Amanda, Milly and I went to Wrightsville Beach today.  We meant to go in the morning but after taking our time to get ready and making a stop at Old Navy we didn’t get out there until a little after noon I think.

Old Navy was a pretty fun stop.  We went there because they had a bunch of things on sale for $4, though the only things we came away with were a bathing suit or two for Milly.  What was fun about it though was that there’s a table towards the back where they’ve got some crayons and some pictures to color for kids.  Milly was coloring a picture and a girl, she was probably six or seven, was helping Milly and being really nice to her.  And in front of the table they had a small projector casting a water scene on the floor in front of it that a few other kids were playing with.  When Milly finished coloring she started playing with those kids, all of whom were older than she is.  She even walked up to one girl and held her hand.  A lot of older kids I’ve seen have been put off by that, but the girl was really sweet to Milly.  I just loved watching her interact and being social.

Anna and Hannah joined us out on the beach when we got there.  There was a tidal pool we though Milly would enjoy, but one rogue (and tiny, I should note) wave came and hit Milly a little bit and she was done with it.  She spent the rest of her time on the sand.  To be fair, I think she was already getting a little tired.

I snorkeled for the first time today.  Hannah had brought out two masks.  The water was a bit murky, but I enjoyed doing it nonetheless.  I wasn’t out long though because Milly was ready to go.

We’d considered staying out at the Frazelles’ for the day because we were coming back later for a cookout right down the road from them, but there was plenty of time to go home and put Milly down for a nap.

The cookout was for the production team at Port City Community Church and was held at the home of Jesse Stephens.  From what I hear he puts his place up for use for just about any function for the church, and it’s a great place to do it.  His place is on a lot that faces the street on one side, right across from the beach, and then there’s a long, narrow slip of grass to the Intracoastal Waterway.  That’s where we spent the cookout- at the back.  The water in the Waterway is lake-like, except for when boats pass by, and there’s enough of a shallow part of it that Milly and Eli (the Warkentiens were there) could stand in it without us having to worry too much, so long as they didn’t wander far from the bank.

We had a good time.  I was in the water a lot along with Milly and Eli while Amanda spent most of her time socializing on shore.  I think she mostly talked to Amy, Jenny Cain (the Cains were there too, and Hudson loved the water) and Kirsten Paschal’s mom, who was visiting from Charlotte.

When we left we went back to the Frazelles’ to hang out with them for a bit.  Barry’s friends Jay Rivenbark and Hugh MacRae stopped by and Milly walked up to them both and gave them fist bumps, which everyone thought was super-cool.

Zach Dotsey