• It’s outdoors.
• It’s local, from Wheaton’s wonderful Brookside Gardens.
• It shows storm damage. We had three storm-induced power cuts this summer: 54 hours, 24 hours, 4 hours.

I regard summer as over, since MoCo schools have restarted. Maddie started first grade yesterday.

Moco outdoor pools have gone into post-season mode, which means that they aren’t open on weekdays. We could really use them this week, with temperatures heading up towards 100, but I guess that many of the outdoor pool staff have gone back to high school, and that it was impossible to know very far ahead that this week would be hotter than most of the earlier part of August.

Post-season ends, and the outdoor pools close until next year (June?) after Labor Day. For someone who grew up outside this country, the status of Labor Day as a hard end of summer is even more amazing than spelling Labor without a u. It seems particularly silly when it comes to closing swimming pools in this climate.

That said, we had a good summer, and we’re having a good time as summer turns to autumn (all right then, fall).

First we went to a start of season party at the Parkland Pool, on Arcola in Wheaton. We found out about the party via a flyer at the nearby Little Gym of Silver Spring, where the kids enjoyed some classes during the spring. Although we enjoyed the party and liked the pool, Parkland is more of a club, and more of a $ commitment, than we are looking for.

Second, in terms of pools visited, was the Wheaton/Glenmont Pool. It fits our family well, as do many things run by Montgomery County.

As well as a toddler pool and a big pool, Wheaton has a kid pool, which ranges gradually in depth from almost nothing to about a meter. There’s also an adventure pool, for which none of us are quite ready. We decided that $275 for a family season pass would provide savings, as well as fun and coolness.

The third pool we visited is at the YMCA in Silver Spring. I’m starting this post as Maddie (6) is having a lesson in the indoor pool. We went for lessons there largely because of the timing: four mornings a week for the two weeks between Maddie’s school and summer school.

Today brought an incentive to make further use of the Y, in the form of a coupon. Today’s Groupon is $20 for a One-Month Family Membership, Two Personal-Training Sessions or Two Private Tennis Lessons, and $25 Toward Programs at the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington (which includes the Silver Spring location).