Pinewood Derby 2012

First off I have to say that I am so glad pinewood derby is over. It was definitely a marathon to the finish. Anthony started working on his car during Christmas break. He and Grant collabroated on a design that would meet Anthony's goals (a fast car) and then Anthony drew out his design on his car and then cut it out, sanded, and glued the weights on all himself. The only thing that us parents do was spray paint (for obvious reasons) and Grant tweaked the wheels just right. This was the first year that Anthony was excited through the whole process. It was nice not have to nag him to go and work on his car. It was neat as a mother to see his excitement and pride over something that he worked hard on and finished to the end. In Anthony's pack they have a special race for the parents, leaders, and siblings and so Madeline and Spencer wanted to race a car too. Madeline and Spencer chose to do their cars based on the characters from Cars 2 movie. Madeline helped Grant saw (hand saw) the design and then used the belt sander to sand the edges. Because of her surgery Grant had to do most of the work, but when she was feeling up to it she was out there working hard on her car. Spencer helped sand too, but his 4 year old attention span is rather short and so Grant did a lot of the work. However, every day Spencer would ask Grant if he could work on his car and so together they would work out in the garage until Spencer's attention fizzled and then Grant would finish. The marathon part came in finishing them, painting them, and getting the wheels and the weight just right. I thought those cars would never get finish. I enjoyed my part which was watching the race and seeing their excitement watching their cars come down the track-they were so proud of their cars and they should be! Pinewood Derby provided our family with a project to work together on and having projects like those are good for they help in building family unity and love. Pinewood Derby 2013 will be here before you know it and Grant and the kids will be back out in the garage working away at wonderful creations. Let the marathon begin.