Pinewood Derby the Third

At last month's Pack Meeting, Jack received his Webelos patch AND the Pack's honored Spirit Staff.  He added a miniature "I Survived" book to the staff to commemorate his month-long possession, which mostly meant that the staff was in the garage so the kids wouldn't cause any harm to themselves or others or the house.

This month's Pack Meeting was the Pinewood Derby, which the kids were really excited about.  This Pack distributes a kit to each Cub Scout and a second kit to each family who has younger siblings who want to race.  Jack made drawings for his car, and he and Eliza were both really excited about getting the cars ready.  Ben took all three younger kids to a neighbor's house who'd offered to help everyone cut the cars, then Ben helped the kids sand and paint the cars and get them weighted and aligned.

The kids were pumped for the Pinewood Derby last week.  Ben was out of town and I had to be in Salt Lake to rehearse for the TabChoir Easter Concert, so I just stayed long enough to see Jack compete in his first race, then pick Eliza up at gymnastics and bring her to the church, then I left. (Thank you to Jack's Den leader who took some pictures of the racing and sent them to me!) Jack lost the first race, and most of the races, but he still had a lot of fun.  Eliza and Luke enjoyed competing too.  From the time the weigh-in started to the time the kids started going home was two hours and 15 minutes.  And there were only about 10 Cub Scouts (and less than 10 sibling cars) present.  Each car did a LOT of racing.

(That night, Jack also received a couple more awards.)

Now I find myself wondering... is this the last Pinewood Derby our family will ever participate in?  Will the new whatever-replaces-Cub-Scouts program include this beloved (if not by parents, at least by boys) tradition?