Besides the mission, we also completed his Pinewood Derby car. Mark actually worked on this over Christmas with my dad, so the car was shaped, sanded and ready for paint.
It needed wheels, too, but I saved that for the Cub Scout dads to help with, since last year I nailed them in too far and the wheels wouldn't move at all. (In my defense, they also didn't fall off.)
Luckily, the scout leader held a workshop at his house. He emailed us saying he had a band saw, a circle saw, some other saws and a power sander. To which my mouth dropped open, because really, unless you're a carpenter, I didn't know why you'd have all those tools.
I quickly responded that yes, we'd be there. Based on last year's experience, I learned that "just" painting the car is still waaaaaaay outta my skill set. (This was also confirmed when the scout leader said Mark could prime and paint the car during the workshop, and I responded, surprised, "You have to prime it?")
The workshop was mostly me watching the dads expertly saw and paint the cars with their keenly interested sons. My son, on the other hand, ran away at every possible opportunity, preferring to play on the swing set. I reigned him in a couple times, so he could run the paint can over his car as quickly as possible before playing again.
I brought him back to help the scout leader nail the wheels in. Mark and I watched him nail the first one in, and I asked Mark, "Did you see that? Can you do that for the other wheels?" Before Mark could shake his head no, the scout leader pointed out this was the make-or-break part of the process.
"If you don't do this part right, the car won't run," he explained. I nodded as if I didn't already know that from experience.
"OK, just watch Mr. Koch do it, then," I told Mark. Mr. Koch said Mark could watch if he wanted, which Mark understood to mean he didn't have to watch. He ran off without even saying goodbye.
When the car finally dried, it looked awesome. Mark chose a metallic bronze for the top, with black sides. We took the car home, where he painted and added a driver (a gorilla with road rage) and some decals.
"What's your car's name?" I asked as he added the last few stickers.
"Mr. Speed," he answered. "No, Shiny, because of the color. No, the gorilla is named Mr. Speed, and the car is named Shiny." He smiled and proudly held up his finished car.
Mr. Speed was pretty fast, too. Here he is zooming right out of the picture.
And of course, Mr. Speed needed to park Shiny somewhere. Conveniently, there was a nearby mission with an expansive front lawn that worked out well.
Mr. Speed was the perfect Catholic convert, as he completely forgot the sermon between church and the parking lot, and cut everyone off while leaving Mass.
We had great fun rolling Mr. Speed across the dining room table. He suffered one minor mishap when he fell to the floor and the gorilla broke in half. Luckily, we had a leftover bottle of Krazy Glue left, so we fixed him up in no time.
Can't wait for the big race on Saturday. Zoom zoom!
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