I'm like a bird!!!!!

WARNING:  This post contains a bajillion pictures because.. umm, I jumped out of a freakin' plane!!!


So I woke up bright and early Saturday morning and prepared to jump out of a plane. That's normal right?

I'll miss you too, Lola.

Anywho. Off we went. I met up with my brother and Cindel... AKA the sky divers!

We had a great support system/fan club too!

It consisted of siblings, parents, aunts & uncles, and significant others who were too big-a weenies to jump out of a plane themselves loved us!

We watched a super short "training" video that basically said if we died it wasn't their fault, and then apparently we were 100% prepared to jump!

Then we waited. In the 100 degree heat. For hours. It was super pleasant outside.

one of the instructors had a bird... I wonder if the bird goes sky diving too?

Seriously, we waited outside for hours. I lost track of the time because I didn't have my phone with me, but it seemed like forever.... and it was pretty miserable out there.

Finally, I met Kevin... AKA my new best friend... considering he had my life in his hands!

He called me over to get suited up, so I thought that meant it was almost our turn... turns out he looked at the wrong board and we still had 4 more groups ahead of us! :( So then not only did I have to wait some more, I had to wait some more with a tandem skydiving contraption on. So, that was dandy.

I felt like I walked around in that bulky thing forEVER while my brother pranced around shirtless... oh to be a boy and be able to take your shirt off when it's a million degrees outside.

They had a pack specifically for my B! Too bad he wasn't jumping!

Finally, Eric got suited up and Cindel was ready and it was almost time to board the plane!!!!

That's when the nerves kicked in!!!

So pretty much... then you're on the plane and there's only one way off. At least without looking like a loser. And then you're like Holy $H!+ I'm about to jump off this damn plane. WTF was I thinking?!?! (and like, I don't even really normally say those kinds of words, but jumping out of a plane will do that to a girl)

I kept asking Kevin if we were connected and if he was SURE we were connected -- because they don't even connect you together until you're ON the plane! That kind of freaked me out... no time for double-checking or anything...seriously?! -- and he said Yeah, I feel pretty emotionally connected.. and I said KEVIN! That will not land me safely on the ground!! And then this happened:

We did 2 flips in the air right when jumped! So crazy!!!! I couldn't tell what was up and what was down!

I think Kevin is crossing his fingers that our parachute opens!!

Free-falling through the air at 120mph for close to a minute.. I don't even know how to describe it. My brother and I were talking about it afterwards, and we decided you just can't compare it to anything. I mean, when else have you fallen for that long... and that fast? It's amazing.

And then the parachute opens.

Which brings a huge sense of relief... because then you know you're gonna make it back down. (well, you'd make it back down even if the parachute didn't open, but at least now you know you'll make it back down without going splat..) Everything slows down and you sit upright and just enjoy the view. It's calming and peaceful. But totally weird at the same time because you're just floating through the air... I held on real tight for a minute because it kind of freaked me out until I realized I wasn't really sitting in anything so holding on wasn't gonna do me much good if Kevin dropped me or something. So then I flapped my arms like a bird because I've always wished I could fly :)

We landed safely on the ground and I thanked Kevin for bringing me back down to Earth in one piece.

My hair also looked really fantastic.


And that was that... WE DID IT!!!!! Totally amazing and incredible... definitely recommend it!!!!

When are we going again?!

See all sky diving pictures here :)