Pinewood Derby

Lincoln competed in his first Pinewood Derby today...

Luckily, Grandpa and Brent were up helping us work on the kitchen, so we had access to lots of cool tools for shaping, weighting, and balancing the car.

Lincoln had a very clear idea of what he wanted and created this cool car all by himself (with the exception of a few power tool requirements).  He decided to go with a "3-wheeled" design to reduce friction and weighted the car with nickels from 2005 (his birth year) for good luck.

The competition was impressive.

Can you tell which cars were made by sisters of the scouts?

They weren't eligible for the finals, but they were both pretty fast!

The track set up is very high tech these days - there is a sensor at the finish line which sends placing directly to a computer to calculate the winner.

And Lincoln finished in 2nd place!

Not bad for his first race!

Sibling Sleepover

The kids have been begging for a sleepover, so this was the compromise we arrived at.

They laughed and giggled and stayed up late, but when Dad got home we were able to move them all to their own beds.

Best sleepover ever!

Nerf SuperSoaker House Party

 I was chosen to host a House Party hosted by Nerf and Cheetos.  

So we invited a bunch of our friends over to play, providing them with water guns and sponge bombs and a big yard to run around in..

 As well as plenty of snacks and lemonade to keep those energy levels up.

We had at least 20 kids running around the backyard... which eventually turned into a boys vs. girls battle.  And don't let those little ones fool you... they are without mercy!

8 - Eight - VIII

Our Lincoln turned eight this week!

We celebrated with apple pie and, of course, presents!

The boys all had fun with the animal noses Grandma Marynel sent.

Lincoln was super excited to turn eight... because he was just in time to be able to attend the Cub Scout Day Camp and...

He was able to get baptized!

We had his baptism this afternoon, after a full day of Cub Camp and followed it with a fun family dinner.  Thanks to all who were able to come celebrate this day with us!

We are so proud of Lincoln.  He tries so hard every day to do what is right, and is genuinely distraught when he makes a mistake or chooses poorly.  Eli says that Lincoln is his best friend and loves to wrestle and play with him.  In fact, most people love to hang out with Lincoln - he is very easy to be around and has a great imagination.

We sure do love having him in our family!

 

Inner Space Cavern

Andrew was kind enough to stay home from work one day so I could go on a field trip with Leah's class... there's nothing quite like riding on an un-air-conditioned school bus with forty 3rd graders!

We went to Inner Space Caverns, one of the best preserved caverns in Texas.

Here is Leah, hoping for a cave kiss (it is supposed to be good luck when the stalactites drip on you).

We also were lucky enough to see a bat - usually they stay way back in the caverns, out of the way of the tours.

Toward the end of the tour you can see "cave paintings" of some of the different animals they have found remains for in the cave, as well as the fossilized remains - pretty cool!

 But of course, the best part is the rock candy you eat on the way home.