Raingutter Reggata

Dallin is an awesome, gung-ho cub scout. The only problem is, his mom isn't very well-informed. I am still trying to figure out what "achievements" and "arrows" are, but Dallin is there for me to help me along.

A few weeks ago at church, my friend Julie (Cub Scout leader) hands me a box and says "this is for the rain gutter regatta." I say thank you, look at the box and immediately needed my Dallin to translate. I was informed that it is similar to the pine wood derby (I've got that lingo down!), but boat-style. Dallin and I talked about how excited we were to put that boat together on our way home from church, I put the little "rain gutter regatta" box down in the garage and it sat there. It sat there for weeks. It sat there until the day of the race and then I panicked.

Pete promised he'd come home early from work to make this boat with Dallin (Pete was a scout... he gets it). Just as promised, Pete walks through the door a couple of hours before the race, rolls up his sleeves and my cute boys get to sanding, painting, and building away.

A couple of hours later, Dallin proudly carried his boat into the cultural hall of the church and put it on the table by the others. When it was time, the boys raced each other using straws to blow their boat the length of the "gutter". Through the process of elimination, the finals approached and Dallin had won every race prior to his final go round. Even though he lost the last one, he still managed to nab 3rd place overall! He even won a nifty ribbon to pin on his uniform. Not bad for a boat that had just emerged from a box in the garage a few hours before. Nice job Dallin and Peter!

Although the 3rd place win was big, my favorite moment of the night came right after Dallin won his second race. He quickly walked up to the boy he beat, high-fived him and gave him a sincere "nice job". Sister Phippen was sitting next to me, saw this interaction and was so impressed that Dallin would go out of his way to say this before even picking up his boat. I agree that I have one amazing cub scout!