Pinewood Derby 2010

I am not handy. I don't have a very strong track record when it comes to fixing things around the house. All of the tools I own fit neatly into a small toolbox, which lives in a lonely corner of the basement.

So when Zach's Boy Scout troop holds its annual Pinewood Derby, I set my expectations accordingly. My goals are generally: 1) For Zach to have a good time designing and building a car with me, and 2) to not come in last place.

Since my woodworking skills are limited, we keep our car designs simple. The less carving, whittling, cutting, and sculpting we have to do, the better. But even given these limitations, we try to be creative.

Last year, we designed and raced a car shaped vaguely like a shark. We cut out and glued flat pieces of foam for the fins, and cut a chunk out of the front of the car for a mouth, which we accentuated with foam rubber teeth. We kind of messed up on the wheels, so it wasn't a very fast car, but it looked pretty good. It didn't come in last -- we finished 16th out of 24 -- and Zach enjoyed himself. Mission accomplished.

This year, we decided to model our car after a Wii remote. There were two major advantages to this design:

First, since the Wii remote is pretty much shaped like a solid block, there was very little carving to be done. A little sanding to round the edges, a coat of while paint, a little glue to stick some wooden buttons to the top and some drawing of the markings on the face of the remote, and we were finished.

Second, there are few things more intoxicating to 8-12 year old boys than video games. I figured that if even if the car wasn't fast, it would get a lot of attention from the other kids.

So we were thrilled, then, last night, when Zach's car won its first race. And the next. And the next. And the next.

The first five races, his car came in first place. In the last few rounds, he came up against some faster cars, and ultimately placed 4th out of 30.

But the best part of the evening was that he won big in the Best of Show voting, earning him a trophy.

Next year, the stakes are raised, as Ben will be old enough for Scouts. I'll be on the hook for two cars. The bar has been raised.

I have one year.

Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History

In this Very Special Episode of the Houserspawn(tm) blog, our coverage expands to include our extended family in Maryland, where my cousin Richard reports that his daughter Natalie and her 2nd-seeded Maryland Terps basketball team went 8-2 in their league tournament last week, beating out seven other teams and winning the 8-year-old girls league championship.

Natalie won the team's "most feared player" award, made the league All-Star team, and perhaps most impressively, was the only player in the league to foul out of a game.

Big congrats to Natalie from your cousins up North!

Fly, Eagles, Fly

I took Zach to his first NFL game yesterday. The cold, rain, and wind (along with the poor play of the Eagles in the first half) made it feel a little like an endurance test, but it was still a good time.

(It helped that the Eagles ultimately won the game.)

I'll leave the rest of the synopsis to Zach, who posted an excellent summary of our experience over on his blog.

Another Red Team Win

KEDRON (AP) -- Zach, the boy from down the street, the coach's daughter, and the best player on the team all provided goals in a winning effort as the Red team defeated Yellow 4-0 Saturday, giving Red their third consecutive victory.

It started out looking like it might be a rough day for the Red team, as they had just enough players to field a full team. But even though every available Red player was on the field for the entire game (while Yellow had enough players to rest two at a time), the Yellow team was no match for the Red team's offensive attack.

Zach scored his second goal of the season, earning himself another celebratory milkshake at Nifty Fifty's.

Phoebe played mostly on defense, did a good job paying attention to the game, and even kicked the ball a few times.

The Red team has three more regular season games before the big Parents vs. Kids showdown two weeks from today.

He Shoots, He Scores

Zach scored his first career soccer goal yesterday in his team's game against the Green Team.

Before the game, Coach Vince told Zach that he had a good feeling about him today, and asked him if he thought he could put the ball in the net for him. Zach told him he could, and Coach started him at center.

The game was tied 1-1 when, in the 2nd quarter, the Green goalie misplayed a ball in front of the net, and Zach was there to put it in.

The call (provided by me, while pacing the sidelines and screaming like some kind of unhinged lunatic) went something like this:

"GO, ZACH, THAT'S YOUR BALL! GO GET IT! GO GET IT! SHOOT! SHOOT! SHOOT!"

"Did it go in? Did it go in the net? YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

His goal put the Red Team up 2-1, and they never looked back. Final score: Red Team 4, Green Team 1.

After the game, the kids and I enjoyed a celebratory meal of burgers, chicken nuggets, and milkshakes at Nifty Fifty's.

Three more weeks in the season - here's hoping for more trips to Nifty's before the season's done.

Ye Olde Birth-Day Partie

We celebrated Benjamin's 4th birthday over the weekend with a big knight-themed birthday bash.

As the guests arrived, they were given swords, asked to find a magical chalice, sent on a quest to slay an evil, fire-breathing dragon (courageously played by Uncle Andrew in a dragon costume), and recover the treasures of the kingdom.

In celebration of the dragon's defeat, gifts were opened, birthday candles were extinguished, and cake was eaten.

It was great fun for everyone. Except maybe for Uncle Andrew, who, as the dragon, was pummed with inflatable swords and water balloons.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Cousins Richard, Alex, Jason, and Jessica joined Ben and I as we took Ben to his first Phillies game on Saturday.

The Fightin' Phils got home runs from Chris Coste, Greg Dobbs, and Jimmy Rollins on their way to a 9-1 victory over the visiting Florida Marlins.