September.

September in most parts of the USA means school starts and fall is here. Summer ends with Labor Day, people pack away the white and break out the sweaters and tights and boots. Boots! But in Arizona it's business as usual, with daytime temperatures well above 100 and people not just wearing white, but wearing shorts and sandals and tank tops on the daily. Who can dream of tights when just strapping my toddler into his car seat in the morning makes me break out in a sweat?

Not I.

We spent the long Labor Day weekend doing nothing, mostly because money is tight until payday this week and it was blazing hot outside. We did venture out to play in the pool at 8 a.m. on Monday, which is kind of sick but was also totally awesome. At 8 a.m. on a holiday Monday, most of the world is still quietly huddled inside trying to sleep in or making a big breakfast to start the day. We, however, had a full pool, breakfast down the hatch 2 hours prior, and a long day stretching before us with many hours of sunshine and hot. So we splashed and we played and we laughed and we (I) took pictures. Both kids really love the water, with Luca actually starting the requests to play in the pool at 6:15 that morning. Luca mostly likes to lay on her tummy and pretend to be a mermaid, hold the hose and spray her brother, or sit in the water and play with toys.

Rohan, on the other hands enjoys being splashed, splashing, and jumping all over the place. He's a natural-born water baby, and I like to think that has something to do with being born a Pisces and born in water, but I can't be sure. Either way, this kid begs for baths. Baths.

When they were done splashing and crashing and soaking up the water, the got into mud. Because, really...what more can you expect from a 18 month old and a 3 year old.

I love watching them play in the pool. It can take me from tired and cranky to laughing my butt off in a matter or minutes. And I love these moments, too:

But now that we're a little over a week into September, I also love how the weather is finally giving us a reprieve. It's still hot hot hot during the day. But when I get home in the evenings and we finish dinner, it's cooled down enough to go for long walks. Tonight we strapped both kids into the wagon and walked to the school by our house so they could play on the playground. Then we put them back in the wagon and took a long walk through the neighborhood, enjoying the last bit of sunshine as the world closed its eyes and midnight blue enveloped our world. It was bliss. And I am so ready for fall!