Zach Dotsey

It was almost 70 degrees, but once you stepped out onto the beach you could tell it was a few degrees cooler on the sand.  Surfers could be seen up and down the strand, some walking back down the beach to counteract the drift as they headed back out to the frigid water, some sitting on their boards taking a break.  Of course still more were out past the breakers, waiting for a wave to catch, but it wasn’t as crowded as you’d think, thanks in large part to the water temperature.

Barry and I headed down shore a little.  I guess it was the temperature difference causing a fog, but everything in the distance was hazy.  There was a dredging ship off the south end of the island that looked like a castle rising out of the mist.

Today was the first day I have worn a hood while surfing, and it was the first time I wore my own gloves (which I picked up on the way to Anna and Barry’s).  All that along with my 4-3 wetsuit kept me pretty warm.  In fact, I was expecting to get cold at some point, but with the hood, even when I ducked a few waves I never felt like it was anywhere near unbearable out in the water.  The last time I went out surfing was probably a couple months ago and I was definitely out of shape.  The water was choppy and I had to fight to get out so I didn’t do a whole lot, but I caught a few waves.  The main thing was that I got out there, which will hopefully scratch my surfing itch for a little while.

Once I got out for good I sat and waited for Barry for a while before deciding to just head on in.  There weren’t many surfers out anymore and I figured (rightly) that I must have missed him on his way in.  As I was going to wash off my board I ran into Michael,  guy I’ve done Grow Zone with before, and talked to him for a minute or two.

Before all that Amanda, Milly and I went to church then picked up some bagel sandwiches from Atlanta Bread.  Back home we watched a bit of TV (The Soup and 30 Rock) before Barry texted me about the waves.  After we got back we put Milly down for a nap then watched Saturday Night Live while Amanda heated up some leftover white chili to eat.

We started watching Fringe, but I fell asleep.  I was actually planning on taking a nap before Barry texted me.  I caught most of the episode though, and it was a weird one.  It wasn’t weird in the way that Fringe deals with supernatural things, but in that it was listed as a new episode but obviously was out of continuity.  We guessed it was just an episode they taped but never got around to airing.

Once that was done and Milly was put to bed Amanda and I watched Duke take on Wake Forest.  It was a very physical game with foul trouble all around.  The point differential stayed around four for the most part with the Blue Devils taking an eight point lead off a Jon Scheyer three pointer just before the half.  Wake fought back, but Duke ended up going off in the second half once again and the final score was 90-70.

There was a controversial call about halfway through the second half.  Mason Plumlee was going up for a fast break dunk and was fouled pretty hard by Wake’s Ish Smith and ended up hurt for a few minutes.  While I think the foul was out of control, I don’t think it was an intentional foul, which is what it was ruled, even after review.  Duke was already starting a run at that point, but as my brother-in-law pointed out multiple times via text throughout the rest of the game, it was at a debatably crucial point.  Duke was already starting to gain momentum and that helped, but it didn’t help to the tune of 20 points.

Jon Scheyer was kept to single digits (nine), but Kyle Singler had 21, Nolan Smith had 20 and Miles and Mason Plumlee combined for 30 (19 coming from Miles!).  Duke also only hit four of 13 threes.  What’s promising about this and the last game is that Duke is no longer a team that “lives by the three and dies by the three.”  Once they do start hitting them again though, man, they’ll be deadly because of another great thing shown in this game: Duke can score in the post.  The third big point that I am really excited about it just how tough this Duke team is.  The Demon Deacons were very physical.  Mason got hurt and Kyle got fouled once and landed on his face.  6′4″. 190 pound Andre Dawkins went up to block and foul the very physical 7′0″ 230 pound Chas McFarland.  It’s a tough team that does not back down.

Zach Dotsey

I had a dream last night that Amanda, Milly and I walked out to our usual spot at Wrightsville Beach, and when we got out there I saw nice large, rolling waves that looked easy to get out to and catch, but there were very few people out in the water.  It was warm out, but the water was still chilly.  Overjoyed, I ran back to the Frazelle house to get my wetsuit on and grab my board.  I told Barry and we headed on out for a session.

I’ve really been missing surfing lately.  There hasn’t been much out there and the water’s so cold right now anyway.  I’ve been thinking of Nosara, Costa Rica a lot too.

As we usually do when Karen comes to visit, we had breakfast this morning at Cracker Barrel.  On the way there Karen sat in the back and played with Milly.  She was laughing, which is always so great to hear.  It’s the best.

Michael and Jenn joined us, and afterwards they came over to our place.  Michael had burned his hand pretty badly at work on Tuesday (though work did nothing about it) and he, Jenn and Karen stopped by a drug store on the way over to pick up some salve and bandages for it.

We played some MarioKart and I did pretty well, though I haven’t unlocked some of their usual cars and characters yet and they’re used to playing with a regular controller, not the Wii-mote.  I’ve been assured that the two of them are much better playing as they’re accustomed, which I’m sure is true.

Amanda and Karen took off to go shopping or some such and the rest of us stayed to watch Carolina defend the Dean Dome against Georgia Tech.  Jenn didn’t care at all about it and Michael has hardly watched any games this season, but he was still pulling for his Heels.  I, of course, was not. My prediction though, given my luck and the fact that the game was at Carolina, was that the Yellow Jackets, after beating Duke and losing to Virginia (who is supposed to be towards the bottom of the ACC but actually has the best conference record so far), would lose.

Georgia Tech got out to a 20 point lead and they were up 16 at the half.  I never felt comfortable though, and Carolina took the lead with just a few minutes to go.  They swapped lead changed a few times, but Carolina did end up losing.  Amanda got back home just before the end and we were pretty happy about it, though we tried not to flaunt our joy until Michael left.

My mom called to see how things were going and how Milly is doing.  She was stuck in Rochester this weekend.

A little while later Amanda, Milly and I went to have dinner and a game with the Warkentiens.  Milly was off and on fussy but didn’t want to take a nap.  But then, she hadn’t napped much today, so I can understand her being cranky.  We put the kids down around 8:00 then played a game of Puerto Rico.  I changed my strategy but still came in third place, though I was surprised by even that.  (Thanks for losing to me, Nick.)  Amanda absolutely crushed it for the win.  The game was fun, of course, but we imposed a rule where the Governor (which is a position that switches every goes) had to speak in some kind of accent.  We all had a lot of fun with that, too.

When we got Milly up to leave through the time we put her back down in her own crib, she was in a very happy mood.  I almost don’t want to put her back to sleep when she’s like that.

Zach Dotsey

Today was Peggy and Earl Lemons’ wedding anniversary.

Had the usual big country breakfast at the beach, capped with Earl Lemons’ famous cheese biscuits.

Barry arrived just before breakfast.

Jon, Denise, Jonathan, Cailey, Matt and girlfriend Caroline arrived.  Played in sand with Cailey, who took to me pretty quickly.

Jonathan and Anna Hawkins were very good with Milly, but Tripp was really good.  Kind of surprised me how good he was with a baby.

I went surfing, and it was the first time I used a rash guard this year.  The earlier surf was really good, went up a wave and back down on Basher.  Later surf was good but hard to get out on.

Went back to the house we’re staying in at 7:30 or 8 to feed Milly and put her to bed after dinner.  I missed hanging out, but a lot of people came over and played Mexican Train.  Paul may have won Yahtzee last night, but he lost pretty good tonight.  I think Anna won, maybe?

Zach Dotsey

The day started with Amanda waking me up at 8:00 and reminding me that I said I’d get up at 8:00 to mow the lawn. So I mowed the lawn. After that Amanda showered while I watched Milly then I showered and took Harvey to Amy and Nick’s. I missed Bruce after my shower. He’s usually right there on the bath mat waiting to lick your ankle then jump into the tub when you’re done.

Aunt Robbie called while I was on the way to dropping off Harvey and said something about coming for a visit in November, which will be great.

When I got back from dropping off Harvey (and the recycling, sans the plastic because the plastic bin was missing) Amanda and I loaded up the car. I tell ya, it makes a difference packing with a baby. The pack & play alone, though compact for all that it is, took up a good bit of space. Yeah, we’re looking forward to getting something a little bigger than the Jetta.

Since we were the first family members to arrive at Topsail we got the keys for the two beach houses, but before we could unload a single thing from our car we saw Peggy and Earl, Amanda’s grandparents, drive up so we went over to that beach house to help them unload and such. I took Milly, since I knew they’d be excited to see her. Other family members soon followed: Joanne and Pierre, Patsy and Bobby and Mary Francis and Dave along with their grandson, Paul. Paul’s been looking forward to surfing, so we went on out after a little bit.

The waves were of a pretty decent size, but the trip out was a little daunting. Also, Paul got swept downshore a bit. I’d seen him walking back upshore, and when I got out I went to the tent Pierre always sets up (though this year it’s two tents). Dave asked where Paul was and I said I thought he’d walked back up here already. Well, Dave, who was already very wary about Paul being out in the ocean, bless him, asked me to go back and get him out of the water once we saw where he was. I went back out, but we actually stayed out there for a little bit. Paul caught a wave or two, too.

Nick, Amy and Eli came for a visit, and Amy actually tried her hand at surfing too, but again the trip out was tough and she ended up going back in. I didn’t stay out long, as my right leg was cramping a little when I sat on the board. I was using Terry, by the way, and letting other people use my NSP, which has pretty much unofficially been named Basher.

Paul and I went out again and did pretty well, catching two or three more waves. This time when we came back in we saw Tripp and Anna Hawkins. Dain and Anna were here. Oh, Terry and Ryan had arrived a while back too, I think before Nick and Amy were even here, as had Karen. Michael was here when we went back to the house, and he was itching to surf. I let him and Paul take the boards out.

We then had some dinner, and Anna, Hannah and Kirsten arrived in that time. After dinner there was some general hanging around, and eventually pretty much everyone under 60 went to the other beach house. I was the first back over here when I fed Milly and put her to bed. Nick and Amy left around that time too. Eventually Amanda and I organized a game of Yahtzee, but there were so many people and so many conversations that I don’t think anybody was overly interested in it. Despite that, Paul won and I came in second.

I did do a little bit of work today. There were some issues some people were trying to get resolved and I tried to help out with that before we left.

Zach Dotsey
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amanda dotsey, zach dotsey, milly dotsey, topsail beach, labor day, earl lemons, peggy lemons, EVERYONE ELSE WHO WAS HERE, surfing, yahtzee

I had planned to get up early and go surfing at about 6:00 this morning, but Milly wasn’t the most restful last night and kept me and Amanda up a bit, so I ended up just sleeping on in.  Barry said I didn’t miss anything, so that’s good.

We did get to sleep just a little bit later than previous Sundays though.  Today is the day that Port City Community Church went to from three (8:30, 11:30, 12:30) services to four (9, 11, 4, 6).  Amanda and I had always gone to the 8:30 service so we wanted to continue that general schedule and go to the 9:00.  It was definitely more crowded.

The service was good.  It was a wrap up on a series taking a look at the Book of Ruth, which is a pretty short book.  They had four people read through it after the music, one for each chapter.  One was our friend, Nick Jones, who I thought did a very fine job.

Milly decided to let up on her 24+ hours of not pooping while she was in Grow Zone, but otherwise did fine.

We went home for a bit then went back out for lunch at Sweet & Savory with Matt Carter and his girlfriend, who is a grad student at Carolina.  That’s okay though- she said she didn’t even know who Tyler Hansbrough was when she saw him on campus before.

We had a good time catching up.  I can’t believe it had been about five years since we’d seen Matt.  When we lived in Raleigh we’d see him every now and then at least.

Barry had called me when we were on the way out to lunch about surfing.  Amanda’s plan was to drop me off, but by the time we finished lunch it was time to feed the Millster.  Unfortunately, Amanda hadn’t planned on being out that long (we talked a lot!) and didn’t have any formula, so we stopped by a grocery store and got some pre-made formula for Milly then headed out to Wrightsville Beach, whereat I went on out surfing with Barry.

I didn’t catch a whole lot at first.  I don’t know exactly what the deal was the last couple days, whether it was just that the waves were funky, I was being too timid or I’m just not used to a board as slim as Terry.  Maybe it’s some combination of all of the above.  The waves weren’t as big today, but there was a bit of a remnant from Hurricane Bill.  We went ashore after a little while then walked down the beach and decided to go back out.  I’m glad we did, because even though the only wave I caught well was the one I rode in, I did catch it very well.    I don’t think I really realized it, but Barry said I was roller coasting, zig zagging up and down the wave and controlling it pretty well.  Barry was pretty stoked on my accomplishment.

After we came in I went right back out to take a walk with my girls.  We got a bit of a workout pushing the beach stroller.  On the way back we ran into the Nowaks and talked to them for a little while.  Mike’s thinking seriously about buying a used 9 foot or so board.

Back home, I took a nap while Amanda watched North Point’s live online sermon, which I may or may not have mentioned us doing last week.  It was interesting last week, but I was just tired.

North Point, by the way, is a church in Buckhead, Georgia (outside of Atlanta, and in a place that used to have blocks and blocks of bars, which I visited one time).  Port City is pretty much based on that church.

Amanda went to bed early.  Milly was really sweet after her 11:00 feeding.  She gets that way sometimes, where after she’s been fed she’ll wake up a little when I’m changing her and smile and talk to me.  I almost hate to wrap her back up in her blanket and lay her back down at times like that.

Zach Dotsey

I got up with Milly this morning and let Amanda sleep in some.  She was in a happy mood after I fed and changed her, so we had some fun playing together.

Amanda got in touch with her college buddy, Matt Carter, recently and it just happens that he and his girlfriend are going to be in town this weekend.  She talked to him today and set up breakfast with them tomorrow.  Today, though, we had breakfast with Amanda’s brother, Michael Mercer, and his girlfriend, Jenn Greenawalt, at Saltworks.  They raised their prices since the last time we ate there.

Nick Warkentien returned the mower today so I mowed the embarrassingly-high grass today.  Nick replaced the mower blade and the handle on the starter string, which I happened to chop off the first time I used it.  The blade was replaced after Nick ran over a root, which he pronounced in a way that rhymes with foot, and bent the blade.

Amanda and I took showers then headed off to Wrightsville Beach.  We were going to go for a walk, but a storm was coming in and it rained pretty hard.  Barry and Anna were out at a party but came back a little after the rain ended, so Barry and I went out to catch some waves.  I really didn’t catch anything.  The Hurricane Bill waves were big but they were also steep so that you needed to catch the shoulder of the wave to catch it right.  As crowded as it was that wasn’t an easy task.  Barry even got dropped in on a couple times.

We got back home around 8:00 and Milly was fussy from hunger.  We fed and bathed her before putting her to bed then Amanda and I spent some time together and watched the season finale of Whale Wars.  They ended up ramming a whaling ship while tring to get between it and the ship that processes the whales, which caused a big stink.

Zach Dotsey
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I changed Milly at 5:30 then Amanda took care of her at 7:30.  I got up about an hour later and spent some time playing with her before going to work.  I guess at this point I should probably quit updating what time Milly gets up since she seems to be on schedule every day for waking up at 5:30 to let us know that her diaper is in need of change, maybe crying for a little bit around 6 or 6:30, then crying again somewhere between 7:30 and 8, at which time Amanda or I (usually Amanda) will go downstairs, prepare a bottle of formula then come back up, grab the Bug and take her downstairs to eat.

So until further notice, that’s what’s up.

Amanda and I went out for lunch today at Flaming Amy’s with Billy Supplee and Cyra Sherburn, two of her coworkers.  It started raining really hard on the way over there.  I mentioned to Amanda that this was Milly’s first hurricane weather.  Not that we’ve got a hurricane hitting here in Wilmington, but the weather is being influenced by it.  Actually, that might have been inaccurate.  I think what we had today was from a cold front from the west, which is part of what is pushing Hurricane Bill out to the east a little and keeping it off of land.

When we got to Flaming Amy’s I was about to set Milly in her car seat down on a table, but some other guy walked up and put his glass down just before I did.  I don’t know if the guy saw me or not, but he spent most of the time there with just one other guy at a table that seated six, relegating our group to pulling an extra chair up at the end of a booth since the car seat took up a good bit of space.  I was going to say something to the guy- it could be that he really didn’t see me, but we’d found our booth and I figured it was moot after the point.  The guys did later have a few other people with them.

Our time with Billy and Cyra was nice.  They spent a good portion of time updating Amanda of the office goings-on.

I worked a good bit after we got back.  Scott called me to let me know that he’d thought today or some day over the weekend was payday (it’s Monday) and that I could pick up my check early if I liked.  I ended up leaving the house around 4:00, but I didn’t realize the place closed early on Friday.  I just headed on over to Wrightsville Beach after that.

The water was glassy today.  I headed out with Barry, Hannah and Christian.  Anna walked out too, to go for a walk, and told me that Brian had had an accident with his board.  From all that I pieced together he hadn’t done anything wrong, but after he came up from a wave, the water had pulled on his board and after the wave passed it snapped back and hit him in the face.  It cut his eyelid and tear duct and, from what I hear, will require a little plastic surgery.

I didn’t have any incident nearly as rough as that today, although there was this one wave that I tried to duck and, well, I’m not sure exactly what happened.  I think either I got mostly through that one or another one came right after it and carried me off, tumbling me like a bunch of wet clothes in a dryer.  I said something to Hannah about it once I paddled back out.  She had been right next to me when I got carried away and told me that she had to admit that she’d had to laugh at me on that one.

It was a bit crowded out and some of the waves were pretty steep, but I caught a few.  The one I rode in was probably my best one.

On the way home I stopped by Wendy’s to get a little something to snack on and decided to fill up the gas.  I struck up a conversation with a guy sitting next to a bike outside the place.  After a little conversation he asked if I had a buck I could spare.  I checked to see if there was a dollar or some change in the car, but there wasn’t.  I didn’t mind him asking because we’d chit chatted a bit, and I started up the conversation, as opposed to him walking up to me and asking for change.  Since I didn’t have anything though, I asked if he’d like me to buy him a drink, to which he replied that he didn’t want any beer or anything, which made me feel even better about getting him something.  I told him I meant a water or a soda, and he asked if I’d mind getting him a Mountain Dew, and so I did.  I also got him a small bag of Doritos and a Mountain Dew for myself.  They were $1.50 for one, two for $2, so I thought why not?

I arrived home to a house full of Amanda, Milly, Cyra and Billy.  After Milly was put down we watched a little TV and ate chicken pot pie.  After that we watched I Love You, Man, which I really liked.  After the final scene I felt compelled to send my good buddy Jason Revill a text message saying, “I love you, man.”  A few minutes later he texted back, “And I you.”

After that Billy, Cyra and Amanda watched Old Greg on the TV while I fed Milly.  It’s a silly video, but Billy and I don’t find it nearly as funny as Amanda and Cyra do.  After feeding Milly we continued to watch YouTube videos until 2:00.  I can’t remember the last time Amanda stayed up that late.  (Amanda told me it was when Ben and Jessica were here.)

Zach Dotsey