Weekly Update for 8/2/09
The weekends out at Fly Free Skydiving just seem to get better and
better! Every Monday as we turn in for the night we are finding
ourselves reflecting on a great weekend with great friends and awesome
skydives in amazement at how lucky we are to be living the dream.
Although the occasional weather hold (did I say occasional? I obviously
meant weekly!) may be frustrating at times, the fact that we continue
to be surrounded by some of the best skydivers, ground dwellers and
pilots around has made the down time still feel like a good time. We
realize that the DZ is not just the jumps, but the comradery on the
ground as well, and we couldn’t be more thankful for those who continue
to be a part of our family and make us what we are!
Saturday morning started with surprisingly beautiful skies! Not wanting
to waste them we had 5 tandems there at 8am ready to take the plunge.
We managed to get 2 tandems in the air before Mother Nature caught on to
us and brought in the clouds and thunder! Eric and Mary Ann had a great
time and so did we!
The skies didn’t leak for too long but once the storms moved through
about 4pm the uppers were moving pretty darn quick! A couple fun
jumpers were able to make some loads and manipulate the wind including
our long lost buddy Bob who came out and made his debut at Fly Free
Skydiving!
We ended Saturday with the now semi traditional swoop and chug! Mark,
Mike and Bob all set up for the event and as the sun was setting we were
all watching these three run around, get out of gear and enjoy a nice,
cold beverage. We have a new winner this weekend, Mike Toombs came in
with a record setting 13 second swoop and chug!!! Congrats Mike – that
will be a hard one to break – but try we will!
Sunday proved to be one of the best days at Fly Free Skydiving yet! Of
course, I’m slightly biased, but any day that starts of with a classroom
full of new AFF students and blue skies is going to be unforgettable!
We got the paperwork filled out and Mike started the First Jump Course
and then it was on to the tandems!
Cathy came out to celebrate her very special 50th birthday with us!!
With a ton of family out to watch including a very nervous 10 year old
daughter, we really had a blast being a part of her celebration. We
also welcomed Jenny, Amy and Kate to the blue skies above Festus. GIRLS
ROCK!!!
Friends from around the state continue to roll into the DZ… Brian and
Julie came walking down the taxi way Sunday morning which was a very
pleasant surprise! It continues to amaze me how many great people we
have surrounding us – we hope we see you two more in the not so distant
future!
AFF!! I’m pretty sure I’m still a little pumped up from our group of
AFF students last weekend. We started early on with Blake out to make
his Cat C AFF dives – a successful skydive and a kick butt stand up
landing left one huge perma-smile of his face! You’re making your way
to being a skydiver Blake, you rock! Mike and Lutz did an excellent job
teaching the 1st jump course which lead to some very fun and successful
skydives! Steve, also out to celebrate his 50th birthday, took on the
skies first and set the tone for the day!
We welcomed Mike back to the sport after a 10 year hiatus and Brad took
the skies on for the first time! Jen, Ted’s better half, was also out
making her AFF premier and rocked her skydive. And who could forget,
our lovely Dana FINALLY got some air time! Congrats to everyone that
came and showed us what learning to skydive is all about, you guys
rocked this weekend and we look forward to having ya’ll back out for
some more air soon!
Another fabulous weekend leaving us all worn out and stoked! I wish we
could have 2 days a weekend of full blown skydiving fun, if anyone knows
how to get on Mother Nature’s good list please shoot me an email!! This
weekend is shaping up to be pretty nice – little windy on Saturday but
we may have 2 days of blue skies which would be great! Come join us for
some good times and great skydives….
Until next week!
XOXO,
Ash
