Grand Prix #3

Nadia participated in her third AWANA Grand Prix this evening; it was Ian's first. We received the car kits a couple of months ago, and Paul had planned to make the cars during spring break in March, but that never happened. The cars were due on April 23, and I returned the unopened car kits last Wednesday and said we wouldn't be participating. The AWANA director really wanted us to be there, so she gave us two pre-cut car kits and said if we painted them or put stickers on them and got them to the church by Sunday morning it would be fine. She said they'd add weights (coins) to the cars to get them as close to 5 ounces as possible to the cars would make it to the end of the track. The kids painted the cars on Friday night. The kids did the first coat, and after they went to bed Paul did a few more coats as well as a layer of varnish. Then on Saturday night after we got back from Knoebels, the kids put stickers on their cars. Paul attached the wheels and delivered the cars to our neighbors who attend that church on Sundays.

We arrived at the church at 6pm for a hot dog dinner. Then there were 39 heats of the car race because there were 39 kids participating. Four cars raced in each heat, and every car raced a total of four times (once in each of the four lanes). At the end of the evening the awards for the Grand Prix and the year end AWANA awards were given out. Both kids received the attendance medal (you had to have perfect attendance or miss at the most one night), and they both received ribbons for finishing their books. Nadia did her book twice, but she didn't quite finish the extra credit book (as some other Sparkies did). Next year I'll try to help her keep at a pace that she can also finish the extra credit book. The kids have off next week as the church is having revival services Sunday through Wednesday, but in two weeks they'll start going to the summer musical rehearsals on Wednesday nights from 6:30-8:00.