Cub scout pinewood derby is coming up. It’s a race that gets the parents as excited (if not more) than the kids, and leads to the cleaning off of cobwebs from power tools.

So the 7 year old wanted a submarine. A yellow submarine. With a red bottom, black windows, and black on top of the sail. Okay, mom said. No biggie. So we started sanding. And sanding. And more sanding. To no avail. In stepped some den leaders not afraid to break out the saws and power tools, and two days later I had a block of wood finally resembling a submarine.

Of course, the max weight is 5oz. Any more and you don’t race. Too much less and you’re disadvantaged. We’ll, when you cut off half the block of wood you have to make it up somewhere. After drilling holes in the sail and in each of the window locations and filling with weight, it was still only 4oz. So I gave up. Glue and quarters it is!

I’m sure my husband will pick on me for the windows and improper sail placement (not to mention lack of a propeller and the fact it’s going to race backwards…), but I don’t care. First year of Cub Scout derby, we’re coming for you! Brought to you by two awesome den leaders who cut and shaped it for me, a 7 year old with a vision, and a mom who isn’t afraid of power tools.