Grand Prix

Well, it's that time of year again.  Pinewood Derby Grand Prix time.  The girls go to a local AWANAS program, along with many of their homeschool friends.  And since J is such a lover of cars, she has entered every year since she was old enough to be in AWANAS.  This year K decided not to enter a car. 

In the years before, the cars have looked very nice, sleek and painted well.  However, due to our whole family getting our wires crossed about when the race day would be, my Hubby had to make this years' car start-to-finish the night before the race.  So, the paint didn't get to dry properly and was still sticky when we arrived at the race.  We decided that in years to come, if this situation happens again where there just isn't time to do the job, we won't enter a car.  It was a bit hectic, to say the least. 

The track was all set up and ready to go.  The kids could get any final repairs done, such as weight added or reduced, then have their cars registered before the race started.

However, once the cars were registered, and of course had tons of graphite on the wheels, they couldn't do anything else with them.  That's when it was time to put the cars into the Pit and wait for the races to begin.  I always love checking out the creativity of the kids (I mean parents - 'cause we know that it's most often the parents that do all/most of the work).  There are some pretty clever designs. 

This is such a fun family time.  The parents park their stuff on the chairs and visit with each other.  The kids go off to meet up with their buddies and run around.  Everyone brings snacks and we just have a fun time.  K and her friend S were inseparable. 

And so were J and her friend K.  They ran around and played and ate snacks and ran their races when their names were called.

During the opening ceremony we all sat together.  It sure is fun having Daddy with us! 

And we are ready for J's race.  Ready, set, go....!

Now, I must apologize.  My Hubby tells me every year how the judging works, and every year I just can't seem to get it straight.  So for the most part I just let the judges do their thing and I enjoy watching the kids do their races.  From what I do understand, though, is that it's called double elimination.  And I understand that means everyone gets to race lots of times.  There, that's all I know about it.  Pretty unimpressive, I know.  

 

Unfortunately J's car didn't do all that well.  But we always talk to her before the race to make sure she understands that it's not all about winning, but about having fun and participating with friends. 

So she enjoys watching her car and then she's off to play with her friends again until her name is called for another race.