Weekly Update for 9/27/09
There is one good side to cooler temperatures – our sweet ride to
altitude climbs even faster then before! Not wanting to take anything
for granted we took full advantage of the awesome climb rate and made as
many trips to altitude as we could fit in this weekend! We still had our
usual weather holds here and there, but all in all we had a pretty
jammed packed exciting weekend at the drop zone!
We started the weekend early Friday with Mark, Mike and Blake taking ont
he blue skies. William was out to make his next set of IAD jumps (which
he NAILED) and proud dad Paul was along to witness the event! Ian,
Terrill and Janeen’s son, also took on the sky for the 2nd time,
enjoying a breath taking sunset at 10,000 ft.
Friday didn’t stop there however – it was a special day for a special
someone – Friday was our wonderful pilot Terrill’s birthday - and you
know what that means – we were absolutely obligated to throw him out of
the airplane!!! One of our other pilots, Ed, came along to fly so our
beloved Ariel would have a safe ride back to the ground, and Mark was
there to make sure that Terrill had the ride he had long been waiting
for. Mike took video while I joined in just to get a look at the face of
the guy who always has to watch us jump and never gets to really fly! He
had a blast as could be expected and I fear we are going to have to
watch him in the future. Remember Terrill, if you are PIC you stay IN
the plane until it lands on the ground!
Saturday morning was looking to be a bit iffy weather wise but being the
optimistic skydivers we are, we had our tandems out bright and early and
we were bound and determined to make the most of it. We started the day
off with 3 generations out to celebrate Nate’s 21st birthday in style!
Nate was the 1st to take on the air and did a fabulous job! Next inline
was Jay, Nate’s Dad, who braved the sky and loved every minute of it!
Not to be shown up by her son and her grandson, Betty showed the family
she still knows how to have a good time! This woman was as fearless as
they come and was truly a blast to have out at the DZ. If I had to guess
I’d say Betty will skydive again before long!
After watching the rest of the family skydive, mom Paula just couldn’t
sit on the ground and not know what the huge smiles on her son, father
and mother-in-laws faces were all about! About the time we got Paula
suited up and ready to go, the storms started moving in… Not to let go
of hope we sent them on to get some lunch and asked them to come back in
an hour to see if the storm would pass… As luck would have it, not only
did the storm pass us by, but the blue skies brought with them an old
friend we were so so so happy to see – Terry Wendt! Terry was happy to
take on tandem master and give Mark a shot at his beloved video slot!
These two in action were sure a fun sight! Mike even took the
opportunity to tag along and watch Paula finally get to make her skydive
and get some great shots of Mark and Terry in action!
The good times didn’t stop there… Amanda and Chad were happy to enjoy
the break in the storm and both enjoyed their skydives! And closing out
the evening Jay and Chris made their first of many skydives with Mark
and Terry at the toggles! Janeen showed up right about the time the last
load was going up with some homemade chili and cornbread and feed all of
us hungry little skydivers – thank you Janeen for everything, it was
AMAZING chili and we’ll gladly let you cook for us any day of the week!!
Sunday was looking like a beautiful day to skydive, blue skies and cool
temperatures, but the wind forecast had everyone a little bit baffled.
Without being able to tell exactly when the city of Festus was going to
turn into a giant wind tunnel, we started jumping early on and kept
going at a feverish pace hoping to get all the skydives in we could! It
worked in our favor until about 4 in the afternoon – plenty of time to
get in some sweet air time!
Erin, Meggan and Mike’s brave sister-in-law, started the day off in the
right direction enjoying every heart pounding second of her skydive!
This bubbly woman was so much fun to have out at the DZ and from the
moment she landed she was busily working on talking her husband into
trying it! We can’t wait until you guys come back out!
Kyle was back out this weekend to keep moving forward on his AFF. Kyle
rocked his category A skydive and is going to be knocking out the rest
of the jumps in no time! With Kyle under the Navigator 280, we had
plenty of time to hang out in the landing area waiting for him to SLOWLY
float back down to Earth. What better to do then watch one of the locals
break in his non-street legal ride driving his car in circles around the
airport! Alas, Kyle did make it back down, and had a great landing to
top off his sweet skydive!
Kim and uncle Bryan, who got to make skydives last weekend, were back
out this weekend with dad Kerry to take his turn. Well – seeing as they
were all at the airport there was no reason for just Kerry to jump – so
Kim and Bryan gladly took on the sky for the 2nd weekend in a row!
Kerry, who makes the ride to altitude that much more enjoyable with his
wonderful singing, was a ton of fun to watch! This is one great family
and something tells me it won’t be long before we are seeing them again!
Perhaps one of the most exciting parts of the weekend was the nervous
faces of Scott and Brandon who went along with Dave for his recurrence
tandem training! Never having made a tandem skydive before both Brandon
and Scott were unsure what to expect but had a great time relaxing and
enjoying the ride. Dave did a great job as well, and we are so proud to
welcome Dave to our Fly Free Skydiving tandem staff! Congrats Dave on
getting your tandem rating… AGAIN! HIM! HIM!
About the time we were passing out congrats to Dave in the hanger the
winds were starting to get pretty intense on the ground. We called it a
day before the sun had a chance to set and reflected on the awesome
weekend we left behind. There has also been a lot of talk around the
hanger about the upcoming Halloween and it’s unanimous that a party is a
must have! We will be making some more specific plans in the coming week
but want to get the word out to all those that are interested that you
all have an open invite to the FFS Halloween party Saturday, October
31st. So far the Kula Klan will be out for down home fixins, a costume
party with prizes for the best costume and a special Halloween themed
swoop and chug is in the works!
Any who – another weekend passes and another one is quickly approaching!
We hope to see you out to play!
Until Next Week…
XOXO
Ashes
