Marin and I have had a blast this week, getting back into the routine of going to the bounce house. All the big kids are back in school because we are seriously rocking some good weather here in Nashville. That means no rough, crazed lunatics in an indoor play area. Well, almost none. :)

Marin and I were hanging out in the basketball inflatable. It is a really cool basketball "court" if you will and has 2 blow up nets for shooting baskets. Marin likes to hang out in there and just play with the basketballs. They aren't real basketballs. They are soft, rubber playground balls decorated with Sponge Bob, Spider Man, and an assortment of other cool characters. The fact that they aren't regulation basketballs is a very good thing.

Marin was just chilling out, minding his own business, when a 3 or 4 year old little boy takes one of the balls and throws it right in Marin's face. On purpose. Just to see what Marin would do. Marin just stands there looking stunned for a second, wondering what the heck just happened. I knew it didn't really "hurt" Marin so I just stayed put, wanting to see if the kids could work it out. The other mother was mortified and already alternating between apologizing profusely to me while reading her kid his rights.

After taking a moment to collect his wits, Marin starts slowly walking towards the other boy. The kid has already gotten back to his game and has his back turned to Marin. Uh-oh. Marin gets within arms reach and slaps the kid on the back. Just one good whallop to let him know what he did wasn't cool.

I was now among the mortified mother's club. The other mother simply said, "Don't worry about it. He was just defending himself." I guess she's right and I was secretly glad that Marin didn't let him by with it. As my favorite hockey player, Jordin Tootoo, once said: "It's not retaliation! It's part of the game." :)