Pinewood Derby Time

Time once again for that rite of passage for both parents and boys: the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby.  Lance helped Spencer design, cut, and sand the car.  Spencer chose the colors and design and then I helped Spencer paint it.  Then Lance helped Spencer put weights into the body to make it go faster, slipping up once and drilling all the way through, thus ruining the awesome paint job.  Yeargh.

My flames on the side kinda look like seaweed.  Oh well, I never claimed to be an artist.

Maybe we'll do decoupage next year.

You could feel the excitement in the air.  Those scouts were ready to race!

Good buddies Spencer, Ethan, Logan, and Dalton.  I love watching these boys together, and can't help wondering what they'll be like in 5-10 years.  Probably just as goofy and cute. :)

Spencer heading up to place his car.  He came in 5th place this year, which is a very considerable improvement over last year.  It's hard to beat kids with dads who are getting graduate degrees in mechanical engineering.  That's why I think next year we should do something cool like put a camera in the car and then watch the race from the car's point of view.  On our Smartphones.  In real time.  We might not win, but the coolness factor would be awesome.

Miss Tess and her daddy.  Miss Tess was grouchy and tired, but did pretty well considering she was up past her bedtime and she had only had a 30 minute nap today and she was teething.  Again.

This is pretty much all Cole did during the races.  The was also a very considerable improvement over last year.  Rotgut kid.

Tess liked watching the cars but demanded to be held.  A lot.

Spencer's last race was against his good friend Logan.  It was very exciting!

Logan won, but I think Spencer was okay with it once Logan gave him a consolation hug.

Some of the cars from the evening.  We have some very talented boys!

Ethan and Spencer.  Ethan had a cool Scooby Doo car.

"Just one more picture, Spencer!"

"Okay, really, last one!"

This seemed the sort of occasion that warranted pictures with the parents.  But Spencer was not so interested.

He didn't even stick around for a picture with me, but Lance was willing.  Then again, it looks like he's about to say a naughty word, so hmmm...

The evening ended with the majority of our children crying as we got into the car, only to discover the windshield had iced over.  We turned the radio to the 90's station and rocked out the classic "Wonderwall" by Oasis, which was something of my Senior year anthem.  Lance and I sang all the way home while Cole yelled at us to stop, Tess danced in her seat, Josh whined about the lack of refreshments, and Spencer complained about having to go to bed.  So, you know, a pretty typical drive home.