What life is all about!: The Pinewood Derby

Ethan is in Cub scouts. I wasn't ever really into it, I never take him to his activities, Jared does. I grew up with all girls, I have no knowledge of the scouting program whatsoever. And I really wasn't interested. That was before the pinewood derby.

I didn't know what to expect at all. I have never been to one. I heard sad stories of poor sports and sadder stories of cars not winning a single race. We got our little blocks of wood and had to make them into racing machines. I thought to myself... how is a little kid supposed to do this? This isn't for the boys, this is for the dads. Then I saw my boys and their dad carefully sanding the cars together and talking and laughing. Then I knew it was for dads AND their boys. Together.

Jared of course couldn't be here to help the boys finish the cars so I got to help, too. Ethan, Christian, and I sat at the dining room table and painted the cars together. They were both SO excited about the race. My friend came over and told me tips on how to make the cars go faster. When Jared came home from work I said to him, "you have to polish the nails, and use graphite, and make sure the wheels are on perfect and the car has to be weighted a certain amount..." He said, "I KNOW!!!!" I forget he has done this before :)

We got the cars all painted pretty and Jared came home in the middle of the night the day before the race and weighed the cars and put the wheels on. We were a little light. The cars have to weigh 5 oz or less. You want them to be exactly 5 oz so they will be fast. Ours weighed 3.7 oz. Jared was gone. He told me not to worry. I worried. I wanted my boys to have a chance at winning. My neighbors just had a pinewood derby at our church the night before so I called them for help. We went over and they weighted our cars to be perfect. I was so thankful! We barely got to the race on time we were there so long :)

The car had to get registered and weighed. Then they placed them on a table. Check out all the fun cars!!!

Ethan had such a fun time with his friends!

The boys putting their cars on the track. It was a really sophisticated thing!

When the cars went down they hit a backstop at the end of the track and when they touched it, it put their times up on a display. If you look closely, you can see E.Walters with his time and place. That's a 1 if you can't tell :) His car did well! He got 2nd place in the cubs division!

Christian was really excited to race. He kept asking me when it would be his turn. I had to tell him in a little while so many times! Finally it was the siblings turn. YAY! And Jared finally got there, YAY! Christian and I waited by the table while lots of kids raced and we kept waiting for his name to be called and they never called it. Finally they said the sibling race was over. WAIT!!!!!!!!! We had to tell them they missed Christian. They saw their mistake and he got to race his car. IT WAS THE FASTEST ONE THERE!!!!!!!!! All the dads around me couldn't believe how fast it went! They wanted it weighed again! (jokingly) It was so fun! He won the fastest car of the siblings and everyone was glad he wasn't in the real competition :) Now if we could just figure out what we did right with his car so we can repeat it next year.....

Heidi was a major pain in the rear for the first half hour. I had asked a friend to watch her, but I couldn't get ahold of her that day so I got to take miss priss along. She just doesn't sit still for one second. She ran all over the place. Everyone loved her though. They rescued the track from her several times because I couldn't get to her fast enought. Caution tape does not keep a one year old away LOL!!! The den mom was talking to me and I couldn't get Heidi when she ran away so I just figured someone would get her for me if she was getting to the track and when we were done talking she was sitting sweetly on a nice lady's lap. I just left her there. LOL! Don't mess up a good thing. The lady and her husband had asked me to trade them their teenage daughter for her earlier. Such nice people, they had a lot of fun with her.

The scouts and their cars and trophies.

Afterward, the den mom invited us and another family to go to Nizza Pizza with them. It was such a fun dinner. I really got to know them and I love them! It's fun to get out and make new friends. The boys had a great time eating and talking.