september in pictures

these first few are stragglers that didn't make it in with august. our neighborhood has an annual (this was our second year and we plan to continue the tradition) back-to-school potluck/movie night at the end of the summer. we had delicious food and then the kids watched frozen on the projector while the adults sat around and talked. we love our neighbors.

the pool closed on labor day and this was the friday before labor day. you can see that the clouds were ominous, but that didn't stop us from going and we had the pool to ourselves. looking at these pictures now makes me nostalgic for summer. 

this was labor day and the most crowded i saw the pool all summer. everyone was getting in their last kicks of summer before school started and the pool closed. we loved our summer of swimming. 

madeleine started first grade this year on the tuesday after labor day. these are all of permutations for the first day of school pictures.

madeleine and our neighbors, also in first grade.

the whole neighborhood heading to school: 

 the weekend after school started, my friend invited me and the girls to join her and her girls for a mother-daughter campout. madeleine was tired from the first week of school and wanted to stay home with randy and jonathan (i was a little surprised by this because she loves these friends, but she stuck to her guns and really didn't come. i guess the transition to full-day school took it out of her). so, diane and i headed out to the tolt macdonald campgrounds in carnation, about forty-five minutes away, for an overnight campout.

we got there and set up what little camp we set up, and then went and explored the tolt macdonald bridge and the snoqualmie river.

diane and i had a great time and i actually think it was good for me to have a little one-on-one experience with her. this is a picture of us in the tent in the morning, waiting for everyone else to wake up:

playing at st. edward's park with irina, a friend of madeleine's:

 playing the piano is serious business around here:

jonathan pretended to be a puppy a lot in september. he is terrified of dogs.

randy and i were on a date in mill creek and randy was taking a picture of me in front of this pretty wall when a guy rode by on a bike and volunteered to take a picture of the two of us. we were both thinking, "i really hope this guy doesn't try to take off with randy's brand new phone." he didn't, thankfully. 

and finally, a picture of diane asleep under her bed, of course.