14/365

Ok, Pinewood Derby Photo Week culminated tonight in the actual Derby.

There were 26 heats tonight, each one lasting about 2 to 2.5 seconds. Riley's car had some mods done to it prior to racing. We glued some weights back on as some of the graphite ones fell off. In addition, he had to have his number changed from 98 to simply 9. He was a little alarmed as he thought he did something wrong (tears in his eyes; he took it all very seriously), but when we explained it to him, he was fine.

In all, each car competed in 4 heats, once in each lane. Unfortunately, Riley started the night 2 for 2, both times finishing last.

He took it well, though. We tried to explain that competition isn't always about winning. In fact, when the scout leader asked about competition when we started, Riley volunteered by saying exactly that, that winning isn't everything.

Anyway, on his third go-round, he got third place.

You'd think he was on an Oprah's Favorite Things episode. He freaked out!

I was at the other end of the track (the raised end) and I saw him jump into Marci's arms. She told me he was screaming and had tears in his eyes again, he was so excited!

His last heat, he finished last again, but he had fun. At the end of the night (almost 4 hours of time spent at the church!), he got a ribbon and in his den, he finished 4th out of 5 members. He was a little bummed he didn't get a trophy, but he was happy he did it.

Now that he and I have some experience with the Pinewood Derby, I think we'll do better next year. We'll go for more of a wedge shape, and place the weights a bit more strategically.

It was a good time.