Fall Leaves in Ottawa

One of the best things about living in the Ottawa-Gatineau area in the fall is the changing of the leaves. As sad as I am to say goodbye to summer, I love this time of year. I love the sweaters, the hot cider and watching the leaves change color (which doesn't mean I’m ready for winter at all!)

The end of September and all through October are the best times to see the changing of the leaves.  In Gatineau Park, there are tons of trails to explore and there are also quite a few special events occurring during its annual "Fall Rhapsody" celebration, which honours all things outdoors. My favorite place in the Gatineau region to get an absolutely awesome view of the leaves and the whole Ottawa Valley is, of course, the Champlain Lookout.

There are more than 90 kilometres of trails and bike paths in Gatineau Park! If you really want to learn more about the coloured leaves as you hike, you can head up on Saturdays and Sundays in September and October for “Follies of the Fall Forest”, a free guided tour. It is fun for the whole family with an introduction at the Gatineau Park Visitor Centre followed by a guided walk on the Sugarbush Trail.

For those adventurous hikers, the Eardley Escarpment rises 270 metres from the floor of the Ottawa Valley and extends over more than 30 kilometres. Also, Lusk Cave, in the Philippe Lake area, is an easy hike along but the 10-kilometre round trip takes about four hours to walk.

For those with little ones who want a really nice nature trail to walk, there are lots of places around Ottawa like the Stony Swamp trails near Bell’s Corners, Green’s Creek, to the east of Ottawa and Pine Grove, to the south of Ottawa.

No matter where you go in the Ottawa-Gatineau area this time of year, you’re pretty much guaranteed a great view of the leaves. By next weekend, Fall Rhapsody will be in full swing so don’t forget to get out there and enjoy one of the things that makes living in the Ottawa area so great!

Where's your favourite place to see the leaves in Ottawa?

Apple Picking at Mountain Orchard

It's that time of year again. The air is getting crisper and the kids are settling into their school routine. For me, fall always means apple picking. Every fall for the past several years, my girls gather a bunch of friends and we go apple picking. Mountain Orchard has always been our orchard of choice. It's a great place for families, it's close to Ottawa (only a short 40 minute drive on the 416 toward Kempville) and the majority of the trees there are actually the direct descendants of the original McIntosh tree, first discovered by John McIntosh in Dundela, Ontario, in 1829. I think that's pretty cool.

Mountain Orchard is about more then just apple picking. There are corn maizes, wagon rides, a hay jump and (best of all) the hot fresh apple cider donuts that are made right in front of you. They are the real reason we go back every year. Well, that and the fresh apple cider.

My girls love climbing into the apple trees to get the apples and there are trees for kids of all ages - with ladders for the older kids to climb and low hanging branches for the little ones.

No matter where you go apple picking, it's a great way to spend time with your family and friends and get outside to enjoy the fall weather. All the apple orchard near Ottawa are open now and many, like Mountain Orchard, are open every day until the apple picking season is done (usually by the end of September).

Have you been apple picking yet? We're going again this weekend! 

Magenta Studio Photo - An Intro and a Giveaway!

In the week before school started, my girls and I were asked by Magenta Studio Photo to come in for a complimentary photo session. Magenta Studio Photos has just opened in St. Laurent Shopping Centre and they are trying to spread the word. Founded in 2002 to address the lack of artistic photography on the market, Magenta wanted to offer an alternative to the fixed poses of conventional studios. From the moment we walked into the studio, Ashley and Beatrice were very warm and welcoming. They showed us around the studio and it really was unlike any other photography studio I had ever been in. In addition to their front showroom which displayed they different customized photographic pieces that you could purchase, their backroom included a full range of props, costumes, and even black and white t-shirts that you could wear for your photo shoot. They had dressing rooms to beautify yourself, iPad stations for little ones who needed to wait and a comfortable spot for adults sit and waited. Beatrice explained how everything worked and then my girls and I went in for the photo shoot.

Ashley, our photographer, was amazing. From the moment we walked into the studio, She made us all feel very at ease. She knew how to make my girls laugh and look serious and was able to pose all of us to get the best shots. And she really did get some great pictures out of all of us. My girls had a blast acting like models and loved the props and the "wind."

We had a 45 minute photo shoot, complete with different backgrounds, props and poses. When it was done, it was time to wait to see our shots. It was actually a bit of a wait but my girls were able to occupy themselves at the iPad station while I looked at the different pricing and packages available. When it was time to view the photos, I must say they really were - and no I’m not biased at all. Ashley was really able to capture each of us at our best in both conventional and candid photos.

The downside of this whole experience was that the cost of the actual pictures was more than I thought it would be. We had to purchase each image (which comes on a CD) separately at $50 a pop and there was no way to buy the whole session on one CD without purchasing each image - which in a 45 minute session was about 75-100 pictures. The upside is that they often have promotions and discounts available on their products so before you book a shoot, make sure you are going at the right time to get a good deal.

In order to get their name out, Magenta is offering one lucky Kids in the Capital readers a $75 gift certificate for a free sitting for your photo session. Leave your name in the comments below and tell us why you want this photo session. One lucky person will be chosen at random on September 20th.

While we were given a free photo sitting, a free 8x10 image and a discount on some photo products, all views in this post are my own.

Where There's a Will, There's a Way

By Brittany Fish, Barrister, Solicitor & Notary Public As a new lawyer, I decided what a better way to begin my career then to open my own practice in the community of Orleans. A beautiful area to live and a lot of young families. A great place for a young professional to launch a new career.

When deciding what area of law to offer my clients, it was surprisingly an easy decision. From the moment I became a lawyer I had emails and phone calls from friends and family asking to prepare their Wills.  I knew from there, Wills it is.

I am amazed by the amount of parents who feel they do not need a Will because they believe they have very little or no assets. Others put getting a Will off for another day, they seem to think I can get it done tomorrow.

You may not have an abundance of assets or own property, but if you have children they are one of the biggest reasons not to wait to get a Will done. If anything were to happen to you and/or your partner, you need to have a plan for your children, since you likely consider them your most important asset to protect.

Information regarding parents and the necessity of Wills is not discussed enough. Unfortunately, because of this parents are unaware of the consequences of not having a properly drafted Will to no fault of their own.

In short, here are the top three reasons to prepare a Will as a parent.

No Will equals no guardian

A guardian is someone you appoint in your Will to look after your children should something happen to you.  When a lawyer drafts your Will we assure the individual you want to look after your children is properly identified.  Your wishes in regard to how your children are raised can also be included.  If you do not have a Will the courts decide who becomes the guardian of your kids.  Unfortunately, it may not be the person you would have chosen.  Having a Will grants you this decision.

Happy 18th Birthday!

If you prepare a Will, you decide what age your children will receive their inheritance.   I am not sure about you, but I know when I was eighteen it is quite possible I would have fainted if someone handed me thousands of dollars. I would have proceeded to purchase a car that even now I couldn’t afford.  If you die without a Will the law states your child will receive his/her inheritance at eighteen.  You should decide what age is appropriate.

Where there’s a Will, there’s a way……...to distribute!

The law limits what a guardian can accept in terms of money when you die without a Will.  When you create a Will a lawyer sits with you and listens to your wishes and concerns.  We can draft a Will so that the distribution of your estate is done in a way you desire.  You can decide how much your child receives up until his/her age of inheritance.  This means, you can allocate money to the guardian for school and child rearing costs.  You may also decide on compensation for the guardian of your children.

There you have it, three of the most important reasons to prepare a Will if you are a parent.  Preparing for the unexpected is not exactly a topic of conversation parents or anyone in general want to discuss.  But the reality is, waiting until tomorrow may be too late. Every parent needs a Will.

If you have questions regarding the preparation of Wills, please email me at bfish@bflegalservices.com. If you would like to know more about Wills, please feel free to “LIKE” your lawyer at facebook.com/bfishlaw.

Back to School Traditions

I love the idea of establishing a few special back to school traditions to start things off on a positive note. No matter how old your kids are, going back (or starting) school can be a bit overwhelming. I’ve had the chance to look online and I found a couple of cute traditions that are pretty neat:

• Take the traditional "back to school" portrait up a notch by pairing it with a list of likes and favorites. How fun to compare from year to year! Here's a cute way to do it!
• Drawing a kiss or special note on your child’s hand so they can take a look at it throughout the day.
• Back to school breakfast in bed. Anything goes.
• Special notes in your child’s lunch box. This one can go past the first day.
• Make a yearly time capsule by getting a few favorite items, recent photos, current likes, etc. and put them in a container to hide away until the next year. Each night before the first day, pull it out to see how much everything's changed. Then make a new one.
• Hang a sheet in the back yard and have a night-before-school backyard movie night. Here’s how to turn your iPhone into a movie projector.
• First Day Back dinner extravaganza. At the meal, each kids gets to talk about their day then as a family setting some goals for the year, discussing things to look forward to and other things of that sort.

I love all these ideas and will likely pick a few to make this year’s back to school a memorable one for all.

What will you do to celebrate back-to-school?