Mark the Hammerhead Shark

When things were crazy with Hubs gone and my mom in Hawaii, the rest of us were "car-a-zee." Unfortunately, Hubs was not in Hawaii for the Awana Grand Prix. But he and Son1 crafted a car over several nights before the big race.

The Awana Grand Prix is a pinewood derby race. Over 5,000 events are held annually at local clubs nationally. Each clubber purchases a pine block of wood and standard wheels. Everyone constructs a car that meets standard specifications to race in a four lane car race.

So Hubs and I discussed car design at length. I suggested our theme should reflect our time in Hawaii. Hmmm. Well, Son1 is CRAZY CRAZY for sharks, as in, he loves non-fiction shark books and ogles the majestic creature in aquariums and on TV. He knows sharks by their specific names. Get it? So we all settled on a shark car. Hubs called up a coworker with a band saw and a rotary sander in a garage with no light. So after sunset, in limited light, he made a few cuts and sanded it into a shark shape. At home, he and Son1 kept working. He pulled out his Dremel tool and mounted some glasses on his nose. Well Son1 figured he needed safety goggles, too. So he dug into some scuba equipment. Hubs and I had a good laugh.
But he chucked the scuba mask for more comfortable swim goggles.
Can you guess what kind of shark they are making? Let me say I am far less confident and more petrified of my children using anything that requires electricity than Hubs.
The next night Hubs and Son1 got to sanding. If you haven't figured out what kind of shark this is, well....hmmmm...they birth their young on the Windward side of our island every year. Maybe you have seen the show on the Discovery channel.A few years back we sprayed the lamps in our kitchen a stainless steel color. Hubs plucked that spray can from our shelf and together they dolled up that pinewood shark until he gleamed and shimmered a sharky silver.Hubs assembled the little car, complete with a 3 ounce weight in front. See that first little fin? That is the 3 ounce fishing weight, front loaded. The car could weigh a maximum of five ounces. We borrowed a mail scale from my neighbor, and sure enough, the HAMMERHEAD shark made weight. You can't see Mark the Hammerhead Shark's front grill, but it is a mean read set of chompers. Googly eyes rolled on either side of the head. Son1 added the number for on each side of the tail fin. Hubs asked him what number he wanted on his car. He looked at him rather obviously and said, "Four, 'cause I'm four!" We placed Mark high on a bookshelf until the night of the Grand Prix. I explained to Son1 that this was the only car he had. I wasn't going to craft another one for him if this one broke. So, he eyed it every night until the big event. See those stripes behind Son2? That is the only proof I have my mom was there.

The Awana club served dinner, but Son1 was too excited to eat. I started to cut his little brother's hot dog, but he was so impatient he grabbed Son1's hot dog and chomped it down whole. This is my lightweight child that can outeat any preschooler hands down. Where all of his food goes, we haven't a clue. Sure enough, he ate his own hot dog, some veggies, and everyone's chips, before dessert.

Weren't these cute?

After dinner, the cars were weighed, measured, and visually inspected for standards. we voted for best design in each category. There were over 60 cars and voting seemed like forever. See Mark? He was #3.

Just before the race, Son1 took his place at the sidelines. He had a great seat.
Finally it was Mark the Hammerhead Shark's turn to race.

Sadly, he did not win for speed. Hubs considered purchasing some graphite wheels for Mark. But he thought $30 on plastic wheels for our 4 year old son's car was a little excessive. While I was videoing, the father of the child's car that beat Mark the Hammerhead Shark grinned and told everyone he had bought graphite wheels. But that was ok. Mark was a winner, too, and not just in our hearts. Guess who won first place for best design?!?!?

By now, my kids were melting down, so my mom and I left and loaded them in the car. This was just the preschool race. They had still more grade levels to go. Just as I was buckling my kids in the car, my cell phone rang. What was Hubs doing awake on the East Coast? He wanted to know how Mark had performed. I laughed. It was well after midnight there. He told Son1 how he was proud of him.

As for me? I kept fighting with our desktop on uploading video. So Hubs never saw the video until he got home. But when he did, hmmm....he started to think about next year. And Son1? He was on Cloud Nine. He loved his trophy and he made sure to tell me that the packers should take great care of his Mark.

Waiting on a Topless Lemon

We need to sell more than just our house before we move. We have three vehicles, and Hubby's work pays to ship just one. One Saturday, we dropped off the convertible at the Hickam Air Force Base lemon lot. The lemon lot is a large parking lot where anyone with base privileges resells their car, RV, motorcycle or boat. The cars aren't lemons, but "lemon lot" is the common nickname for these resale lots on military bases. The military community is trusting and respectful, so for the most part, people feel comfortable buying and selling off the lemon lots.

Hubby paid $16 for two weeks to the lot manager in the arts and crafts store (strange location, I know), and posted his sign in the car window. Our car was parked behind this row.

We live a good 15 to 20 minutes from Hickam. That may not sound like much, but once you live on the island, you have an island perspective on time. That is not close. We stalled a bit in the parking lot, just in case someone liked our car and called to drive it. Sure enough, we spotted a married couple. She kept peeking in the car window, but her husband had his eye on other cars. They moved from car to car. He looked at sedans, and she looked at every convertible on the lot. Now our car was priced aggressively, and only had 11,000 miles on it. We knew she wasn't going to find a better deal. Round and round they went, for minutes and minutes. Hubby and I played it cool, trying to be less than obvious. You know how we did that? We chased her around the parking lot in my van cruised around pretending we were looking for a car...so sly of us. Every time she headed toward our car we cheered and howled. When she walked away we booed. This went on for several minutes. We almost left twice, but twice she sauntered toward our car, out of the watchful eye of her husband. By now I knew this was going to end up a blog post, so I made Hubby take her picture. "Pose, so she thinks I am taking a picture of you," he said. I did, but I cropped myself out.
We considered staying until the couple left the lot. The kids were wailing, though, and Son1 was pleading for the park. They did not appreciate good entertainment! Just a couple of blocks from the lemon lot is a park structure shaped like a wooden castle. If she called for the car we would be close. As we exited the lot, the couple drove off, too. At least we knew she wouldn't call. Off to the park!

Guess what you can find only at parks on post? SWINGS!!! You cannot find them at public parks on our island! This one park has toddler swings, regular swings, and a tire swing!

Hubby watched Son2 while Son1 and I BOTH played on the swings! The sun was still high in the sky, but the minutes were ticking. Not one person called on the car so far. Just in case, we figured one more nearby place to stop.

Do you see me smiling on the couch back there? I know what the future holds for this stylist. Son1 detests haircuts. This little trick worked before the flowbee broke. (A flowbee attaches to a vacuum.) He can't stand the itchiness of sheared hair. Hubby helped to hold him still, he watched a TV show, and had a sucker shoved in his mouth.
Finally, the stylist finished, and nervously agreed to cut Son2's hair minutes after closing. I am sure she feared a meltdown. He's already had a handful of haircuts to date, though, and usually grabs for the scissors. This night he was so entertained by the spinning airplane wheel he was completely unimpressed with the scissors.

He looked so cute and so well behaved during his hair cut. But I couldn't imagine styling his hair like this every day. I am so Wash 'N Wear with the boys. I had her fix it.

The next day it looked like this.

We left the lemon lot vicinity with no calls. But guess what? We eventually got a buyer! One less worry before our move!

Brother Bond

I never had brothers, so a brother bond was completely foreign to me until I had two little boys. Son2 follows Son1 everywhere. He admires the way he eats, the way he plays, how he turns pages of a book, and the way he uses the potty, in the most precious and sincere way. He follows him to every corner of our home and insists he be included in all activities. His big brother settles for my explanation that Son2 wants to be just like him. Well, at least the times he isn't bothered by sharing toys or wanting some privacy!!
But Son2 is perceptive. When his big brother is napping, he finds the perfect opportunity to play with some of the cars his brother has declared off limits. But that's just between us!!

Cars

Hubby and I were chatting away on Friday on his way home from the office. All of a sudden he was rear ended by a Cadillac Escalade. His back bumper and license plate need to be replaced, now. That was a bummer. He is ok, though.

Sunday night Hubby and a friend went scuba diving, of course to see creatures that only come out at night. Danger lurked on land. They came back to friend's car, and someone took a rock and smashed his windshield. That was a bummer. They are ok, though.