This years Pinewood Derby was held on Saturday Jan. 2nd. We had the best turn out ever with 43 cars entered. I was so pleased at how much work and creativity went into the cars. I wish I could have taken a picture of each car and posted it, but there just isn't time to do that, and besides, this is my blog, for my family, so I'll be a bratt and focus on my own children.
From left to right: Emma's car - an explosive from the X-box game Halo. I know what you're thinking...Emma? Sweat little Emma? Well now ya know. Next is the Old Man's car. Don't ask. I don't know what it is either. Next is David's car. It's a army Hummer with Lego soldiers inside and one mounted on top with a cannon. There are pictures of this one later on. Next is Matt's car, a sleek yellow fast back that he designed himself and painted. Next is Josh's car. It does not have a name, but it sure looks cool enough. Then Ammon's car. He called it the Turd. I will say no more.
All of the cars were set on a table marked like a parking lot with the Junior and Senior classes separated. When all of the cars were on the table it looked pretty cool
A box was placed on the table for a secret ballet to choose the best car for looks and craftsmanship in each class. No one could vote for themselves. It worked pretty well. The winners were pretty obviouse although there was a tie for first place in the Junior class.
There was a lot of testing the track out before the race. Here you have Michael and Nephi Wheeler and Ammon. Nephi's car was about 12" long so he had a hard time figuring out how to set it up at the starting gate. Ammon's just taking notes.
These are some of the cheer leaders. Becky Wheeler, Bekah Hubler, and Kim Wheeler. They had reason to cheer, because the Wheelers went away with the first place trophy again. Someone has got to beat that Mikey.
Jared Palmer, Andrew Patterson, Kristy Palmer, and Josh Palmer.
Rachel Wheeler with her grandson Ethan. This is an amazing little boy. He runs all over the place wanting to see everything and be in the middle of it all and he's not quite a year old.
Here you have Josh, Ammon and Nephi. These guys spell trouble where ever they are. Actually, they are about as good a boys as you will find. They sure have a lot of fun together. My only concern is with Josh and Nephi, they are as close as you can get to being kissing cousins without it getting too weird.
Uncle Kelly, also known as the tool, or gadget guy. He comes with a big old tool box loaded with all the best stuff and goes to work at the table like he's on the job. They guy's always fun and always a good sport.
David's car got a lot of attention. The kids hung around the table waiting for the next car to be put on display. It was fun just watching the excitement build. The hardest part about this event is giving out the awards, because everyone feels that they have the best car.
Everything started at the "official's table" where Hyrum weighed in the cars and had everyone sign in. There's always a lot of trips back to the tune-up table to shave an ounce or add one, until that car comes in at exactly 5 oz. Hyrum was tired after working all night so he was the perfect official. Nothing got past him.
Adam was the finish line judge. His job was to call out the first and second place winners, and try to keep the kids from stepping on the track or grabbing the wrong car.
Sam was in charge of the track itself. I noticed that the track had a flaw in it during the Junior's race. They just made due not wanting to take it apart and fix the problem. But as soon as the Senior class was up for racing, they promptly tore the track down and fixed it. Hum, just a bit competitive I would say.
Ben ran the race chart. It was a double elimination race so it was a little complicated. He did a great job with it. Spencer was there to help. He never misses a beat.
Here are a couple of interesting entries. The car on the far right in Sam's. It has an electric motor in it and a remote control....DISQUALIFIED! The next on to the left was entered by Hyrum Wheeler. It has two arms that swing out on springs the minute the gate goes down and prevents any other cars from passing it...DISQUALIFIED!
Here is a shot from the finish line showing Emma's car coming in a strong first. She did well all the way to the forth round. Way to go Emma.
Here's a shot of the spectators. It was hard to keep the kids in their seats and we ended up having to put a tape line on the floor to keep them back from the track a little.
This years awards weren't as big and impressive as last year. I just couldn't afford it. We decided to use plaques instead of trophies. I think everyone liked the the plaques better. So, we'll just do that again. I called everyone ahead of time to try to get the number of cars so that I would purchase enough medals for all the children. As it turned out there were 16 more cars than I had expected, so the Senior class had to give up their medals for the children. But everyone was ok with that.
The fun ones to watch were the youngest ones. Here is Adam's little boy, Hunter. He was so excited that he got a medal. It's just impossible to capture their excitement in a picture.
This is Danny. Just look at that face. This is why I love this event each year. I think I'll spend more effort preparing for these kids.
Emma was awarded second place Best of Show for her Halo Bomb. Go figure. It was very original and very well made, I will have to admit.
David was awarded first place Best of Show in the Seniors class for his Hummer. He really worked hard on it, and he did 100 percent of the work himself. Remember, these awards were decided by secret ballet.
Matthew tied Sammy Palmer for first place Best of Show in the Juniors class. He deserved it for the work he put into his car.
Josh had a great car and it did pretty well in the race, but he didn't win anything. He did get one less vote than Emma, and technically he would have received a third place medal for Best of Show in the Seniors class if we didn't give all of the Senior medals to the children. Good job, Josh.
The winners of the downhill derby race were: Michael Wheeler in the Senior class, and AJ Griggs in the Junior class. Adam may have been able to beat Michael in the Seniors, but he raced the same car in both classes and we didn't realize it until the championship races. He had to choose whether he would place second in the Juniors for Hunter to get a medal, or he would race against Mike and risk not winning anything. So he chose to keep the second place medal in the Juniors, leaving first place to Mike. At the end of all of the racing a final race was held to give this years winners a chance to beat last years winners. So Mike raced his first and second place cars from last year against his first place car this year and AJ and Adam. Mike first place car from last year beat them all. So he received a ribbon and medal as the overall winner. After the race we ate tacos and visited until we couldn't stand it any longer. Well, next year we have to do something about Mike Wheeler. Maybe Jonny Payne or Seth Adams will come through for us?
Josh taught him to play the bass. He caught on pretty fast.
It kind of sounded like music. I'm sure that they thought it was. But it was fun. The Old Man even got in on the action.
We went bowling. Dad had the high score, 182. Don't worry Jonny, it doesn't happen very often.
Daniel doesn't want anyone to know his score. He's so humble. It was fun. We bowled four games and stayed until we were the last ones on the floor. They literally kicked us out.
And of course, what's a guys night out without Buffalo Wild Wings? Poor Daniel didn't know to watch out for the HOT ones. He ate a BLAZIN right off the start. I don't think he tasted very much after that.
Nephi put his Yoga DVD in and had all the guys lined up. It looked more like ballet. They tried to get me to try it. I could feel the pain in my back just watching.
Check it out. The muscles, the stance, the strength. Aren't they amazing?
We went to Albert Pike Rec. Area and hiked a trail called Winding Stairs. At the end of the trail there is a river spot with a few very deep holes and rocks to jump off of.
The idea was to go there and jump into the water with the air temperature about 40 deg. and the water about 40 deg. We were going to prove that we were men.
Well, after a couple of river crossings we decided that we didn't want to do it. The water was high because of rain, and it was just too darn cold. This is our Iwo Jima shot.
Hot dogs were the food of the day. It would have been fine, but some of the boys pulled Poison Ivy roots out of the trees and put them on the fire. I'm highly alergic, so my Poison Ivy smoked hotdog really messed me up.
Josh and David. Josh is freezing his ?? off.
Matthew was half undressed before I knew it. He was headed into the river. I had to stop him of course. The water was too deep, too cold, and too swift. He can thank me later.
It was a very pretty hike. One of the nice things about hiking in winter in this state, is that you can see the terrain. In the summer time, the leaves cover everything up.
More scenery
Josh slipped and fell cutting his finger on something. It wasn't enough to just cut it, he had to make use of his precious blood. So he made about ten smiley faces on the trees as we hiked.
This is a place called Little Missouri Falls. Daniel really liked this. He took lots of pictures. He really likes the outdoors, and the hiking was his favorite part of his stay with us.
It was a great day. You can see some of the boys down by the water.
After a day of fun Ammon and Nephi decided it was time to get a cell signal. They had been too long without a text. But it didn't matter how high they got, there were no signals in the mountains. They were forced to have old fashioned fun. until we got back to the highway. Both of them watched their phones faithfully waiting for that signal.
