What is Milk-is-a-deck?

My cousin Izzy is the queen of AWANA Grand Prix cars. She's made a sandwich, an ice cream cone, Charlie Brown, a running shoe, a pool table, and a Slinky-dog—with a Slinky in the middle!

This summer she found herself with too much time on her hands, so she decided to go big. She and her family entered the Lucerne Seafair Milk Carton Derby, an annual competition in Seattle. The boats can be made of any material, but the flotation must be accomplished by milk cartons.

After doing some research, they found that most milk carton shipbuilders start by attaching cartons to a wood base with chicken wire. They live on a lake, so to make sure it was seaworthy they took it down to the beach.

Watching the flat platform bob up and down, they realized it looked pretty boring. A quick internet search revealed people decorate their crafts. In fact, the competition is no less cutthroat than that of grand prix cars.

They found a dozen pirate ships, a cat, the Mystery Machine, a swan, an alligator, a banana, a whale, and Perry the Platypus.

A heated discussion ensued. What could they do? A Yellow Submarine had already been done. As had a race car, a campsite, spilt milk, a giant foot, and a three-part sea serpent.

They had about narrowed their options down to a treehouse in the jungle, a Coleman cooler, or the International Space Station when their 4-year-old woke up from his nap. He ran toward his family on the beach. When he saw the base of their boat, his eyes got wide open, he pointed with a chubby finger, and exclaimed, "Milk! Milk is a deck!"

Izzy looked at her husband. Her husband looked at her.

"Well," Izzy said. "It is original."

"Let's do it!" said her husband.

And that is why my cousin's family entered the Seattle milk carton derby with a papier mache model of ancient Jerusalem with her son dressed as an old man in a robe.

Surprisingly, they won. (This being Seattle, the judges though it was Zeus on Mt. Olympus.) They spent most of the money finding a sustainable way to discard of all those empty milk cartons. But they gave 10 percent to their son, just like Abraham did to Melchizedek.

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