Parker's first pinewood derby

One of the best parts of cub scouts is the pinewood derby! Last year the pack decided to do a space derby instead, so this was Parker's first pinewood derby. When we asked Parker how he wanted to design his car, he told us he wanted a pencil, just like his pencil rocket he raced in the space derby last year, which took second place. I was a little concerned that it wouldn't look right, but I was definately wrong - it was the best looking vehicle there! .........but I'm not biased, or anything. I was also concerned that Rick wouldn't be around during the derby to help with any fine tuning that might need to be done - mom's just aren't as cut out for that job, but Rick made sure that everything was ready to go before he went to work.

The derby started out great for Parker, in fact, it looked like he would win the whole thing. He won the first 4 races, took second the next 3 and then took first in the last heat. So he ended up in 4th place out of the 16 cars - a very respectable showing.

Just look at how far ahead Parker's pencil was - it wasn't even a contest in the beginning!
Parker and Emmett showing off their cars and participation ribbons. Emmett finished in 5th place after he finally realized that his car ran better when it was backwards!