Pinewood Derby 2013; Delia's visit and Niagara Falls!

First, the Pinewood Derby. For those who aren't familiar with it, this is a scouting tradition going back to 1953. The boys design and build unpowered wood cars and race them against one another. Awards are given both for speed (which is mostly determined by how straight the car goes) and artistry of design. Dads tend to get very wrapped up in this, so much so that some troops have separate competitions for the dads.  My officemate, John, when his boys did this, decided to just make a car of his own so he wouldn't be tempted to take to much of a hand in his boys' cars.

You can tell, too, which cars an excess of parental involvement, when there appeared to be a mismatch between the car and the boy. 

Sam sanded (by hand and with an orbital sander), cut with a jigsaw, practiced the design, drew, painted, and probably did other things I've forgotten. He did a nice job, too. Below is the competition. Unfortunately the voting for design began without any announcement, so a large number of votes were taken before Sam's car was even placed among the others. It's the one in the lower left. I am sure I am biased, but I think his design and paint job were #1!

The track, behind police tape (one of the fathers is a policeman) meant to keep the boys from swarming the track.

Sam placing his car. Note the ridge down the middle of each track meant to keep the car from wandering. I learned just before race time that the ridge was higher than I'd been made aware of. (I'd carefully checked ahead of time--but last-minute revelations are par, I suppose.) Quick adjustments with the glue gun I'd brought (knowing about last-minute revelations) and Sam was good to go.

Sam watching his first heat.

After five races apiece, Sam's average came in 4th, about 6 hundreths of a second  behind #3. We had time, so the top four duked it out in a round robin allowing Sam to edge up and take the ribbon for #3. (In speed; no awards for the real accomplishment, his design... this year.) 

Recently an old friend and roommate of Susans, Delia, visited from Seattle. We had a delightful time seeing her. She managed to put up with our quirks and foibles and chaos with grace and aplomb and quickly made friends with the boys. While she was here, we took her to Niagara Falls, which Josh had never seen and Sam seen only once.

Using a viewfinder to look at the main horseshoe.

Wow.

Here we are--the family and Delia, preparing for an evening stroll.

And here's Sam reading to Josh. (As Katie said at seeing this, "Pay attention, Joshie!" :-)

Memorial Day update soon...

Return to Hansen Nature Center

Took the boys back to Tinker Park and Hansen Nature Center today. That gave Susan a little time off and was a treat for the boys. Sam in fact was itching to see the nature center again. He remembers well the last time we went there. It's filled with glass cases displaying local taxidermy, and also has some snakes, fish and turtles. Well, you'll see below.

Josh spent the entire morning in his jammies hanging out and  playing.

The nature center has a table of bones for kids to identify.

Sam with a blackbird foot.

Josh and a beaver. He called it a "lion." Most of the larger animals were dubbed "lions" by him.

This didn't fool him--definitely not a lion. Exciting, though1

Horned owl.

Oh no! Sam's hand is off, and the bone exposed! Or, wait--maybe he's just holding a bone.

Coyote. Go Yotes!

Josh admiring some turtles.

Recall this park has many boardwalks through the softer ground.

Josh pointing at some geese he's spotted. The geese fascinate him. We spotted  a family guarding small, fluffy yellow goslings.

Josh, miserable at having been denied his way. (I cannot recall what it was.)

Apparently he got his way shortly thereafter. :-)

Sam and Josh fed the fish some goldfish crackers. The stock bass (I suspect they are)  swarmed loudly making the surface of the water and the cracker on top of it dance, like stories of Teddy Rooseveldt's piranhas. Shortly thereafter  one of the fish would often grab the goldfish and swim off into the depths, invisible itself, so the yellow goldfish appeared to be fleeing the mob.

On the way back we stop at a country middle school which has, in back, a repository of school buses--a sort of yellow, metal version of the legendary elephant's graveyard from Burroughs' Tarzan novels. Happily, this time Josh didn't cry when we left, just said bye-bye to the buses.

One of the nice things about being a parent is all the things you find in your pockets. Today I found a red balloon. Gave the boys endless fun on the drive home.

Aunt Amy Visit

Had a visit from Aunt Amy this past weekend! It started with AA generously watching the boys so I could take Susan out for a delicious birthday dinner. 

No photos from that.

Saturday morning Sam and I went to the annual open house at a quarry a couple of miles from where we live. They offered rides in their huge dump trucks, but instead we opted to hunt for rocks. They mile dolomite, which gets used in macadam, which means that on a shelf halfway up the side of the quarry you could hunt around and find some beautiful geode-like crystals. A gorgeous one found by AA and subsequently given to Sam is shown below.

The dandelions and violets are in full bloom. Now we know why U. Rochester's colors are violet and gold.

On Sunday we went for a walk at the Tinker Nature Center. I've posted photos here from a visit there a few years ago. It's a lot of fun, though even more fun when the Nature Center is open. Josh got on the trails and ran and ran and ran. Here he's paused to greet the birds. 

The park has these paths through a bog. I offered Sam a lifesaver to keep Josh from falling in. 

AA in a stocked pond frequented with geese and a duck.

With the nice weather the neighborhood boys are out in force again. here they are playing in the sandbox.

Sam had a playdate with Maddy, a girl in his class who lives  two houses down. They took turns pulling one another in a green cart. 

The Thursday before was Science Night at Cobbles. Here's Sam looking at little organisms through a microscope.

And here's Nancy, who put together Science Night, making a coke & mentos fountain. Turns out  Nancy is an art professor at RIT. She got her undergrad degree in bio and loves science, and managed to put together a really great evening for the kids.

This weekend, cold and rainy for Mother's Day. We'll see what that brings...