The Rocket Derby

Mike and I are not the most detail oriented people. It is just not in our profile. I try. I struggle. Sometimes I am successful. So, last week when we were at the Scout Shop buying Christian's Cub Scout duds I tried to get ahead of the curve and asked Mike, "Do we need to buy a rocket derby kit?" The response was that they would be making/decorating the rockets that morning and then racing them at the derby, which I was responsible for taking my son to. Mike had a meeting.

On Thursday, as I finished cleaning the house for our house guest to arrive last weekend, I sat down and looked over Christian's rocket derby information/schedule sheet for Saturday.

10:00 Scouts register for racing in Rocket Derby

10:20 Tiger Cubs race

"Um...." I thought to myself, "I may be missing something here, but not only does it not mention putting together/decorating a rocket, but there is not TIME to do so". That is when I picked up the phone and called Mike.

"Oh, yeah, we need to buy a rocket for the rocket derby," came the reply.

Mike finally got a kit on Friday (that is a little story too, but we won't share that) and by the time all of us got home on Friday it was Christian's bed time, which meant that the majority of the rocket making was going to be done without him.

Here is what the kit comes out of the box looking like, except it doesn't show that the balsa wood comes in two pieces that you have to glue together. Yes, we were up until at least 10 getting it put together. Mike spray painted it gold and then we left it to dry until the morning. When Christian woke up he decided that he wanted to have snakes on his rocket. In permanent marker we did snakes and named it "Viper". Then I added Mike's signature flames. He was getting ready for his meeting, otherwise he would have done it. Here is Christian holding his rocket, trying to be casual with the camera, like he didn't know I was taking a picture.After his race the Tiger parents voted on awards for the tiger cubs and Christian got "Best Paint Job". On announcing that to Mike and our friend Brad, that was here this weekend, they raised their eyebrows and tried not to laugh knowing how much time we took on that one. But Christian was in heaven.

We nearly couldn't find the scout pack in this huge park that they were at and that I had never been to before. But we found them just as they were yelling for the last call on registration. We quickly wound up the rubber bands and went over to the starting area. Christian was so excited. But I couldn't take a picture of that part. Why, you ask? Well, that would be because I didn't pay attention to the little detail of charging my battery. However, I always have my charger, so I stuck it into the pavilion electrical outlet and got a few later.

So, back to Christian. He went down to the end to watch his rocket compete against the other two Tigers that had come (a guaranteed trophy, woohoo). They counted down and then they were off. (Which would have looked like this, if I had had my camera ready earlier)

Here is a picture of Christian watching a race.

So he ran down with the other Tiger Cubs to watch....and he WON! Yeah for Christian. I couldn't believe it. He was so excited. He wanted to carry his rocket around everywhere. He was very proud. He quickly found other things to do while waiting for the other races and the awards...

...like throwing tiny rocks into the pond.

He was ecstatic to get his award. He carried it with him everywhere the rest of the day.

On the way home from the event, I caught Christian talking to "someone" in the back of the car practicing telling others about how he won the rocket derby and that "this" was his trophy. What a difference winning a trophy made. When he got home, he took Mike's old baseball trophy out of his room and "gave it back". He now understood what it meant to win a trophy. He didn't need to borrow his dad's anymore. Christian had his own to cherish now. It was a great day. And I am glad that Christian's non-detail-oriented parents didn't ruin a wonderful experience of participating and winning.

These are Christian's awesome leaders.