Our weekend

We spent the past weekend at the cottage, and for the most part it was great. The weather forecast wasn't promising a very nice weekend, but it was wrong. Thankfully.

Friday night was just my mom and I - with the boys, of course. We sat outside for most of the night, but sometime around 10:30 it started to rain, so we headed inside. She and I just talked and talked all night. It was really fun to have just the two of us together.
Saturday was sunny and beautiful, and we puttered in the gardens, and around the yard. My Dad arrived in the middle of the afternoon and Hubby closed to dinner.
The adults went to a "Buck n Doe" for a couple we know that are getting married in September. It was really nice to go and get to see a number of friends we haven't seen in quite a while. Cuz was there, and if you are a regular reader, you know how happy I would have been to see her. Of course, I didn't get to spend any real quality time with her, but it was nice to see her anyway.

When we left the cottage to head to the dance, the A-man had pulled out the laptop and was working on an English essay about To Kill a Mockingbird. He told me that he really didn't care for the book all that much, but he did finish it, and he actually retained a lot of detail about a book he 'didn't like.' (I don't think it was so much that he didn't like it as it isn't the type of book he normally would pick for himself.)
When we got home, he had done all of the supper dishes, and straightened up the whole kitchen and dining room area. I was really pleased to see that he did that.

Sunday dawned hot and beautiful, again. I spent most of my day moving between the shade on the dock to the sun on the yard. I thanked the A-man earlier in the day for doing the dishes, and gave him some "mom bucks" for it. S thought he should get some to go to the store, also, but I told him, "If you do the work, you get paid. No work, no pay." He sat and pouted while the A-man and Presley - the little boy that was over watching TV and had helped with the dishes - went to the store to buy their rewards for doing the work. I think S learned that lesson - neither of the boys shared their goodies with him - and I am hoping he remembers that when a similar situation arises.

Somewhere around 2pm, the A-man and S and Presley were all swimming in the lake, and for whatever reason, the A-man got extremely agitated at his brother. He was yelling and screaming at him. I went down to the dock and explained that he needed to stop yelling - it was going to disturb the other cottages, and it was also not quite so necessary. He continued and continued. My mother talked with him. Hubby talked to him about the continuing on. After another bout of it, I had enough.
I told him to get out of the water, get dressed, and get packed. He and I were going home. (This was one advantage to both Hubby and I having our own vehicles there, I suppose...) Within 15 minutes, we were in the car and heading home. I was furious with him.

It probably took about half an hour of driving before I was actually calm enough to completely explain why I was so upset with him - and why we left. He had apologized to me about 10 minutes away from the cottage, but I wasn't really ready to hear it at that point. Once I knew I wouldn't lecture, but would actually be able to have a "give and take" conversation, I started to explain what caused me to become upset with him. We actually had a very good conversation. I think part of it was caused by a late night followed by an early morning, but he is also old enough now to realize that having a temper tantrum isn't going to solve anything. In fact, it usually results in all of the fun coming to an end. Which it did when we got in the car to come home.

The A-man finished his essay in the car on the way home. We stopped and got groceries, then he and I had a nice dinner (shrimp and asparagus salad) and watched a movie together. He did his final revisions, printed it off, and went to bed. It was like the whole episode at the cottage had never happened. (This is very typical of R.A.G.E, and that is why as a parent it is so frustrating!!)