Pinewood Derby 2014

Last year Xander was NOT interested in the Pinewood Derby so we skipped the event. A little while afterward he found out from his buddies how cool it was and how much fun they had had so this year he was all pumped up about it. Until he had to get his car cut and painted.  I thought we might have a repeat of the year before but David coaxed him into it and the kids quickly painted their cars the morning of the derby.
Noah decided to go with a camouflage truck;

Savannah turned hers into a 49ers car;

and Xander followed Savannah's idea but put a cool gold stripe right down the middle of his red car.

The end result - Noah's truck turned out great! Well, at least the paint job. The tires were a whole different story.

And the Niners cars looked awesome!

A group shot! They were all so excited to see how their cars would do, especially Xander!

I had absolutely NO idea what a big deal the Pinewood Derby is.  There was tape up everywhere with designated areas people could not go. I actually got reprimanded for stepping behind the table to take this picture of Xander's car getting weighed in. I understand that they don't want anyone cheating but really? Do parents actually stoop so low just to have their kid's car win? Apparently they do. And here I was thinking this was just some fun-filled family car race.  I didn't realize the parents are CRAZY and will argue, debate, and question every race!

This was early on in the derby when Xander still had high hopes.

That's Xander's car in the first lane.

After a few races, Xander quickly realized his car was a stinker. His smile turned to a frown and he developed an extremely poopy attitude as his car lost every single race it was in. Xander got funky with David, blaming him for his car's poor turnout. When I asked to see his driver's license, he reluctantly held it up for the picture.

And then when I asked to see his award (since everyone gets an award of some kind, even if your car is the total loser car), he shoved it at me and made a face followed with an incredibly snarky comment. It's so lovely having children.

It was finally time for all members of the family to race their cars, just for fun. Savannah's car did pretty well but Noah's tires fell off midway down the track.

At least Xander's car did better in these races and we were able to go home with a tad better attitude.