Adventures from the House of Chaos: Sunday Was The Cardboard Boat Race.

I and the kids (kind of when they felt like it) have been working slowly for months on our cardboat boat at Mom and Dad's - first we took their basement space and then we took their carport. Dad was kind enough to help me towards the end with a few extra layers as time neared to an end. We took our boat down to the lake and waited for our turn. The inspector and Miss Springfield complete with her crown came by - we got our pass sticker! The announcer came by and asked about the specifics of the USS Chomper. The judges came by and asked about the specifics and what we used - I explained we used cardboard and paint. LOTS OF PAINT. What about tape?! Nope. No tape. The judges all made a face and walked off. The rest of the family and friends arrived to see our creation. There was quite a bit of competition but there was only one USS Chomper. The announcements were made for the contest of design, etc. The Titanic award was a tie - the some boat name here that I didn't hear and the USS CHOMPER. As the kids and I clapped and made our way up for victory the judges informed me that the tape sealed the deal in their minds about our boat. I informed them that we looked forward to proving them wrong. Once we perused the package we won it was QUITE a victory! The kids have stuff to keep them busy at Nana and Papa's this summer now for free! Then our heat was up - Parent and Child Heat 1. We got our boat out to the line and waited for the signal. Heather and Trevor got in the boat and Pat and I pushed us in. The boat took off and I couldn't get in it in time. I grabbed the boat and pulled it back enough so I could get in without tipping it. Once I got in and we got our balance away we went! There was only one boat ahead of us so I realized we had a shot if the Chomper held together. Trevor and Heather stroked and stroked Mama stroked and stroked. We made it around the buoy and the boat in front of us lost their torpedo (pretend) and pushed it on us. The dad yelled BOOM. Trevor was QUITE bothered that they "blew up our boat". We got to the shore, grabbed our boat and ran for the finish. SECOND PLACE! First year - we will take it! The USS Chomper then made it directly in the dumpster. The other contestants tried to get us to go for the survivor race but I knew we wouldn't make it a second time and we were content with our one shot!