The sights and sounds of "Fall"

It is fall, finally; well, technically, it has been fall for a week and a half. But still, it's fall. And for us, fall means different things than the rest of the country. Today I would like to share with you some of our sights and sounds.

• Firstly, the temperature has finally dropped below 100, for good this time (well, at least until next April/May). And with nighttime temps touching the low 70's/upper 60's (if we are really really lucky) we can have the windows open at night and in the early morning, this means that we can fall asleep listening to the crickets singing (and not in our house).
• And since our weather has cooled, we now can pull out our "fall" clothes. Really, this just means that we are sick and tired of wearing shorts and we begin to wear jeans. We don't care that the temps are still in the mid-upper 90's, that doesn't phase us one bit. It is just a nice change to be able to wear something new and different.
• Most noticeably are the kids. It is now cool enough that we let our kids play outside, even with the sun still out! Now we don't have to make sure that our kids are still sweating (I'm not joking about that one, no sweat=heat stress/exhaustion), and just let them have fun. We see our neighbors out working in their yards, walking their dogs, just enjoying the evenings.
• People start putting in their "winter" lawns: rye grass instead of burmuda grass. Flowers are blooming which means our allergies start acting up again, lots of sneezing, from all of us. And in two more months (or so) lots and lots of citrus.
• Me, very grumpy and frustrated. I am getting too big for my regular clothes, but not nearly big enough for my maternity clothes. I am loosing more and more shirts that fit every day. And I have to wear all of my shorts/jeans with a hair band around the button so they will fit. But on the plus side, I found a great pair of new brown heels yesterday for only $20 (reg $80). Oh, well. 3 down, and only 6 more months to go; I'll survive.