Fenech Pictures

The 2012 Flint Health & Wellness Expo is happening at the Genesee Valley Center in Center Court until 3pm.  Great vendors from all over Mid-Michigan are on hand doing various health screenings and much, much more!

Join Cars 108 and Chasse Ballroom & Latin Dance Studio for this great event, and you can even register to win some great prizes!

Fenech Pictures

After getting slammed with more than six inches of rain overnight, Genesee County is now trying to dry out even with more rain in the forecast.  As of 11am, I-75 is still closed near the I-69 interchange, and I-69 is closed in the Swartz Creek area.

I went out on the roads to see the flooding first hand, and Cars 108′s Ryan Reynolds sent some pictures that I will share with you as well.  Knollwood Apartments is being evacuated due to very high waters.  Check out the photos after the jump!

During our stay, we had the opportunity to visit the 9/11 Memorial.  It was a very emotional visit, and I will remember it always.

This week, the construction effort will hit a milestone.  For the first time since the Twin Towers were destroyed, the Empire State Building will no longer be the tallest building in New York.  One World Trade Center has made it to 100 floors, and upon it’s completion in December of this year, it will be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, and 3rd tallest in the world!

The memorial features two pools that are located exactly where the twin towers stood.  Standing between the pools, you can’t even hear the noise of the city. It was a very surreal and somber experience.

I thanked every police officer I saw at the memorial and thanked them for all they did on 9/11 and all they do now.  They were very receptive and enjoyed talking to us.  They truly are heroes.

One thing that caught my attention was the Survivor Tree, a tree that was badly damaged, but survived the collapse of the towers on 9/11.  It was nursed back to health and now stands tall in full bloom near the twin memorial pools.

Air traffic in and out of the city is always busy, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up as jets flew near the towers, just a few blocks away.

If you ever vacation in New York City, the 9/11 Memorial is a definite must-see.

Kelly Quinn

The 19th Annual Cars 108/McDonald’s Easter Egg Hunt was a great time for the entire family!  The children enjoyed story time from the Genesee District Library, and Zumbatomic from Chasse Ballroom & Latin Dance Studio, as well as face painting, bounce houses and more!

Check out the photo gallery after the jump!

Fenech Pictures

It was a difficult commute this morning for Mid-Michigan motorists.  Freezing rain caused slippery conditions as temperatures hovered around the freezing point.

While areas to our north were slammed with snow,  commuters were slamming their brakes on westbound I-69 for much of the morning.  An accident involving a semi-truck is still causing a hefty backup, and the freeway remains closed at Belsay Road in Burton.

Reports came in to Cars 108 Traffic Watch before 6:00 this morning, and drivers at some points throughout the morning were at a stand-still as far back as M-15 in Davison.

Just before 11:00am, I was at the site of the crash. Crews are still working on removing the truck to restore the traffic flow on I-69, but as of now traffic is still backed up to Irish Road. Keep it locked on Cars 108 for Traffic Watch updates regarding the road closure.

Imgur

This is such an awesome story.The wedding of your child is one of life’s most important events. Not just for them but for you as a parent as well. In a perfect world as a parent you clear your schedule and attend.

But what happens if one of the parents suddenly falls ill and is not able to witness the occasion or be in any of the photos? This is exactly what happened to newlyweds Brian and Laura Shoop.

Enter PhotoShop. Check out the heartwarming, very funny and creative photos after the jump.

Brian’s dad was diagnosed with a serious illness and was hospitalized, so he could not attend their wedding celebration. Because of creative photo editing Brian’s dad will forever be a part of the event.

WSOC-TV

I don’t think the folks at Kraft foods intended on this being a new flavor. A 10-year-old Mooresville, North Carolina boy made a disturbing discovery in his Capri Sun juice pack the other day.

His mom called Channel 9 after she said her son almost choked on a worm. I know the first call I would make after that discovery would be to the local television station.

The complete story and the Channel 9 photos after the jump.

Christina Stewart said her son began choking after taking a sip from the juice pack. Christina went on to say her son then pulled the worm out of his mouth. Stewart then called Kraft Foods, the parent company of Capri Sun and she was told someone would call her within 48 hours to learn more about her case.

Stewart is now waiting for the test results to come back to know for sure what the substance is. Take a look at the photo gallery below.

Fenech Pictures

I lived in Evansville, Indiana for five years back at the turn of the century, and drove home often to visit with friends and family.  I enjoyed the eight-hour drive, and found that there are several different ways to make the trip.

I became very fond of the stretch of I-75 that went through downtown Cincinnati.  I haven’t made that trip in a while, and this recent vacation gave me the opportunity to drive the stretch of 75 from Cincinnati to Florida for the first time.

I love to drive and my wife prefers not to, so we make a good team in the car.  She does tend to get a little car sick here and there, but not to the point where she gets physically sick.  With our kids however, it’s another story altogether.

As I mentioned in the start of this series of our family’s best and worst vacation ever, Ben and Parker both got sick in the car on the drive down, but that was when we were driving solo on our way to meet up with the rest of our group.  Barely an hour into the trip home, it was Hayli’s turn to get sick.  Three carloads of us left my uncle’s house on Spartan Ave and decided to caravan on the trip home, but we had to leave the pack and pull off the freeway to get her cleaned up.

To balance a little of the bad, we had some of the good as we passed my favorite car of all-time on the Interstate, a DeLorean  I thought to myself, “I wish we could travel 24 hours into the future when we’re already home!”  I wouldn’t have to stop every few hours to clean up puke, and I wouldn’t have to hear poor Parker whining about the sunburn he got on the beach on Sanibel Island.  Yet, we would have missed all the cool stuff I saw like that DeLorean, the beautiful scenery, and Hardee’s.  Yes, Hardee’s!  I thought they had all closed, but in fact they are thriving in the south.  I also had the chance to eat at Chick-fil-a!  It was one of my favorite places to eat when I lived in Indiana, but they are very hard to come by in these parts.

We finally met up with the group right around the Georgia state line.  After my sister’s boyfriend, Bill, got pulled over in Georgia on the way down, we all decided to take our time driving through on the way home.  The plan was to drive straight through to Flint, but around 4:30 in the morning, too many people were tired and we didn’t have enough drivers to operate the three vehicles.  We slept for a few hours after we made it just inside Kentucky.

Getting back on the road at 9:30 was rough, but I was able to keep going after that power nap.  The problem was my mom got really sick just after we got on the road, at which point my wife had to drive her car all the way home from Kentucky.  As we passed the water tower that boasts the southern dialect as it reads “Florence Y’all,” we made our approach into Cincinnati.  My wife hates bridges, but had to drive an unfamiliar vehicle over a good sized expanse between Kentucky and Ohio.

Luckily, my kids didn’t get sick at all on the second day of the drive home.  However, three hours after we got home, I ended up taking my turn in the sick club.  At this point everyone of the twelve that went with us except my brother and wife got sick.  Despite the unfortunate turns of fate like the weather, our ship hitting the pier, and everyone getting sick, we had a great time!  Honestly though, it was good to be home.  Unfortunately, my wife did end up getting sick and had to be home for three days this week to recover.

Driving over the causeway into total paradise!

Following the chaos on board our cruise ship, nothing like the horrible situation in Italy, we spent the last few days of our family vacation on Sanibel Island visiting my Uncle Joe.

He has a beautiful home with a lake in his backyard that is home to the amazing Florida wildlife, including alligators.

Despite the fact that we were still overcompensating our balance after being on the rough seas for days, we were really able to enjoy ourselves.  However, as I mentioned in my first blog about the vacation, this stop also had both its awesome and terrible moments.

For starters, after the sickness my boys experienced on the way to Florida and my daughter and several others from our group getting sick on the ship, it was my sister and niece’s turn to get sick during our stay at Uncle Joe’s.

The nice thing about Sanibel Island is that just about everything is locally owned.  I believe there are only three national chains on the island, including a Subway and a CVS.  Everything else is locally owned and operated, including an amazing restaurant called the Island Cow.  They serve everything from burgers and corned beef sandwiches to lobster and crab.  As awesome as the meal was, the wait was another bump in the road.

Apparently, the high winds that we experienced at sea also hit Sanibel.  A branch from a tree fell, but got lodged in a palm tree on the outside patio of the Island Cow.  My mom was sitting on a bench under that palm tree when an employee came to get a table.  He lifted the table over his head and walked under the palm tree, knocking the branch out of the tree causing it to fall on my mom’s head and shoulder.  He turned around and asked “You alright?”  Mom nodded her head obviously in pain, and this guy turned around and kept walking.  I was shocked that he didn’t even offer an apology.  The manager was disgusted and apologized profusely.

The next day, we took the kids to the beach.  After Hayli fell in the ocean in the Bahamas, I was worried that she wouldn’t go near the Gulf of Mexico.  Turns out, she loved it!  We hit another bump in the road when we found out that the sunscreen we used on the kids was totally useless.  SPF50?  I think not!  Needless to say, the sunburns kicked in that night.  Ben was red, but not really complaining about it.  Hayli has skin like me and ended up with a great tan.  Parker and my wife, Erika, looked like a couple of lobsters.  This should be a fun drive home!

Later that night, my sister’s boyfriend and my good friend, Bill, cooked up an amazing dinner.  I knew Bill was a professional chef, but I have never had a more exquisite meal in my life.  Sadly, my sister was still under the weather and unable to join us.

The next morning before we got on the road, my uncle took the kids to the toy store and treated them to a fun souvenir.  Then we packed up and got on the road for what should have been a 19 to 20 hour drive back.  In my next blog, I’ll tell you how to add 10 hours to that!

Fenech Pictures

Following the morning when our cruise liner slammed into the Nassau pier, my family decided to get off the ship and explore Nassau.  We took a ferry boat to Paradise Island and did some sight-seeing.

We looked around inside the Atlas resort, an amazing feat of architectural design.  It features what looks like an enormous walkway between the two towers.  We learned that it’s actually a very expensive suite that has been leased out by celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Stevie Wonder.

As much as I wanted to jump into the huge ocean waves, the air temperature was just barely in the 60s.  With the wind blowing as fast as it was, I didn’t want to freeze during the 30 trek back to my cabin on board the ship.

My daughter, Hayli, was mesmerized by the bright blue water and wanted to put her feet in the water.  Before I had a chance to warn her and my wife about how strong the waves were, you guessed it… Hayli fell into the ocean!  Listening to her cry the entire journey back to the ferry, on the ferry, and as we got on the ship, I felt completely helpless.  She was fine once we got her into dry clothes and she finally warmed up.

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this series, the vacation was great!  It was just filled with chaos and events that made it the best and worst vacation ever!  I will continue with details of our group’s spotty attendance at dinner throughout the cruise, and our stop in Sanibel to visit my uncle and his alligators.

Fenech Pictures

As I mentioned yesterday, our family vacation was loaded with fun, but we also dealt with some chaos.

On the second morning of our cruise, the ship was scheduled to dock in Nassau at 6:30am.  Due to extremely high winds, the crew was unable to complete this task until closer to 8:30am.

As the ship was in the process of docking something went horribly wrong.

Keep in mind that this was the ship’s second cruise following a complete renovation.  There’s nothing more enraging than scratching the paint and denting a new car.  This was basically what happened.

At 6:30am, myself and several other passengers on board woke to a loud crashing sound and found ourselves violently rocking back and forth.

Fenech Pictures

Apparently, as we were churning in the 70 MPH winds, the line at the back of the ship (pictured above) snapped.  The back end floated across and slammed into the other side of the pier causing extensive damage to the Nassau port as well as our cruise liner.

Fenech Pictures

Above you can see what the cleats at the Nassau pier are supposed to look like.  Below, check out a few pictures of the damage our ship did when we collided with the pier.

Typically, cruise liners can dock completely unassisted.  They can maneuver forward, backward and even sideways to properly line itself up.  After our disastrous docking attempt, tugboats were called in to assist us and our sister ship as it docked just hours later.  The winds were so bad that another cruise liner got stuck on a sand bar trying to dock.  The tugboats had to push it off the sandbar to allow it to finally dock after a long and tedious three hour struggle.

Fenech Pictures

This was just the beginning of our second full day on the cruise.  Because not one, but twelve Fenechs were on board for this family vacation, you can be sure that much more craziness is on the way!

Fenech Pictures

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  That was truly the case during my family’s recent vacation.

It started on Friday, December 30th as we loaded up the car and started to make our way south.  The next ten days provided experiences and memories we will not soon forget.

There were so many fun and chaotic things that happened, I’ll have to share them with you over the next few days.

Obviously, traveling with three kids on a trip in the car that totaled just over 3000 miles can take it’s toll.  My oldest and youngest kids, Ben and Parker, got sick several times on the way down.  We met up with some of our family members just south of Atlanta before we continued to Cape Canaveral.  We spent New Year’s Eve in a hotel in Cocoa Beach, then woke up to board our cruise ship on New Year’s Day.

This was my first cruise, and I was blown away by the size of the ship.  We had the full load of 2,052 passengers, and 920 crew members.  The first full day was absolutely amazing, with temperatures in the 80s and lots of sunshine.  Our first stop was Freeport, but we were only there for the day.  My wife and I decided to stay on the ship and take it all in.

In the days ahead, I will share more of the fun and chaos from our vacation, including when our ship slammed into the pier in Nassau due to high winds, our visit to my uncle’s house on Sanibel Island, and the long grueling drive back to Flint!

Molly, Elissa, Tim, Jenny, Kelly

A group of the office employees decided to get together and wear an ugly Christmas sweater for the last day of work before the holiday break. Needless to say they are pretty awful — especially mine — I took the cake, which one? I’m happen to be the only guy in the group.

It’s all in fun and for the spirit of the holidays. Take a look at the awesomely bad Christmas photos!

A Night Out Limosine

The Cars Classic Lunch gave away a fantastic prize pack this afternoon. It included a pair of ticvkets to the Whiting to see “Mid-Town Men”, Limousine service to the show from “A Night Out Limousine” in Clio, dinner for two at Cranberries Cafe in Goodrich, some pre-show primping at “Shear Madness Salon” in Goodrich, and pre-show jewelry from “D.L. Bonner Jewelry” in Goodrich. Congratulations to Carol Patillo of Flushing on winning this fantastic package!

As I wrap up my vacation blogging, I saved the best for last. Michigan is home to so many cool places, festivals and landmarks. But, in my opinion, what tops the list is the majestic Mackinac Bridge.

Typically on family vacations, my wife handles the picture taking.  In her absence, I took on the task, and apparently overdid it.  My son, Ben, asked why I needed so many pictures of “Big Mac.”  I didn’t really have an answer at the time, but now I realize it is so I can share them with you.  Enjoy!

photo by joey ruiter

His name is Joey Ruiter, he’s from Grand Rapids and the bike is called ‘Moto Undone’. The motorcycle is totally electric, powered by a 1000w, 48v electric motor.

My question is, why would you want a motorcycle that can’t be seen? Read more and check out the photos after the jump.

The ‘Moto Undone’ tops out at 30 miles an hour with a range of 90 miles. It’s encased in a metal box that gives the impression the rider is floating on the road.

When viewed at the correct angle, the effect is to render the bike almost invisible and silent.

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The bike is a a street legal moped in Michigan and it doesn’t even need a dashboard. Users download their gauges on a smart phone app.

There aren’t any plans for production at this time, but the bike will be on display at the Grand Rapids Art Museum until October 9th.

Take a look at the photo gallery below.

Courtesy of Erin Bishop

We’ve been out this week during Back to the Bricks for the rolling cruises and the million dollar motorway party at Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy. There have been some really cool cars to look at so we wanted to highlight a few of our favorite ones. Hopefully you’ve had a chance to take advantage of this great event.

photo by Stu Allen

SAGE has launched the “Bike It, Walk It, Bus It” campaign to get more people to try to make active transportation part of their routine. Active transportation has many benefits. You can save money on the cost of gasoline and car maintenance, reach your fitness goals and reduce your cabon footprint. “Communities that have infrastructure and a culture that supports active transportation are vibrant places where people want to live, work and play” according to Lauren Holaly of the Crim Fitness Foundation. SAGE is encouraging participation by offering montly prizes for people who keep track of their mileage. visit www.bikewalkbus.org to be eligible to win.

As someone who uses active transportation on a regular basis, I win every time I go somewhere under my own power. You can too!

I ran my first Dances With Dirt in 2000, when I did my first 50k, and have been back many times for more. You run through everything imaginable. Briars, brambles, weeds, rivers, swamps, poison ivy, a lake, and up and down more hills than you can count. When you finish a Dances With Dirt event, you know you have done something.

Each section of the course has a colorful name like “This Sucks”, “The Stupid Lake”, “Styx The River of Death”, “Vertigo” and many others perhaps a little too colorful for this posting. In Dances With Dirt, you don’t just cross rivers, you run upstream (up a creek without a paddle?). You run through a lake for nearly half a mile, which comes conveniently after a mud pit that might just be up to your eyeballs. The DWD website is very entertaining reading. It opens with “Welcome to the dark side of running. Weak, wimpy treadmill running pansies who are afraid to get dirt in their shorts need not apply.” Due to the popularity of DWD, they have expanded to places like Gnaw Bone, Indiana (there really is a Gnaw Bone, Indiana), Devil’s Lake, Wisconsin and Green Swamp (Dade City) Florida. The race t-shirt given to participants features part of the waiver that each must sign (see photo).

If you are really up for a challenge, you should experience Dances With Dirt. It will leave you muddy, bloody, worn out and probably suffering from some kind of rash. Bee stings, snake bites, scrapes and contusions are all possible and don’t cost extra. Who wouldn’t want to pay good money for all that?

Erin Bishop

Saturday, Genesee County Parks attempted to break the world record for the largest Zumba class. The event was held at Bluebell Beach and they needed just over 1,200 people for the attempt. It was a great turnout, but unfortunately they didn’t beat the record. 

It was a perfect day for Zumba outside and the group danced for an hour, which was one of the requirements for Guiness. If you weren’t moving, people would come around and snap your wristband, which meant you had to leave the area. Luckily, everyone kept moving and no one had to leave.

Roughly 400 people showed up for the attempt so they still had a great turnout. Everyone at the Genesee County Parks were happy about the event and pleased that so many people showed up to try to break the record. There’s always a chance to win next year.