Another sign of the changing seasons

The air is not yet crisp and here in the desert, there is not a lot of mature trees with leaves that turn pretty red and yellow colors and then fall to the ground. Therefore, the change of the seasons is a little more subtle. The day times highs typical stop going beyond 100 but still stay in the 90's through a majority of September and October. However, the overnight lows start dipping lower so as I have mentioned in the past, even though it would seem to still be warm enough for swimming, the pool starts to get kind of chilly.

Of course, then there is also that pesky little problem of school and soccer practices, leaving little free time to swim anyway. What I am trying to say is that this week, it became apparent it was time to take down the pool. But we can't do that without a ceremonious "last swim".

Last year, the last swim lasted all of 5 minutes as the water was that cold. This year, the kids swam and jumped and played for at least an hour. It made me take pause and wonder if we should wait a little longer. They both love swimming so much! But there just hasn't been time and it makes it counterproductive to try and keep up with the pool maintenance.

This summer we saw tremendous growth in both the kids swimming abilities and I think that is what made taking down the pool harder. I so wish we had a year round option for them. But I guess on the flip side of the coin, because it is a seasonal thing for us, it makes it that much more special.

Goodbye pool. You have provided us with countless hours of summertime fun and many splashes and giggles. We will see you again next year.