pinewood derby

 Elliott had his final pinewood derby last week.

Adam worked really hard with Elliott to get the car ready.

I heard the dates wrong, so they were ready a week early!

Adam would come home late from meetings and just want to go to bed, but would do a little sanding, or painting, or whatever. He also took it to work so he could do a paint layer and let it dry while he worked. Maybe if he would have known it was a week later it wouldn't have been such a big deal? But he was glad to have it done too. Elliott was very proud of his car. He chose a spider sticker for the front. Little boys live for this stuff! It's all he would talk about all day, week, month. 

I was sad because I had an important meeting that night, and Elliott was finally in the last heat.

I was already running late when his car went. It flew off the track the first time. Then the second time, the wheel flew off! It's all very technical (according to Adam) because the book said to leave one wheel up so it doesn't touch the ground, so it would go faster. So when it flew off, he just glued it back into where it was supposed to go. Anyway, I had to leave while the gluing was happening. And later the yw leaders from our ward came to the meeting and said that Elliott had won! Elliott's car raced two more times and came out on top! I got a cute picture text from Adam saying, "We won Mom!" And when I got home from the meeting, Elliott filled me in on every last detail. He loved that after it was over, everyone wanted to race him just for fun, and he kept winning. Adam got the funniest text after it was over from a guy in our ward. His son told him,
"In pinewood derbies, nobody touches Elliott. Nobody."

Elliott's green car flying off the track!

Wheel breaking off!

1st place!!