Ryan has started to play tether ball at school, and LOVES it. Chris briefly mentioned that maybe one day we could build our own tether ball pole, and Ryan has held him to it. Of course it didn’t happen as quickly as Ryan wanted, but finally we had a nice weekend, all the supplies we needed, and time. It was go time!
While we were running errands one day we passed an old tire shop. Chris stopped and asked them if there was a free tire we could have, they did, and we took it. We stopped by home depot for an eye bolt and a pole and some extra bags of concrete and the boys were all set to make their tether ball pole.
Lillian had a birthday party to go to, so it was the perfect day for Chris and Ryan to work hard together! At first Ryan said he didn’t want to help. As I was leaving to take Lillian to the party, I told Ryan he had to go outside and at least watch, he not so willingly went out. When I came home he was the most enthusiastic helper around. (no joke!)
They had made good progress while I was away, but I was able to watch some of the action in progress. It was so fun watching my boys work so hard to make something, and to see Ryan’s pure joy and excitement!
Chris and Ryan would take the wheelbarrow to get the bags of concrete. Then wheel it to the backyard where they had the old tire, rebar, and the pole (hooked to a ladder for support). Chris would dump the bag of concrete into the wheelbarrow while Ryan would go in the kitchen and measure water, then come out and dump the water in with the concrete. Both of them would work together to mix the concrete and scoop it into the tire and around the pole. I think they went through about 4 bags of concrete doing this. Once the tire was full, they leveled the pole (still attached to the ladder for support until the concrete hardened) and smoothed out the cement. It was the cutest thing ever!
After a few days our tether ball came from amazon, and the concrete was set and we were ready to play!
Its been a HUGE hit in the neighborhood and has been a lot of fun to play with. Ryan did a great job and its the perfect tether ball pole!
