Friday afternoon adventures...

Friday after work was pretty busy...

Jacob and I went to go pick cherries, thinking we had plenty of time before Jim got off work, since he had been working so late most every night.

Then we got a call and he was on his way home... but we still got a few in only about 20 min. as the tree was loaded.

Jim came by the house and I jumped in the truck with him to take a motor into Boise for a customer who was meeting us there from Nevada.

Since Taylor rides the best in the car without getting car sick... she got to go with us.

We ended up meeting him over by the stadium...

I really love going into the city!

Then we rushed back just in time to make it to an Elders Quorum picnic/pinewood derby race.
Our Elders made a new fancy track they built which includes an entire custom computer program that automates the whole thing. (we have a bunch of engineers AND computer engineers in our ward... that apparently really love pinewood derby racing)

Each driver takes a photo with his/her car it is saved into the system; and this program posts up each driver, what lane they are in... and when you place your car on the track, a staged light comes on to let you know it recognized it.

When all the cars are in place you can hear the sounds of engines revving up (this was so cool, and pretty funny). Then each driver comes down to the side of the track where he grabs his start button, and once that is activated the lights count down...

YELLOW, YELLOW, and when the GREEN lights up, they hit their button... which releases the car, complete with squealing tire sounds (ha ha!!)

Then the cars race down the lighted track (each lane with their own color) and under a sensor which records their time and position on the screen.

It calculates the time based on the actual speed AND subtracts the reaction time... so if your car is not quite as fast, but you have a really fast reaction time, you could still win. I think you can also set the program to just go on actual speeds. It also posts and DQ's you if you have a false start and push your button before the green light.

Then it shows the photos in the lanes for who is racing next... and keeps track of the brackets and eliminations on a spreadsheet!

SO COOL! And I think it made what can be a very LONG race night, go much quicker with NO confusion!! SO VERY COOL!!!

The children had a really fun time; and I think the big kids had a pretty fun time too!

So a good time was had by all!