Since I moved off to college, my sister, Renee, and I have had a yearly tradition of spending her birthday weekend together. Each year, I would meet our parents halfway and pick Renee up (along with a little "fun-money" from Momma!) and head back to Belton to celebrate. In celebrating, we always tried to out-do the last year's fun and crazy adventures. The first year, we were brave little daredevils and lit candles on her birthday cake in my dorm room! And it only escalated from there...
We've been rock climbing,
SKYDIVING!!
That's right! This year, Renee and I topped every other year and we jumped out of a plane! This is something I've wanted to do for a long time, but never had the opportunity. Renee started asking me my freshman year of college if I would take her one day, so we decided if she saved her money I would take her for her 18th birthday. So that's just what we did! Eli, Momma, and Daddy came to watch as we risked our lives!
SO excited to go skydiving!
After weather delays for 4 hours, we finally got to suit up!
Heading to our plane! We each decided it was worth it to pay for a photographer to take pictures in the air. And it was SO worth it! That's my photographer in the orange and black and my tandem instructor in front of me. Renee's tandem instructor is next to her and her photographer/videographer is way up front in red pants. They were all really great and super nice. And it was very comforting to find out that our instructors have made over 13,000 jumps each!
Here we go!! We flew up to 12,000 feet in the air (yes, TWO MILES high!) and got ready to jump. This was the point when our instructors started strapping us in and there was no backing out!
Here is my photographer, oh just standing outside of the plane. No big deal.
three... two... one... JUMP!
If you can't see, you should click on the series below to enlarge it! Pretty exciting!
When we jumped out of the plane, a small balloon went up to balance us out and keep us upright. Then we had a 60 second freefall! This part was so crazy and exhilarating! My photographer was only a few feet away and stayed with us until my instructor, Sam, let out our chute. It is so hard to smile up in the air when you're falling that fast! But then again, it's hard not to smile when you do something like this!!
Now it's Renee's turn!! (She made me go first "just to make sure it works" Haha!)
And here's Renee's jump series:
After our parachute went up, we got to relax and enjoy everything around us. It was actually very quiet and peaceful as we took our time to get to the ground. Renee got to "steer" her parachute and even do a few 360s in the air! After about 10 minutes, the ground started to look familiar again and we could see everyone waiting for our return.
Prepare for landing!
I am so blessed to have such a wonderful sister! It wasn't even my birthday, but it was the best birthday ever! These birthday weekends will always hold a special place in my heart. Not because we were crazy went skydiving, but because I got to share them with Renee!
I love you so much, Little One! Happy 18th Birthday!! Love always, your big sis.
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