A bit late...but HAPPY HALLOWEEN and other late October happenings.

October is my favorite month of the year -- I love the weather, the celebrations, the pumpkin spice lattes -- but two of the main reasons I love the month so much happen on the very last two days.  Stephen and I got married on October 30, and Halloween is on October 31.

To celebrate our second anniversary, we went to Melting Pot for dinner (yum) and then to Dave and Buster's for an hour or two afterwards.  These are things you get to do very, VERY rarely as a new parent, so an evening out to reminisce about how special our big day had been two years ago was really lovely and much-appreciated.

Next up was Halloween and all of the pre-Halloween festivities.  Gavin had a great time with his girlfriend Alli at King's Island (his first visit), then dressed as Mickey Mouse for Brooklyn's Halloween party later that evening.  We thought he might want something a little warmer for ACTUAL Halloween, so we got him a tiger costume we also figured he could wear to stay warm at Bengals games, but honestly, it was too cold and rainy to take him out much for trick-or-treating.  Still, we had a nice time eating pizza and chit chatting with the Tudor family before Gavin had the meltdown of the century and we had to take him home.  (Turns out, he was sick!  We landed in the ER at Children's last week with a fever of almost 104, vomiting, and severe lethargy.  Something must be going around Linford, because a few other families with babies were dealing with feverish kiddos too.)  It's been a rough go of it here in the Dowd household, but a few doses of antibiotics seem to have Gavin on the mend.  Here are some photos I snapped pre-illness...

Here's hoping next year's Halloween is a little warmer, a little less rainy, and most definitely fever-free!