Pinewood Derby

Friday night was the big

Pinewood Derby!

This is a huge event in the Scouting world.

One that is meticulously planned and prepared for for weeks.

We were notified in February that the Scout Troop had decided

to include all boys turning 8 this year 

regardless if they were officially 8 by the time of the event.

Sweet!!

Anden made the cut!

He was SO excited!

Well the rest of the boys got their car kits in February.

I picked his up 1.5 weeks before the event.

The pressure was on.

I came home and handed Ryan the kit.

He just stared at me.

"Um this is a block of wood!"

Yep, have fun! :)

You see Ryan didn't grow up involved with Scouting.

So he was clueless as to what was expected.

I was just a notch or two above him in experience

recalling childhood memories of my brothers' pinewood derbies.

Needless to say we were a sad pair to be guiding Anden

into the illustrious world of  molding blocks of wood into fine racing specimens.

That's when our dear reliable friends:

Google and YouTube

came to our rescue!!

We had Anden sit down and sketch out what he wanted his car to look like.

I relinquished all control to Ryan on this stage.

So Ryan cut it EXACTLY how Anden drew it.

(of course with the gang of minions supervising!)

Anden then helped sand it to perfection.

I was then handed the wooden car for my stage of beautifying it.

However the "car" I was handed looked like either

a) a mini van

or

b) a hearse

I stared at the "car" 

and immediately questioned Ryan why he didn't "guide" Anden's design.

Have you ever see a hearse win the Indy 500?!?!

He reminded me this was Anden's car and this is what he wanted.

So I grudgingly took the dang hearse and began my limited brainstorming session

of how to make this thing cool looking.

Anden chose to paint it...

BLACK.

Well of course, what hearse isn't black?!

Ryan and I had quickly divided our tasks at the beginning of this project.

I was in charge of cosmetics.

He was in charge of mechanics.

So at this point the Morgue Mobile made it's way back 

into my control to decorate it.

Anden immediately knew he wanted 

a gold windshield, 

red accents,

and the number 3.

This project really stretched my creativity.

Anden gave me very few options to work with while still staying

within the confines of his requests.

I was left to ponder how to make a hearse cool?!

So with some hard work, 

the morbid hearse transformed into

The Black Widow

Then I gladly dumped the "car" back to Ryan

for him to make sure the thing actually works!

He took it to the official Weigh In the night before the race.

Then figured out how much and where to add the weights

and finally installed the axles and tires.

Anden was ECSTATIC to say the least 

when he came home from school Friday and saw the finished project.

To make it even cooler for him,

Ryan had also found an old briefcase thing and turned it into 

the official Pinewood Derby Car Case.

Also I must add that in the middle of making Anden's car,

Ryan also had to make one for himself.

You see this year they were allowing the adults to make and race a car

after the kids' race was over.

While Papa Nolie was here they had announced that at church,

so he bought Ryan a kit and surprised him.

Ryan faked that he was excited about making now TWO cars! lol

So we decided that Ryan's car could be the 2nd choice that Anden wanted.

Ryan cut his out Thursday night and I detailed for him on Friday.

Which meant we finished 1 hr before the race began!

Before the Styling Department:

After the Styling Department:

This one was super cool!

Ryan even made sure the turret could move!

Anden loved this one too!

So the boys loaded up the cars into their case

and we set off for the church.

Anden was literally beaming on the way inside!

Taylee was just thrilled to do knee spins on the railing.

Then we were off inside to the races!

Let's hope the wheels don't fall off!

Literally.

Anden got his car registered and was given #8.

They had heats of 3 cars racing at a time.

Each car raced about 8 times.

Each time the cars were recorded whether they took 1st, 2nd or 3rd.

The points were tallied and the top 6 cars went on to the finals.

We had made sure to have a little talk with Anden about how it didn't matter if he won

but to be a good sport either way and just have fun.

(This was due to our lack of trust in our car building skills and also his highly competitive spirit!)

He got to go up and put his car on the track each time it was his turn.

Then run down to the finish line to cheer!

He was about even in the amount of times he took

1st, 2nd and 3rd in his heats.

We were definitely relieved that it wasn't just 3rd each time! lol

He didn't make it to the Finals.

But we were mighty pleased with our first year performance!

He did manage to get an award.

Does this mean that I won too then?

I was the Cosmetic Director you know. :)

Ryan definitely didn't want to "race" his tank.

He really only made it for Anden.

But Anden was insistent that they get it weighed in correctly.

Anden was very proud of both cars!! :)

After the official race they let the kids just have fun.

Anden was thrilled to race the Black Widow against the Tank.

Then he was even more thrilled that the Black Widow won! lol

What a fun little event!

He walked away happy and hasn't put them the cars since.

I consider that a total success! :)