Pinewood Derby

Last year Derek bought Pinewood Derby kits for all the kids (for those who don't know, it is a plain block of wood with 2 grooves for wheels, 4 wheels and the nails that attach the wheels.  You design and paint the car and try to make the fastest car at the Derby races.)  We never got around to making them.  This year, the girls Libby's age were invited to participate.  So, I pulled out the kits from last year.  And away we went.  It was like this.  5 of us started the project.  Mom did the painting and decorating, and mom and dad did the finishing touches.  Maybe our kids were a bit too young (and/or too busy!).  But it was fun.  And we are excited for next year, thanks to all we learned from our cars' performance this year and tips from several experts.

Here are pics from the process.

I posted these last week, but wanted all the derby pics together in one post...

Dad sanding wheels down. 

Ben wanted his car number to be our house number (turns out you don't have to put a number on, they do that for you at the race).

Ready to race!  Libby made it into the second round!  (There wasn't a second round in Sarah's division "Open", but her car performed really well.)

Ben's car was too light.  I didn't have anymore weights and so I just let it ride.  He's just excited the derby is over so he can use it as a toy.  (Poor guy had such a runny nose all week.  Not enough aquaphor to keep his lip from chapping).

Everyone got an award.  But Sarah didn't seem to notice that.  She was so delighted that she got an award she kept telling me over and over, "I can't believe I got an award!  I'm so excited!"