Elizabeth Cofer Day




Today, September 25th, 2012, was Elizabeth Cofer Day in Concord.  No, really!  You can read the proclamation yourself.  Here Elizabeth gets her proclamation from Mayor Ron Leone.

This makes 2 car crashes and he's only 10. We're doomed!

Race, complete with ice pack, taking chocolate cake to the neighbor to apologize for running into his truck on the electric scooter. He pretty much destroyed the scooter and actually dented the trucks bumper.  Here's the first car crash: Crash Link  Check out the picture of the handlebar tube; it used to be straight and didn't have that kink in just below the world "ZIP."

5th Grade Chapel

Here are a few videos from today's 5th Grade Chapel.







Meet Spreckles



This is Race's new kitten, Spreckles.  We stopped by Rhoadies in Clayton for chicken feed and they had two kittens, sisters, from the pound.  They were fixed and microchipped and on sale for half the normal adoption fee.  We picked Astraia and debated a new name on the way home.  We finally settled on Spreckles as a play on Freckles, Speckles, and Spreckels (the sugar company because she's so sweet).  Boots hates her, Indy wants to lick her and all the kids love her.

Mom and Son weekend at Camp Concord







Elizabeth and Race went to Camp Concord with our friends Tisha and Tyler for Mom and Son weekend.  As you can see from the pictures they had a great time relaxing and playing.  It was the first time any of us had been to Camp Concord for anything but a work party weekend.

Mustang Club picnic

We cooked hot dogs and hamburgers for the Diablo Valley Mustang Association Officer Installation picnic.  For the first time in 12 years, neither Dean or Elizabeth have taken a role on the club board.  Here are a couple of pictures that Race took.


Race Cofer, Superhero

Race has been busy inserting himself into the body's of the Avengers.  Here are a few examples.



Fire and Indy Car test day at Sears Point. 8/17


Indy Car test day at Sears Point was exciting, mainly, for the grass fire that started across the highway from the track.  Check out the cool video Race took of the Fire Bombers.

Hurrah, Race harvested his first carrot


SF Bay Cruise



Leland Defrates and his family joined us for a Bay cruise.  Our neighbors, the Van Dyk's also came along.  We had a great trip out under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz before lunching at Beaudin Bread.  The restored WW II Libety Ship, SS Jeremiah O'Brien, was out on the bay along with some of the America's Cup catamarans.  It was a great day.

Cub Scout Day Camp


Here's are a couple of pictures of Race on the BB gun range at Cub Scout Day Camp.  Dean spent the week as BB Gun Rangemaster and Race spent the week doing crafts, shooting BB Guns, Archery, Swimming, etc.

Race and Dave's Great Zipline Adventure


Way back when, during our Alaska cruise, Race and our friend Dave Trieschman got the wild idea that dangling from a string above the Alaska forest would be fun.  So, they abandoned the rest of us in Skagway and took a bus trip out to the local Zipline Course.  After a quick lesson and a few moments of girding up their loins, they were prepared.  Race was a little trepidatious at first, but with a little encouragement from his fellow adventurers, he made his leap of faith.  Yes, the zipline held; Yes, the lanyard held; Yes, the harness held; Yes, this is fun! Here's a short video of Race showing how easy it is to master the zipline.  A very nice man from the midwest took this video and sent it to Dave.

Relay for Life--Concord

We're home now after a busy weekend at the American Cancer Society Relay for Life in Concord.  Race, Elizabeth and our friend Tisha all made the local news blog, www.claycord.com, check out their pictures at the links below.

Relay for Life

Relay for Life

Click on the link above and donate to support Dean and Elizabeth's efforts to raise money for the American Cancer Society.  As a survivor, battling cancer is a very important to Elizabeth and every dollar raised is a step to defeating cancer for all time.  Thank you. -Dean

Race crashed the race car!

Race was steering as Elizabeth pushed our 24 Hours of Lemons Rabbit out of the trailer.  He over-corrected and drove the front of the car off the ramp.  Once he realized he was OK and the car wasn't hurt badly he decided it was pretty cool that he had crashed his first race car.  You can see the damage to the front air dam.

KKDV Coffee Break


Elizabeth won a coffee break from local radio station KKDV, so Race and Dean stopped by for coffee and pastry's.  Elizabeth did a live spot on the air as part of the Coffee Break.

Golden Gate Mustang National


We survived 4 days at Buchanan Airfield and the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Race and Dean worked security and Elizabeth was her usual whirling dervish of a self and worked almost everything.  We had just over 200 Mustangs show up to the show.  Here are a couple of pictures.

EAA Young Eagles

Race just took off for his round trip flight to Rio Vista.  Young Eagles is a great EAA program to give kids free flights in private aircraft.


Alaska Cruise

9 days, 7 at sea and 2 on land, 2 more states and a foreign country.  Race has now been to 30 states and 2 countries.  It was nice spending a week traveling with Elizabeth's Grandpa Don and our friends Dave and Shelli Trieschman.


Day 1 and 2:
We had a great trip out of Seattle and spent 2 relatively calm days at sea.  Race had a great time in the kids program, Adventure Ocean, and we had a good time learning our way around the ship.  We saw movies and a musical show.  Bowzer's Rock and Roll Review (yep, Bowzer from Sha Na Na) featured great hits from the 50's.  The highlight of the show was the dance contest with a 14 year old girl, a 19 year old girl and our our friend, Shelli, who proudly announced her age as 60.  Shelli was the crowd favorite and won a t-shirt, a bottle of champagne and fame; yes, for the rest of the cruise Shelli was the center of attention for her adoring fans.  She was shocked at how many people recognized her both on ship and during the shore excursions.


Day 3:
Our first stop was in Juneau and we spent our time taking a bus tour to Mendehnall Glacier and riding the tram to the top of the mountain where we had lunch and took some great pictures.  We also spent some time shopping.  I got a beautiful Skagen watch and Elizabeth found a reversible pendant with rose quartz/gold on one side and Amalite on the other.


Day 4:
We spent the night at sea and arrived early the next morning at Skagway where we boarded a bus for Frazier, British Columbia.   At Frazier we boarded the White Pass Railroad for our trip back to Skagway retracing one of the most famous routes on gold fields.  The scenery was unbelievable.  The pictures just don't do it justice.

Day 5 and 6:
The next two days were spent at sea.  We spent a rough night in 12 foot seas.  Elizabeth, Dave, Shelli and I went to a Broadway Musical but left early when a lady a few seats down projectile vomited over the 2 rows in front of us.  The smell drove us out, but the vomit drove out her victims.  I went to get Race from Adventure Ocean while Elizabeth went back to our cabin.  When she arrived the Adventure Ocean staff called and said Race wasn't feeling well.  Fortunately, I was already there to get him.  All the kids were carrying barf bags, just in case, and they all looked a bit green around the gills. Race was just a little queasy and he kept his barf bag ready as we waited for the elevator.  We entered the elevator with a mother and.her child.  I immediately told Race to turn around and get off the elevator, but it was too late, he saw the barf dripping down the control panel onto the floor from a previous occupant and lost it.  The poor kid filed two bags before hes stomach stopped churning.  The other little girl on the elevator did the same while her Mom and I fought our own queasiness. We made it back to the cabin and called Dave and Shelli.  Dave came over and let us borrow some of his sea sickness medicine.  Thank God it worked and we managed to sleep through the night.

The next morning we were scheduled to transit Tracy Arm Fjord, but it was still too iced over.  So we made our way down an alternate fjord to Dawes Glacier.  The Captain stopped the ship just off the glacier face and used the bow and stern thrusters to spin the ship around twice in place to give us all the best view possible.  Our presence seemed to annoy the Sea Lions who raised their heads and gave us a stern look before they went back to sleep.  Back out to sea into slightly calmer seas then Day 5 had offered and the sea sickness remedy's provided by Dave and Shelli had no problem keeping our stomachs calm.

This was also the night that Race and the rest of the kids at Adventure Ocean decided to dress up as Pirates and take over the ship.   They came into the Broadway Melodies Theater and did a cute song and dance number and then went through the rest of the public areas chanting Pirate songs and generally being loud.  We could hear them long after they left the theater.

Day 7:
Victoria, BC was beautiful, but rainy.  We went ahead and took the shuttle bus to the Empress Hotel and wandered around downtown.  We made our way back along the coast and stopped for fish and chips on Fisherman's Wharf.  In truth, we were all exhausted and made a short day of it.

Day 8:
Back to Seattle.  Dave and Shelli left the ship and flew home.  Elizabeth, Race Grandpa Don and I rented a car and went to Pike's Place Market, and then the Space Needle where we had lunch.  Race was especially impressed with the Space Needle shaped noodles in his Macaroni and Cheese.   We made our way north to Everett and Elizabeth's Aunt Jan and Uncle Tom's house for a great grilled Salmon dinner.  It was really nice to spend a relaxing evening shore with good wine and even better company.

Day 9:
We got up early and headed to Mukilteo for a tour of the Boeing plant.  We were escorted through the largest building by volume in the world and watched 747-800's, 777's and 787's being built on moving assembly lines.  We had a lot of fun in the museum looking at jet engines and playing in a 707 cockpit.  We flew out of Sea-Tac at about 5:30 and made it back to Oakland and, finally, home about 9:00.

We woke up the next morning and discovered that the cupboards were bare.  We found some frozen bread and American cheese and had grilled cheese sandwiches for breakfast.  We spent the rest of the day doing laundry, going shopping and laying around the house trying to recover from vacation.  We have got to find a way to vacation that doesn't leave us exhausted and in need of a rest.

-Dean