Mr and Mrs Michael Johnson!

Last weekend we loaded into the car (with our new friend Jim who hitched a ride with us) and headed to Columbus, OH to witness the wedding of our friends Mike and Lena. Alan has known Mike for ages and has even gotten to play some music with him in the past. It was great to see him and the lovely Lena on this great day. North was the ring bearer and did a great job.

Sleepy boy on the way to the ceremony

Waking up

Rather than a pillow, they used the cute idea of having the rings on a fishing pole that North carried

Walking in the ceremony

Mike and Lena exchanging vows
Mr and Mrs Michael Johnson!

North loved drinking his Sprite out of the wine glasses (and the new toy he received for doing a good job during the ceremony)

Explaining the Green Lantern to a little boy he met at the ceremony
Chasing a girl

Then they discovered the best toy in the place - the water fountain

After the drive home we were so excited to get out of the car and see our yard covered in leaves. North played in them for a good long while.

Green Lantern

This year, North had a few different occasions that he was able to wear his costume for. He chose the Green Lantern ages ago and has been SO excited to get to wear his super-hero suit (complete with Green Lantern ring).

The first was "Boo at the Zoo". As zoo members, we've received notices about this event in the past but this was the first time we bought tickets and attended. North had a great time filling our goody bags "trick-or-treating" throughout the zoo in this after hours visit. And it was fun too see the animals at night while supporting a good cause.

North's favorite treats were the light up lollipops that we received.

Another occasion was his good pal (and our neighbor) Ethan's costume birthday party the Saturday before Halloween. We didn't snap many pictures but got one as the kiddos geared up to pop the pinata.

And of course there was the big day of trick-or-treating on Halloween. North got gobs of candy in his pumpkin bucket and was a very happy boy.

Happy Halloween!

Corn Maze in the Plains VA

We also recently visited a corn maze in The Plains, VA. It was such a fun time and North was surprisingly adept at leading us through.

Warming up in the kids hay bale maze

Victory!

Planning our strategy at the entrance

The maze!

Navigating our way through

We reached the end!

Playing in string

Befriending a goat

and a sheep

Learning to milk a cow

and learning to drive a tractor!

Fun day at the farm!

Maryland Renaissance Festival

A couple of weeks ago we decided to check out the Maryland Renaissance Festival before it closed for the season. We had heard tell of the festival for the past couple years but hadn't actually visited ourselves until this season. We had a fun time eating festival food and watching the entertainers. North's favorites were:

the Shakespeare stage -- he was strangely into the Macbeth performance

the live jousting!

and the magician/tight rope walker.

I suspect this will become an annual tradition for the Milners.

October fun around the house

During October, we've enjoyed great crisp fall weather. We've had a lot of fun this month just spending time around home in between fun weekend visits. Some ways we've been spending our time have been...

Visiting the little playground behind our townhouse...

Practicing soccer behind our house (North of course enjoys every opportunity to sport his Green Lantern costume)...

and carving jack-o-lanterns in anticipation of Halloween...

(Yes, power tools were involved)