Weekly Update for 9/7/09
With the long holiday weekend forecasted with lighting and thunder
and clouds out the yin-yang we were almost thinking we’d made a big
mistake not taking off for Couch Freaks with the rest of our friends and
family. As it turns out the weekend wasn’t a complete wash after all
and we ended up making some seriously sweet skydives!
Friday started early with Janet out to make her 50th birthday special!
With her husband nervously waiting on the ground Janet made her jump
with Mark and Mike on video. Sure to be a birthday to remember she
enjoyed every bit of it!
Friday afternoon we had one stoked bunch of guys out to make their first
skydivers. Celebrating not one but two birthday’s these guys were gung
ho and ready to go! They showed up at the DZ at about 4pm and in just a
matter of 3 hours Mark had all 5 of them in the air and back on the
ground. We also had the beautiful Ms. Colleen out for some fun,
getting out at the 5th floor so she could work on her canopy time, she
was hitting her target and perfecting her flare like the talented
sweetheart she is! You rock girl, I love watching you wave off and
deploy when you leave the plane by yourself on a hop and pop!
Friday was a nice reminder for us that the sun is starting to set
earlier in the night. The temperatures are getting cooler and the moon
is spending more time lighting up the sky. As the night moved into the
morning the skies went from pretty and clear to yucky and cloudy! The
rain started before our morning cups of coffee were poured and the day
didn’t change much from there. A great day to get stuff done Mark and
Mike took on the projects left at the DZ while I finally got a chance to
get us all moved in and unpacked at our new home in Festus! Although
it’s always nice to get stuff done, I know I speak for the gang when I
say I would have rather been skydiving!
Sunday started off just barely better then Saturday but we were hopeful
it would pass!!! With low laying clouds and fog (under 1000ft!) the
opportunity for jumping was starting to look like meek. The winds
upstairs were so calm it was perfect for jumping, except the fact that
since the wind wasn’t blowing the clouds were staying put! Mark
channeled his inner farm boy and mowed the landing area with the tractor
and I took on the task of giving Ariel (our stupendous ride to
altitude!) a well deserved bath! Jen, who has about 75 jumps and was
visiting from the east coast, made her way out about mid afternoon with
Matt by her side. After a refresher for Jen and IAD training for Matt,
Mark and I decided to see just how high the cloud deck was and made a
hop and pop. With the clouds over the DZ scattered at about 4500 we
were able to get Jen and Matt up in the air before we got closed back
in! We are so glad you two could make it out to visit and look forward
to seeing you back at the DZ!
With a total of 2 loads to 5000 ft flown on Saturday and Sunday we were
sure happy to see a great forecast for Monday!! Kristy and Sam showed
up at the DZ right about the time we pulled up the uppers to see that
they were once again moving at a ferocious ‘calm’ pace and thus NOT
pushing out our morning clouds and fog! However, it appears that Mother
Nature does have a soft side, and by about noon the clouds were parting
and we were ready to jump!! Sam completed his next level IAD jump and
Kristy danced in the sky with Mark on her very first skydive!
Monday was also an exciting day for the FFS family, we were celebrating
Blake’s birthday! Sabrina, Blake’s better half, got all kinds of
goodies and we fired up the grill and decorated the hanger just to show
our love! Happy Birthday again Blake, we are so happy to have you as a
part of our family and all things considered, you’re pretty cool …… for
a cop 
Mike Dutton must have also been feeling the need for some airtime after
the 2 days in a row of nasty clouds and rain. As soon as the clouds
began to part he was out in his Banana celebrating the clearing skies!
We are pretty sure that the flyby was in part to thank for the clouds
drifting away so quickly – thanks Mike for all of your help!!!
We had a full crew out including Kyle and Brad, two tandems who had been
rescheduled for jumping due to weather 4 times! It was great to finally
get these two in the air, and I’m sure they would agree it was worth the
wait! Scott was also out to grace us with his presence; it’s always
nice to see you out to jump with us Scott, thanks for sharing the ride
(half way) to altitude! I may just take you up on the offer for some
sit fly time, bring it on!
Kyle and Victor made my day by making their Category A skydives with
Lutz and myself! Two more air hungry skydivers in the making – these
two gentlemen will surely be seen out at the DZ in the future. You two
rocked your skydives! WOO HOO!
The weekend update is somewhat a misleading title now that we jump
pretty much all 7 days of the week! This Wednesday Mark welcomed
Ricardo, visiting from South America, by taking him on his first
skydive!
All in all the 4 day weekend had a good amount of bad weather but
regardless some pretty awesome skydivers were made. Everyone ended up
having a great time, as can be seen in the smiles on their faces, and
yet again the weekend is quickly approaching so we can pack and repeat!
See you at the DZ!
Until next week…
XOXO
Ashley
