the last day of summer

My eight year old is a calendar-freak-a-zoid. He has been obsessed with dates, seasons, holidays, birthdays for as long as I've known him. On the first day of the month, he will come into my bedroom at 7 am asking why I haven't switched the calendar yet. He will remember odd anniversaries, primary teachers' birthdays (from years ago) and holidays that are celebrated in other countries. So, I wasn't a bit surprised to hear the first words out of his mouth this morning, "I can't believe today is the LAST DAY OF SUMMER!!" Personally, I thought Autumn started a few weeks ago. But after checking with the calendar, Ben is indeed correct. Tomorrow Fall officially begins. To commemorate the summer of 2009, we decided to go swimming.

After a bit of reading, writing and arithmetic (and a quick run to Sonic for slushies) we hit the pool. We were the only people swimming-- apparently others didn't know it was the last day of summer. It was a GORGEOUS afternoon. I believe it was somewhere around 98 degrees-- which might seem hot for September. But it was breezy and refreshing and we didn't want to leave. So we stayed until dinnertime. The kids wore themselves out and I relaxed and soaked in the sun. I read over 100 pages of my book and enjoyed listening to my kids splash and giggle in the water. We came home exhausted and a little bit pink. Does summer really have to be over?