The Derby Experience

So when we signed Noah up for scouts, we didn't really know that the scouting experience had potential to kind of "take over" our lives. I think we will figure out a way to balance it with all the other things in our lives. But it is a great experience for Noah and he is already learning so much.

When we signed up, the pinewood derby was only a few weeks away. We thought we were so far behind but then found out last week that most people hadn't even started their cars. We had panic about how to do it (even though Steve had been a scout when he was little).

With a lot of help from our neighbor (and his dremmel tool), it all worked out.

Daddy spent hours using the neighbor's dremmel to make it into a shape







Noah trying to saw out a seat for his lego guy to drive the car










Sanding the car




















Painting the car
















Daddy and neighbor sanding down the "axles" (nails for the wheels)











Ready to race




















Nerve wrecking weigh-in...will it come in under 5 ounces? Yup...4.94









Checking out the prizes

















Car lineup














Let the races begin. First launch of about 30 (2 hours worth of launches)













You win some
















You lose some















Lots of pictures of empty track because the new camera doesn't have the same reaction time as the old one











You wait a LONG time while other people are racing












7th out of 13 for his first race. Not too shabby, although he was quite upset that he didn't win a car stand.

















The winner only lost one race the entire night. I think we will have to study his car for next year. We will definitely have a better idea of what to expect and do next year. And now Noah has a fun (and colorful) car to play with

Random Shots from the Week

It's Friday and the weekend is upon us. We have quite a few things that we MAY do this weekend, but I'm not sure what we will actually end up doing. It is always kind of fun to go into a weekend with all sorts of possibilities.

It's been a pretty good week. Aaron had school off on Monday and was not real thrilled about tagging along while I ran errands, but that's what my Monday is. Monday was also the day of my window incident.

Tuesday Noah had scouts again. I really like his scout troop. They require respect from start to finish and they have even done some of the requirements toward his second patch while there. They sent home both some lines to learn for a skit next week and a responsibilities chart to keep for two weeks. Steve started working on Noah's pinewood derby car that has to be done a week from today. The entire basement is covered in a film of sawdust. Noah and Steve will probably be spending some of the weekend sanding and painting the car


Wednesdays are so much nicer now that we don't have to rush to church anymore. Since Noah had a great week at school (and Aaron had been begging every night since Sunday) we decided to have a family Wii night. Steve tried the rhythm boxing and the boys joined in. Very fun night and it may be a weekly staple in the Wheelz house.


Thursday had a few scary moments when I took Aaron to school and proceeded to accidentally slam the side van door on his elbow. It ended up being fine in the long run but he screamed and cried for quite awhile and I was worried that something was injured.

Here's the strange thing. It was almost the same day two years ago when Noah was the same age (5 years) and injured his same arm from the same van door. Pretty freaky, huh? Luckily, some extra snuggles were all that were required to heal this injury.



Today is Friday. Aaron and I will be taking Noah a special McDonald's lunch since he had a PERFECT week at school. Miss O is getting harder on them and perfect weeks are becoming more rare for everyone in the class so he is pretty excited about this. I am too. Then we will spend the evening with scouts building a ceremonial bridge.

Have a great weekend. See you on Monday!

Wordless Wednesday: My Handsome Cub Scout