Pine Wood Derby '09

Our little man is is Scouts for the first time this year - it's been such an adventure for all of us!  As any of you Scout parents out there know, the annual Pine Wood Derby is one of their biggest activities.  My hubby even still has a trophy from one of the Derbies from his childhood.  Ben has been working hard for weeks on his car.  We helped him with the cutting, but the design, gluing, painting, etc. was all him.  Believe me, it was hard for his engineer parents to keep their hands to themselves!  His is in the far right row, about the middle of this shot, black with an orange "smile" shape on it.  

I had no idea what to expect with this event.  The tech geek in me was totally satisfied with the setup.  There was a single button to push to release both cars at the same exact moment, then there were sensors at the end of the track to precisely measure the arrival time of each car.  He had it programmed to figure speed in mph - some of those cars were going over 60 mph!

There's my little scout (all washed out in the light of my flash - I hate gym photography):

His sister jumped right in the mix, and went to watch next to her big brother:

"Hey Buddy, they called your name.  You're up next!"

Checkin' out the competition:

Waiting expectantly at the finish line:

Oh, so close!  It was a double elimination race, so everyone got to race twice.  I was so hoping that Ben would win one of his heats, but not quite.  He was disappointed, but such a good sport.  I was so proud of him.

There's Ben's little cousin with his pretty mama (my sister):

Thomas and Papa:

Can you guess who gets sick of me sticking a camera in his face?

Even Great Grandma made it out for the big event:

Ben's little car graces the bookshelf in our living room now - His little brain is already working on next year's car.  Mine is too - I was going to make one for the "open" division this year, but never got around to it.  I'm there next year though.  And my car?  It's gonna have a coat of the brightest pink paint I can find.

Which reminds me....the boys have the Derby, and the girls have, what?  Sewing?  It's no wonder more girls don't go into science, math, and engineering!  I might have to see what I can do about that.  Is there a Girl Scouts division of the Derby in the future?  Hmmmm...