Derby Day

Last night was the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. The kids always look forward to it. I do too, to a point. The buildup is huge - they do a weigh-in the night before where all the boys can scope out what other people have done for their cars. There is always drilling and scooping and sanding to make sure that the car is as close to the allotted weight as possible. They walk into the cultural hall and the track is all set up and ready to go. They can barely sit through the business of Pack Meeting. Finally, finally, the races start. And......it's over. The boys all get a chance to race multiple times but when each race lasts less than 5 seconds it seems a little anticlimatic. I missed about 90% of it because I was supervising Tessa and a few of her little friends as they colored. Henry's car won the first heat he was involved in but I think he came in 9th overall. He did, however, win a special award for Best Design, which involves the Assistant Cubmaster picking the car that he liked the best. Henry's car got a few goodnatured scoffs when it was announced because he painted two big red U's (for the University of Utah) on it and most people up here in Cache Valley pull for Utah State. But he used bolts and washers to add the weight to it and they gave it a distinctive look, which you can kind of see here even though it's a pretty poor picture.



Henry also got a spacer at the dentist yesterday, so if you talk to him and something sounds a bit off, you know why. It's a good thing that he tested out of speech earlier this year - he spent all of third grade and half of fourth mastering the S sound and now one dental appliance has him back to square one. His speech teacher would probably cry because she worked so hard to get him "graduated" from speech. Anyway, it's a temporary thing to hopefully allow his teeth to come in more easily and straighter.

Just don't ask him to say Mississippi anytime soon. Take my word for it.