Pinewood Derby

Tonight was Jackson's first ever pinewood derby. We had so much fun! When he first started scouts and we found out the derby was coming up Jackson immediately had a vision of what he wanted:

• First off, it had to be a truck. He wanted nothing "car" about it. Jared explained that a truck might not race as well because of wind resistance and the way it's shaped. Jackson didn't care- he wanted a Pinewood Derby truck. So, over Christmas break Jared took Jackson to his shop and they built the body. Then they spent time at Jarom's house grinding the axle's down so the wheels would be smoother.

• Second- it had to be bright blue. Jackson did all the painting himself with a spray can (thank goodness for an unfinished basement and big cardboard boxes)!

• Third- Jackson's final request was that it had to have flames. This proved much more difficult than I initially thought. I drove all over town to multiple scrapbook/hobby stores looking for any kind of flame sticker or decal. No luck. Finally, Jared found some awesome flame graphics on the Internet and we cut them out with little itty bitty tiny scissors. I showed Jackson how to use my Xyron sticker maker and, VOILA- we now had flame stickers. He also decided he wanted his truck to be #10 so he put those stickers right on top.

Jackson's pickup truck was a hit with all the dads- no one had ever seen a Pinewood Derby truck! They added weights to the bed of the truck to make suer it would at least make it all the way down the track. Jared had prepared Jackson for the past month that the goal wasn't to win but to make it all the way down the track. He told him a truck probably wouldn't be the best racer. Jackson didn't care-- he loved the truck!

BUT... what do you know? A pickup truck wasn't such a bad idea after all. The picture below is a picture of Jackson getting his Pinewood Derby award. And what was the award for? FIRST PLACE!!! Seriously... first place. Jackson was blown away- complete and utter shock-- he had totally prepared himself not to win. They ran 4 heats so each car could have a race on each of the 4 tracks and Jackson' s little pick-up smoked every other car, every single race!
After the official races they let anyone race and lots of the other boys/dads wanted a turn to race against the smoking fast pick-up truck! The "officiator" who timed all the races apparently does this often and he told Jared after the races that he's never seen any Pinewood Derby car get times that fast! Whoa!
We couldn't wipe the smile off Jackson's face. He was so surprised and so excited! We had prepared him so much that it was just for fun and as long as his truck made it down the track, that's all that mattered... he was beaming! He was bragging to his scout buddies about his cool dad and his cool uncle Jarom who helped make his truck so awesome! He also thought it was so cool to get to help use the "big boy" tools (and I'm grateful he still has all of his fingers)!

FIRST PLACE OVERALL... PINEWOOD DERBY TRUCK!