The Ball vs The Muffler

The offending ball:

The culprit:  Raise your hand high:

And act sorry for your actions:  Um. . . close enough

The victim:

The story:
Last night, Tora and the kids were all in our back patio, "cleaning" Adam's pickup's mats with water (more like a water fight, but that's besides the point).  Adam had to leave really quick for a few minutes to meet someone, and decided to take my car.  Tora was standing behind the car, and when I went to grab her out of the way, she shoved a rubber ball she had in her hands into the muffler.  As I could see the ball, I didn't think it much of a problem -- we would simply reach in and grab the ball out.

Have you ever heard the story with the monkey who puts his hand in the cookie jar and can't get it out because he has a hold of too many cookies??  Well that was us.  ALL of us, including all three girls, had our hands in the muffler trying to get this ball out.  But as soon as we had a hold of it, we couldn't get it and our hands out.  We even made Tora stick her arm up to her elbows to get the ball out.  Nothing was working.  Not using sticks, or metal rods, or screwdrivers.   Then the ball moved forward more and we could no longer see it. Tora found this all more and more amusing.  Adam and I were getting more and more, shall we say, less amused.

Adam talked to a local car repair shop and they quoted us $250 to get it out.  $250!  I was beginning to be more and more content on just letting the ball make the muffler it's new home.

So to make a longer story short, as a last resort, Adam drove the car up on a curb and luckily the ball came rolling back again into site.  Adam carefully used his fingers, and with a lot patience, the ball FINALLY came out.

Moral of the story - don't let Tora near your muffler!  It's a good thing she's so cute (and currently the youngest) so she didn't get in too much trouble.  And though, even after baths, my girls hands are still black, we are just glad we finally did get that ball out and can laugh about it now!