The Flying Henderlogans

Last Christmas I gave Joel and Jon (Logan) certificates for indoor skydiving lessons and a couple of flights at iFly.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to schedule flights while everyone was in town for Christmas.

Hannah's graduation was a great opportunity to get everyone together and flying.  So, I got her an appointment as well and off we went.  Jon and Joel were ready to go!

Here's Hannah practicing her upside down flying.  (or I flipped the picture upside down.. hmmm..)

We started with some flight training.. (by watching a 3 minute video).  In it, they explain that we are going to be flying in wind produced by 4 250 HP fans.  Pretty sweet.  Then, off we went to get our gear on.

Then, it was our turn.  We nominated Hannah to fly first because this is her special, graduation weekend.  Here she is flying next to the instructor.

Joel absolutely loved it - as you can see by the expression on his face ;)

Here's Hannah on her second flight.  Impressive!  She did so great the instructor was basically just getting out of her way and letting her fly.

Ok.. I went too.  I know, I look ridiculous - but it was a lot of fun.  It's hard to look good when you've got 120 MPH find in your face ;)

This is Joel's form.  It's pretty awesome.  You want to have your arms up near your head and a natural arch in your bag.  He did great.

And the instructor makes sure you're in good form.

Jon did the best.  He was so stable during flight the instructor started teaching him how to spin left and right.  Show off ;)

That's right... we ALL graduated.  Flippin Sweet!!!

It Has Begun!

Congratulations to Tim and Barbara on their newest adventure; redecorating.  I don't know if this is some test that their pre-marriage counselor cooked up (pun intended) - but just months before they are to be married (next March!) they are undertaking their first home renovation;  the kitchen.

Here's a picture from a few days ago.  Jon + sledge = progress!   As of last night it's now stripped to the studs - and there's a dumpster in the street that is getting fuller and fuller. 

It's clear when people are in the midst of such an adventure.  Conversations start to focus on shopping trips and decorating decisions.  Garages fill with parts and more parts (the cabinets are here!).  You start discussing propane supplies - an essential for cooking for the next couple months.  And then there's the guessing.  Will it be finished by the end of September?  Halloween?  Thanksgiving?

And anxiety levels start to rise.  Funny story.  We're on a walk with Tim last night and he tells us that he awoke the previous night in a state of heighted anxiety and found it difficult to get back to sleep.  He said the realization that this is just the beginning,  meaning he will likely have to do the whole house,  finally hit him square between the eyes. 

Yep.  But we'll help you through it!  There's no stopping now!

The Coastal Trail

Saturday turned out to be a glorious date day for Team Henderson.  We decided to team up with Team Love You (Jon and Rachel) and they shared with us some of their beautiful city (they live in San Francisco).

They introduced us to the Coastal Trail - a walking trail that meanders along the west side of San Francisco from the Sutro Baths to China Beach.  The remnants of the Sutro Baths don't do the original facility justice. Once a 3 acre indoor bath (swimming) house containing 7 individual pools - each the size of a football field - it is now just some old concrete walls and pipes.  (BTW.. that's the famous Cliff House restaurant in the background).

The trail follows the coast in a northeast direction - drawing walkers (and the occasional runner) towards the Golden Gate Bridge.  It's getting close to Spring here and the trees and plants were stunning.

It's about 3 miles down the trail before you get back into the San Francisco streets. And, the area you come into is quite stunning.  We were checking out the homes along the coast trying to determine which one we wanted to buy.  I was partial to one that was listed for $11.5M.  A nice little 4 story built into a cliff overlooking the Golden Gate.  Sweet.

Here are our partners in crime hanging just above China Beach (down and to the right of the picture).















The view of the bridge from the coast is spectacular.

After our walk we dined at a Mediterranean restaurant; feasting heartily.  The company and conversation were equally pleasant - as was the food!  It was a great day out in our beautiful city by the bay!

Catching Up

Our great friend and neighbor Tim celebrated another birthday this last week!  We celebrated on Friday night (his actual Bday was Thursday) with a dinner out at The Fish Market followed by some deserts, presents and some game playing! Here's the crew at the restaurant (credit Auntie for all the photos within this post!)















Along with wonderful food - it was great to get the whole gang together again.  Karen is an accountant and is in the midst of tax season - so seeing her at all is a treat.  Jon and Rachel were also able to make it and we have missed having them closer. So, it was a treat to have them there.  And - drum roll... there's a new kid in town. Yes, Tim invited a date along for the dinner.  Her name is Barbara and she is very sweet!  We thought it was cute that they ordered the same meal!

After dinner we retreated to the Logan's for some ice cream cake and presents!  The cake was good - but the gifts were very mediocre.  I mean, check out this ugly blanket that he got (that's a joke grandma!).

Then we played a game of Apples to Apples which is a fun card game that is good for large numbers of people.

Thanks to Auntie for her excellent, as always, organizational skills along with being our official photographer for the event (explaining why you don't see her in any of the pictures!).

We love you Tim!  I hope we do another 40 or so of these!

Half way decent picture

I had such good intentions when I got my new camera last year. I was realizing lately that I have spent virtually no time taking pictures and enjoying this hobby. There are many reasons. Busy-ness. Distractions. Or just having too much fun.

In any event - I was telling Julie just recently that I hadn't taken a picture I really liked for quite some time. But.. I did find this one which might just change my mind. The subjects? A very content Team Love You (Jon and Rachel). Love the peeps. Love the pose. And love the result.

It's My Birthday

Just to show you just how out of control the Team Henderson schedule can be some days - we planned a family dinner for my birthday last Sunday night. Yep, the same night that Hannah and Maggie were on their quest, a few hours after we picked our Christmas tree and 2 hours after I tried to kill myself ;)















I got to pick the restaurant! Yay! So, we went to Maggiano's which is a wonderful Italian restaurant located at Santana Row. I love their food (their Medallions of Beef are amazing!) and it's a very festive place to eat and enjoy a celebration. Thank you Auntie for documenting the event and sharing your pictures with us. You did great.





























We selected a family style menu - which provided for a variety of delightful dishes in massive quantities. You definitely are unable to starve if you eat at Maggiano's.

Here's us as we just got started. I think that's a pretty good smile for someone that is having difficulty sitting upright ;)















Auntie and Karen raised a glass!















Here's Julie and Tim enjoying the appetizers.















The whole meal was sensational - but their cheese cake is to die for! We took on piece out and passed it around. However, we had them bag up our desserts because Rachel had already taken care of that!! Dessert was awaiting us as we returned home.















When we got there - here's what we found. Maggie and Hannah (and Indy) were in recovery mode from their walk. Don't they look comfy!















Here's my beloved "adopted daughter" :) Rachel. Hey, you make me a cake like Rachel did and you'll be beloved too ;) That is one spectacular cake that you can read about on her blog.















Here's the crew - except Auntie who was taking the photo - thanks Auntie!















And - we even had a guest appearance during the present opening of the card that Joel and Carissa sent me along with their gift! Apparently, they're reminding me of a little navigation 'issue' that occurred while we were up there visiting! We missed them not being there... but many thanks to everyone who came and made this a really wonderful celebration. I love you all!

Worth the Walk

I've been bugging Rachel to make me one of her inspired thin crust pizzas for awhile now. She offered to make me one if we came up to eat at her place. That was an offer I didn't want to refuse! So, last Friday I made the trip to get my pizza. The one interesting twist was that I decided to get to her place on foot. I live in Santa Clara. Jon and Rachel live in San Francisco. As it turns out - that's quite a walk.

How far? Well, here's my pedometer readings at the end of the trip. Including potty breaks and a couple minor navigation goof ups it turns out it's right about 44 miles while burning almost 6000 calories.











In steps.. its almost 93,000!












As it turns out, however, it's actually a very straightforward walk. You can get from Santa Clara all the way to San Francisco by walking down historic El Camino Real (the King's Highway). Then you have to do a bit of jogging through the streets of San Francisco... and you're there.















Here are a few of the sights along the way. I didn't know that See's Candy are made in California - right on the El Camino. Sweet.












One town just short of San Francisco is called Colma. Colma is basically the graveyard for the bay area - as far as I could tell. There are many, many cemeteries you walk by as you traverse the city. It definitely puts things in perspective to pass by so many people that have walked the earth; had their time; and now are gone. It was a good time of reflection.















I also had the good fortune to walk right by Harding Park where they were playing the President's Cup this weekend (America won!). Here's the closest I got to the course.. the visitor entrance!















A few minutes after passing Harding Park - Rachel called and we figured out she was about a block behind me on her way home. So, I was able to quickly grab the camera from my backpack and snap this horrible picture of her waving to me from her car. But, it was inspirational to know that I was in her neck of the woods. Just a couple more miles and I would make it.















Finally, here's my favorite spot along the route: Rachel's home! I made it. It took me 12 hours and 45 minutes - give or take. A good pace. But I was soooo glad to stop ;D My feet were extremely sore - but other than that I held up pretty well.



















When Rachel saw me out front with my sign.. she let me in and started cooking!















Oh.. and so the big question.. was the pizza worth the walk? Ohhhhh you betcha! Rachel Rocks! Check this beauty out she made just for me. Yummmyyyyy!! However you have to get there.. driving, riding, walking or crawling.. definitely take her up on it if she invites you for dinner. It's that good!

We Interrupt this Blog for an Important Announcement

Short attention span readers: read every word of this post.

Last Sunday was 25th Joel's birthday. A quarter of a century! Now, mind you - Julie and I aren't old enough to have a 25 yr old. Nope. But, somehow it happened. We are pleased that Joel lives in Oregon and loves it up there... but not being able to be there with him and celebrate together definitely bums us out just a bit.

So, we were excited because Jon and Rachel had invited themselves over to our house earlier in the week to make us lunch on Sunday. How sweet, we thought. They definitely are very generous people and love to cook.. so we thought nothing of it. The Little Co-conspirators.

First off let me just say those two can cook! It was a very delightful feast - as far as I can remember. So, we're just minding our own business - pounding down some grub when they get up from the table and say 'hey, wait a second - there's something in the car that was delivered to our house that was for you two. why don't we go get it out of the car'. Hmmm.. still just stuffing my face with delightful tastes and not thinking too much of it.

When they returned they were carrying two gift bags. One for Julie and one for me. Hmmm.. what's up? Oh, and did I mention co-conspirator Jon is now running a camera and filming us opening the gifts. Yeah, okay - I do defense work - so I was all over that. Something was definitely up.

Well, Julie opens her bag and it is a framed picture that has a little picture in it that reads "Coming soon... to be filled May 8, 2010". At the bottom of the frame it reads "grandma and me". And for me? A t-shirt printed with "New Grandpas University - Freshman Class - 2010".

Hyperventilation. Shock. Hyperventilation. Confusion. Did I mention hyperventilation? Oh yeah. Cool.

Now.. it's pretty clear at this point that someone's got a bit of a bun in the oven. That's right... Berkeley might be rated just above Michigan as the best public university in the nation.. but I'm still relatively bright.. so I figured that one out - pronto! So - now of course we have Jon and Rachel making us lunch and then delivering these presents.... and we happen to have a married son who's made waves about starting a fam. So - EXACTLY what is up?

Julie's sitting next to me asking Rachel... "you?" "you?" "who?".. and the reality of the situation sets in. Joel and Carissa have set us up!

Joel and Carissa are expecting their first baby next May!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was so cool of them too.. because as soon as we heard.. of course we IMMEDIATELY called Joel. I had just talked with him like half an hour earlier at his home and I knew that Carissa was at work. So - I just expected to speak with him. However, they had set this whole lunch up and as soon as Joel finished talking with me he high-tailed it over to the hospital so that he could be with Carissa when the inevitable call came in. How great is that? So, we got to enjoy congratulating them and just sharing our joy, shock, amazement and every other imaginable emotion with them.

However... Joel and Carissa then put us into the dreaded 'cone of silence'. They hadn't yet told all the friends and family that they wanted too.. and they were simply having too much from notifying people in 'creative' ways... so we couldn't share this amazing news with you.

Every day I call Joel - 'is the cone of silence lifted"'. 'is the cone of silence lifted'. Well, it just was.. and now you all know the blessed news.

Congratulations to Team Henderson II (now three strong!!). We love you and are extremely excited for you. Of course we want to strangle you as well for shocking and confusing us last Sunday.. but we're letting that go :)

So.. now you know. I hope you'll take a moment to congratulate these two little kids of ours... that are about to have their own precious baby. Where did the time go?????
































** Interesting followup. When Joel calls to lift the cone of silence tonight.. he immediately follows up with.. 'and hey, where's the blog entry for my birthday???'. Well Joel - that's what you get when you tell me I'm a grandpa and then don't let me tell the world. So there :)