the pinewood derby

I am playing catch-up with the blog. I always have the best intentions, but then when push comes to shove, I end up choosing Oprah or Law and Order or reading to my babies or sleep.

So, I have made the goal to catch up over the next few days.

Two weeks ago we had the Pinewood Derby. Mike is the Cubmaster and I am the Primary counselor over Cub Scouts, so we were in charge of the event. We thought we planned well, but we quickly found out that we were unprepared for a few things.

We were not prepared for the intensity of it all. We had some scoring issues along with some other problems. We learned a lot from the experience. Part of me wanted to do another one next week to improve it and fix our mistakes. The sane part of me is grateful it will be a few more years.

Our most important goal was for the kids to have fun. I think we succeeded in that.

We made the decision several months ago to include the girls in the derby. The girls and the boys had such a great time.

Mike had the kids design their own cars. Andrew's was designed with speed in mind.
Bev's was more of a form-over-function kind of thing.
So, Mike helped the kids cut the wood and carve out the cockpit--is that what it's called? Anyway, they used the saws and the Dremel. Then he had them sand their cars. Of course, I couldn't resist doing a second sanding on them. Bev saw me sanding her car and made me stop. She said, "Mom, this is my project--stop."

I am as bad as those dads that don't let the kids touch their own Pinewood Derby cars.

I then helped the kids with the painting. Andrew would have let me do the whole thing myself. I will admit that I did glue the pin stripes on. But, he cut out the U of U sticker and painted the car.

Bev, on the other hand, wouldn't let me touch it until it came time to put the stickers on. She picked out her own paint and glitter and rhinestones and did the work with minimal help from me. I carefully put the glittered stickers on. They looked fabulous. Then, Mike went to put the wheels on and we realized that the first and last letters were behind the wheels. So, I took them off and did it again.

Ironically, Bev's car--that was built for it's cat and aesthetic appeal--got third fastest in the girl division. Andrew's was fifthish.

We are grateful it is over and happy that the kids had fun.