Day 4 (Cabin Day 1):

SIL wants to follow us to the cabin.  DH falls behind on getting everything ready to go.  SS has not changed his clothing since Tuesday.  DH has to have a long talk with him to get him to pack a bag for the cabin and to change into something else. SS has plenty of clothing here.  I'm impressed DH didn't pack for him.

SIL arrives 15 minutes early which puts DH into panic mode, we rush out the door.  The drive takes about an hour and a half.  Not terrible.  It was SIL, her husband, one SS (her bio son 18 decided not to go when he found out his mom expected him to contribute to food costs), and their dog.  Dog was very well behaved and slept in their tent with no issues at night.  We made the mistake of saving the coolers/food for last, so when SIL arrived early we forgot; grill utensils, BBQ sauce, cheese for sandwiches, SS ice tea mix.  Cousin reminds everyone not to flush toilet paper in the cabin because the pipes are old.  SS proudly chimes in with “I NEVER flush my toilet paper!” and I wanted to scream “I know you don’t you nasty little shyt!!!!” but I bit my tongue.  I will never win the “Battle of the TP”. Dreading when SS gets older and starts taking bigger dumps, our bathroom is going to be a disaster.  No windows that open, it's the old glass squares.  DH not concerned even though I’ve brought up that he needs to learn to stop doing that at our house.  I will stop cleaning the bathroom if this keeps up.  Day one at cabin very uneventful because we are just getting settled.

Day 5 (Cabin Day 2):

DH birthday.  We decide to go to a local flea market and arrive at 730 A.M..  Supposed to be there at 7 for good parking but DH lost his wallet somewhere in the small cabin.  DH gets himself into a "frenzy" due to missing wallet, cousin is mad because she wanted to get there earlier but since her husband decided he didn't want to go we had to wait for DH. SO DH is mad and cousin is mad, not a good start to the morning.   To get everyone out the door (and to prevent cousin from having a meltdown) I tell DH I have some cash and when he finds his wallet he can pay me back.  Arrive to the market at 7:30, We are there not even 1/2 hour and it's SS turn to have a meltdown:  it is once again too hot outside.  DH tells me to walk ahead with my cousin as he tries to figure out how to remedy the situation. Cousin adds to the mood by constantly mentioning "well...if we would have been here at 7 instead of 7:30..." 

     There isn't really any seating as it is like a giant garage-sale, so there isn't really a solution to SS heat issue.  I come back to Dh in the shade at someone's stand with SS sitting in a chair that is for sale.  The owner of the chair is upset because SS is sitting in it and demands that DH gets SS off it or buy it.  Since this was a $10 chair (not sure why, it was nothing special) DH finds something else to buy from that vendor to appease him, and after another hour of listening to SS whine, we head home.

  SS wants to go on the water trampoline, but he needs sun-block.  Meaning Dh must wipe sunscreen on SS face and shoulders for him.  SIL actually commented on it; “Isn’t he a little old for dad to still be doing that?” but DH said nothing.  The kids go out on the trampoline with the water floats and they are having a blast.  DH makes lunch, it becomes a 'free-for-all', meal plans be damned.  After lunch the kids want to go back out so DH suggests we all go out on rafts.  We attach all the rafts together with a rope.  Suddenly with dad there, SS can’t paddle his raft, can’t swim, can’t do anything. He just sits on his duck floatie, looking miserable like he’s being punished.  We are out on the water for less than a half hour before DH calls it quits and we head back to the dock.  Now DH is in a “mood” because not even 15 minutes before we got on the water, SS was having a blast, we all go out and he becomes an invalid. SS didn’t say he felt sick, he didn’t eat too much, he had a bottle of water, no excuses.

  8 p.m.. rolls around, all of us are at the neighbors playing bean-bags and having fun.  It was a 'bring your own meat and dish to share' potluck.  I watched SS eat one rib...and a plate full of brownies, rice crispie bars and other crap.  Not my problem.  SIL is drunk and trying to convince me to bring the small birthday cake I baked over to the neighbors so we can all sing "Happy Birthday" to DH.  I have a hard time convincing her a small cake can not feed 20 people.  As we argue,  I realize DH has disappeared.  Suddenly his truck stops by the side of the road where we are.  DH tells me he has to drive out to the main road to get cell-phone service because BM is having a conniption via text.  The holiday visitation schedule for 4th of July states that SS is supposed to be home by 8 p.m.. on July 7th.  However, this does not apply in this case because the 7th fell on DH normal visitation weekend so he is to drop off SS at the usual time of 5 p.m. on Sunday.  The only reason this rule is in place is if the 7th falls on a non visitation day. 

BM has stated that "she doesn't have to follow that because she's the mom."  She has never learned the schedule, which leads to BM throwing a screaming fit at DH, thus ruining his mood for the night. 

Meanwhile with DH gone, SS decided he was going to go sneak off away from the neighbors and swim back out to the water trampoline at my cousins cabin.  SIL asks if I've seen SS and I say no.  She says she didn't see SS in the cabin when she brought the plates back.  We begin a frantic search for SS between the neighbors and our cabin and aren't having any luck.  Then SIL's SS comes by and tells us that SS is swimming.  DH gets back from his “talk” with BM just in time for SIL to start crying and losing her shyt.  She just goes off and lays into him about being a “irresponsible parent” because he didn’t tell anyone to watch SS when he drove off.  Now drunk SIL is mad.  DH (who was already mad from BM convo) is even more mad because he told SS he could swim as long as he had a life-jacket and didn't think he had to tell anyone to watch his almost 11 y/o for a half hour. 

             SS comes back in, and sensing that DH is upset starts with the "cutesy baby-talk" crap again: pway, wike, twy, 'wim (swim).  DH says nothing to SS about the swim.  SIL dissapears into the tent, not to emerge until the following morning.  BIL missed the whole exchange (lucky guy) because he was chatting back at the potluck with his son.  The rest of the night consists of SS being up DH butt to the point where we couldn't even sit next to each other without SS barging over.  The latest SS thing: any time anyone said anything that made DH laugh, SS would repeat it, or part of it.  We would not react, but DH would fake-laugh.. This became the game of the night. Our very own walkie-talkie.  A few hours of this and I was ready to call it a night.  I went back to the cabin to read by myself, BIL and his son went to bed soon after, and DH had a campfire with SS while my cousin and her husband played cards.  Not sure what time they went to bed, but I was counting down the days until drop off. 

*forgot to add since he ate nothing but crap at the pot-luck (and they had some GOOD food!) SS woke up DH (and me because we shared a damn bed) at midnight for a sandwich. 

Two more days to go.  "Pt 3- ss almost gets ran over by the pontoon" coming tomorrow