Go Go Speed Racer!

On Saturday our ward Elder's Quorum had a Pinewood Derby, as a follow-up activity to the movie night they had last month (where we watched a comedy about Pinewood Derbys ) George spent a bit of last week, and almost all of Saturday working on his car. When we got to the activity they had the track set up, and there were 11 other cars in the competition. George's car came in first in his first race, and then second and third in the other three heats it was put in (your car earns points for winning first, second, or third in the various heats, and each car went through four heats, if I remember correctly). Over-all his car came in third. The first place car was, appropriately, designed after the Speed Racer car. Shape, paint-job and everything. The guy's son had suggested that that's what the car should look like, and boy was that little guy proud that his car won in every single race it was put in! Some of the other car designes were pretty neat as well. There was a vote taken at the end for different prizes: Best Over-all, Best Design, Most Unique, Sure and Steady, and other categories that I can't remember. It was a really fun activity!

The kids had a lot of fun with it. Raia and Errol both spent most of the time at the finish line, watching cars come down the track. Even CozyHeart (who Raia *insisted* on bringing along) watched.



And at the end of the formal event, they let the kids race the cars themselves. Errol loved putting "his" car at the top of the track, and picking it back up at the bottom.



(And where was Patrick? Asleep, of course!)

(Sorry, no picture of that)

And I have to admit, I was pretty ignorant about Pinewood Derbies before last month. I knew they were something the Boy Scouts did, and there's always a lot of people at the church building on the nights when our ward Scout Troop holds theirs, but I'd never attended one, and my brothers weren't into Scouting, so they never participated in one growing up. I'd seen the car kits in church, but assumed that the car pictured on the front was the car that was in the box, and wondered what the big deal was, if every one was racing the exact same car. (ya, what did I know!) I didn't know that all they gave you was a block of pinewood, and four wheels attached to nails that go into pre-drilled holes on the wood. You then have to shape the wood yourself into a car that will go down the sloped track the fastest. I guess George will have the excuse he's be looking for in a few years to buy wood working tools. He's been oogling over them since before we got married, but we currently have no need for them. We'll have two boys in Scouts in a few years though, so two Pinewood Derby cars to make each year for a few years. He made this one mostly at work, and it wasn't as smooth a job as the other cars that were there. I only hope we'll be in a bigger house by then!