we jumped!

Yesterday afternoon, about the exact same time we said "I do" 11 years ago, we jumped out of an airplane. Yes, the 2 most ordinary, non adventurous, practical, responsible people on the planet jumped out of a freakin airplane. What?!?

Matt and I have always put skydiving on our lifelong bucket list. You know, that one where you just randomly say, "hmm..that would be fun some day." Like visiting Australia, going on a jungle safari in Africa or swimming with dolphins. But we never really thought we'd check it off our list. At least not in our mid 30s with 3 young kids at home. 

But, it has been a big year. Matt recently lost a lot of weight and has been working so hard at work, even getting a small promotion (which will hopefully lead to even more!). To celebrate I thought it would be fun to surprise him with a skydiving adventure. 

So, for a combo Father's Day/Anniversary/Birthday gift I excitedly booked 2 reservations for us to go skydiving on our 11th wedding anniversary. And then I got nervous. Ha! But, the surprise reveal wasn't for several weeks so I sort of forgot about it until I wrote him a little poem to reveal his gift on Father's Day. 

Both of us have been so busy with work, kids, end of the school year, birthday parties and sports that while we were excitedly nervous we, once again, sort of forgot it was coming. We didn't even really tell any friends or family, except Matt's parents 1 week ago to confirm they could babysit. 

But, yesterday we did it. And while I'm still processing how I feel about the whole experience, I'm really glad we did it. You only live once, we felt really safe and oh my gosh...we jumped out of a plane!!!

We gave the kids big hugs goodbye and went off to get some lunch. Look how happy we are!

A local food truck with authentic Al Pastor tacos were delicious! It's funny but more friends have commented about us eating tacos before we jumped than anything else. It was several hours before we actually jumped, we were hungry and we knew going on an empty stomach would be a recipe for disaster.

And then we arrived at the airfield. Still happy, still excited!

 We checked in, signed a million waivers and headed to the observation area to watch other skydivers coming down from above. We couldn't have chosen a more beautiful day! Not a cloud in the sky, 80+ degrees and absolutely perfect views of Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Baker in addition to all the local islands and even downtown Seattle. Incredible!

 We watched a short but informative safety video (which was SO helpful when I was actually jumping!) and then headed over to get our jumpsuits on. The little plane was going up and down all day taking skydivers to the correct elevation and then nosediving back to the ground for the next group. The instructors we had say on busy summer days they each do 15 jumps...crazy!

 It was fun and so interesting to watch the parachutes get reloaded into the backpacks. The instructors would get to the ground, disconnect the harness from their jumpsuits and drop off the parachute. Then a few guys would spend 20 minutes or so reloading them all back into the bags. Clearly they have an important job and methodically strung each and every parachute string into place before systematically folding it all back up.

 All the waiting made us a little nervous but our instructors were so nice and helpful, checking every harness strap over and over again. Then, we were off! We opted out of paying an extra $90 each for video and pictures up in the sky but instead chose to pay a little more to jump from a higher elevation. It meant we left the plane from 13,500 ft and had a freefall of 60 seconds instead of 30. Honestly at that height 60 seconds felt SO fast but I'm glad we did it. The first 10 seconds were terrifying and we just had to focus on breathing so having the extra time for our brains to turn back on and experience the moment was incredible.

 I can't even fully describe the experience. The plane ride was fun. I thought I'd get more nervous as we sat on the ground of this little plane, all straddled between each others legs but the views were amazing. Matt jumped first and as he and his instructor shifted their bodies to the edge of the plane I saw a brief look of absolute terror on his face. I mean, he's leaning halfway out the open door of an airplane, high up in the sky with his legs wrapped around the bottom of the plane about to just fall right out. I don't really blame him for being a little scared! Surprisingly that part didn't scare me. It was the first 10 seconds. We were spinning in circles and going SO FAST! 180 mph to be exact. I remember the safety video telling us to breath through our teeth so my brain just kept repeating, "teeth, teeth, teeth" and that helped. My instructor did a lot of hand motions to make sure I was okay and once the first, smaller parachute opened we slowed down to about 120 mph, making it easier to breath and take in the experience. That was where I fully realized what I was doing and just screamed out of joy, shock, relief, fear....a little of everything!
He then counted down by 3 and the main parachute opened. That was another strange feeling but once it was fully open we just began to float. My ears were popping quite a bit but otherwise I felt great and really safe all harnessed in. He pointed out all the beautiful mountains and islands surrounding us and then we looked over to see Matt and his instructor not too far away. They directed the parachutes towards each other so we could get closer, wave hi and blow a kiss. Realizing we were both floating down to the ground was probably my favorite moment. Then it was my turn to fly! My arms were out wide and I grabbed the parachute handles to turn from side to side. Honestly though, I didn't like that part. Those wide turns just made me feel nauseous so we chose to just float down slowly for a calmer ride. I tried to take it all in because it's not like you do this kind of thing every day! Finally, we prepped for landing and scooted in right next to Matt. Whoa.
Both of us just looked at each other with big eyes and said, "THAT WAS INTENSE!" Ha! My instructor told me to stand up so he could disconnect my harness cords but my legs were absolute jello. My shoes were completely untied from the force of the wind and my heart was pumping. It actually didn't slow down until probably 30 minutes after we landed on the ground.

 We got our certificates, thanked our instructors and just tried to catch our breath. The only thing I can relate it to is labor. That crazy feeling you have afterwards where your adrenaline is going so fast but you are oddly exhausted. Surprisingly, I'm not sore this morning like I thought I would be. The harness straps were so tight around our chests and legs I was certain I'd have a hard time walking today but the only thing bugging me is my ears. Those are still a little sore from the intense pressure change when we fell.
We went and got a cupcake to celebrate before heading home to hug our kids again.

 Matt and I are both unsure if we'd ever want to do it again. I mean, it was incredible and scary and exciting and so.not.us. but I'm really glad we did it. As we ate a late dinner after the kids went to bed we brainstormed our next adventure. Don't worry, something a bit less ambitious is probably on the agenda!