Super Mom and the Cub Scouts

Last night Super Mom ventured into the unknown world of Rain gutter Regattas with her Bear Cub. What an adventure this has been. Since Super Dad (the real super hero) is in the military and is not around as much as we would love him to be, Super Mom has had to step in and learn all she can about the science of pinewood derbys and now rain gutter regattas.

Having had two years of practice runs (that is what we refer to them as) with the pinewood derby Super Mom and her cub were shocked and nervous when handed the familiar black box and discovered not a car kit but....a boat kit???? What in the world are we supposed to do with this? Thank goodness for directions!

Super Mom and her Cub carefully set everything out and read the directions. Ah but something was missing....the mast. Crud, Super mom is sick beyond sick, can hardly breathe out her nostrils and now she has to drive to the town over to find the Scout Shop she was told existed there. Hold the phone Batman this is Super Mom you are talking about. There has to be a better solution....right? Super Mom had to go shopping for groceries and noticed the craft store across the street, ya know the one with the great coupons in the Sunday paper. So she ventures in knowing in advance the cash in her purse is for groceries NOT crafts (bummer). For 30 minutes she searched the aisles. Finally in the aisle she had already gone up and down 2 times she found it! There it was in a clear plastic bag....a DIY boat kit complete with mast...Yee-haw! Too bad it was too short.

Super Mom had her cub get busy with the sanding and the painting and she supervised from a distance. It is always dangerous to let Super Mom get too close in these things as she tends to want to take control.

Now the paint was dry but there was still the issue of the mast. The next day Super Mom still feeling under the weather drove to the next town over and hit the local Wal-mart looking for many things including an 1/8" dowel rod. Whoo-hoo they had everything she needed even the dowel rod.

With her cape seemingly flowing behind her she raced home to cut the mast to the correct length. The amazed cub arrived home so loving his Super Mom at that moment. He trimmed the sail, put on some stickers and attached it to the mast. Super Mom was amazed too, she was amazed at the thought her handsome cub put into picking the numbers for his sail. He had chosen to put 06 on the sail for the year 2006. Super Mom would have probably just put down some random numbers without any thought. Next it was time to pose for the pictures and off we went to the Regatta and pack meeting.

Well the Regatta went well but never let it be said that Super Mom has a heart of stone because it tore her heart in two to watch her son so proud of his ship not finish first in any of the heats. He was the one and only cub to not win at least one heat. She held back the tears so as not to let on to her cub that she was sad. Instead she continued to cheer him on and tell him what a great job he was doing. He was doing a great job and she was so proud of him. He lost each race by seconds, literally one extra breath of air could have meant sailing to the finish first. He never let on that he was sad about his losses and was a Super Sport. He congratulated all the other cubs, even the ones who had just beat him. He laughed when everyone was laughing and never had a sad or mad look on his face.

Super Mom knows this cub of hers so well and knows what great restraint that took on his part and let's just say after all the babes were tucked in bed and the lights went out a tear or two were shed for this not so tiny cub, some of sadness for his losses and some of joy for the young man he is becoming.