A few weeks ago, Braden’s Cub Scout pack held their annual Pinewood Derby and Braden’s car, the Red and Blue Racer, won second place for the Tiger Cubs.  Since he placed in his den, he was invited to race at the district level, along with the first and third place finishers from his den.  That race was held on March 21st at the Orange Park Mall and included Cub Scouts from all over our county.

Now, from here on out, I should probably have Adam writing the post.  This was a father/son (and grandpa) project.  I helped with the painting, but that was it.

What I can tell you is that watching the boys race their cars was absolutely adorable.  Braden’s car did really well at the Tiger Cub level and seeing how excited he was for his car to win races was so much fun.

Even Mackenzie was having fun cheering on her big brother.

I think the most fun was just watching the boys faces while their cars were racing, then watching how happy the boys were that won.

Pure joy, all over their faces.

Braden didn’t win all of the races his car was in, and the other kiddos celebrated just like he did.  The guy running the event was really great and kept reminding them that they were all winners for even making it to districts and also to congratulate each other.

There were high-fives all around and even the parents were great.  Sometimes you hear of parents being kind of competitive with stuff like this, but I didn’t see any of that.  In fact, several of the dads were sharing tips on what they did to their cars to make them faster.

While the idea behind this is for the boys to build their own car with a little help from a parent, the Tiger Cubs are just six and seven years old, so they definitely needed a good bit of help.  Braden drew out the design for his car and Grandpa helped him cut it out and taught him how to sand it.

Then I took him to Michael’s and let him pick out the paint he wanted to use on it.  He drew the design for how he wanted him painted, then we sat down together and worked on it.

Next up was working on the wheels and axles, which is outside of my range of knowledge.  All I know is Adam was teaching him something with the drill and sandpaper and.. well, that’s really all I know.  I know they spent quite a bit of time on it.  Oh, and there was a lot of graphite involved too.

Braden with the first and third place finishers from his den

At the end of the day, Braden took home the third place trophy for the Tiger Cubs.  He moved on to the district level finals (where he raced against the older boys, not just Tigers), but his car didn’t do so well there.  If I remember correctly, he finished in either third or fourth place for each race.

Braden and his Pit Crew

You know what was amazing though?  The winners still gave him high-fives.  And his den buddies, who didn’t move on to finals, stayed to watch him.  And he never, not even for a second, seemed bummed about it.  He was just so excited to be there and having fun.  Definitely a proud mama moment.

Since he placed in his age group, he was invited back to race in a few weeks at the council level race.  He’ll be racing against Tiger Cubs from all over North East Florida.  The Red and Blue Racer is going into retirement and after some research, the boys have been working on the Red and Blue Racer, Version 2.  B is so excited and can’t wait to race it!!