Table Tennis: Love-All

I come from a long line of tennis players.  That same long line is quite competitive.  One of my first memories is being timed on a puzzle when I was 4...racing against my parents, older cousins, uncle and grandparents.  I obviously lost that round, but have won many other competitions since then, including Who Knows the Most Words to the Next Song on the Radio, Who Can Get This Rubber Ball Stuck in a Tree Branch First, and Who Can Guess the Waiter's Hometown City Closest in Miles, to name a few.  As I said, we're competitive...and our competitions know no bounds and are created when you least expect them.  It's a life lived on your toes.  And I love it.

During our cold, snowy winters, we all play ping pong (well, we actually play all year, but you get the idea) to keep a firm grip on our tennis skills.  Fortunately for us, one of the five SPiN locations in the world happens to be in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (the others are in Dubai, New York City, LA and Toronto for those of you who belong to a competitive family like mine and need to gather all of the trivia information you can).  Throughout the year, my family travels from various states across the Midwest (some have even flown in from further away) and we execute a tournament bracket created by my cousin Doug. 

One product that makes our  year-round ping pong playing possible is the Anywhere Table Tennis Set from Sportcraft.  This nifty set includes an expandable and retractable net with adjustable posts that can turn any table into a ping pong table, two paddles, three balls, and a storage bag.

This set is easy to put up and take down (my kids use it on their own when they want to practice - they're fortunate to have two dogs to fetch the balls for them when they play) and is compact for storage, making it easy to pack for family vacations.   

Visit amazon.com to purchase the Anywhere Table Tennis Set for $24.99 (ships free with a Prime membership).  And wish me luck...we have a family tournament scheduled this weekend! 

Yackle Ball

The weather has been beautiful here in Wisconsin this week so we've been spending a lot of time outdoors. On Wednesday I brought out a new toy for my children to play catch with...a Yackle Ball. It's an X-shaped ball that is soft, yet firm; tough, yet tactile. And because of the arms that make up the Yackle Ball, it was easy for my children to catch and throw...further than a football and higher than a basketball!

But I must admit that the game quickly became my husband and I throwing it as hard and high as we could to each other from the far ends of our yard. It was great exercise running, jumping and throwing, and it reminded us of when we were younger and went to Brewers and Packers games before our children and played catch while tailgating.

Yackle Balls are constructed from premium water-resistant marine vinyl and are tough and light...perfect to pack for a picnic or keep in the trunk of your car to toss around on a whim. There are three versions available: a standard size (for ages 5 and up...I'd suggest that age go up a bit), a junior size (for ages 2-5), and a nighttime version that glows in the dark.

Yackle balls retail for $24.95 and are available at amazon.com (where particular colors are on sale).