Milestones: First Trophy

Monday night was my eldest son's first Cub Scout pack meeting of the school year. They handed out several awards and participation patches for the activities that happened over the summer like the Bottle Rocket Derby and the Raingutter Regatta.


ES received a patch for participating in the Bottle Rocket Derby. The other dads there from our den all told me that ES deserved some sort of purple heart attachment for his "participation" patch given the trials and tribulations he went through.

For the Raingutter Regatta, I am surprised I didn't write a blog post about that. I searched back through my blog and can't find it though. It was a very challenging day for us. It was an opportunity for me to exercise my fatherhood skills in explaining good sportsmanship to my son.

The race was very difficult outside in the church parking lot with a steady, strong breeze blowing. The boys built their own boats with kits similar to those provided for the Pinewood Derby. The race was set up in two parallel rain gutters filled with water. The boys had to blow at the sail on their boat through a straw in order to propel it forward, and they had to do this INTO THE WIND. It was hard.

The Bear Den Lineup

ES racing his boat

ES was pretty bummed that day because he didn't win any of the 1st, 2nd or 3rd place trophies awarded on the spot. We left feeling a little down in the dumps.

Monday night at the pack meeting though, they gave out little trophies to everyone who participated, and came up with a award category for each. ES won the award for "most original design."

When we got in the car to come home, he asked, "Daddy, what does most original design mean?"

Uhhhhh... I bit my tongue to keep from saying it's just a name they made up so they could give everyone an award for participating. One of his best friends from school, J, got an award for "the most decals," so I told ES that his award was for NOT using any decals and decorating the boat by hand from his own imagination.

The Most Original Design Trophy

ES is VERY proud of his trophy. He walked into the house hiding it behind his back, walked up to his mom, pulled the trophy out and said, "Ta da!" He brought to our attention that there were some fingerprints on it and asked what he should use to polish his [cast plastic] trophy.

My wife lovingly told him just wiping it off with a dishcloth would do the trick. ;-)