The Kind of Friend That Enjoys Your Lunch Money

A couple of weeks ago, Q came home from school and declared that there was a bully on the bus. This bully apparently made fun of his glasses and told him he was ugly, etc. Of course, I reassured Q that a more ridiculous thing couldn't be said and that people act mean because they feel bad about themselves - so we should feel pity for this bully and try our best to ignore him.

Over the next few days, Q would come home complaining about another mean thing the bully said, and I would ask him, "Why are you still sitting by him? Sit somewhere else". Q would give me different reasons for why he had to sit by the bully and that there wasn't anything he could do about it. I figured I'd wait to see if it all blew over.

Last week, L came home in tears and Q was pronouncing her to be the newest victim of the bully. He apparently called her "lame" and this was very upsetting to L. So I said enough and asked Q to please talk to the bus driver about the problem so they could sit somewhere else on the bus. Q refused. "I don't like getting other kids in trouble." he said, which is understandable. I told him that something needed to be done and that if the bully was saying mean things, maybe he deserved to get into trouble. I gave Q an ultimatum - you talk to the bus driver or I'll talk to him. Q did not like this scenario and he offered an alternative.

Apparently, Q quickly realized his contribution to the issue. He told me that he sometime eggs the bully on by starting an argument, so he felt like he could make the mean comments stop by simply not talking to him. I told him he could try it out for a couple of days.

We no longer have a bully on the bus. Just a neighborhood kid that said some rude stuff, but that's behind us now. I have no way of really knowing what goes down on the bus. If I had panicked and made a big fuss before Q took on some responsibility for what was going on, I'm sure things would not have subsided so easily.

I'm very proud of Q for deciding to handle the situation with some maturity - maturity that I think is a bit beyond his 8 years. This situation has made me realize that one thing I want very much for my children, is to feel that the world is not a scary place. I want my kids to be street smart, while always looking for the good things and not focusing on the ugliness. After all, one persons bully is another kid's buddy.

13.1

Last weekend, R ran the Duke City 1/2 marathon. He finished in excellent time - 1:29:50 - just 30 seconds over his PR. Other than a little soreness, slight chaffing and one barely bloody nipple (which is basically standard fare for male racers who forget to get the right kind of band aides ahead of time) R came though feeling quite good. I'm so proud of him! He really is an amazing kind of guy.

Botanically Beautiful

My mom and step-dad came to visit last weekend, and after my children decided to give me a turn with Grandma, I suggested a trip to the Rio Grande Botanic Gardens. I had previously been there, but only saw a couple of exhibits. After this trip, I have decided it's one of my favorite places in Albuquerque. It's amazingly peaceful and somewhat green!

The Sky Is Falling

Not too long ago, we had a stormy day here in Albuquerque. It rained a bit, which was no big deal. Then the weather "deteriorated" and it began to hail. And there was wind that seemed like it would bust the windows. And it rained a lot more. This all happened in the span of about fifteen minutes, but it was a crazy fifteen minutes. I kept thinking about how frightening it must be to live through a hurricane or tornado.

After our crazy storm, there were a few uprooted trees and big rocks and sand in the roads. The sun came out pretty quickly afterwards and so I ran to the store for milk and o.j. I don't think I really have any idea of what it would be like to live through a hurricane or tornado. I'm kind of okay with not knowing.

Holy Hot Air, Batman!

The Albuquerque International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta was an awesome experience! It completely exceeded my expectations and made me long to float away in a "little wicker basket" (as R describes it) tied to a balloon full of hot air. We went with R's father and the J family (R's sister & co). Thanks, again to K for sharing a few photos and to B for inadvertently giving me the idea for my post title!

If...

If I had my own hot air balloon, this is what it would look like. A girl can dream :)

Too Sexy For Iowa

Supercool...

A couple weekends ago, we went down to Carlsbad Caverns with some extended family. R's sister, her family and my father-in-law drove down to Albuquerque for a long weekend. We hit the Balloon Fiesta first, then went and camped out a couple of nights just north of Carlsbad. We had a lot of fun and saw so many AMAZING sights! My camera ran out of battery about two minutes into the caverns, so my brother-in-law was nice enough to share his pictures with us. Thanks, K!

Carlsbad...

Caverns

Use your imagination here...

The Carlsbad Caverns has what they call a "Bat Program", which is basically watching the cave's 500,000 plus resident (and migrating) bats leaving the cave for nocturnal activities at dusk. For over one hour, bats POUR out of the cave opening, fly in circles, and eventually break off into groups and fly away. You can see, hear and smell the bats close up - it's really incredible! The rangers ask you to turn off any electrical device because it messes with their echo-location stuff, and so we couldn't take pictures.