Skydiving

The entire drive up to Cushing Regional Airport, about an hour away from Edmond, OK, we were rained on. There were several times that we looked at each other, not saying the obvious, "Let's just turn around and not waste the gas!" But when we had called several times this morning to JUST MAKE SURE they were jumping today, they assured us they were!
And they were in a race against the clouds! Within about 10 minutes of arriving, Ryan had filled out the paperwork, gotten trained, suited up, and was waiting for the plane to return from their previous flight.

Brenna took this picture of us! Not to shabby...picture, of course!

The rain had stopped, and there was sunshine peeking through the clouds.

He couldn't wait to go! The plane was teeny tiny! There was enough room for him, his tandem instructor, and the camera guy. The flight up to 10,000 feet was about 15 minutes. Then Ryan and Scott (his tandem buddy) shuffled on their knees to the door, stuck his foot out on the ledge, rocked back and forth a couple times, then...

Here are the kids anxiously awaiting his safe arrival!

Brenna documented every moment in her notebook. Here is Ryan with an open parachutte!

Does he look in awe?

They had told him to cross his arms across his chest, until they were out in the freefall.

Bracing for the jump...

Once I could finally spot him, and his shute was open, I was SO relieved! I love that in the corner of this picture you can see the dark clouds that had rolled in.

The freefall was about 45 seconds, then the parachute ride down was about 6 minutes. He was able to do some of the steering, which included a quick cork screw!

Here is his safe landing! Hooray!

I felt like I was in Armageddon and I should run towards him, with Aerosmith playing in the background, and smother him with kisses. I was a little more reserved!

Cannon thought it was pretty cool seeing his "Daddy up in the air! He's in the sky!"

The kids had a chance to swing in the practice shutes in the warehouse.

What a great adventure to share with your entire family! Skydiving was one of Ryan's "to do's" on his Life List. Since the rest of them included the World Cup (pretty much) or serving another mission, skydiving seemed like the perfect pick for him to accomplish for his 30th birthday! We love you babe!