Against all odds

When we first heard about the Pinewood Derby, we thought! It’s our first year in the race, let’s just have some fun picking out the style and making the best car that we know how. The three of us talked about not expecting to win the race because there are boys that are more experienced in racing and competing. The Cisco Kid had his heart set on making a fire engine. As soon as I heard that, my first thought was we defiantly have no chance in winning at all. The aerodynamics of a fire engine is like trying to push an open umbrella into the wind. We had our first race with our Scout pack. The Cisco Kids Fire truck weighed in at 4.6 oz. We raced!!!! and against all odds, we came in second place in our den and we came in second place in our pack. Shocking!!!!! Those wins made us qualify to race in the district. Wow!!! We had our district race yesterday and we were allowed to make a few adjustments to the truck. The Chief added more weight so it could weigh in at exactly 5 oz. and add graphite to the wheels. The Cisco Kid raced against thirteen Tiger Cubs. He raced in four races and came in 1st place twice and second place twice. Amazing!!!! Overall, he came in second place and winning a ribbon. That made him eligible to race in the regionals.

These three friends won in our pack.

All these cars were very fast. Thank goodness for the counter that lets you know who came in first, second, third and fourth place. Most of the cars won by a hair.

   

 

These are the weight changes we made to the Truck.

A row of weights were added to the bumper

Two small pads of weights were added to the front.

There are five requirements the Pinewood Derby cars must meet. 1, the car must be made out of wood. 2, the car must not weigh over 5 oz. 3, the wheels must be BSA certified. 4, the axles must be nails not a solid axle. 5, fit inside the certified box.

Power flyer

I have so much fun introducing the boys to new and different ideas. Last evening at our weekly Cub Scout meeting we are working on our geology pin. We had a very interesting conversation about Volcanoes. I showed them pictures of all the different kinds of rocks that come from a volcano and then we talked about nine different parts of the volcano.

They were intrigued that there was something called the ring of fire and the Volcanoes are primarily located around it.

 

We closed the evening with this very simple craft they enjoyed so much. 

Cut a  piece of paper three inches by eight inches

Glue down the long side of the paper, then roll and make sure it stays closed.

Fold the tip down once.

Staple the ribbon to each side of the fold.

Make a triangle out of a 2 inch by one inch piece of paper and staple it to the folded tip.

Put the straw inside the tube and blow the flyer high into the sky. 

Pineapple salsa

It only takes three ingredients to a wonderful no fat salsa. Salsa can compliment many dishes. Now that spring is in the air, I could not wait to start with something fresh and refreshing to eat.

All you will need is:
1 peeled and cored, diced Pineapple
1/2 small red onion diced
1/2 cup cilantro

Mix all the ingredients and you are ready to enjoy the sweet and tangy tast of this salsa.

 

For a low fat and refreshing lunch I topped my cottage cheese with the sweet tast of my pineapple salsa.  

Spring is awakening!!!!

Spring starts with all the colorful Easter decorations and preparation for our families Easter traditions. Even though Easter is a little over four weeks away, there is so much to plan. We color about two dozen eggs for Easter and the Cisco Kid and I make a 3D bunny cake. I cannot forget about the Cisco Kids Easter basket that I have to put together. Then I have to plan for my Easter dinner. I follow my mother’s tradition and make very traditional Easter bread every year. Within these four remaining weeks, we have added a fun surprise and committed to a Disney Cruise vacation.  Cant wait for that!!!

Here are some of my Easter decorations. I made a couple of new decorations this year. Here are a few from last year.

I collect Easter bunnies. As you can see in all my arrangements I have an Easter Bunny.

 

 I like the feel of Easter to start at the front door.  My front door hanger I put together yesterday.   

 

 I just love this wire bowl that I have sitting on my Kitchen table all the time. I transform this center piece for every occasion.   

 I took all the flowers out and now I need to try to transform this into a color full spring, Easter arrangement.   

This took me a long time.  As you can see the previous picture is day light.  The completed picture its evening.  WOW!!!! Finally done.