So, SO, so much fun

Last Friday night was the big Girl Scout Pinewood derby car race.  Sydney had been sick all day, but it just seemed like too much effort went into building her car to stay home and miss the big event.  So, we drugged her up, and kept her far away from all the other people at the event. 

Silverlicious had been turned in a week prior to the event, so it was exciting to show up and see her lined up with all of the competition.  Here she is, one of 54 cars ready to start racing...

Sydney spied the trophy table right off the bat, and was pretty sure she was going to win one.  So, she asked me to take a picture.  Mommy wasn't so sure about how well our car would do.  I knew Jason and Sydney did a great job building their car, but there sure were a lot of fancy and speedy looking cars out there!

We were so excited for Silverlicious' first race.  There she is lined up, lane 3 (counting from the right).  I think we all had butterflies in our tummies waiting to see how she was going to do! 

And, so we waited, and watched, and she WON the first race!!  Yahoo!  Go Silverlicious!  Here she is coming into the finish...just barely ahead of car #2...whew!  (Darn the people that kept standing up in front of me!)

And then, race 2...she came in just baaaarely 2nd...oh so close!

Race 3 was another close race...but Silver came in 2nd again, ooooh, so close once again!



Thee 4th and final race was a slam dunk Silverlicious win...we're starting to feel like we may have a chance at this!  So exciting.  Here she is, coming through the final gate, no competition in sight ;).



So then came the waiting period.  Technical difficulties arose, and so we waited a long hour to find out if we we made it into the top 16 cars for the semi-final races.  We knew that only a few cars had won more than 2 races, so we figured we stood a good chance. 

While we waited, we learned that Sydney had won a certification for the "Most Dazzling Car"...that was cool.  She earned a nice patch also.

So then, after much anticipation, we got the results, and Silverlicious had placed in the top 16!  We were ready to watch her next set of 4 races. 

So here we go again...race 1, WIN!

Race 2...we got 1st again. 

Race 3...SO darn close, once again, but we got 2nd.

And, once again, race 4, second place.  So, again Silverlicious won 2 of the 4 races, and came in 2nd the other two.  Will this be enough to make it into the top 6 cars for the finals?  We were thinking so, since we had kept stats at this point, and only one car won 3 races, and 4 won 2.  There were other factors in determining the placing, but the odds seemed in our favor to make it to the final round.

And, sure enough...onto the finals!  So, so, exciting.  Nevermind that it was 8:30 pm at this time, with one sick kid, and one 3 year old who hadn't napped, who was running on cookie energy.  It's ok...we can make it! 

I guess I ran out of picture-taking energy for the finals though, not too many pictures saved.  But, I did get the one race where Silver came in 1st.  She ended up winning 1 of 4 races, but there was only one car that won 2, and 4 that won one. 

So, all the races are done, and we're waiting to see if we've earned a trophy.  The top 4 cars got trophies.  We got a bit excited when they announced 4th place, because Syd had beaten that car, and it won zero races.  It seemed as though there was hope for a higher place. 

But, this is where the letdown came...Silverlicious came in 5th place...just one below trophy status :(.  Sydney was very bummed.  Jason was sure there was an error in the calculations.  But, the standings go on how many races won, overall speed, and then placing if you didn't get 1st.  I think we got 4th place in one race, and that hit us pretty hard in the standings. 

The good news is, this was our first year racing, the cars that placed are repeat entries.  SO, my kids are already planning and plotting and gearing up for next year.  They have big plans for not only having the fastest car, but also the most stylish.  It should be fun!

Congrats Syd, Jason, and Silverlicious on a very successful first year of pinewood derby racing!!