Down & Derby

So yes, I took the title off of a movie, but it was a hilarious movie...

Today was Tanis' 1st Pinewood Derby. He was so excited and Eric was glad it was all done. Because Eric works two jobs, his time was limited and he had to make due with the time that he had. And I am a horrible wife/mother and didn't get any pictures of them working on the car.... Maybe next year.

When Eric asked Tanis what kind of car he wanted to do, he immediately said, "Indiana Jones." So Eric dutifully searched the internet for ways to make a jeep. He came across one site that actually sold a precut car in the shape of a jeep, but after checking the rules, realized it wouldn't work. So Eric had to figure it out on his own.

He bought the regular piece of wood, sketched the outline on the wood and cut it out. Eric is more talented than he likes to admit. He has a few talents that if he really worked on he could really do something great. After Eric cut it and sanded it, it was up to Tanis to paint it.

Tanis did a quick job (he doesn't take his time doing much of anything) and painted his jeep. I had to resist the urge to cover up all the empty spots that he left. Eric and I wanted this to be Tanis' car and wanted Tanis to do everything that was "safe."

This morning Eric and Tanis worked together to get everything finished up. (Stickers on, figurines in, weighted correctly and so on.) Here is the finished product:

At 1:00 we headed to the church for the Derby. Tanis was so excited and so were all the boys - there were also a lot of dads who were excited.

They had such a great set up. They even had a projector hooked to a laptop to show who was racing, in which lane they were racing, and who was next up. It was even able to take the speeds and places the cars took to find an overall winner.

During one of Tanis' last races, however, the two boys he was going against weren't very nice. They said to each other, "Tanis is so going to lose." I felt so bad for Tanis and saw the look on my son's face and it broke my heart. My sister was funny and asked "Which kid should I knock out?" I told her, "Both of them."

Tanis came in 7th of 10. We never wanted it to be about winning, we just wanted him to have fun and to do his car the way he wanted.

After the races were totally finished they gave us some time for refreshments so that the judges could judge and give awards to everyone. We figured Tanis would probably get an award for the most creative car, but wasn't sure.

During this time I noticed Tanis in a corner with one of his friends (and his friends little sister) and Tanis was crying. I went over to see what the problem was. Tanis' friend, Taylor told me that one of the same boys who previously said that Tanis was going to lose, also said he didn't like Tanis' car.

I wasn't sure if it was just the fact that someone said something mean to him or if was also a culmination of the fact that he didn't "win." I was trying to console him telling him that if someone doesn't like something of Tanis' then it is their problem. I also tried to explain to him that there wasn't any "losers" in this race and that everyone was going to win something. That seemed to help.

It also helped that Taylor and Taylor's little sister were both telling Tanis how cool his car was and that they thought it was awesome. (Thank you Catey for raising such wonderful kids. It means a lot to know that Tanis has some really outstanding friends) After Taylor and I talked with Tanis he was all better and off they ran.

Then it was award time. Tanis did win the award for most creative car and for his "cheer" we did the first part of the Indiana Jones song followed by the sound of a whip. It was so much fun and I think Tanis ended up being happy overall. And I didn't get any pictures of him getting his award because somehow I zapped the 2 gig memory card and all I am stuck with is a 64 Megabyte card and I filled that all up.

Today was one of those days where you have to learn to take the good with the bad. As much as I wanted to tell those two little boys off - I really did, I held my tongue and had to realize that Tanis has got to learn to deal with stuff like this because it's going to happen throughout his life and I won't always be there. And I also realized how important it is to have good friends.

Overall it was a good day and I enjoyed my first ever Pinewood Derby! Enjoy the pics...