend some time decorating their own houses and even dress up in costumes themselves in an attempt to make the event more than just a door to door candy pick-up.

If you are looking for a great Halloween experience in Burlington, do yourself….and your kids a favour and head to Seneca avenue where the residents have it right! People go above and beyond to make this night a most memorable one for the kids. Some houses have gone as far as to turn their garages into Haunted Houses! Getting into the spirit of Halloween is more than just buying some bite sized candy bars at Wal-mart. It is a special day for the kids and the residents of Seneca Ave have it right. Good on ya Seneca and we’ll see you a little later tonight!

You can reach Seneca Ave by travelling along new street between Guelph and Brant (across from the Library and Curling Club) OR you can reach it from Lakeshore. I would suggest parking in the public lot across from the Curling Club and walking the street as it may be closed off to cars.

Have a great Halloween!

A visit to Chapters/Starbucks is always a Saturday morning staple for the Kavanagh family. However, today was a little more special. The staff at Chapters has set up a craft corner for the kids which really made Hartley’s day! If you are looking for something festive to do with your young ones, head to Chapters in Burlington on Fairview street where they can decorate their own paperbag pumpkins with paint, foam pieces and googly eyes. After the pumpkin decorating they can get their faces painted and have scary Halloween stories read to them by the staff.

A wonderful experience for the kids. Great work Chapters!

Halloween is always full of fun for the family and Burlington has done a great job creating a ton of options to get you in the spirit! So, I can’t limit this day to only one thing to do in Burlington. Rather, we will celebrate all of the great things you can do with your family!

Celebrate Halloween in Downtown Burlington. On October 29th from 1-5pm enjoy a beautiful fall day and Burlington Downtown Pumpkins & Pancakes in Civic Square at City Hall. Children will enjoy the free face painting, games, balloons and pumpkin crafts before heading off in the costume parade at 3:00pm. Bring a non-perishable donation for the food bank when you pick up your map, then head to participating downtown businesses to trick or treat.

I know I already wrote about the Springridge farm, but the Harvest festival certainly deserves another shout out! On Sunday, October 30th at 12:30pm, Springridge is hosting their 2nd annual Halloween Parade! Wear your spookiest costumes. See my post on the farm for more details (Click Here).

The Royal Botanical Gardens is hosting Pumpkinfest at the Arboretum. Enjoy the Kids’ Fun Zone, Hay Wagon Rides, Pony Rides, Farmer’s Market, Pumpkin Patch and The Haunted Maze. General Admission is free but there are additional charges for activites.

For those who want to ramp up the scare factor, consider Burlington Ghost Walks every weekend up to Halloween. Please call the host hotline at 905-630-7256 for dates and times or visit their website. Happy Hauntings!

For those looking for a cool alternative to “trick or treating”, head to the Mapleview Mall for its 13th Annual Safe Trick or Treat event on Thursday Oct. 27th from 5-9pm. Start the night by creating your own personalized animated Halloween flip book from 5-9pm in the food court then the kids can enjoy safe trick or treating from 6-7pm throughout the mall. Be sure to visit the incredible world of bugs, an exhibit of hundreds of insects collected from around the world including the beautiful, rare and deadly giants of the bug world that runs to October 29th.

Mountsberg Conservation Area’s Halloween Spooktacular is on Saturday October 29th from 10am-4pm. This event is free with park admission and features plenty of hauntingly good fun for everyone including a haunted play barn; scary skeleton scavenger hunt; pumpkin bowling; Bird of Prey presentations -owls and vultures Halloween special; bison rides; sssslithering with snakes presentations; a kids “tattoo” parlour and crafts.

Head to Tansley Woods Community Centre for a frightfully ghoulish time. Spooky Splash runs Saturday, October 29th from 1:30 – 4pm. Get spooked out with The Museums of Burlington’s wondrous Halloween Event on Sunday October 30th from 12-4pm. Enjoy this scary holiday with tours of historic Ireland House showcasing mourning traditions throughout the years.

Spooks n’ Spokes Mountain Bike Race at Hilton Falls Conservation Area is sure to be a great participant or spectator event. Join racers on Sunday October 30th from 8am-1pm as they take on the trails in costume. Racers should register early for this popular time trial that is suited for all ages and abilities. This Halloween race has categories for those 10 & under, those with special needs, teens, and adults in addition to your choice of a long or short course. Enjoy the fall colours, a barbecue lunch, great prizes including best costume and lots of fun. Call 905-854-0262.

If you are looking for a great area to take the kids trick or treating, be sure to hit Seneca Avenue! Located between Guelph Line and Brant Street and running from Lakeshore Road to New Street. The road is often closed off from car traffic to keep the kids safe and all the houses participate to make it quite an experience for the kids.

That should give you plenty of ideas so you and the family can have a very Happy Halloween!

If you are considering selling and/or buying a home, I urge you to contact Sean Kavanagh of Century 21 Miller Real Estate Ltd. He is very personable, knowledgeable and helpful. As someone new to this experience, he helped make the transaction as smooth and stress free as possible. He has vast contacts that helped me get my house ready for market (painter, roofer, contractor, etc) and contacts to help close the deal (mortgage broker and lawyer). Sean works very hard for his clients with patience and guidance.

When buying my next home, Sean scanned all prospective homes with my budget in mind and what would suit me from my conversations with him. He was always available and stayed in touch whenever I had questions or concerns. Throughout the process of selling and purchasing my new home, Sean’s willingness to help above and beyond the call of duty and my complete trust in him, I now consider Sean as one of my good friends.

Peggy Jobe

If you would like to take advantage of a FREE Home evaluation, give me a call and I would be happy to meet with you. When you call to book your home evaluation, be sure to ask about my Double Air Miles program.

Allison and I stopped in at the Nines Brick Bar just to see if it was any different than other sport bar type restaurants in Burlington. We were pleasantly surprised as the experience exceeded the expectations. The burgers and wings will rival any restaurant in the area. We didn’t have the pizza, but we’ll save that for the next time. If you are looking for a great place to watch the game and have some great food, this is the place. A nice addition to the Burlington restaurant scene!

Serving the finest burgers, pizza and wings and cold beer in a casual, relaxed atmosphere.
Live music Monday – Wednesday – Friday and Saturday.
Mondays – Rockstar Karaoke – Monday Night Football – 1/2 Price Pizza, $15 Canadian & Coors Light Pitchers
Tuesday – Gameday Menu – featuring value priced appetizers.
Wednesdays – 1/2 Price Burgers, $4.75 Canadian & Coors Light Tall Boys (after 10)
Friday – Get Funk’d with Blackbelt Jones and $4.75 Tallboys Canadian & coors Light after 10. .
Saturday Night – $4 coors & Canadian Bottles, $4 Jager and 4 Saturday night shots for $10
Sunday – Football – $5 Canadian & Coors Light Pints, Special Gridiron Menu featuring Deep Fried Turkey

Address – 1235 Fairview St, Burlington, ON L7S2H9
Phone – 1 905.639.9991
Website – http://www.theninesbrickbar.com

Tony Thorp writes: The staff are GREAT, food is awesome. Thanks to Randy and Willy for giving Burlington a place to go that’s different than the big box restaurant​s and you feel like a somebody not just another customer.

The family just spend a wonderful Sunday morning at this great farm and I just had to share the experience with you as one of the 365 Things to do in Burlington. Although the farm is technically not in Burlington, it is a short trip for Burlingtonians to travel for a great family day. The Harvest Festival at Springridge farm began the weekend of September 24 and will continue every weekend in October. The hours of Harvest Festival are 10am until 4pm.

Springridge Harvest Festival is Great Fun for the whole family! $10/person entrance fee (even for the young ones) may seem steep to some, but when you look at all of the activities offered and how much fun we had as a family, you can’t beat it. You couldn’t take your family to see a movie for that money and you’ll have a lot more fun at Springridge farm.

We first walked through the animal farm so Hartley could go and say HI to his friends the chickens, goats, roosters, turkeys and rabbits. From there we took a wagon ride to the 5-acre Corn Trail. Enjoyed the stroll through the winding corn trail and then over to the Boo Barn where Hartley challenged his fear of haunted houses. At the exit to the Boo Barn, he got his face painted. It started to rain and we hadn’t picked out our pumpkins yet, so we didn’t get to enjoy all the other activities the farm has to offer. More mazes and slides, puppet show (Show Times: 11, 12, 1, 2:30 & 4) and pony rides for the kids.

Calling all ghouls, ghosts and goblins! On Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 12:30pm, Springridge is hosting their 2nd annual Halloween Parade! Join in the Halloween spirit – the parade meets at the Little Theatre and follows a professional bagpiper. Wear your spookiest costumes. The parade is included in Harvest Festival admission.

Click the link for more information about the farm – Springridge Farm

If you are liking these posts and think you kow of some others who may like to be a part of this, please have them go to my facebook page seankavanagh and find the 365 Things to do in Burlington page and click the ‘Like’ button! I am also looking for contributors to this project. If you have been somewhere in Burlington and want to share your experience, I would love to share that with everyone on the page. Just send me the info and some pictures and I would be happy to include it as one of the Things to do in Burlington!

WiseBuy is a shop that will help save you thousands of dollars on electronics, furniture, appliances and mattresses. I decided to add this as one of the highlights of Burlington because I know how much this store has helped many of my clients furnish their homes at a fraction of the cost of going to any other store selling similar products.

I just had a young family buy a home from me not too long ago and told me about their shopping list of things they will need as they were going from a 1100 square foot home to a 3000 square foot 4 bedroom, 2 storey home. They had gone to all of the major appliance and electronic stores and worked out how much it would cost to purchase everything on that list. I directed them to WiseBuy and at the end of the day they saved over $3000!

So, if you are looking to switch out your fridge or get a new stove, drop by WiseBuy and see how much money you can save.

You can find them at www.wisebuyhome.com with locations in Burlington and Stoney Creek.

The Bruce Trail!

When you are looking for outdoor family fun, look no further than the Bruce Trail. The Niagara Escarpment is a tremendous natural treasure in southern Ontario and the Bruce Trail is a great way to explore it with your family. Time to put down your cellphones, iPads and DS3s and get out and enjoy all the natural treats the Bruce Trail has to offer.