Pinewood Derby

So, Hunter had his first pinewood derby last week. We spent a lot of time painting and sanding his car. We tried to do all the tricks to help the pinewood derby go a little faster and get that extra speed to edge the other cars. By the time, I got the wheels on his car for him, I was just hoping that he would win one race. We arrived at the church and saw the new metal track they had laid out for the derby. I had Hunter go test his car on the track to make sure the car worked. His car rolled to the bottom of the track and so I knew that the car would work. Then a couple of other kids started putting their cars on the track and Hunter was beating thier cars every time. I decided that Hunter would at least not come in last place and that made me feel a little better. Finally, Hunter got to race. Somehow his car won his first race. I don't know who was more surprised - me or Hunter. I will never forget the look on his face when he realized he won - I think he was in a little shock and had to look at the big screen that showed the place of the cars, then he looked at me with this huge shocked look on his face. His friends were cheering for him and it finally sunk in that he had won! He was so excited. The next race, Hunter won again and there was still shock and excitement on his face. He won his third race, and I started thinking that maybe we did something right in making his car. However, he took third in his next race and second in the next race. I was humbled. But Hunter ended up winning 5 out of the 8 races he ran. When the final tallies came out, he took 5th place. He was so excited about that and I was impressed that we finished so high. Thanks to Grandpa Griffin and Grandpa McClanahan for thier techniques, help, and equipment. Had Hunter and I tried to do it alone, we definitely would have come in last....or second to last.