from start to finish

Braden got to participate in the Pinewood Derby with Boy Scouts! I remember my brother making the cars and going to the races as a kid and was super psyched for Braden. Our biggest goal was for him to do as much of the work he could do by HIMSELF because it's a race designed for the boys to do...not the parents. (As a teacher I never liked school projects that were sent home to do mostly by the parents...what's the point??)

Anyway, Braden decided on this design for his car and wanted it to have a fin like a shark and be yellow and blue. Braden did the sanding and painting by himself. Brian DID help him with taping the stripe down the middle of it.

sanding and painting

On the day of the race we all headed to the mall to cheer on our guy. We weren't sure what to expect for the race but it was run really well and was neat to see how far they've come with the technology. (We had to drop his car off the night before so they could be sure it was the right weight, etc.)

Braden's car is the one closest to the edge of the pic...or the one on the left. He was THRILLED with the outcome of it and we were thrilled with the awesome job he did! He hammered the wheels in with a little help from Brian. His car wasn't the fastest...out of the six races he did most of the time his came in third or fourth place. Awesome for his first time!

his cheerleaders!

We were super shocked and excited for Braden when he won a trophy for craftsmanship! They give out trophy's for speed, design, and craftsmanship. We saw all sorts of cars...really creative ones and plain ones too. (Again...very obvious which ones were done by the parents.) Everyone gets a ribbon for participation but everyone does NOT get a trophy...and he came in 2nd place for craftsmanship! Way to go, Braden!! Most importantly he had a great time making his first derby car and he had a great time at the race:).

braden with daddy and ephram! these pics were taken about two minutes apart. notice how exhausted ephram was since it was naptime. he literally fell asleep one the way out! he was kind enough to 'hold' braden's car and trophy for him:).