Summer's Last Swim

School is in session, the football season has begun, a few leaves are even falling, and I have an unnatural desire for chili and cable-knit sweaters. But alas, it is still 90 degrees outside (and still technically summer, anyway).

Reluctantly siding with reality over my own fantasies, I blew up the backyard pool and we had one last swim for summer 2010.

 

Kate and I splashed around for much of the afternoon, filling and dumping buckets full of water. We flung water into the air with an arsenal of different colored beach shovels, and got the terms "blue" and "yellow" down pretty well. We also started a new game, where Kate flops across my lap and I rock her while she says, "baby... baby..."

She'll always be my baby, even when she's all grown up. But I'll miss that little polka-dotted ruffle-butt.

Next weekend, I'll break out the fall decorations and begin another season that, while not Kate's "first," will still be extra-special.