The Play Is The Thing

My ballerina daughter Shelby has had a minor diversion as of late. She and her partner in crime Carly have been hard at work for a couple of weeks. The event?

The Children's Ministry Pinewood Derby at our church.

You know, where you get a kit that has a rectangular block of wood and the parts necessary to make a car. After a month or so to prepare the cars, all the kids in our church get together and they race the art down a specially designed track. There are preliminary heats. There are semi-finals. There are finals. There are ribbons.

So, they've been hard at work. They took two kits, glued them one on top of the other and hollowed it out (to keep it under the prescribed weight limit) in order to create a "Safari Hummer." They painted it in camoflauge and instead of the lead weights, loaded it down with tiny plastic zoo animals. Unfortunately, some of the animals didn't get to ride during the race as they pushed it over the 5 oz. limit.

Only the gorilla was on board during the race...and I don't know why they chose him to drive. He fell out during one heat and, if you've been in Dallas lately (where a gorilla escaped from the zoo, attacked some kids--none fatally--and the police shot him. This story has been big news here lately), it was impossible for people to make references to the escaped gorilla.

The car didn't fare too well in the races... They didn't make the finals. Probably should've gone with the giraffe to drive.

But they did win a 1st Place Blue Ribbon...for something like "Style and Presentation." Shelby wasn't sure of the exact wording.

She had fun. She built a car with a friend and they had a shared experience together. The gorilla is fine (although the giraffe probably has some hurt feelings). The older & more experienced kids won the races.

My daughter wins for "style." Now that I think of it, that's what she usually wins in life for.