Black Friday

Happy Thanksgiving friends and family,

As Quincy from Little Einsteins would say, "I cannot beLIEVE it!" Well, if you ever questioned whether our adventures are without limits, here is proof of a resounding "YES!" Kendra willingly jumped out of a perfectly stable airplane and plunged 13,000 feet to the ground ending with a soft-slide landing


Before I get into the wonderful story of Kendra's skydiving I'll fill in the gaps from the past few days. Oma and Opa are adding their usual colorful presence to our home, which I am extremely greatly for. The twins are all about Oma and being away from her for even a few minutes results in sorrowful questions about where is Oma and when is she coming back? Opa is a close second in the pecking order. It's one thing to talk about excavators and tractors:


Opa takes it to a whole new level showing how to dig like one:


Thanksgiving day was a whirlwind. Oma and Kendra spent several hours cooking an excellent turkey dinner in the kitchen. Opa and I took care of the twins with outings to the park and outdoor fun.. I didn't get a picture of the spread on the table, but as you can see we ate on the back patio basking in the warm AZ sun.


Afterwards we made some family calls to catch up with other relatives on both sides of the family. Our lives are not filled with excitement from start to finish every day. We do have those mellow hang-out times. Easton and Layla were so bored at one point they started stacking the little rocks on top of the big one stuck in our front yard. No idea why they thought that was cool, but what else are they supposed to do in a front yard full of rocks and "desert landscaping"?


The boredom ceased when we drove all the way across town (half a mile) to Jason and April's house for dessert. Easton and Layla were dressed up in their special Thanksgiving day outfits. Easton took his jacket off in the same way Superman sheds his shirt to reveal the big "S". It's turkey boy!


Kendra helped the twins make their special shirts earlier in the week, which turned out to be a big hit. Here is my favorite Thanksgiving picture this year:


Skydiving Mommy:

On Wednesday night I told Kendra I made a reservation for her to go skydiving on Friday morning. No special occasion, just one of those weird quirks about me. I really like being spontaneous and I love surprising Kendra with gifts. You may be wondering where the hair-brained idea came from, right? A few weeks ago my coworker told me about the place where he goes skydiving. That made me think about how much fun it was when I did it at 21 years old. Then I thought about how Kendra hasn't had the experience. I also considered how she might not WANT to do it, but I took a chance and scheduled it anyway. The reason the timing worked out is because her parents are here and I wanted them to be included in the experience. Also, I'm on vacation and the weather is perfect.

I sprung the plan on her on our date night out during dinner. It took her a full day to commit to it. I made a point to tell her very clearly that she didn't have to do this and all I did was arrange the opportunity. If she chose not to, I wouldn't have been disappointed one bit or hold it against her. More than anything I wanted to make sure she knew it was her choice to commit, her choice to get on the plane, and her choice to jump out at 13,000 feet in the air.

This morning we loaded up the fan club and headed down south to Eloy, AZ. The twins were fully aware of what Mommy was going to do because we showed them the VHS tape of my skydive video. I just love seeing how excited they were for Kendra.


I felt the same way and it was obvious I was more excited than Kendra was, but only due to her understandable fear of the unknown. We took our infamous self-portrait by the official sign for SkyDive Arizona.


Her instructor was a very seasoned veteran who obviously knew what he was doing, which put my mind at ease. He gave her basic training of instructions for how to properly do the tandem jump. The suit was definitely necessary because it's cold at that altitude no matter where in the world you skydive.


As Kendra continued the lesson I took Easton over to see the plane. We approached cautiously and the pilot was cool enough to let us wander through the cargo area and even up to the cockpit. Easton was overjoyed by the chance to stand in the real-deal airplane.


My dad taught me that if something is worth doing then it is worth doing RIGHT! For this reason I chose the full skydiving package for Kendra complete with a T-shirt, certificate, video, and still pictures.

Kendra is scooting forward quickly as the rest of the jumpers are bailing out of the plane quickly.


She steps out onto the edge of the plane and without hesitation launches off the edge with the instructor.


In case you're interested to see her point of view as she stepped out of the plane into nothingness, here you go.


and then she had a picture perfect landing with a serious smile and adrenaline rush.


Isn't that amazing? I am so proud of her for going through with this. Skydiving is one of those "binary" things. You either have done it or you haven't. There is no half-way jumping or kind of doing it. This is the epitome of full commitment and overcoming fear.


She just jumped out of an airplane. Can you believe that just happened? Easton and Layla sure can. They couldn't wait to give her a hug and congratulate her on the accomplishment.


Layla said, "When I be older maybe I will have a parachute and jump out of a plane." I responded with, "you can do anything you want, princess!"

Kendra's parents were very understanding and tolerant of the whole idea. I give them credit for not squashing my idea from the first moment. I wouldn't have been surprised or upset one bit if they threw cold water on my plan, but luckily they were cautiously supportive. And their reward is a daughter safe and sound at home and memory to last a lifetime.


Then, 2 hours later we are back to normal life at home. Life is so funny that way. One minute I'm watching my wife plunge out of an airplane towards Earth at 122 mph and the next I'm cheering with the same level of excitement for a plastic dinosaur taking a bath in the water table.


In these moments I fully appreciate the adventures life has to offer and the simple things with the same level of enthusiasm. Both of these two extremes are important for me and I wouldn't miss either of them for the world.


If your idea of Black Firday "excitement" involved a toy store and a half-price coupon, don't fear... There's always next year!

P.S. Dear Oma and Opa, I secretly disabled your alarm clock so you'll miss your flight home and have to stay an extra few days. We'll see if my plan works.

See you soon.