Saturday, September 1st, was an absolutely perfect day for us.

We woke up in Amelia Island to a new month and a drastic drop in the humidity. You could feel fall coming, and it made us happy. Very happy. Of course, coupling this ever-so-slight crispness in the air with College Football Gameday made Russ even happier.

We headed out to the beach for the morning. We all had a happy hop in our steps.

The water was refreshing, the scent of Coppertone hovered around us, and some of our favorite tunes wafted from our bag because I’d finally remembered to bring a portable iPod speaker.

Theo and I gathered shells and dug holes while Russ and the boys played in the water.

Tucker worked on his new skill: the headstand. This is all we’ve been seeing around our house for the past few weeks. Tuck can now also do one on his boogie-board. The boy’s core strength is phenomenal.

By now it was nearly noon–a respectable time, no doubt. So we broke out our next-to-the-last bottle of Caldwell Rose’.

And a great day got even better. (Thank you, John Caldwell. That’s some mighty fine juice you’ve got there.)

After lunch at the pool and a bit of swimming, we headed in for a rest and to watch Russ–the Bulldog, not the husband–in his official debut as UGa IX. Later that afternoon, Jack, Tuck and I headed back out to the beach for some more wave catching.

We made our way out to a sand-bar, holding hands and riding up and down the waves the entire way. The water was warm, the air salty and my boys giggly. Solid stuff, indeed.

When we stopped to rinse off on the way back to the house, I realized Tucker was wearing Theo’s swimsuit. Tucker the 6 year old can somehow still fit into size 2T swimtrunks.

Doing a happy dance on the boardwalk…

How did we know we were experiencing the perfect day? Someone’s even cut a real path for us! No more jumping and hopping and squealing through a ditch filled with briars and long-legged insects to forge a short-cut to the boardwalk. When you’re 6 and 8, this is pretty much the icing on the cake…

…until it’s outdoor shower time.

After dinner, we headed back out to the beach yet again.

Buckley-Dog joined us even though you can’t see him here; he was too busy sniffing for turtles.

Sunset on the beach. Happy, happy boys. Even happier parents.

The only way to bring a perfect day to a close?

Fireworks.

(That thing looks sorta scary, doesn’t it? There wasn’t that much fire actually blazing out of the end, I assure you…)

Buck wasn’t so thrilled with the way we closed out the day, but the rest of us couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces as we shuffled back to the house, shook the sand off us and curled up in beds to read and fall asleep.

It’s pretty hard to rank one’s days, especially when so many are so good. We are a fortunate crew to say the least. But for us, for our cozy little family of 5, a fifth date has come out of nowhere to join the Top 5:

(1) February 1, 2003.

(2) May 19, 2004.

(2) January 4, 2006.

(2) July 30, 2008.

and now (5) September 1, 2012.

Welcome to the club, September 1st. You were the perfect way to close out our summer and for that, we thank you.