Pinewood Derby 2015

In past years Xander has not had much success with the Pinewood Derby. The first year he refused to participate and then the next two years found Xander's car floundering in last place in most of the races. Some of you might recall the extremely sourpuss face that was displayed in most of the pictures from last year's Pinewood Derby.  This year I kinda gave David a hard time about Xander's string of losses and since this was his last year doing the derby it might be nice if he had a better car. David started researching tips and tricks to a better Pinewood Derby car and then he and Xander got to work!  
And here we go - Pinewood Derby 2015!

Xander's sleek silver car.

Noah also made a car, with David's help, for the siblings races. It needed a few final touches.

A car that fits Noah - a dragon van!

Savannah's 49ers car served her well last year so she brought it out again.

Xander had a big part to play in the Derby this year - he helped keep track of the races...

and carried the race results to the computer.

A full house,

with lots of excitement in the air!

My favorite part of the Derby was listening to Xander announce the races. He really got into his role, elongating names and adding a little humor to the event.

Towards the end of the Derby we realized that Xander had won all his races and his car was headed in to the finals. To determine the ultimate winner they took the top 3 cars and raced them against each other three times; in each race the cars were placed in different slots to ensure that all was fair. In this picture Xander's car is in the 2nd slot. Go Xander!!

Xander's reaction when his car went undefeated!! Love the pure joy! And the best thing was that the car was all his - he cut it, painted it, attached everything, and implemented all of David's hints that he had found. We were so proud of him!

Next up were the siblings' cars. Go Noah and his Dragon car!

What a cute group of little kids.  They were just as into the races as their older brothers had been!

Unfortunately Noah's car didn't do so well but Savannah's 49ers car rocked it once again!

The winners of the 2015 Pinewood Derby.

The siblings winners!

A proud dad!

Way to go out in style, Xander! No grumpy expressions this year.