Thursday, June 12, 2008

Our 15th Anniversary

J and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary this week. I was out of town in Orlando at a Microsoft conference so I surprised J by flying her up to Orlando for the evening.

I took her to Seasons 52 for dinner and then to SkyVenture Orlando, an Indoor skydiving experience!

It was a complete blast! I DEFINITELY recommend it to anyone looking for a thrill like nothing else. I've always wanted to skydive, but wouldn't because of J and the kids (can't have them going through life without me!) so indoor skydiving is just right for me!

You first go to a classroom and learn how to lay your body while in the air (125MPH air blowing upwards to keep you afloat). Then you suit up: A diving suit, goggles, earplugs and a helmet are required.

Here's a picture of J and I ready for the challenge.



Each one of us got two 1-minute "skydives." this is the equivalent to 2 real skydives (which, according to our instructor, a real 10,000 foot skydive lasts about 50 seconds before you pull the chute). So J and I have "jumped" twice now!


You can see how well J did:




I was next:






Lastly, our instructor, Nick Scott-Tomlin (a very nice guy from South Africa), showed us how it's done (watch how easy he makes it look at watch how he lands at the end - AMAZING!). Nick has logged over 2000 HOURS in the wind tunnel, which translates to over 120,000 jumps!


I loved it so much, I showed the folks from work the video and 8 of us went again the next day! It is VERY addicting. It is amazing how the human mind can figure out how to interact with nothing but AIR and make the body perform amazing stunts.

Needless to say, our anniversay was one we definitely won't forget. 15 down, and the next 15 will be even better!

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