Friday, March 30, 2007

Derby Champ

Well, enough sad stuff in my blog! How about a serious "Proud Mama" moment?!

On St. Patricks Day, my monkey competed in his first Pinewood Derby.

He told me a week, or so, before the derby that he had a dream about it and he hoped he won. I said, "This is your first year. There are going to be kids there that have done this for a few years already. If you win, it'll be awesome, but if you don't this is your year to learn." I had no idea what was about to happen. :)

We arrived in the morning for him to race against the other kids in his Tiger Den. His car won FIRST PLACE!
We had to come back later in the day to race in the finals. I was so proud of him for winning first place in his den, and I was hoping he'd get to race at least a few times in the finals...to make him feel good about his accomplishment. Well...one by one the kids were knocked out of the race, and STILL my little Tiger Scout stood with the bigger kids. When it was down to 5 I told one of the moms, "I'm so proud of him! I didn't think he'd make it this far!" (yee of little faith, huh?) Then it was down to 3, I realized the worst he could do now was 3rd place and I was so happy for him. (Meanwhile, he looked like a deer in the headlights through the whole thing. haha)
Well, the other two boys raced and one lost, so now it was down to 1st and 2nd place! The boy he was to race was a 4th grader...a "big kid". They put their cars on the track (Spence needed to stand on a mik crate to reach the top of the track). He centered his car carefully in his lane and they started down the track. The other boy's car pulled ahead right out of the gate. But then, as they neared the finish line, Spencer's car pulled ahead at the last moment for a spectacular finish. The room erupted into cheering. It was really something to behold. I think everyone was just so impressed because this little boy had done so well.
Me, being the sappy mom that I am...I was crying because I was so proud of him. He is convinced it's because we're Irish, and he wore green on St. Patrick's Day. Maybe it's true... :)