This cannot be fall, and the Brave Old Army Team.

Blink and you missed, it seems that this summer is officially behind us. Not that you'd know it from the wildly oppressive heat that lingers (and makes us grateful that our pool doesn't close after Labor Day like the ones onpost!)

We're still getting used to Seth being on a training schedule, which means that when he has a class in session he works pretty much every day. So our last weekend of the summer was a little more local than the norm, but we still made the most of it.

After a whirlwind TDY (for me) to south-south Florida (which was, bafflingly, cooler and less humid than North Carolina!), I scooped up the kids and barely beat the beach traffic to the coast. We spent a hilarious and kid-packed two days at Bex's beach house, where Finley got to see Ashlynn and stay up giggling all night, Ford got to gorge on illicit ice cream and be carted about in a stroller by the girls,

 and the kids got to play in the waves, covered in 8000 gallons of SPF 100 sunscreen.

Then we raced up (not in advance of beach traffic this time) to meet Seth and some friends at the Army-Duke game. The game didn't end well for Army, which lost a lot of talent this graduation season, but Finley got to see her beloved Rabs.

Army games are one of the things we'll miss most about our idyllic two years at West Point, and it was heartwarming to see the kids back in the stands singing "On Brave Old Army Team" and cheering on their faves (which for reason featured this insane dance.)

It wore all of us out. This was before we even left the parking lot.

Seth had to work the next day, and I was a little bummed about ballet and chores on a long weekend,

but Ford cheered us both up with an ice cream date while Finley tap danced her little heart out,

and we hit our favorite newly-discovered park afterwards.

The rest of the weekend was filled with failed potty training,

the discovery of Hungry Hungry Hippos.

and a birthday party at the pool

at which Finley's "greams" came true when she got to try on a big girl mermaid tail/ death trap

 and kidnap the birthday girl for an impromptu sleepover

with alltheprincessdresses.

The short first week of September (?!) that followed was more than warm enough for pooltime

and when the temperature dropped below "Hades" we hit the park with friends.

Last night Seth and I stuffed ourselves into "we used to sleep more and drink less beer" mess dress uniforms, and took this terrible family photo

before heading to the USAJFKSWCS ball. Which was kind of a nice date night, even if the speeches went long and both of us would have preferred to be wearing sweats.

And today we're recovering. And hoping to hit the pool before this hurricane is upon us.

My favorite recent photos are from today's Sunday morning errands, which started at Duck Donuts

and included a belly-laughs trip to the car wash, where Finley "slimed" the car in her princess dress and left it dirtier than it was to begin with.

Here's to hurricanes bringing a break in this heat, and the (distant) eventuality of sweater weather and maple syrup season.