No Rules Pinewood Derby

A while back my sister, Amy, posted a video clip of a car she made for a “no rules” pinewood derby they were having in her singles ward.  The clip showed her car rocketed forward across the finish line by two large strings of rubber bands anchored at the end of the track.  It took about half a second for her car to destroy the other cars on the track.  So naturally, when our Elders Quorum President announced the upcoming Elders Quorum activity, a no rules pinewood derby, I knew I had this one in the bag.  Then he clarified, there are actually two rules: the car can’t interfere with other cars on the track, and the car has to stay on the track.  Dang!  Still, I followed her logic as I designed my car.  By anchoring the rubber bands to the underside of the track only a quarter of the way down, I could still slingshot the car forward, but keep the car on the track.  As long as my car was as fast as I thought it would be, the rubber bands would release and I’d be far down the track before any other car could be interfered with.  

Here’s my set up.  Though it worked best in the middle lane, it proved unstoppable in every heat, and the ward’s second newest member took home the trophy.  As it turned out, the wards newest member was the runner up, the blue car on the right.  Loaded with twin battery powered tail fans, a crank-back real wheel propulsion system and a sleek aerodynamic finish, this car’s design and technology put mine to shame, but in the end, simply couldn’t keep up.

The win was not without controversy, however.  In the final race, a one on one with the blue car, after my car was propelled forward, one of my rubber bands popped up onto the track.  A still shot captured by one of the spectators shows the blue car rolling over the rubber band on its way down.  However, the judges determined that my car had nearly crossed the finish line by the time of the occurrence, and the alleged  “interference” was inconsequential to the result.

Brad graciously accepted his defeat.  He’ll have his chance again next year, when rubber bands will likely be banned from the competition.

The Mass Ascension

This was such a cool thing to go to . . . . Now we did have to go early (really early), and we had to walk a ways down a dirt path, up hills and down, pushing strollers in the dark, and it was pretty cold out . . . . but we had doughnuts, and were with our new friends, and seeing 100 hot air balloons take off at the same time was definitely a sight to see.

So, did you notice Matt and Adrienne’s sweatshirts?  Yep, fellow Ohioans . . . . I just knew we were going to be great friends:)

 

 

The Great Reno Balloon Race – September 11, 2010

Labor Day Part 2

Scott and Elisha left our house on Monday morning, and our girls were so sad to see Molly and Foster go.  But they were quickly cheered up with the news that Scotty, Emily, and Grant were already on their way to our house!  The Riches had spent the week in Utah and were planning on spending the afternoon and night with us before driving the rest of the way home on Tuesday.  We had just enough time to wash the sheets on our guest bed before they pulled in early afternoon.

We decided to go check out Galena Creek, a beautiful little area at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the way to Tahoe about a half hour south of us. 

It was a short little visit, but we’re so glad they spent some time with us on their way home!

Labor Day Weekend

We were excited to have Scott, Elisha, and kids come visit us for Labor Day weekend!  Elisha was already in Sacramento visiting her sister, so she drove the 2 hours to our house on Thursday evening and Scott flew in from Utah right after work to meet her here.  We had dinner, gave them the tour of our house, chatted, and planned out our weekend.

Dan had the day off work on Friday (perfect!) so we headed over to Scheel’s, the mecca of all sporting goods stores.  We rode the giant ferris wheel they have in the middle of the store, looked at the animals, had lots of samples of fudge, rode bikes, tried our hand at the shooting gallery, bought orange blood gelato, played at the kids’ play place, bought an inflatable boat for Tahoe, and looked at lots of sports stuff.  It’s such a fun store.  

 

Friday evening we headed over to the famous Rib Cook Off in downtown Sparks.  We had heard a lot about this event, and were excited to check it out for ourselves.  It was so fun to walk around amid the masses of people and see all the vendors showcasing their ribs.  The idea is to try multiple ($7) samples and then vote on your favorite ribs.

 

 

We weren’t really sure which ones to try, so we just went with whoever looked like they had the most signs and trophies.  I mean, really, how can you go wrong with the 2007 winner of the best ribs in Sioux Falls, SD?       

We were planning on trying ribs at more than one place, but the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory caramel apples were calling out to us . . . . so we bought two, and polished them off very quickly:) 

Then we walked over to the fountains where the kids kept saying, “Please can we get our clothes wet?”  Sure, kids, whatever.  But just so you know, you will be cold.  Of course, they loved it anyway.   

Then on Saturday we headed up to Lake Tahoe.  We decided to go to Sand Harbor again, since we loved that spot last time we went.  We were a little worried about it being too crowded since it was the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, but we were happily surprised to find the large parking lot quite empty when we arrived at 10:45 am.  We had a perfect day at the lake.  This time we came much more prepared . . . . thanks to Wayne and Vickie Abbott.  We borrowed their beach umbrellas, tons of sand toys, a beach blanket, inflatable toys, etc.  And the boat we bought at Scheel’s was a ton of fun as well . . . . definitely a good buy!  We packed a picnic lunch to eat on the beach, and the weather was perfect.  Nice and warm, but not too hot.  It was another successful day at Tahoe! 

Cold cold water!!

We packed everything up late afternoon and then decided to walk down the boardwalk and explore around the rocks.  The kids love doing this, and think it’s such a fun adventure. 

We came across these pools surrounded by huge granite boulders where all these kids were trying to catch crawdads.  It was fun to watch.  They would lure the crawdads out with big strips of raw bacon, and then catch them in their nets and dump them into buckets. 

We got home Saturday evening, changed into our BYU gear, barbequed some chicken, ate dinner, and watched BYU win their season opener against the University of Washington.  It was a fun game to watch and it gave us some hope in this rebuilding year for the Cougars. 

On Sunday we went to our ward, had dinner, took an evening walk around our neighborhood, and talked and talked.  We also played a lot of games of Carcassonne – that was definitely the game of the weekend!  Funny how that always happens.  Anyway, we had such a great weekend with Scott and Elisha.  It’s always fun to have one-on-one time with family.  Thanks for coming you guys!!  We can’t wait to do it again.