Up at 9:00 today, which was my goal.  Could have used more sleep, but I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep past 9:00 anyway.  Milly was nice enough to sleep in too, so we all got up then.

We had pancake breakfast, which we didn’t have yesterday.  Milly went horseback riding for the first time on my back today, though it was more like she was just piggybacking me with the way she held on.  Hardwood floors made me want to go get knee pads from the big shed.  Other then hardwood floors, not sure why we’ve never done that before.

Amanda and I watched Fringe when Milly went down for her nap.  When she got up we met Nick, Eli and Ada at Castle Hayne Park.  Amy was working.  We brought sandwiches and chips.  Milly and Eli both played great and went down the slides a bunch.  Both have only gotten more bold about doing that on their own relatively recently.  Milly would put her arms out like she was going to catch Eli when he came down the slides.  They both got brave in climbing on things too.  Eli climbed some disc-shaped things and Milly went up the rungs of some monkey bars.

There were some somewhat rowdy older kids there and they started throwing an empty can at each other.  Amanda, mommy that she is, took it from them and said she was worried that they were going to hit the smaller kids.  One kid asked the other why he gave her the can and he said because she wanted it.  They all left a minute later.

Milly wanted a bath so Amanda gave her one while I made Rice Krispy Treats for tonight and watched Duke get killed by Florida Sate.  Duke was on a three game win streak and the Seminoles on a three game losing streak, so we all had hope.  Duke did recover two out of three onside kicks, which was impressive.  Gotta take the little things, you know.

We had a small group hangout night.  I think the Andrewses put it together.  The girls all hung out at the Johnsons’ and played some game and talked a bunch while the guys played poker at the Andrews’.  Amanda and I stopped by Reece and Stephanie’s early so Milly would have some time to be there before going straight to bed.  The Hausers got there right as Reece and I were about to go see David so I drove the three of us over and brought Jared back on the way over, since Ashley had dropped him off before going to the Johnsons’.

We had a really fun night, even if I was the first and second person to lose all my chips.  What can I say, once I committed I committed.  We had a few beers, ate some chips, dip, Rice Krispy Treats and Jelly Bellies, talked some crap and got to know each other a lot better.

When we got back to the Johnson house the girls were sipping wine and playing a game where people answer questions and you try to guess who wrote each answer.  What I learned from it is that they all wear the same things to bed, their husbands all had the same wish of what they’d like them to wear to bed and the ladies all had the same reason as to why they don’t wear what we want them to wear to bed, whatever reason that might be.

They’d had fondue, so we guys raided what was left of that.  We all hung out for a little while then departed back to our own houses.

Zach Dotsey