Hannah Pictures

Hannah called asking to get some pictures from our trip to Michigan.  Well, how about I kill two birds with one stone?  I'll let you check out Hannah's trip.. and she can save the pictures to disk!  Sweet!

I've never seen her cross her eyes nearly this well before.  Bravo!

Here's Hannah and Trent enjoying dinner.

Hannah teaching little red to make funny faces when photographed.  And her boyfriend Eric giving Ryan a mouthful.

Hannah hanging with the Grandmas!

This is a photo you're not going to see everyday. Hannah taking orders and smiling about it.

The grandkids with Grandpa Bill and Linda!

Finally time for some jumping photos!  Oh, and yes, fans, Hannah still does a mean handstand!

Here's Hannah and Joel doing their baby belly picture.  Apparently, they taught their nephews a thing or two.  Even Trent's preggers!

Oh.. did we mention that Hannah's boyfriend came up from the University of Michigan to spend some time with us?  I mean Hannah?  Here they are before they started wiping each other out on the Jetski.

So far so good.. and then...  one of several wipe outs.

Here's Eric performing feats of strength with Trent.  First, showing Trent how to do clapping push-ups - with someone on your back!  Then being a human pull-up bar.  Eric was a good sport.

Here's Hannah and Eric with us at Craig's Cruisers enjoying some miniature golf and go carts!

Eric looks serious ;)

Hannah and Dad playing bumper cars ;)

Competitors on the racetrack... friends off the racetrack...

And finally, Hannah and Joel being serious as usual.

Thursday Tweets

Good afternoon!  Anyone got anything interesting going on? 

Tod:  falling in love with NyQuil before bedtime...

Tod:  late on getting blog entries up about vacation.. be patient.. they are coming..

Tod:  just about lost all the weight i gained in Michigan!  boy, do you folks know how to cook!

It's Your Birthday!

Happy Birthday Joel!  We were so glad to be with you in Michigan to be able to pre-celebrate your 26th birthday together!  It's been too many years since we have spent time with you on your big day.

You bring a unique sense of joy to all our family events!  Whether by land:

Sea:

or heir!  (okay... needed a play on words to make this work... get it heir.. like in this 5-generation picture)!!

We love you and miss you!  Have a great day with your beautiful wife and son.  Know that you are first among our thoughts today!

gpadre

My Wife is Hot

Doesn't this woman look fantastic in the maize and blue???

That's hot!!

Bill's Birthday Bash

Last Saturday we celebrated Bill's 70th birthday.  Bill was joined by family and friends from all over the place for the big day - including Team Henderson's full contingent.

The weather was cool and had been raining - but God chose to smile down on Bill with some sunshine just as his shindig got underway.  It was a lovely afternoon and evening.

Here's Bill getting a birthday kiss from his beautiful wife, Linda.  Linda was an amazing hostess for all the out of town guests throughout the weekend.  I think the head count got up to 16 Friday night.  Linda handled all the commotion like it was a normal occurrence.  She loves people and we love her.

Here's Linda's daughter Amy and her husband.

Bill is surrounded in Michigan by many life long friends.  Here's one of his best friends,  neighbor and golf partner Bruce Pike and his date Bea.  It was rewarding to see how many long term relationships Bill has maintained over the years and how many came out to celebrate the big day with him.

After folks started to leave we started a fire down by the lake and hung out. It was a cool evening and the fire felt good.

And what's a fire without Michigan pies?  Right?  I think this was a first for many of the Griffioens (Julie's sister Janice and family).  We were happy to introduce them to this yummy tradition.

 The Griffioens are familiar with fireworks, however, and we got to enjoy a bit of a display in honor of Bill (or perhaps just because the kids love to play with fire!).

I think Bill had a great day.  I was going to ask him... but he was fast asleep in his chair ;)

We love you Bill and were glad to share your special day with you.

Top Gear

The Michigan State Police annually evaluate cars from various automobile manufacturers for potential use by their police force.  One of the evaluation steps they take is to assess the 'pursuit' capabilities of the vehicles.  That essentially means driving fast - but under control!

They do the testing at Grattan Raceway - just 25 miles NE of Grand Rapids.

Carissa surprised Joel during our visit by arranging for Joel to 'ride along' during some of the testing.  Joel loves the show Top Gear - which features all sorts of high performance cars - and she wanted Joel to experience some speed! She has a relative, Doug Schutter, who part of the organization that does the testing.  He was kind enough to invite Joel and I to ride along with the troopers that conduct the tests - during their training runs. 

That's Doug in the driver's seat and Joel getting into his 5 point restraint system and helmet!

Then they headed out to the track for his first run.  Each 'run' was 8 laps.  The car Joel is in is a Dodge Charger.  In the police configuration it has about 370 horsepower.

It's impossible to fully share the experience of riding in the cars.  Essentially, the driver is attempting to go as fast as possible until they get to a turning radius.  Then, they jam on the brakes until the get to their turning speed.  They enter the turns low and spinning tires then power out of the turn at full throttle!  It's powerful, loud, fast and exhilarating.  Doug said that they will go through a set of tires and brakes in a single day on each vehicle.  In fact, the engine and brakes get so overheated during the run that they take a 'cool down lap' at the end of each run to cool the brakes from 900 degrees to 400.  Whoa!

Here's a picture of Joel and Dough powering through one corner.  Pretty tame looking.  Like I said - it's hard to capture the experience in pictures.  I would say that we were going about 115-120 mph on the main straight-away and as high as 60-70 mph through some of the turns.  It was blood-pressure raising.

Here I am happy to have lived through one of my runs.

Doug was a great sport with us.  Thank you Doug - and thanks to Carissa for her creativity in setting up this one-of-a-kind experience.  It was the most thrilling part of our trip!

Joanne and Steve

I liked these pictures of my sister and brother in law!

 A nice glam shot!

 Steve's 'Where's Waldo' impression.

Trent Pictures

My nephew Trent decided to cooperate with me and let me take some pictures out on the dock one day.  He's quite the model!

70!

Interesting timing.  We ended up having to attend the funeral of Bill's brother-in-law today;  the day before we all come together to celebrate Bill's 70th birthday (his actual birthday is later in the week).  It was God's own timing to have so much of the family together for these celebrations.

I'm grateful that Bill is healthy and, God-willing, should be with us for 30 more years.  But the juxtaposition of a funeral with a birthday reminds me to communicate my thankfulness, appreciation and love whenever and however I can.

Bill is the epitome of a father.  I am lucky to have his daughter as my wife, Bill as my father in law and the rest of his family as my extended family.  He has been a constant blessing throughout my life.  We have talked, worked, laughed, cried and played together for so many memory filled years - I can barely remember life before I knew him.

Throughout all of those years he has shown me how to be a man who loves the Lord,  loves his family,  loves his Church and loves his community. 

I don't want to use up all my good eulogy stories here!  ha!  But just know that my memories are filled with thoughts of you and you are loved beyond your wildest dreams by so many around you - including Team Henderson!

Happy 70th!! 

Michigan!

We made it!  Both to Michigan - and finally to a location with internet connection!  Don't get an iPhone if you live in Casnovia.

I've gotta be quick - we're having way too much fun to sit here and write too much.  But, thought you might enjoy some highlights.  And, first among the highlights is getting to see Ryan again!  Oh yeah.  And everyone else!  Hahaha.  Here's two of my favorite people together again.

Joel seems to be having a good time.  He was pretty happy when I took this picture.

Oh my.  Ryan has had quite an adventure so far.  He even got to get into a life jacket and take a ride with Mom on the pontoon boat.  I think he was a little confused by the life jacket.. and it was a little much for the little guy to be riding around with so much wind blowing in his face.  But, he did pretty good for his first ride.  And the lake was beautiful at sunset.

Grandma Elsie made the 'bloggin' again!  Way to go grandma.  We love you.. and it looks like you enjoyed the boat ride as well.

Loved this glamor shot.  She sure is game to play along.

Here's one of my very cool nephews, Troy.  He's gotten so much bigger and more mature in the last year.  And, he seems to love the jetski.

And here's a quintessential Joel picture.  He cracks me up - and I'm so glad he's here and has a chance to play.  We missed him last summer!  

I can't end this without a picture together with Ryan.  It's rewarding to be around family on vacation.  No place I'd rather be!  More when I'm able...