Pine Wood Derby

So we're a Scouting Family.

It started last year, when Louie decided he wanted to go camping and shoot arrows and yell Den yells.

And when our family does something...

We do it BIG!

Which means I'm the Den Leader.

And my husband is the new Cub Master.

We sound like Rick Moranis & Sigourney Weaver in Ghostbusters.

"Are you the Cub Master? I'm the Den Leader."

ANYWAY!

I don't mean to complain. We've had a lot of fun!

I've got a great Den of 9 boys. Woo Hoo!!!

So the Pinewood Derby was this weekend.

If you don't know about this, here's the set up. The boys get a block of wood, four wheels and four nails. They need to turn this into a racing machine. There are strict rules about axles and lube (seriously...wheel lube) and a bunch of stuff I don't get into. This is a job for Son & Dad. The car has to weigh 5 oz. Then we all get together and race them on this track. It's VERY high tech...figures out the mph,

whatever's and whatnot's. I show up, chat with some parents, munch on some doughnuts and take pictures!

I just noticed how crooked the wheels are! Oops!

Each Scout has an assigned number. They bring their car in. It gets weighed and put on this mat. No Touching your car after official weigh in!

Here's the track. The cars get loaded at the top of the far end. Then they race down the slope towards the finish line. This table to the right is where the track owner has his computer hooked up. There was a big screen off to the left that showed the boy's name, lane and finishing results. Hi-Tech!

Here is one of the rounds of racing. Louie's car is the yellow one. He came in second here. The boys each race four times with different cars. Then the computer compiles all their information and poops out who the fastest is by Pack & Den.

And here are the trophies! These boys take their trophies seriously!

Louie got one of the little ones...Fourth Place in his Den.

Not too shabby!

Time in a Shoe Box

The "official" Cub Scout year wrapped up last night with our final Pack Meeting. I'm a Den Mama who likes to live on the edge, though, and I'll be planning meetings over the summer. The boys can get together, see their friends, have some fun & work on a few achievements! To wrap up their first year in Scouting, however, at our last Den Meeting we put together a time capsule. It would be something anyone could do with any type of group...family, play-group, Daisies...

I printed out a "favorites" sheet with things like: Favorite Movie, Favorite Food, Favorite Holiday and so on. The boys each filled out a sheet. I also had a half blank sheet and on the bottom I typed, "My favorite thing we did this year in Scouts was". The boys finished the sentence and then drew a picture of themselves doing whatever activity they chose. Then we put their sheets in a big shoe box (funny note: when I picked up the box to show them, they all gasped "Sketchers" like those little aliens in Toy Story!) I threw in pictures I took at the outings, meetings and events from the past year. I brought a big sheet of butcher paper to the meeting and had all of the boys decorate it with drawings. Now I just have to wrap it up in their homemade wrapping paper. The plan is to open it when they are Second Year Webelos and ready to cross over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts!