Joel Goes Skydiving

Joel's birthday was September 26th and I always have a hard time coming up with ideas of gifts for him. He's a big tech guy, and I am pretty clueless when it comes to that kind of stuff. Unless he specifically shows me something that he wants, I beg for ideas. This year I decided to surprise him with a skydiving experience. He had mentioned before that he would like to do it someday. There is a place in Vinton, not too far from where my parents, where you can go skydiving. I've heard from several people that they had a great experience going there. Joel was excited. Most of our October was filled, but we had a few open Sundays. I scheduled it for Joel, but the first Saturday they had to cancel because of the weather. We rescheduled it for one of the last Sundays in October, and the weather was gorgeous! He had to watch a few safety videos and his instructor showed him what to do and told him what to expect.

Joel getting on the gear.

They took Joel up in a plane and he jumped out tandem with his instructor at 13,500 feet! They were in freefall for 48 seconds and then pulled the cord for the parachute. It took them a few minutes to come down to the ground once they had the parachute open. The boys, my parents, and I were all there to watch.

There he is!

Almost on the ground.

Landing...

Ayden was excited to watch and gave Joel a big hug when he was done.

Joel had a great experience except for his ears being plugged up for about 3 weeks. He wants to do it again, and who knows, maybe I will join him next time.

Here is the link to Joel's skydiving video if you want to watch it. The camera guy actually jumped out right before them and recorded Joel on the way down.