We are the champions, my scout friends

At the end of January, Jonah and Micah's cub scout pack had their annual pinewood derby car race.

 

Last year, the boys were disappointed in the performance of their cars--they both lost almost all their races because their cars had such low weight. The cars are supposed to weigh no more than 5 ounces, and last year their cars' weights were 3.5 ounces each. Josh thought they were fine, and didn't add any more weights. The boys lost race after race, and it wasn't until the boys kept begging me to do something, that I added quarters and pins to the cars towards the end of the evening that the boys started winning races.

 

So, Josh wasn't about to let that happen again this year. He worked really hard to make sure the boys were happy with their cars' looks as well as their performance. He had Jonah and Micah each pick the shape of their car, then he cut out the shape, and had the twins sand their cars. Then Josh cut holes on the bottom sides of the cars and inserted weights in the holes, then glued the holes over and had the boys sand around the rough edges after the glue dried. I took the twins with me to pick paint colors, and then had them show me how they wanted their cars painted and I spray painted them. Then the boys picked out stickers and applied them to the cars, and the final step was Josh added the wheels.

 

 

Jonah wanted a white car with a blue stripe, and car racing stickers. I thought he was pretty bold putting a trophy sticker on the front of his car...

Micah wanted a red car with a white stripe, and army stickers. I thought his red/white/blue stickers looked really good against his paint color choices.

The boys loved how their cars looked! They were so excited for the race!

 When we first arrived, the boys weighed their cars and they were each 4.5 ounces. They were both very nervous, because of what happened last year, but we assured them that 4.5 oz was a lot closer to 5 oz, and they didn't have to be EXACTLY that number to race or to win! Their cub master made these awesome trophies that the boys were ogling over as they waited for the races to begin:

 

The Derby was very well organized this year, with a double elimination system and it lasted only about an hour (unlike the 2 1/2 hour one last year). All the cub scouts were assigned a number, and were placed on a grid, and they got to work racing their opponents:

Both of their cars pretty evenly matched, and they had the opportunity to race each other:

I could feel the fun excitement energy level that all these boy scouts were exhibiting!

At the end of the night, Jonah was announced as the 1st place champion! It was so exciting! None of our kids have ever won the Pinewood Derby before! So it was very redeeming for Josh, after all his hard work, as well!

Micah's car also did very well. Because he lost the race against Jonah (and just barely), he was placed in the loser's bracket, and his next opponent was the boy who got 2nd place overall. I think if he'd been put somewhere else on the bracket and had different opponents, he would've probably received a placement trophy as well. He was just happy that his car did so well, and he loved the trophy that he still got.

 We have a lot of boys in our cub scout pack--this isn't even all of them! The boys have really enjoyed scouting this year and meeting once a week with so many of their friends!