Tether ball

So when we went to visit Mom a couple of summers ago, we had a blast playing tether ball in her driveway. I mean Had.A.Blast. So we decided, Alyssa and I, while making the long drive home from Colorado to Texas that we needed a tether ball. Fast forward from June to December and a long package arrived on our door step from Santa. I hoped no one would notice the big stamped TETHER BALL on the side of the 7 foot long by four inch wide box. Surely no one would guess what it was...Anyway, we didn't get it up in the yard until the following June. I did all the Youtube research on making a portable tether ball out of an old tire and concrete and bought the supplies. I corralled the Mr. who corralled his buddy, and between the three of us we mixed up 240 pounds of concrete and poured it into the old tire on the garage floor, with a garbage bag underneath to keep it from seeping out all over the place. We set the pole in place, leveled it out and waited a week.  And it worked! We rolled that now very heavy tire out into the yard, hooked up the rope and ball and just about killed each other, all of us trying to be the tether ball king. But we had fun.
Over the months something bad happened to that ball, though. It faded white in the summer sun and wouldn't stay inflated. Every time we used it we had to inflate it. Finally towards the end of the year I went out to play and noticed the rope was rotting. In fact it pretty much fell off the pole. So I threw it away, rolled that heavy, heavy tire into the corner of the yard for winter and waited for Christmas and Santa to come around again.
This year Santa decided to do something a little different. This year Santa decided we needed the ability to play at night. So Santa got us a glow in the dark tether ball. Now on those hot summer nights when it gets dark we can keep playing long after the sun goes down. We got the ball up on Sunday afternoon and again, we almost killed each other trying to outdo each other. We laughed until we couldn't laugh anymore. Even Arya got in on the laughter as we took turns holding her while the others played. She was chortling out loud, clearly pleased that we were having so much fun. We took turns, Katie and I, then Katie and Ally, then Katie and the Mr., and, much to the kids delight, me and the Mr. Then we went in the house and haven't had a chance to play again, until tonight.
Tonight, after chores were done and the baby had gone home to Mama for the day, Ally and I, outfitted  in our PJs, she in her robe, and I in my coat over my PJs, (because it's still a bit chilly) went out to play in the dark for the first time. The ball lit up with the first whack and we were off! Matthew came outside on his way to the car and joined us for a minute, whacking the ball back and forth. There was a lot of shouting and laughter as we smacked the ball around for a few minutes in our PJs by the light of the streetlamp and the stars.
Then Matt was gone and Ally and I volleyed the ball for a few minutes before heading inside for the evening. A great end to a good day. Hopefully many more to come.