Cub Scouts - Pinewood Derby Event

This past Wednesday was our Pack's Pinewood Derby. With David just a few short weeks away from crossing over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts, this was his last Pinewood Derby.

For those of you unfamiliar with Cub Scouts, the Pinewood Derby is the highlight of the year for these boys. Each boy in the pack is give a block of wood, two axles, and 4 wheels.

The instructions are simple: transform this wood into whatever you want it to be. The rules are the car can not weigh any more than 5 ounces.

As you can imagine, some kids keep it simple... while other kids go wild and make their car as complex as can be imagined. In some packs the dad's have been known to get so involved in "helping" their sons... that they have had to institute a "Dads Race" and they encourage the dads to build their own car! This doesn't seem to be a problem in our pack. I think most of the boys were in charge of building their own cars.

This year, David decided he wanted to build a Lamborghini racing car. He sat for hours "googling" on the internet to find just the right photo to start from. Then he drew designs on paper. And finally, drew his design onto his block of wood.

At this point, it was time to visit Mr. Beasly, a nice gentleman who lives in Logan, that kindly offered to carve out the base design for the kids using his band saw.

With that done. David spent hours in the garage sanding his car down to make all the edge smooth. He then decided to add side pieces, which required work with a set of dremels we own, and even more sanding. Finally, David was ready to paint. He chose a deep burgandy... which made his car look very slick.

The night of the Derby (Wednesday, March 25th) we had 32 boys show up to race their cars on the 50 foot track.

The Pinewood Derby track was huge! At first we didn't know if it was going to fit inside the gym of the church. Finally, we realized that if we ran the track diagonally across the gym we'd just make it.

Devon was our official scorer. He recorded the results of every race on an Excel spreadsheet. Joshua was close at hand, as one of the races official judges.

We had tons of parents on hand to help. I worked the registration table. Two moms headed up the starting line table, and several dads were busy all night long at the "Pit" table.

David's car did well, he placed 4th in the first group of 12 cars. But since only 3 boys were able to move on to the finals... David was done. However, since he is boy with great sportsmanship skills, he took the defeat in stride and cheered his fellow cubs on throughout the rest of the races.
(I also think that it helped that David received the 2nd place trophy last year... so he at least knows what it is like to win already.)

After many, many, many, races... we whittled the results down to three boys. One boy won first place and two tied for second. They were all thrilled.

Even though the Pinewood Derby is now complete, David is still planning to continue working on his car. Now he is thinking about adding a racing stripe.

Chocolate Seder

At any traditional Passover Seder you will hear the youngest child ask, "Why is this night different from all other nights?" Well, when you are attending a Chocolate Seder, you finally know the answer.

Only on "this night" do parents sit idly by while their children consume chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate!

(Wondering why there is an orange on the seder plate? I will explain at the end of this article.)

Last weekend, the boys and I attended our synagogue's Annual Chocolate Seder. Actually, since the experience is so rich, they limit this celebration to every other year.




So what's a Chocolate Seder? It's a fun way for Jewish kids to learn the order of the Passover Seder in a fun and unique way. Actually, the word "seder" is hebrew for "order". So learning the order of the seder is a bit of an oxy moron.


Here's a run down of what we did:

• Drank 4 glasses of chocolate milk instead of 4 glasses of wine.
• Ate some green M&Ms to represent the Karpas (greens of spring) which traditionally is parsley.
• Ate the bitter chocolate to represent Maror (bitter herbs) which is traditionally horse-radish.
• Broke the middle matzah into two pieces. One piece was then hidden until later for the children to find. The hidden matzah is referred to as the Afikomen. (Of course, since this was a chocolate seder, the matzah was chocolate covered matza. Yum.)
• Ate smores to represent the Hillel Sandwich which is traditionally two pieces of matzah, charoset, & bitter herbs. Smores definately taste much better!

• Finally, we ate strawberries as our traditional meal. The strawberries were served to give our tastebuds a break from all that chocolate. However, the die-hard chocolate lovers dipped their strawberries in Nutella.

We all listened to the rabbi, who recounted the Passover Story. This is the recounting of how the Jewish people were once slaves in the land of Egypt. There is always a point in the story where the "four questions" are asked (usually by the youngest child in attendance).



Here are the 4 questions - chocolate seder style:



1. Why is this night different from all other nights? On all other nights we eat either peanut butter, chocolate, or a combination of both. On this night, why only chocolate?


2. On all other nights we eat a little bit of any kind of chocolate. On this night why do we eat so much?


3. On all other nights we eat many different flavors or ice cream, but why, all of sudden, this is changed only to chocolate?

4. On all other nights we eat complete, well-balanced meals. Why do we eat only dessert tonight?



After we heard the answers to the four questions, which all had something to do with being thankful for the "gift" of chocolate... then everyone (young and old alike) got up to search for the Afikohen (the piece of chocolate covered matzah) that was hidden earlier. I think we all needed an excuse to walk around for awhile.

The Afikomen hiders were quite dastardly when it came to finding the perfect hiding place. Way up a tree. Thank goodness they were limber enough to retrieve the Afikohen themselves and give it to the kids.

Finally, we poured a cup of chocolate milk in hopes that Elijah the prophet would come join us. Elijah must be lactose intolerant... because he failed to put in an appearance.

With that we concluded our seder. It was a lot of fun. But there really comes a point where you finally say "Dayenu" (which is Hebrew for... "it would have been enough").


Why is there an orange on the seder plate?

This tradition stems from a man's response to women's emerging equality in Jewish life, according to the Haggadah. The man's response was, "A woman belongs on the bimah as much as an orange belongs on the seder plate."

Snow Dogs

Since last week's snow is probably the last one for the year... I thought I should post a few photos of the snow dogs.

Nikki (who was visiting from OR with Richard & Sandy) absolutely loved the snow. That crazy dog loved to lay down in it, with an expression on his face that seemed to say, "Hey, this is the best thing since sliced cheese!".

Max and Coco were another story.

Max just looked at the snow as if he just couldn't figure it out. He didn't know if he should play in it or eat it!

Coco was just annoyed, because she had to tunnel her way through the back yard to find some privacy to do her doggie business. (Yes, none of the dogs ever seem to want to use the nice little port-o-pottie Devon built for them.) As soon as she was done... Coco high-tailed it back into the house and demanded I turn on the fireplace.

Weather in UT

They have an expression here: "Don't like the weather in Utah? Just wait a minute." I have come to learn it's absolutely true.

Last Monday we got 18 inches of snow. Record breaker for us. I think the boys were out shovelling the driveway every two hours. The poor dogs weren't able to see above the snow line to go to the bathroom in the backyard.

Look at these two numbskulls drinking coffee on the porch. Don't they know it's winter?

Yep, the coffee acheivers are none other than Richard and Devon. Like father... like son!

Here's the kicker, just seven days later, it is now 50 degrees out (at 7:00 a.m.) and ALL the snow has melted. Amazing!

Nobody wants to drink coffee on the porch when there's no snow.

Newspaper Article - Purim

Congregation Brith Sholem celebrates merry Jewish holiday

By JaNAE FRANCIS

(Ogden Standard Examiner: Saturday, March 14, 2009)

OGDEN -- The miracle of the ancient Persian Empire Jews who were saved by Esther's willingness to risk her life was cause for much celebration for Congregation Brith Sholem last weekend.

Members of the congregation dressed in costumes and acted in ways similar to a modern-day Mardi Gras. They laughed, shouted and used noisemakers in their synagogue Sunday as they observed Purim.

"Whether it was Haman or Hitler, there has always been someone who hates the Jews," said Gillian Whitney, of Logan, an organizer of the event.

"You are supposed to be very merry," she said. "It looks like the worst possible thing, and it turns out to be the best possible thing."

"Purim is always supposed to be the funniest thing of the year," said Judi Amsel, congregation president. "The noisemakers are so we can blot out the name of the bad guy. We are commanded to blot him out."

Carol McNamara, of Logan, said there is an odd component to the holiday.
"How often do you get to shout in the synagogue?" she said. "It's the most fun holiday. We tell stories. We laugh. We parade. We dress up. Of all the festive holidays we have, it's the most silly."

But the celebration did bring cause for a few moments of reverence, during which Whitney offered a prayer. "Blessed are you, our God, who performed miracles for our forefathers," were some of the words she offered in that prayer.

Afterward, she and Gary Boyle, of Ogden, recited a rhyming story of Mordechai's role in helping Esther win a decision from the king to deliver the Jewish people. "The moral of this story dear children: To honor God and all people wherever you go," Whitney said.

Following that, some of the congregation's young people performed a light-hearted skit re-enacting the event while dressed in their various costumes, some applicable to the performance and some not.

Next, all the children of the synagogue hit a clown pinata representing Haman, and scrambled for candy as it broke. "Everybody enjoys an excuse to whack a pinata," Whitney said.

With a bright orange wig, trench coat and a loudly honking horn, 13-year-old Cole Stern, of Ogden, often found himself at the center of the party's festivities. Stern said he thought it fitting to dress as Harpo Marx, a late Jewish comedian known in the 1950s for his pantomime.

"He was sort of erratic," Stern said. "I spent an afternoon thinking of things I could do."
Equipped with a watering can strapped to his belt, Stern entertained those who were paying attention to him during the more chaotic moments of the celebration by pretending to water an artificial plant at the front of the synagogue.

Adding to the party atmosphere were Hamantaschen, fruit-filled tarts made by Congregation members, in the shape of the three-cornered hat Haman wore.

Participants also collected used dress clothing and canned goods for those in need, which is another Purim tradition.

Gillian's Notes: Here are some additional photographs of our Purim celebration