I don't know if any of you have actually seen the movie Down and Derby but it is pretty hilarious. The first time I watched it I thought, "There is no way dads even barely mimic this!" I was so so very wrong. It all started about three weeks ago when Austin got his Pine Wood Derby kit from scouts........
Kelly looked like a little kid at Christmas at first until the reality set in that he would be the adult overseeing the building of Austin's car. Then he looked a little nervous. He had no clue where to start and Austin is very competitive. Kelly knew if he didn't win at least one race we would be leaving the church with an eight year
in tears. He may have also felt a little bit of pressure from me because I tend to tease him about a little mixing incident that included a broken bucket, grout, and him being pulled all over our garage like the mixer owned the joint. There have been a few occasions where a couple of power tools have gotten the better of Kelly and I tend to tease him about it.
Just watch the first minute or so to see what their design intentions were the rest is about another kid.
I got calls at work one Saturday, the boys begging me to but dremmel tools and special sanders but I sent them over to see Grandpa Parker before we spent any money because he has every tool known to man. His garage is every mans fantasy land. Sure enough Grandpa had just what they needed and when I came home they had the car all sanded out into Austin's design choice. I was impressed! No one had lost a finger and they had not had to make any extra trip to the Boy Scout Office for another car kit.
Did I mention though that this was done in true Kelly fashion--The Saturday before the race! So the car was shaped but not painted and Kelly waited til he crawled into bed that night to drop a bomb on me. With his puppy dog eyes on he explains to me how in order to make Austin's dream to come true and for him to win the derby he needed to buy special, already smooth, graphited wheels, and special graphited axles and because we needed them by no later then Wednesday to finish the car for the race on Thursday we would have to pay for over night shipping. Cost YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW! I said no way and started looking for cheaper alternatives and found I could get his axles and wheels on amazon shipped to our house in time for over $10 cheaper. I gulped as I made the purchase but it was in the name of the derby!
Well, it was a close call but we got all the parts here just in time and Kelly took a half day of vacation on Thursday to put the finishing touches on it. He even went next door to our neighbors house. He is an elderly gentlemen in his late 80's who lives alone. Kelly said he had the perfect flat surface for testing the car out. I chuckled as he ran out the door and next door like a little kid!
Austin got home and was relieved to see Kelly had taken off work early because he was worried the car would not be ready in time. He admired his car in all it's glory and said, "It's gonna win for sure!" You could tell he was nervous though because he paced the floor until race time. Here are some shots at the race. Austin took 2nd. We were so proud of him! Our neighbor that let Kelly borrow his floor earlier in the day even came to the church just to cheer Austin on! We have the best neighbors!!! Austin and Kelly had a lot of fun and they are already coming up with ideas of how to take the coveted #1 spot next year!
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| Austin handing his car off for his first heat! |
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| Ready Set Go! |
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| It may look like Austin is going to lose but he ties it up at the finish line |
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| A proud scout with his car! |
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| Second Place-Not bad for my first year! |
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| It was a father son team effort and worth every minute of it! | Thanks DAD! |
5 comments:
Austin had a very cool car. Glad that they had so much fun building it. Jason took Ryan to get his cut out the Saturday before as well. Hooray for the last minute!
It looks like fun. We still have a few years until we have to learn to build a racer.
Congrats Austin.
Way to go Austin! Cool looking car! Glad the boys had a good time.
Are you sure you're old enough to have a son in scouts?? Haha, I'm right behind you, my son will be there in just over a year. :) Very cool car and SUCH a cute little scout!! And hooray for father/son bonding time!
That is a sweet car! He looks so happy. Glad they got some dad/son bonding time.
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