About 2 weeks ago, we experienced our first Pinewood Derby. Then last night, we experienced our second Pinewood Derby. That's a lot of car building for a first-timer, right? Why, yes. Yes it is.
A few weeks ago we found out about Tyler's derby only 5 days before the actual race. Apparently we were supposed to have been given our car kit a month before, but nobody ever got around to letting us know about it, so we were left scrambling.
The car building duties fell to me, because I feared that if Greg was in charge it would end up looking (and racing) like the car Greg built for himself when the men had their own Pinewood Derby a few years ago. Five minutes before his race, he grabbed his block of wood, colored it red with a magic marker, and hammer the wheels on. I wish I had a picture to show you, but you'll just have to close your eyes and try to imagine it. Not pretty. Not very fast, either. Just not his thing, I guess.
Anyway, I think Tyler and I did a pretty good job on his car. He wanted to make it look like a Wii remote, and here is what we ended up with.
However, looks aren't everything. Unfortunately his car came in dead last in every race. Apparently you have to put the graphite on, and then get those wheels spinning BEFORE you actually start racing. After the official race was over, the boys got to race their cars just for fun, and Tyler's car started doing MUCH better, even taking 1st place several times. Lesson learned. At least we still have years and years of Pinewood Derbies ahead of us (oh, joy!) to get things figured out.
Turns out I didn't have to wait a whole year to work on my next car. Last night our ward had a Daddy/Daughter Powder Puff Pinewood Derby race for the activity days girls. This time I did a little research and figured out the best way to weight the car and to get those wheels spinning. Now keep in mind, we don't own any fancy tools, (a hammer, a few screwdrivers, and a drill are about the extent of our collection), so I am never expecting to have a car that even comes close to winning it all. All I want is to help my kids build a car that at least won't cause them a great amount of embarrassment. So here is what we came up with for Alyssa
So cute, and soooo easy. I told her it may not be fast, but at least it will look good!
Turns out it was cute, and also fairly decent on the track. She ended up tying for 4th place out of 31 cars. Not to shabby!
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