Pinewood Derby

A couple of weeks ago a kind neighbor stopped by to invite our boys to their Cub Scouts. Their son is in the same class as Gideon and must've told his parents that his friend wasn't in scouts. We don't really have a cub scout program running in ours, so I was excited for the invite - as well as my two boys.

How excited were they? They wanted to go right then and there to get their scout shirt. I told them not to worry and that I would get them one. Last Monday was their first Monday attending cub scouts. They didn't have their shirts, but that was okay since it was just that weekend that their Den Leader came over with forms to fill out.

My plan was to hit the thrift stores and look for a shirt for both of them. Being the procrastinator that I am - I didn't. Next thing you know it was Monday, the day before the Pinewood Derby. Instead, I stopped by the Scout shop by my work and bought two brand new shirts for them. These shirts are pretty expensive if you ask me. It was $23.99 a shirt and then if they had the world insignia sewn on, it was an additional $3.50. Take that times two and yup you got it -- expensive. In addition, I purchased the numbers for their pack - 4 numbers each at $1.19. And of course, since I didn't want to pull out my sewing machine, I bought the iron on application that cost about $9 a sheet. I only needed one. I left the scout shop spending $80 close to $90. To offset what I just spent, I kept reminding myself how excited they are to be in scouts and that makes it priceless.

Last night was the Pinewood Derby. These two got working on their cars as soon as they received them from their Den Leader. They didn't have much time to work on them, but the final outcome - they were happy.

I am so grateful for programs like this where the kids can go and participate and learn different things. I'm also very grateful for the volunteers that take their time to teach the kids. This is going to be a fun experience for the twins and can't wait for many more to come.

Here's a few pictures I took last night on my camera phone. Enjoy!

The refreshment table which consisted of - popcorn, gummy bears, licorice and water. Later on they brought out cups of jello with whipped topping and cake with ice cream. We definitely made use of the refreshment table.

We totally spaced off that the cars needed to weigh a certain amount. Both of their cars were under weight. Here they are with the Cub Master adding more weight to their cars.

With Brydan's car, he drilled 3 holes in the bottom, then soldered metal into the hole to make it 5 oz.

Here's Gideon's car getting the holes drilled. Instead of metal soldered in, they added balls of weight.

Here they are with their pack waiting to get their ribbon for participating. Brydan tells everybody he placed 6th when really that was his car number. I think they both placed towards the bottom. Oh well, they had fun and that's all that matters.

Gideon & Brydan with their cars and ribbon.