The Last Gasp of Summer

One final day of hot, sticky, 90+ degree weather before we throw open the windows and turn off the AC. Labor Day, typically marking the official end of summer and the end of the wearing of all things white (okay, well, shoes and pants at least...) was a rainy wash-out, but we'd had enough advance warning to know we had to really live it up the day before. 

While we were at the beach, we bought a kite.  Our very first kite.  Steve had played with them when he was younger, but I had absolutely no experience with them.  I'm not sure exactly what it is that children and adults alike find so fascinating about them, but other than the fact that they're not easy to fly, I think it's got to be the care free way they float so effortlessly through the air, catching currents, dipping and turning, their colorful tails blazing a trail behind them.

There was a little bit of a breeze on Saturday, so we took the kite out into the school yard.  By the way, if I haven't said it before, I love living behind the school, for so, so, so many great reasons!!

The dress Sammi is wearing was a size 3 from the Gap that we've now gotten 2 years out of!  I love that you can just put a pair of shorts under it and she can still wear it comfortably, especially since it's one of my favorites.  :-)

 

The look on her face says it all.  Pure anticipation.



Again, the look on her face says it all.  Pure excitement.

And once again, here and in the photo below, the look on her face says it all.  Pure joy.

She soon lost interest in the kite when there wasn't enough of a breeze to keep it airborne.

To further cap off the end of the season, I deflated the backyard kiddie pool after successfully dodging the creepy crawlies that had taken up residence underneath and in the rain puddles that filled the sagging crevices.  One particularly HUGE black spider eyed me carefully from his evacuation point, eyed right back by me, cautious not to get too close or brush against him...ooh shivering as I type this...

And in a bittersweet end to the day, the annual Labor Day gathering on the grassy corner at the end of my street of the residents of our block, playing games, cooking out, enjoying each other's company.  Bittersweet because three of those families are about to move, three families we have truly enjoyed getting to know over the last 2 1/2 years, three families we will definitely miss.  New season, new neighbors, new day coming.  Not bad, I don't think, just different.