We went to the beach this morning, joined by Tristen.  Amanda vowed to get Nick out there with us at some point.  I’m skeptical.

Milly was braver in the water than she’s been in some time.  She mostly just played with Tristen until she and I went out in the deeper water to swim for a bit, at which point she played with Amanda, and when I got in from swimming she played with me.  She got a bit braver today in that she went out in the water up to her thighs or so by herself and she let me take her out up to my chest or shoulders.

After the beach we went to the pool at Summer Sands.  There was a nine-year-old girl there who took an interest in Milly and kept encouraging her to swim.  The best I got out of her was to swim with her on my back and have her go through the motions.

The pool was a little crowded at first, but it cleared out to two couples (one being the parents of the girl Milly was playing with) and the three of us, which is fortunate because at one point Milly said she had to pee and let loose.  She got out of the pool and just sort of kept going as I carried her under my arm towards the exit of the pool.  The other people just laughed.

Amanda and Tristen got hotdogs from Trolley Stop.  Amanda got a veggie one for Milly and she ate half of it.  I finished it off, but it definitely wasn’t as good.

Nick and Amy dropped Eli and Ada off to go on their anniversary date this evening.  Milly took Ada upstairs and in no time at all was helping her undress and putting a princess dress on her.  Eli had wandered upstairs, but he came back down to play with Amanda’s (or “Amanda Dotsey” or “Samantha” sometimes) iPad.  Amanda was playing Just Dance, so I joked that he came down to watch her with me.  All three of the kids played Milly’s Disney Just Dance at some point, then we had dinner.

Ada pooped twice.  It was a nasty and smelly green concoction.  Milly wanted to help me, which was kind of cool.

Bedtime was pretty easy.  Eli slept upstairs in the cardboard house again.  Amanda took care of the big kids and I took Ada downstairs to the pack & play in the office.  I took that job because after I put her down I went across the street to help Bonnie and Dave with their internet.  They’d tried unplugging their router and modem and plugging them back in, but I think they didn’t unplug them long enough.  I also restarted the computer.  Anyway, I fixed that for them.  I chatted with Dave for a minute about the AC in the Steak.

I meant to mention it to him when I took it in for the oil change and inspection, but it does nothing when you turn the fan on the first three levels of blowing power, but then it blasts nice and full on the fourth.  He had two ideas of what it might be, and I’m thinking it was the second he said, which was that the transistor in it had gone bad.  So I’m taking it to him on Monday to take a look.

Amanda and I watched some TV until Nick and Amy came back by to pick up the kids.

Zach Dotsey