Today was the annual Pinewood Derby race for my son's Cub Scout pack. The boys (Jack and Daddy) spent a lot of time last year on Jack's car, but this year it was rather rush-rush after the hustle and bustle of the holidays and then Rob's 8-day hospitalization. They made the car all in the past week, with Jack changing his mind about the design features several times in the process. We didn't have very high expectations for this year, after last year's First Place win in the Tiger Den!
(And yes, I got on his case about what they were doing in the above picture!)
Last night, Rob took Jack to have the car weighed and impounded, as is the night-before custom. (The girls and I had some lovely time to ourselves, and we quite bonded, but that's for another time.)
This morning, none of our children wanted to get out of bed, after staying up super-late last night. Happily, we managed to make it to the church on time for the opening ceremony. Jack walked in the color guard - he's the one in the yellow neckerchief and mis-matched blue shoes above! So funny, he put on different shoes...
Cubmaster J, giving the announcements and rules update - isn't he a cutie?? Sadly, this is his last year with the pack, as his youngest son is moving up to Scouts soon. Rob was thinking about taking over the position, but he's relieved someone else stepped up for the job. Now he's thinking about what he'll do instead. (Meanwhile, I volunteered my services today as Treasurer, Awards .. uh, person, or Events Chair... we'll see what I end up doing, but I want to give Jack equal time in scouting).
After the opening, we moved upstairs to the room where the track was located, which is the same room where Jack's Wolf Den meets weekly. The Tigers had their races, and it was so cute to watch them in the same place where we were just last year. Soon, the Wolves were up. We had no idea what to expect from Jack's car, but lo and behold, it consistently came in first for each heat! That's his car with the red/black fade, above, in the lead.
After the six Wolf heats, the older boys started to race, so we went down the hall to do some crafts. I had brought my knitting, which I really need to finish for the intended recipient, so I asked Rob to be in charge of helping with the crafts. Jack went by himself in the next room to build the Twinkie car he was SOOO excited to make, while the rest of us sat in the room where they were making clothespin neckerchief slides. Here they are, just getting started... I don't have any more pictures of those activities, because I was busy knitting. Sorry.
One of my Daisy girls has an older brother in Jack's den, and their dad (another cutie!!) was busy being the computer tech guy for the races, so he asked me to look after G during the day. I was happy to; she's a little sweetheart. Here are the girls waiting to be let into the lunch hall for pizza and snacks. Little G was SO excited to have one of the doughnuts her daddy had brought!!
After lunch, Cubmaster J handed out the Popcorn sale awards to the pack. Jack earned himself a fishing pole, so he and Dad will be doing lots of that together come Spring. (Rob is an avid fisherman, though he hasn't had a chance to do a lot of it in our decade together.) Cubmaster's Webelos 2 son sold about $2700 in popcorn, so I quickly hit up his mother for tips for next year!!
We had already done the crafts, so after lunch, the kids got into the Derby poser thingy and had their pictures taken.
Sophia had the next turn.
I barely remember taking this picture, so I have no idea what's up with Chloë's expression!
The races seemed to go much faster this year, and soon is was time to announce the winners for each den. When the Wolves were announced, we moved up front in time to see Jack declared the winner for his den. Woohoo!!
Cubmaster J handing Jack his participation ribbon and First Place trophy
Jack barely had the patience to sit and watch his car race today, but he was really excited to be getting another trophy!
After all the den winners were announced, the first- and second-place winners from each one raced against each other to see who won for the pack overall. There was one super-fast car on the tracks which couldn't have been beaten without a wreck, so we knew that First Place was out of reach for us. So, what would it be? In the end, Jack happily came in second for his pack!
For the next trophy picture, I couldn't get him to take his eyes off the prize for even a second! He was so excited.
Jack posing with his Wolf den leader, who's fantastic
I managed to snag a very busy cubmaster for another pic with the two trophies, and he asked me if he was going to be reading about this on my blog again this year. Uh, whoops - I always get so embarrassed when I find out people I know in real life, locally, have read it!! So here you go, J!
We helped clean up the church when the Derby was over, and then we took our happy boy home. He asked me if he could put his new trophies upstairs on his dresser, but I told him no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks! Sophia would have them broken by bedtime. So they live on the mantel for now, where we can beam with pride at their growing collection. Now the boys have to get the car ready for Districts. Maybe this year, he'll have a chance! (Last year, his car broke.)
Go, Jack, go!
Fin.
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