Pinewood Derby Surprise

Austin got his pinewood derby supplies a month ago at the Blue and Gold dinner. Two weeks after that was when I got strep throat, the second time, so Jason was busy with extra tasks and they didn't start working on the car when they normally would have. One week before the event, they went to get started on the car, but discovered that it was lost. So, they had to go buy one, which was inconvenient, since the store they sell them at isn't exactly that close to our house and getting there and back took out precious car-making time. They worked on it a little each evening that week. Luckily, Austin had done it last year with the school pack, so he knew a little about what to expect, but I felt like they didn't work as long on it and wondered how it would turn out. It looked great, though, and my friend even complimented its appearance before the race. 

Austin started his racing in one of the first heats of the whole event. Each car got a turn in each lane. He won 3 races out of the 4, mostly because one lane had some bumps and most every car performed poorly in that lane. We thought he did a pretty good job and I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. When they announced the winners of the whole event; however, I was totally surprised that he came in first! Actually, Jason and Austin were too. It turns out that during his runs, he was racing against the 2nd and 3rd place winners, as well as some other faster cars, so even though he was barely winning his heats his times were the fastest. 

The Speedster

His first heat.

Going up for the final award.

I love the look on his face when he found out he won. Priceless!

Meanwhile, that very same day, Victoria's choir came in first at the choir festival, even over the eighth graders there. It was a day of firsts! (Here's the songs they sang at the festival, performed at the concert a few weeks prior).