Let's pick a date!

When to go?  These are notes from when I was planning a trip with my folks starting around Labor Day.

• Remember that the French do DD/MM/YY when writing dates. So September 5, 2011 may be 9/5/11 to Americans, but it is 5/9/11 to the French.
• Generally, flights are cheapest on Tues/Wed, sometimes Thurs.
• Avoid the congestion of French families on vacation:  http://www.provence-hideaway.com/120-1.html  
• September is a big convention month with a Crafts fair and Fashion Week toward the end of the month, so book far in advance.
• Early September can still be hot, so make sure your hotel has AC. 
• Always pack a brolly.

For my 2011 trip, we were trying to decide whether to go before/during/after Labor Day, but that was also the end of French vacations, so we discovered:

• The later we go, the slightly cheaper it is - for example, flying 9/6 - 9/20 is $100 cheaper than flying a week earlier (8/30 - 9/13) plus vacation rentals will go down slightly after 9/5 - and until they do, Paris hotels may be a little cheaper (because Paris will be empty).
• 9/5 is not only the end of school vacation in France, but our Labor Day, so that's a free vacation day. So another option is to use Labor Day to stretch ourselves a little longer - flying Sat 9/3 and returning Mon 9/19 only costs an extra $100 over the cheaper days of the week - and it gives us an extra 2 days in France.
• My only hesitations about arriving in Paris on 8/30 are: will Parisians still be on vacation (so will things be closed) AND will summer tourists (like us) be clogging the sights? Or will Paris be returning to normal, and tourists heading home? 
• Either way, we won't get to Provence until after 9/5, so we should have less crowds/competition for a countryside rental. 
• What does Rick Steve advise?