Andrew was too pooped from rolling over for the first time to participate much:

But, Jack held a snake (and now wants one, to which Dan says, “NO WAY!”):

And there was, of course, face painting (because what else is there at a company picnic?):

The picnic was followed by Scout Camp Family Night.  Fun was had by all (well, the kids, anyway) and money wasted on food not eaten.

Jack demonstrated his skill with a BB gun while Maria tried her hand at it:

And Sam caught his first fish!!!

But, I digress…  Back to the Derby.

Jack KICKED BUTT, making it to 7th place out of 42 cars.  He raced so well that we were there for the entire THREE HOURS of racing (except for the part where we dropped Maria at a birthday party.)  The Little Boys had a blast rooting for Jack’s car and Jack was quite proud up until he was eliminated.  Then, unfortunately, there were some tears.  But, hey, it was tense and he is only 7.  Never have the second grade Cub Scouts been so focused during an event.  And never have so many dads shown up

some of the competition

speeding in at first place

on a roll

exit interview

Obsessed with what?

Tomorrow’s Cub Scout Pinewood Derby.

Apparently, Jack is not the only one who has a father with The Fever, ’cause tonight, after weigh-ins, is the Father’s Race.  Winner gets bragging rights.

I’m not sure if I’m hoping Dan wins or not.  On on hand, he’s worked really hard (obsessively hard) on building his car.  It’d be great to see that work end in success.  On the other hand, I don’t know if I’m up to listening to the bragging for a few weeks if he does win.  Back on the other hand, next year will be even worse if he doesn’t win tonight.

Tomorrow, though, is the real deal.  I’m going to try my best to be there to video Jack’s race(s), but I have to take Maria to a birthday party, so we’ll see.  Either way, results will be posted here in the afternoon.

Here are the contenders:

Jack's 2010 Car

Father and Son Racers

Dan’s car is a little plain, but he says it’s built for speed only.  Jack, however, is going for a blue in speed and decor.

After seeing a few pictures, however, I’m not sorry I missed out on this particular event.

That is essentially a GIANT cockroach, people!

I have no words for this one...

P.S.  One of the moms reported to me that NOT ONE ADULT partook in the holding of the creepy crawlies!!!

Today, after much delay, I got out my sewing machine, Jack’s Cub Scout uniform, and allllllll of his patches.  It was a project I was dreading.  I am not a good sewer. I put on a few patches last year by hand and it was a total, bloody (literally – I’m not trying to be a Brit here), disaster. So, I let all future patches accumulate.

When my friend Katey visited last Spring, I coerced her she offered to do a little work on Jack’s brag vest.  I dug out the patches, found the blank vest, pointed her to my sewing machine (which hadn’t been used since moving here) and let her have at it.  It turned out, of course, perfectly.

That was the last of the “patching” around here.  Until today.

Switching schools came with switching scout packs.  Which means different patches. On the uniform (much more important than the brag vest).

As Jack’s first den meeting is next week and I’m the mommy helper for that day, I figured I’d better get moving.  Now or never.  Sink or swim. The uniform had to be taken care of, and with everything out, I might as well work on the vest, too.

I think it actually took me longer to dig up all the stuff I needed to get the job done than it took to do the job.  I did have to remove and resew two patches, since I put them on crooked, but other than that, it all went quite smoothly.  All together, I put on 8 patches.  And they all look great!  (If you don’t inspect too closely, anyway).

Here’s the brag vest… Katey did most of these, but I did some.  Can’t tell the expert from the amateur, can you?

First of all, I need to update you on Saturday’s Kiddieland fiasco.  As I said before, the trip to McDonald’s seemed to placate everyone.  Dan and I were still seething, but luckily, our children recover pretty quickly.  On Saturday evening I did receive a phone call from the woman in charge of the outing.  She was extremely apologetic.   A few things led to our demise:  a) woman was not able to pre-purchase tickets as planned; b) woman was late arriving due to a school track meet; c) woman had to stand in looooooonnnnnngggggg line; d) Kiddieland was experiencing record crowds due to its impending closure (normally, you can walk right up to the gate, purchase your tickets and go in – no lines.); e) only three scout families participated in the event; f) as I mentioned previously, we don’t know a lot of people yet, so it makes recognizing one another difficult.  And, no one (us included) wore a uniform.

I felt much better after the phone call and Dan and I are contemplating trying to take the kids this coming weekend.  It’s the final weekend Kiddieland is open.  I’m sure it will be crazy, but knowing now about the crowds, I think we can coordinate something.

If Saturday’s call made us feel better, Sunday made us feel terrific.  First of all, this Sunday was the monthly Scout Mass.  We were hesitant about participating after Saturday, but Dan and Jack showed up in uniform and Jack was thrilled to be there.  He saw plenty of his friends and Dan met several people, as well.  Oh, we also got our Kiddieland check back.  Mass was great (for the scouts anyway).

Later in the afternoon, we headed back up to church/school for the annual parish picnic.  It was WONDERFUL!  We saw tons of people we knew from school, Jack and Maria both found friends immediately upon arriving, and there was plenty to do… for free!  All of the bouncies and midway-type games were free.  There was also face painting (Jack kept those poor girls busy), tatoos, crafts, and an excellent emcee/DJ.  The food was good, and Jack expressed a desire to help the scouts sell soda next year.

As we left, Jack told me, “This definitely makes up for Kiddieland!” and as we walked home Dan (!) told me how much he liked being part of this school and parish.  That’s really saying something!  No wonder there are so many alumni families.

Tonight, Jack and Dan are at a Scout meeting.  (Earlier this afternoon, Jack’s new den mother called to introduce herself to me and to make sure we knew about tonight’s meeting.)

Saturday was definitely a fluke.  Unfortunate, yes, but we are so over it.

Jack has graduated in Boy Scouts from being a Bobcat to being a Tiger Cub. We missed the ceremony due to a conflict, but he has received all his official pins and badges. (Meaning more sewing for me… unless Katey wants to come back???) The scout rocket launch is this afternoon – look for pictures to come. I think real fire is involved, so it should be… interesting.

Maria has already had her class picnic and will be graduating from kindergarten next week. I can’t believe she’s going to be a first-grader! Grandma and Grandpa are coming to help celebrate. I’ll be sure to post pics next week.

Lukie has graduated recently from a tricycle to a 2-wheeler (with training wheels). He looks pretty serious now. He’s also getting ready to finish up his first year of preschool, where he’s learned to color better, write his name and play non-competitive musical chairs. (?!?!)

And Sam… as you know from the Poop Party, he is on the cusp of graduating from diapers to undies. I can’t believe I’ll have a diaper-less house after all these years.  Whatever will I do?

And me? I’ve just graduated from crazy to crazier

We showed up a little early, so we were able to watch another pack or troop or group or whatever race their cars. That was fun, but not nearly as fun as watching “our” cars.

Jack’s car raced in the third heat in his Tiger pack.  His group raced four times and he came in second three times and first once.  So, his car and another moved up to the “finals.”

In the finals, Jack’s car did really well – came in fourth or third in most of the races.  Good, but unfortunately not good enough.

Here’s a clip of his car racing.  Thank goodness they had an electronic winner thingy.  As you can see from the clip, it’s very hard to tell who crossed the finish line in which place.

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