Pine Wood Derby! Oh, So FUN!!

This year's pinewood derby was pretty epic!  First of all, it is the first time we have had one since 2019 because of Covid.  So the boys were super excited to participate, especially since it was Crew's first time.  Additionally, this year, they had all of the boys AND girls that are age 8 to 11 do it, so the competition was pretty fierce.  With 39 total cars, we knew the races would be intense.  I (Garrett) also really wanted the boys to do as much of the work as possible.  So they picked their design, which was pretty simple.  And then they picked some spray paint, and we went to work.  Boston and Crew had spent some time watching Mark Rober's pinewood derby video, so they were convinced that if they did all the things he did, they would win easily.  However, when Boston asked me to go spend $79 on an axel bender, I had to push back.  :)  Really, all we did was sand down the axels, try to bend one up so they would ride on 3 wheels (although I don't think that really worked), and use lots and lots of graphite.  Did I say a lot of graphite?  We loaded that stuff on.  Once the competition began, it was a ton of fun.  The boys loved racing their cars.  And the track we used was pretty ancient.  The guy in our ward that owns it used it when he was a kid, and I would guess he is in his 60's.  But it was a ton of fun.  And when all was said and done, the boys killed it.  Crew ended up in 10th place and Boston took... drumroll, please...  3rd place!  It was fun and the boys were super proud.