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...