The agony of defeat

I wrote this post a few months ago but forgot to share. For those of you who don't have a Cub Scout or who have never seen a Pinewood Derby, it's a rite of passage...the boys are given a block of wood (pine, I'm assuming), some wheels, and some nails and screws. They have to make a car out of the wood to be raced against the other cars. Some parents boys spend months designing an creating a car that is super cool to look at AND has the right amount of weight to fly down the track.

Okay, let's just say as crafty as I am -- anything involving cutting wood is beyond my realm of expertise. I just have images of someone winding up having to be rushed to the hospital to have their finger reattached. It's clearly a job for Fred.

Fred helped the boys design and cut out their cars. Once they were cut, I could join back in and help get them set up to paint and decorate the cars. Let it be noted that we had almost a month to build the car. When did we start?-two days before!! Really, just getting the cars made spelled V-I-C-T-O-R-Y in my book, and we were pretty proud of the fact that our boys really did do most of the work.

Race day results. They didn't win - that's okay, it's all about having fun right? Well, not really; however, I think Alex would have been okay with not winning -- except that he lost to his YOUNGER BROTHER -- why oh why did they have to pit brothers against each other? There were a few moments of fighting back tears, and the ride home was a little unpleasant, but everyone has recovered and they are eagerly anticipating the next Cub Scout race - raingutter regatta, space derby - whatever it is, I'm just glad my oldest will be out of cubs and not competing!