Milly was out of school Wednesday, so she hung around the house while I tried to get some work done. I also got a haircut today. Decided to go ahead and go a bit shorter with it. I decided to try out the barber where Johnny goes. Beale Street Barber Shop. I really enjoyed it, enjoyed talking to the owner, Mark, and thought he did a great job on my hair. I’ll definitely be back.

Milly and I picked Tristen up after work and headed to Gastonia. Tristen drove about half the way until we stopped for a potty break then I took over. Made pretty good time. Andra had spaghetti ready for us for dinner when we arrived.

Mom and Dad arrived there yesterday. Adam came by for a while, Erin showed up the next day.

Jackson, Andra, Tristen, and I played a game of Settlers of Catan that night. I didn’t realize Tristen had never played it. I won, I think she and Jackson tied for second.

Dad and I went to the store Thanksgiving morning to get stuff for breakfast. I made a sausage, egg, hashbrown, and cheese scramble on the stove. It was decent. Should have started with the hashbrowns instead of the sausage. Second time I made it (though I didn’t have sausage the first time). Maybe I’ll get it right next time.

Watched Duke take on Portland State in the PK90 Tournament. It was close the whole time and they got down in the second half, but they rallied back to win 99-81. This turned out to be a theme for the team, as they got down 16 points in the second half to Texas the next day, but won 85-78, and then in the PK80 championship game they were down 17 to Florida on Sunday with under ten minutes left and won 87-84.

Josh had to work most of the day on Thanksgiving, but he did get off earlier than expected. Paige and Tim (Josh’s mom and stepdad) joined us for Thanksgiving dinner. Lots of really good food, of course. Milly had people laughing with her accents, particularly her Boston accent.

The next day a bunch of us took a walk to the park in Andra and Josh’s neighborhood. I think it was Dad, me, Tristen, Adam, Milly, and Addy. Addy was walking their dog, Big Boy, who pooped on the way. She was not a fan of picking it up. Milly was riding Addy’s bike, which I rode back for the fun of it.

We went to Josh’s grandma’s house for another Thanksgiving dinner that night. It was all of us plus Paige, Tim, Josh’s sister Marina and her boyfriend. Scott? I can’t remember right now. I liked him though, wish I’d talked to him some more. Oh, and Josh’s grandma was there too, of course.

There was no ESPN in the house, so I was watching the game on my phone until dinner, then I was trying to be somewhat polite and sneak peaks at it until I finally just propped it up on the table (with the sound off). It was a very exciting game and a great comeback against a good Texas team.

I stayed up a little late playing Call of Duty: WWII with Jackson. I was never the best at first-person shooters, and I definitely haven’t gotten better with less practice. I enjoyed it though.

We left the next day, Saturday. Mom and Dad took Milly and Addy to Krispy Kreme and picked up a dozen doughnuts for the rest of us.

The only thing of note, really, was that we stopped to get gas at a station next to a Chick-Fil-A. Milly was asleep and we didn’t bother to wake her up, but Tristen and I both ordered chicken sandwiches, and I have to say that as good asChick-Fil-A is anyway, this was the best Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich I ever had. It was nice and crispy on the outside, very warm and tender on the inside. I don’t know exactly what it was, but it was just ridiculously good.

I took a nap when we got back and Milly wen to play with some friends down the street. After I got up we all headed off to the beach for Flotilla. We left a little later than we intended to and hit a good bit of traffic. It took us about half an hour to get from the intersection of Eastwood and Military Cutoff to Summer Sands, which normally takes no more than a couple minutes.

We had a good time there though. Laura and Craig were there, of course, as were a few of Laura’s friends. Lots of good food. The fireworks were the best part. The ones that were shaped like emojis were pretty cool, but whoever was in charge of buying them was an obviously enamored of them.