Thursday, October 29, 2015

Trebuchet you say?




My oldest is a junior in high school. Her physics teacher told her class that a rival high school's physics class challenged them to see who could build a machine that could throw a pumpkin the farthest. You might have heard of this phenomena called pumpkin chunkin'? Well, my daughter and her all girl team built a trebuchet. They did the calculations. They made the plans. They got nearly everything donated by local businesses. And by "they" I mean they did it themselves. A few of the dads were on hand to help with heavy lifting and such, but when I say that these girls built this machine, I mean, these girls built this machine. And brought it to a local festival to test out before the official competition. And had all the other pumpkin chunkers at the festival unable to stay away. They all wanted to see their machine work and offer tips and suggestions on how to make it better. It was the coolest. Do you remember that scene in the movie A League of Their Own when Tom Hanks is the baseball coach to all woman baseball team? One player starts crying and Tom Hanks says, "There's no crying in baseball!" As I sat as a spectator watching these girls launch pumpkins and walk away victorious, I had tears in my eyes. And I just kept telling myself, "There's no crying in pumpkin chunkin! Pull yourself together!"

-dana

8 comments:

the girlfriend gap said...

I'd be right there with you Mama : ) Laughing and crying at the same time as I am now reading this! It's a mama's heart that does it to you. Happy pumpkin chunkin to you all Janita

Ranch Wife said...

How awesome is that?! Very cool!

Shorty said...

I would've teared up, too... sometimes seeing our kids accomplish great things is just an overwhelming experience. I feel ya, Dana! I'm with ya!

Jean said...

Fabulous!

Kar said...

That is way beyond cool! I would have been right there beside you crying and cheering them on. Fabulous!!!!

AnnieO said...

Whoa, that's pretty spectacular! Great work and the joy of pumpkin chunk in for the win!

Libster said...

my hubby and I watched a show on foxtel here in Australia about the pumpkin chucking comps over in the States, serious stuff!! haha. I met a bloke here who built a trebuchet for fun, he was into medieval stuff, they chucked watermelons and other large fruit/vegies across paddocks (fed some bewildered cows) and also launched things across the nearby highway.... not sure if that was such a good idea!

Lauren Deel said...

That's SO awesome! I'd be so proud, too!