Disneyland

We're back from our whirlwind trip to Disneyland.

Day 1: We flew out at 6am on Thursday morning, took a shuttle to our hotel, a quick cab to Paradise Pier and attended an 8:30 Lilo and Stitch Character Breakfast. What fun. Race and Aurora got to meet Daisy Duck, Minnie Mouse, , Pluto and , of course, Lilo and Stitch. We took the Monorail into Disneyland spent the rest of the day there. Race road Autopia (and gave Aunt Amy whiplash), Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railway, Astro Blast, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, Mr Toads Wild Ride, etc. We finally made it back to our hotel room after stopping at Denny's for a quick, late dinner. Race fell asleep after the first bite of his mini hot dogs and Dean had to carry him back to the hotel. Thank goodness we were staying almost right across the street from the Main Gate.

Day 2: Race was really upset to wake up in his underpants. He is very modest these days and it's on ly acceptable to be completely nude or fully clothed. He made it clear that we should have awakened him and put his pajamas on him. Yeah right. We spent the morning at Disneyland since we had early entry passes to Toon Town. Race got to meet and get Mickie Mouse's autograph and ride all the rides and play with everything in Toon Town. After we left Toon Town Race finally got to ride Indiana Jones, whoo hoo. We had tried repeatedly the day before but it kept breaking down. Race decided he was willing to try the Matterhorn. We went over to California Adventures and spent the afternoon there. Race got very brave and rode California Screamin' with Uncle Jason and Dean. He was just a little upset that Dean hadn't told him that it goes upside down, but he said he had fun. Race decided that he was brave enough to ride the Hollywood Hotel/Tower of Terror; Elizabeth also agreed to try it for the first time. Race got a little nervous getting on the ride; it is kind of unnerving, but he came through with flying colors and enjoyed the ride. We also got to go on the new Toy Story, Midway Mania ride. It's a high tech 3D shooting gallery ride. Before the weekend was over we went on it 4 times. It really is FUN!

Day 2 continued: Halloween Night, the real reason we went to Disneyland. We had special tickets that allowed us into California Adventures in costume for Halloween night. From 7:30 until midnight we wandered the park, rode on rides and Trick or Treated at every Trick or Treat station. The Trick or Treat stations are manned by two Disney Cast members and guests flow by on two sides to receive hand fulls of candy, apple slices and carrots. Race left the park with at least 8 pounds of treats. Race dressed as Indiana Jones, complete with gun belt, whip and messenger bag.

Day 3: Despite being a little worn out, we headed back into Disneyland. We finally got into the new Finding Nemo ride. It's essentially the old Nautilus ride with a lot of 3D Finding Nemo updates. It was really cool, Race loved it, Aurora cried through it and Dean is convinced that the ride was pretty neat and would be worth a 10 minute wait, but not the 1 hour wait we finally settled for. Race also insisted that we ride the Matterhorn, and Thunder Mountain Railway again. We spent the afternoon in California Adventures again and Race re-rode California Screamin'. He's quite proud of himself. We also rode Mulholland Madness, Toy Town Midway Mania and Mulholland Madness again. Race wanted to ride Tower of Terror again, but we ran out of time. We decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner in the park and made reservations at the Blue Sky Trattoria in California Adventures. Basically, it was a huge dissappointment and we would strongly recommend against wasting your money there. The parade came by just as we were getting ready to go to dinner. Lightning McQueen led the way, characters from all of Disney's recent animated movies followed and Mater brought up the rear. It was great fun. Most of the floats and characters were spraying water on the crowd. We finished the night up at Disneyland for a little shopping, a couple of more rides and the Fireworks show. We finally got to bed about 11:30.

Day 4: Homeward bound, finally. We caught our shuttle to the airport at 7:40 and were home at about 1:15. Just in time to wrap up our neighbor Daria's birthday present and head to the bowling alley for a birthday party. Jeez, are we ever exhausted.

The video below is about 4 minutes long and contains a bunch of pictures from Disneyland and California Adventures.

Race's Annual Pumpkin Farm Picture

I've also included a picture of Cousin Aurora and a picture of Race harvesting the pumpkins that he grew in the front yard.

October 18-19

The weekend of the 18th and 19th was extremely busy. Dean and his second in command from the plant spent the week at Thunderhill raceway Park outside of Willows, CA. They had a great weekend of open track with no unpleasant surprises. Well, with the exception of the drive up, that is. Dean had electrical problems on the ramp truck. The taillights began flashing on and off at 5:00 am while driving through Fairfield. He was forced to cut the wires to the taillights and reroute them to the taillights on the race car. The rest of the weekend the race cars taillights served as the trucks taillights. Fortunately, the trucks turn signals and brake lights kept working fine. Of course this rewiring took place in the dark by flashlight in the parking lot of a gas station; what fun!


Race and Elizabeth had a busy weekend of their own. Saturday they took Grandpa Don on a trip to Castle Air Force Base with the Norcal Galaxie Club. They returned home late in the day, dropped off Grandpa Don, picked up Grandpa Mike and headed to Tahoe. After a night in a hotel, they were out on the lake before 6 am fishing for Mackinaw. They caught their limit, had breakfast in town and then headed back to the Bay Area beating Dean home by hours. Oh, I almost forgot, the fishing guide let Race drive the boat over 35 miles an hour on the way back to the dock!

1st Pack Meeting

Race and the boys had their first ever Pack meeting with their Cub Scout Troop. All three of the boys earned their Bobcat badges and another bead for learning about the weather. Here are pictures of Race, Jarod and Harley receiving their awards and playing the book return game.

KVCS Raffle Prize information

Contact Kristy Aldrich, klaldrich@gmail.com
1st Grade Room Mother, Harvest Festival Chair
for details on purchasing raffle tickets.

Win a ride in a Race Car around exciting Thunderhill Park Raceway near Willows, CA.
The prize is for a 20 minute session as a passenger in a 2001 Road Racing Mustang around a challenging 3 mile race track. If time is available we can offer rides to the winner's friends and family members (over 18 years) as well. A typical day will offer 5 driving sessions per day. Safety gear will be provided. There are multiple sessions throughout the day between 8am and 4pm.

All passengers must be over 18. All passengers must read and understand the Nor Cal SAAC Open Track Rules and will be required to sign a Release of Liability Waiver. Nor Cal SAAC Open Track Rules can be viewed and printed from the club web site. www.norcal-saac.org

Directions to the track can be found here http://www.thunderhill.com

9-18 Cub Scouts

We took Race's Cub Scout den on their first Go See It to Markham Nature Park. After a short hike where the boys collected leaves we practiced the Scout Sign, Scout Salute and the Cub Scout Motto. All of the boys earned their first award. The Immediate Recognition Award which hangs from their right pocket and holds the beads that they will earn for future awards. The boys also made rubbings of the leaves that they collected on their hike.

I've also included a picture of a snake being held by my friend Steve. We found it at work living in a sump full of hazardous recycle water. We transplanted him to the picnic area by the administration area.

Fun Ford Sunday -- 9/7/08

We spent Sunday at Fun Ford Sunday. Since the race car was loaded, we just took the ramp truck and race car to the show.

Orinda Classic Car Show -- 9/6/08

We spent Saturday morning at the Orinda Classic Car Show. A friend, and fellow Mustang club member, Chip Herman offered the club $500 to take pictures of all the cars as they entered. Then print and put the pictures in frames as a give away to the owners. We got there about 7 and set up. the cars started arriving almost immediately. Our printer died about halfway through printing all the photos, so we trekked down to Rite Ade and used there express printer to print the rest of the prints. For around a quarter of the cost of the first half of the printing we did ourselves. There's a lesson learned.

When Chip cut us the check we went ahead and wrote him one in return and donated most a large portion of the money back to the Senior charity that the show was supporting.

Labor Day Weekend--Elizabeth and Race

Race, Cathy Guzman, and I just got back from our first MCA Grand National. We had a great time and boy, is Utah a beautiful state or what!? Mike Rossa was also there and took home two trophies. Race took home a trophy for his Mustang JR, which Mike trailered back for us – thanks Mike! BAMA had several members in attendance as well and at least three of them took home trophies too. We had a great banquet dinner up at a mountain lodge which we took a gondola ride to get to. The Saturday show was actually on Main St. in downtown Park City and was it picturesque. There were some beautiful cars, as always, and it was a lot of fun getting to see some great people that we don’t get to see very often as well as meet some new ones. Race and I participated in the “slow” drags on Friday night and the show and shine on Sunday. We also gave quite a few kids rides in the JR. It was especially momentous for Race as this was the FIRST time he drove the JR all by himself, with the help of 3 pillows stuffed behind him! It was a fabulous weekend and there is one more MCA show this year in Phoenix in October, another West Coast show, maybe we will see you there. --Elizabeth

Labor Day Weekend--Dean

Elizabeth and Race were off at a Mustang Club of America event, but I was racing at Thunderhill with a friend from work, Steve Tansley. This is the road race course near Willows, CA that Elizabeth drove the race car at last April. The event was the 25th Annual Mini-Nats put on by the Norcal Shelby American Automobile Club.

Friday we had the unique opportunity to drive our race cars down Highway 162 under Highway Patrol escort and through down town (it's a parade!) to the city park for a car show and barbecue. The neatest part f the caravan was blowing through the red lights and stop signs. After an early evening escorted trip back to the track, Steve and I headed to the hospitality room at the hotel for beer, conversation and old racing movies. The host had cut the racing and car chase scenes from dozens of movies like Bullitt, Viva Las Vegas and a bunch of "B" movies along with clips of club members driving, and some times spinning, during Vintage Races. Talk about a good time!

Saturday morning began at the track with a drivers meeting where the rules for day were explained and then I hit the track with Randy, one of my track buddies, riding along as an instructor. He explained the racing line to me, and I missed the racing line every turn and after 15 minutes Randy escaped from the car at the end of the session. I suspect it's the last time he'll volunteer to instruct. I took Steve out for the second session and managed to hit the racing line a few times. Then we registered Steve as a driver and he took the car out with me as a passenger/instructor (instructor! isn't that comical) and I explained the racing line, as opposed to the line I usually blundered into, to him. Steve took the car out for the final session alone and came back beaming. He says he felt pretty good driving thanks to all the hours playing Playstation racing games. Saturday night was the annual banquet at the Willows Memorial Hall; dinner, guest speakers, raffle and finally back to the hotel to bed.

Sunday, Steve had to go home after the banquet Saturday night (he had to work Sunday night shift) so it was just me and my friends from Mustangs Plus. Randy went out with me again for the first session and tried to correct the bad habits I'd already picked up. George (an ex-vinatge racer) went out with me for the second session and more forcefully corrected the bad habits I had picked up. I then rode with George in his '65 Mustang Vintage Race Car and saw what it was like to follow the racing line. Wow, what fun! Ron Morris, who we bought our race car from, was pitted next to us and I offered him the chance to drive our car )he never got a chance to drive it while he owned it) and he jumped at the chance. I rode along and it's 25 minutes of thrills that I will never forget. He had our car traveling at nearly the same speeds that George drove. All the time giving me pointers on how to manage the weight of the car, tire pressures, tuning, etc. It was on one particularly fast trip through turns 2 and 3 (sideways) that he announced, "that's the limit for this car." Oh man, I've got a lot to learn before I ever reach the skill level to take the car to the limit. I drove the final session of the day alone and finally, thanks to Randy, George and Ron's instruction, hit the racing line on every corner and went faster, drove smoother and had more fun than I had ever before managed at Thunderhill. I didn't have nearly this much trouble learning Infeonon (Sears Point), but the tracks are significantly different. The corners come much faster at Sears Point, the straights are shorter and, most important, there are more visual clues on where the braking zones, apexes, turn in points, etc are. I can hardly wait to get back on the track.

Saturday, Aug. 23

Mike Rivard and Bruce Baker were over today to work on replacing the entire wiring harness on Mike's Mustang (this is the car that Brent has been rebuilding). The project is going well and the wiring should be complete tomorrow.

We took a couple of hours off in the middle of the day for a Lion's work party to finish the Sensory Room for autistic children at Mountain View Elementary. The room is done with the exception of some additional decorating and the counter needs to be tiled once the custom painted tiles are come back from being fired.

Friday, Aug. 22

Race decided to stay home with Dean instead of going to his last day of Day Care before school starts (usually he chooses Day Care since all of his friends are there). Race and Dean took Race's friend Daria from down the street and spent the day at Pixieland riding roller coasters and the other rides. All of that fun was followed by lunch at Fuddruckers and video games.

August 16th, Matteo's Dream work party

We returned to Matteo's Dream on Saturday to reinforce the entrance sign, pressure wash and remove graffiti, repaint the rock climbing wall and replace the conveyor belt bridges. The highlight of Races day...Dean let him drive the scissor lift that Elizabeth got donated by Cresco rentals.

August 10th, Aurora's 1st Birthday

Today we hosted a Birthday party for our niece Aurora. The backyard filled with children and adults for a barbecue and games. The kids rode Race's electric cars until the batteries were dead and they were forced to push each other around in them. The ladybug theme carried through to the games which featured a ladybug pinata and "Pin the Spot on the Ladybug".

August 6th

It was a busy day at the Cofer's...

Brent was over to work on his dad's car. He cleaned the engine in preparation for detailing and painting, cut out the damaged rear floor pans and prepped one new floor pan for welding in, and he pulled the transmission and he and Dean took it down town to be rebuilt. Unfortunately the car won't be running before Brent leaves for college on the 21st. Dean will be finishing it with Mike's (Brent's dad) help.

Dean, Elizabeth and Mike (Elizabeth's dad) spent some time building frames for a couple of '65 Mustang rear seats. The frames still need paint, but that will have to wait for another day. Now the seats are backyard benches...Very cool!

We also worked on cleaning up for Aurora's 1st birthday party on Saturday. Vehicles were rearranged and space was made available.

The rest of the week week--July 30 to August 2

It's been a normal busy week around here. Elizabeth worked, Race and Dean stayed home.
Wednesday Steve Tansley, Dean's backup supervisor, came over and Dean and Steve worked on his Chevy pickup. They fixed some oil leaks and worked on the brakes. Now Steve's truck doesn't leak oil and stops in a straight line. Brent was over working on his dad's Mustang. The engine compartment is now painted and the interior is stripped. Bad nes though, the rear floor pans need patching and the driver's side front floor to firewall piece looks like swiss cheese and needs replacement. Brent and his Mom ordered the parts.

Thursday Dean and Race went to the school, met fellow Lion Bill Riddle, and worked on the Sensory Room. All of the drywall is now up on the divider walls and they're ready to be carpeted when the entire group returns next Tuesday. The afternoon was taken up taking a door apart and removing the latch assembly with Brent and he and Dean finally finshed the brake line installation, bled the brakes and are proudly reporting the first project on the car completed since work began in January.

Friday we didn't do anything but run errands and Dean started nightshift.

Saturday Race and Elizabeth did some shopping and went to Home Depot for Kids Project Day. Race made a cool flag holder and flag pole complete with a Home Depot flag. Elizabeth also finished Aurora's first birthday present. You'll have to wait until next week to find out what it is... It's a surprise.

Sunday Race and Elizabeth took a bike ride while Dean slept. Race went to lunch with the our friends the Bibbs from down the street. Later his Friend Daria Bibb came over and they played trains.

Race's Gas Station is finished

Bill and Mark from BMC Steel/Howdy's Garage returned yesterday and mounted the gas pumpsand installed the front door and windows so Race's gas station is finished. Race and Elizabeth are making a tire table for it and Race will be moving in and decorating for the rest of the week. Dean finished wiring the lights and power so the interior, exterior and pump globes all light up at night. Race is shopping for a fan for the interior. He has two criteria for his fan: it has to have numbers on the dial or control buttons and it has to go back and forth.

We spent the evening working ont he Sensory Room. All of the framing for the divider walls is done. The room is being divided into four sections with 5' high walls, and each section will be a different special area: audio, visual, tactile and just a crash area with a tent and minimal sensory input for kids to wind down.

Sunday, July 27

Work at home day! What did we get done? Race washed all of his Little People toys to give to his cousin Aurora and fetched tools for Dean who did not finish anything. Elizabeth dug trenches for electrical to Race's Gas Station, planted flowers, washed and folded laundry, changed the sheets on the beds, made corn dog muffins for lunch and barbecued chicken for dinner and did 300 other things that no one has even noticed yet. In truth, Dean spent the day wiring lights and plugs in the Gas Station and should finish tomorrow. Dean also spent time icing down his arm, whining about his arm, and taking Motrin for his arm. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, it's his right arm. Not the left one that he ruptured the bicep in last November and had surgically reattached in January.

Saturday, July 26

The morning was spent hauling lumber for the Sensory Room project at the Mountain View Elementary. 100 2X4X10, 24 2X4X8, 24 sheets fo 1.2" drywall and 4 sheets of 3/4" plywood. Dean manages to pull something in his forearm carrying plywood and spent some time with an icepack that afternoon. We went to a late breakfast with our fellow wood haulers at the Black Bear Diner in Walnut Creek.

At 4 pm three members of the Diablo Valley Mustang Association met us at our house and we headed for San Francisco where we met three more club members for a twilight tour of Alcatraz. Parking was scarce and so were the wierdo's at Pier 33 where we parked and got in line for our boat. We got out to the island and immediately hiked up to the cell house for an audio tour. The cells the prisoners excaped from that made there way to the roof and tried to swim to freedom never to be seen again were on display. The papier mache heads they made were in the bunks and some of the spoons they dug out the concrete with were on display. It was absloutely awesome and we would recommend this tour to anyone.

Since it was the night tour the staff had a number of special treats for us. There were numberous talks on the excape attempts, prison conditions, and the Indian occupation of the '70's. A Souix Park Ranger even sang a song of mourning for the lost freedom of the Indian's that was hauntingly beautiful.

Another special treat awaited us one flight of stairs above the dining room, the Hospital was open! Lit by lanterns, the flickering light lent a mysterious air to this normally off limits area. The surgery room looked ready to go with an vintage (and terrifying) metal surgical table and cabinets stocked with gauze and medicines. The Hydrotherapy room was open for viewing and the actual cells where sick prisoners were open. The cell room in the Hospital had blood stains on the roof... Not real blood, Hollywood blood from Nicholas Cage filming the movie The Rock there.
We also saw the hospital cell where the Birdman of Alcatraz spent his final decades. He never had any birds on Alcatraz; the name was a carryover from Leavenworth.

The final special treat was a demonstration of the cell doors in D block. The guards demonstrated opening one door, two doors, a half floor of doors and then both sides of entire floor of doors. The slamming sound sent chills down our spines. This was the first sound prisoners heard in the morning and the last sound they heard at night. The most amazing thing about the doors, they're entire manual, no electronics. The guard stands at the end of the cell block, pushes the mechanical for the door or doors he intends to open, throws a large lever and the doors open in less than a second. More than one prisoner was seriously maimed or killed when they were trapped in the doors. Over 250 pounds each, an entire floor opening is over a ton and there's no stopping them once they start.

A late night stop at Denny's in Concord, which Race slept through, for dinner (Denny's in Concord is AWFUL, slow and dirty. We won't be going back.) and then home finally at 10:30. We're going to be tired tomorrow.

The pictures above are Elizabeth and Race in a cell on E block and the entire group at the main prison entrance.

Friday, July 25

Dean went to Infeonon for the day for the Autolite Nationals with his backup Supervisor from the plant, Steve Tansley. The afternoon of racing was marked by 4 different oil downs of the track. They actually had to postpone the Comp Eliminator cars to Saturday and move the alcohol classes to after the Nitro cars. The Top Fuel cars finally finished about 9 pm (they should have been done by about 8) and a cold motorcycle home for Dean and Steve followed.

July 22nd

Well, we're all a little worn out this morning. We worked on a Lion's club project until 9 last night. For those who don't know we're building a Sensory Room at Mountain View Elementary, where Elizabeth went to Elementary School, for Autistic Children. Dean's the Project Manager, Elizabeth is the Dean Manager, and Race is the entertainment. Last night we replaced 144 hanging ceiling tiles. Then we tried not to scratch ourselves until we got home to cold showers (warm water opens the pores and lets the fibers deeper into the skin) and washed off the fiberglass insulation and cellulose fibers from the tiles.

July 5th and 6th

We went to Infeonon (Sears Point) Raceway for a weekend of Open Track with the NorCal Shelby American Club. Elizabeth drove a couple of sessions on Saturday and Dean drove the rest of the weekend. It was Dean's first opportunity to drive the race car and it satisfied every expectation he had. A teenage dream realized, Dean can hardly wait for the next track day in August at Thunder Hill in Willows.

Race had a great time on his scooter. He spent time riding under the Grandstands and down the hill from turn 2. Unfortunately, he lost control at a very high rate of speed coming down the hill, went off a cliff, and ended up in the crushed rock. His chest and legs were red rashed and showed dozens of small holes from the rocks. Fortunately, he was wearing his full face helmet so his face was spared the same treatment. Now he thinks he needs a new helmet because his is all scratched on the front. He chose to not ride any more that weekend.

Fourth of July

We went to 2 parades. Elizabeth, Race and his school chum Cindy went to the Clayton Parade and I joined them for the Concord parade later in the day. The kids rode on the parade seat in the '65 in Clayton and in the Jr trailer in Concord. Talk about a lot of FUN!

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