1/14/09

Race invited us to his school Chapel this morning. Dean was able to attend with his friend Dave Trieschman. Race's 1st grade class ran the Chapel and provided the music. Race actually sang this time and didn't yawn once. He was also honored to lead the entire school in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States. Dave and Dean celebrated with Huevos Rancheros at the Buttercup Pantry after Chapel.

1/13/09

Lowes Home Improvement partnered with Dremel Tools this year to help sponsor Pinewood Derby's. We went to the Lowes in Livermore for a seminar on how to build a Pinewood Derby car. Race is now the proud owner of his own Dremel Tool and a BSA Pinewood Derby car kit packaged with all of the acessories needed to build his own car. We'll try to keep everyone updated on the build progress.

1/12/09

Tonight we attended a Boy Scout campfire. A local high-adventure troop invited us. The Scouts entertained us with songs, skits and jokes all staged between two campfires in the parking lot of the Methodist Church (where Elizabeth and Dean got married). This was Race's first Scout campfire and he even roused himself to sing along a few times. He really liked the yelling parts of the songs. The highlight of the evening, for Race, was dessert prepared in dutch ovens. They had apple, peach, berry and chocolate chip cobbler to choose from.

1/10/09

Elizabeth and Dean spent the entire day at LEAD training. This was a full 8 hours of training on Cub Scout topics like: Health & Safety, Dealing with Problem Boys, Pine Wood Derby's, Job specific training, etc. Race got to spend Friday night and all day Saturday at Auntie Amy's and Uncle Jason's house. He reported that he had fun playing Wii and that he played with cousin Aurora.

Niles Canyon Train of Lights

We had a great time this year on the Niles Canyon Railroad with the Negherbon (Elizabeth's boss) family. The railroad museum decorates the train with Christmas lights and Santa spends the trip visiting witht he ids on the train.

Thanksgiving, yeah, it's a little late

We spent Thanksgiving in Tahoe this year. We drove up on Wednesday, stayed at the Timber Cover Lodge on the beach at South Shore, fed the ducks, had Thanksgiving dinner at the Forest Buffet in Harrahs, played video games at the arcade and then spent the rest of the day driving around the lake seeing the sights. Race had a lot of fun climbing on the rocks at Emerald Cove.

Race's Christmas Program

This years program combined Kindergarten through Third Grade. Race's First Grade class dressed to represent Africa this year. The highlight of the show was the kids singing Silent Night while they signed it in American Sign Language. Here are a couple of pictures of Race, one of cousin aurora enjoying the show and one of our neighbor Daria who's Kindergarten class represented Mexico.

Breakfast with Santa

Breakfast with Santa at the Concord Senior Center has become a standard stop on our Christmas journey. They put on a nice pancake breakfast, craft boutique, and set up craft tables where the kids can occupy themselves while they wait for the main event, meeting Santa Claus. Here are Race and cousin Aurora meeting the big guy himself...

Christmas in Martinez

Martinez closes Main Street every year or a Christmas celebration and parade. It's wonderfully, campy, small town kitsch at it's best. They set up a synthetic Ice Rink and use man made snow for a Toboggan Run. Here are a couple pictures of Race and Elizabeth trying both...

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.