The Lucky Winner indeed!

This past weekend was the annual Cub Scout event I've unofficially dubbed the Yo Mama Can't Help You race (also known as the Pinewood Derby). Luckily for me, Mark's got an awesome Cub Scout Patrol leader who's not only patient, but also has an impressive amount of power tools. Color me relieved!

Through a series of sessions, Mark's block of pine eventually morphed into a lightning-quick race car. During the first working session, Mark was only required to bring the block of wood and a design idea. This proved more difficult than it sounds.

"I'm gonna make a baseball!" he exclaimed, showing me his drawing of a half-baseball car.

"That looks very cool!" I told him. "But...it may be hard to cut that shape. You're starting with a rectangular block of wood, not a square."

"It'll work," Mark insisted, so I just nodded. This was not a battle I was going to wage.

In the end, he brought home a spiffy little number, with wave-like curls cut into it. He was very proud of it.

He still needed to attach the wheels, so I sent the car when he visited my family in San Diego.

"Have Grandpa help you put them on," I said. "Since...you know...I glued them that one time."

Mark nodded. He remembered how the overglued wheels had completely refused to turn. His car had inelegantly slid (not rolled) down the track into last place.

Of course, I forgot to tell Mark to bring the car back from San Diego, and he accidentally left it there. I told my dad to just spray paint it and mail it back, but my parents worried it would break in the mail, so they personally drove it up instead. (Have I mentioned I have the best parents ever?)

The day of the derby was filled with excitement. We visited the first station, registering and photographing the car.

"What's your car's name?" Mark was asked, and he confidently answered, "The Lucky Winner."



During triage (yes, there really is a triage station!), we found Mark's car was severely underweight. We tripled the weight of the car by gluing on weights, and Mark was ready to go.

In a self-fulfilling prophecy, the Lucky Winner lived up to its name! Mark easily won all four of his races, advancing him to the Final 16. He was working in the hot dog booth when I told him, and stopped taking tickets long enough to say, "Yay!" Then he went right back to work.



By the time the finals started, Mark was a bit bored. Like the good pre-teen he is, he'd disappeared with some friends who had scooters, older brothers and even (ack!) girls. I watched him casually ignore me when I called (more than once) to come cheer on his car. He was reluctant to leave his post with the cool big kids.

His car didn't place in the finals, but who cares? We were both thrilled that he'd even made it to the finals--he'd never gotten that far before. He had a car that wasn't square, wasn't glittery, and had moving wheels. And it only took us four years to achieve all that!

So in the end, although it has been the bane of my last four Januarys, Mark bid adieu to his final Pinewood Derby, and left on a high note.