Scouts

Julien started Cub Scouts this year.  So far he is loving it.  What's not to love about it for a boy... hanging out with all of his friends, going on adventures, learning new skills, treats, awards, etc.  He loves it.  I'm just glad he is learning new things, building friendships, and having fun.  These pictures are from late August.  Man, I'm behind on this blog!

Fast forward to Sept....

The Pinewood Derby.  That is a "big" event for the scouts each year.  They give you a kit with a block of wood and wheels and the boys are supposed to sand it down, decorate it, add weights, etc.  They give it to you a month in advance so you have plenty of time to spice it up.  Most people would probably be on the ball with that, but uh, yeah, we dropped the ball big time this year.  The night before the derby, I get a text from his leader reminding us about it.  This was also around dinner time and Rich was out of town!  I totally forgot about it, probably because Julien and Rich were going to prepare it together (and partly because while I was working, I had no brain).  The Dads are kind of known to do most of the work for the kids, and the real race ends up being between the nerdy dads.  Since Rich was gone, I searched the garage for sand paper and got out the paint.  Those suckers are not easy to sand by hand.  Poor Julien was up until 10:30 or 11 that night, sanding and painting.  I felt so bad for him, but he had such a great attitude and I don't think he realized how much the other dads would be helping the other kids, so he went into it feeling confident.  

He had left the paint out, and the next morning Cooper woke up before everyone and got into the paint and water and did a number on Julien's hard work.  I wanted to cry for him!  Poor kid!  Julien was sad, but handled it well.  

That night when we got to the Pinewood Derby, the reality set in that he was the only kid that made his car all by himself.  I felt very proud of him for that though.  He was still hopeful at that point.  

Please excuse the lack of quality in these next pictures..

The sanding didn't go so well the night before.  I wasn't much help either because I had a ton of work to do (more on that later- in another post).  So he ended up with pretty much a block of wood with some cute U.S.A colors (Dad's favorite).  And this is his, "I don't know how to smile for the camera face, lol).  Cute boy.

I should have taken pictures of the other cars up close, they were pretty impressive.  

Julien's car continued to lose race after race.  I watched him closely to see how he reacted.  He did come up to me and say, "this is so embarrassing, Mom!"  I kept reminding him that he made his without help, so he should feel pretty good about that.  He handled it well, and I continually caught him cheering his friends on and giving them high fives and hugs and jumps up and down when they won. What a good sport.

Although his car kept losing, I don't think he gave up hope because I caught this next shot near the end of the night, as his car raced it's last race.

The picture probably looks more dramatic than it really was.  I think he just felt that final loss and was more so, shaking his head out of embarrassment.  But no tears or fits.

And I know I'm going to sound ultra cheesy here, but I think we learned the most that night... *Prepare.  *Don't procrastinate.  *We can still have fun even if we lose.  *Cheering your friends on feels good and makes you feel better.  *And finally, you can feel proud when you do things all by yourself, even if the result isn't the best.  

I think next year he will make sure he is ready, and hopefully us losers parents will be a little more on top of things too.  Lesson learned for all of us. Check!  Proud of our cute little Scout.  Check!