Real Estate Information Archive

From school children riding bikes with training wheels attached to Kerry's Marine Corp Riders on their motorcycles, from horse-drawn wagons to Segways, from Native American Dancers to Storm Troopers, the Summerlin Patriotic Parade is not only a Vegas tradition, but a perfect example of the city‘s diversity. The Coffman Team (less Kerry, who was negotiating the parade route very slowly - since his motorcycle club had to keep pace behind the aforementioned bike-peddling children), had a great time cheering from the sidelines as babies in parent-pulled wagons to retired military veterans went by in their red-white-and-blue best.

National Trails Day was celebrated on June 6th this year, with approximately 3,000 trail-themed events across the country designed to promote awareness and appreciation for America's trails. With its 150-mile trail system, Summerlin was a natural fit for the day. Summerlin's Happy Trail Family Fun Walk and Run featured a 1.6 mile fun walk through the Arbors Paseo Park trail system with a stop at the mid-way point for some water balloon tossing, sack races and other activities and games.

Those looking for more of a challenge could enjoy a 9-mile fun run (I am not kidding you, the Summerlin Striders, a Summerlin-based running club, was referring to it as a "fun" run. Just shows that people's definition of fun varies widely).

The Summerlin Trail System features several types of planned trails in its extensive system, including natural, village and bike trails. For more information and a map of the trail system, visit www.summerlin.com.

On June 7, 2009, the Las Vegas Metro Police Department had a fund raising motorcycle ride for Dave Rooney, one of their motorcycle officers who is recovering from a serious illness that has left him and his family with some substantial medical bills.

Around 500 motorcycle riders showed up including a detachment of the Marine Motorcycle Riders of Las Vegas. Kerry was one of the riders that participated, and he really enjoyed the event and the ride.

For more information about Dave you can go to www.getwelldave.com

There is always something new and different to do here in Las Vegas – that’s why it’s our favorite city!

This last weekend, the Southpoint’s Equestrian Center hosted the American Quarter Horse Association Silver Dollar Circuit – free to the public to boot! The event brought back memories of The Coffman Team’s days of horse showing (like the time Andrea’s Quarter Horse, Little Bar, grabbed a cinnamon bun away from a little kid at the Ventura County Fair - that horse had a terrible sweet tooth, and wasn’t above a little thievery). The day spent at the show hasn’t convinced us to take up horse ownership again (the memories of waking up at 5:00 am to feed horses in the rain is still a little to fresh), but we will definitely check out more horse shows when they come our way.

For the first time, the West Coast Conference held its championships in neutral territory. Lucky for us, they picked our favorite city - Las Vegas.

Excited to have the opportunity to see her alma mater, Pepperdine University, try to “advance to the dance,” Andrea went above and beyond to get us close to the action with floor seats. While I appreciated her enthusiasm, there is perhaps such a thing as too close to the action. Both Kerry and I ended up catching out-of-bounds basketballs (Kerry threw his back to the referee, while I took the safer-and-saner approach of waiting for someone to come collect it from me), and I did have some concerns of having a player end up in my lap.

While we’ll have to wait until next year for Pepperdine to go all the way, The Coffman Team had a great time at the championships, and walked away injury-free. I’ll have to work on my ball-passing skills for next year!

In late February very year, The Coffman Team makes a point of attending the Las Vegas Creative Painting Convention at the Riviera. The convention offers classes in a variety of art media, including oils, watercolor, acrylics and pencil, as well as a trade show full of demonstrations and great deals. This year, we tried our hand at decorative painting on wood, oil painting on canvas and pencil sketching (which resulted in some very nice Christmas decorations, a couple of passable trees, and a drawing of a squirrel that looks more like an opossum, respectively). The convention offers classes for all skill levels, include first-timers, and we always have a great time. The convention’s website is www.VegasPaint.com, and the classes for 2010 will be posted in June. Hope to see you there!

The Coffman Team recently enjoyed a long-standing Summerlin tradition – the 15^th annual Summerlin Snow Day. Every year, roughly 7 tons of crushed ice transforms the sloped area of Arbors Park into a snow hill for sledders of all ages. Hot chocolate and cookies are available to make the winter wonderland complete. This year’s Snow Day was a complete success, judging from the number of young sledders I heard proclaiming it “awesome,” one young man even going so far as to call it “the best day of my life!” The Snow Day is pretty awesome, and a not-to-be-missed event for Summerlin residents.

To see all of the pictures click on: Summerlin Snow Day

Here’s something you may not know about our favorite city: Las Vegas holds the World’s Record for the Largest Santa Gathering. In 2007, 7,269 Santas ran down Fremont Street and into history at the Las Vegas Great Santa Run. This year, Fremont Street was again overrun by Santas for the 4^th annual Great Santa Run.

In addition to offering thousands of people the chance to run around in Santa suits, the Santa Run raises money for Opportunity Village. In attendance this year to support the running Santas were Mayor Oscar Goodman (accompanied by the Champagne Showgirls – only in Las Vegas!), Senator John Ensign, Vegas favorites Siegfried and Roy, and, of course, Santa Claus himself.

Running Santas and supporters were treated to live music throughout the event. Don't look for The Coffman Team amongst the Santas, we were merely spectators this year. But, next year (December 5^th, 2009) we hope to be suited up and ready to make the run! This is a Las Vegas tradition not to be missed. For more information, go to www.lasvegassantarun.org.

The Coffman Team was among the thousands who attended this year’s Las Vegas Veterans' Day parade. Organized by the Stars and Stripes Foundation, the parade honored more than 50 soldiers from the Wounded Warrior Project. For more information on the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization dedicated to helping servicemen and women who have lost limbs, visit www.woundedwarriorproject.org.

Every year, the Marine Corps Toys for Tots Foundation has a campaign to collect new, unwrapped toys for the children of needy families. As a part of that, the Marine Motorcycle Riders of Las Vegas has a motorcycle ride to collect toys. Kerry was a part of the ride again this year.

The ride was a huge success! Even before the ride started, the Marine Riders had collected $4,500 from local businesses and individuals. The Mattel Corporation matches that dollar for dollar, so they had raised $9,000 before the start of the ride.

For more information about the Toys for Tots program click on: Toys for Tots