July 4th Boogie at Skydive the Farm--$17.76 jumps

Before my trip to Switzerland (more on that later), Robin and I drove over to the Farm for $17.76 jumps and to meet some new people. As you can see in the picture, Robin was pretty excited about the swoop pond (and he didn't even get wet). We got to see some of the new people that we had met in Raeford and at Skyfest and saw some old friends. My birthday was the following week, and Robin continued my birthday celebration with a cake for Friday night. Everyone sang happy birthday and everyone enjoyed the delicious cake. On Saturday we did a hybrid jump and they sang happy birthday again in the plane. It was AWESOME. I hated leaving all of our new friends and am looking forward to our next trip to the Farm!!

A trip to Charleston with my Mom

Mom and I went to Charleston for a night last week. It was a lot of fun--we shopped, we ate a delicious steam pot at the Noisy Oyster with a delicious pina colada, and we talked a lot while wondering about. Next time we'll have to walk over the new Cooper River Bridge.

Sitting with Robin

Robin and I made a few sit-fly jumps in our new jumpsuits!! Sorry there aren't any pictures of Robin--I swear he was there ;) It's all about me anyway, right?






Here's one of Robin on the plane...

Gulf State Park with my Mom and Dad

My parents needed some places to visit on their way home from Tara's graduation at the University of Texas in Austin and we just happened to be heading to the Florabama boogie. We met up at the Gulf State Park, them in their RV and us in a tent (and the new car).


We checked out Florabama the next morning. It is pretty quiet at 11:00 AM. The next day when we jumped in around 2:00 PM there were many people enjoying some bushwhackers.

The next morning my parents came out to see us land. Robin took the picture below when he was coming in to land. My parents are beside the volleyball net getting ready to take a picture of him landing.

Bob Dunning's Ash Dive

The weather cleared for Saturday and we did quite a few beach jumps and a jump at the dropzone. The beach jumps were beautiful!!


On Sunday's sunset load we did an ash dive celebrating Bob Dunning, who died last year in a motorcycle accident. It was a beautiful, no-contact 15 (or so) way. Robin and I were honored to be invited on the jump with our new friends from Skydive Tampa Bay (www.skydivetampa.com). I can't wait to go visit this summer.





After the jump we had a few Bushwackers while we waited on the van and then headed to the dropzone for the Chili Cook Off. The chili was great and hanging out with our new friends was even better. Robin (mini-me) especially enjoyed talking to PsychoBob (maxi-me).

Sit Fly (AFF style) with George and Blaine

We woke up on Monday morning early; sleeping is tough when the sun rises and you are in a warm tent. We did a hoop dive and I made it through after a LONG dive. Then George and Blaine decided to take me on a sit-fly beach jump. It was great--Blaine slung me over his head after the AFF-style exit and then George took my air from underneath me.

Robins 40th birthday

Robin had his 40th birthday on October 8th. We drove up to the mountains to a really nice, big cabin. Robin was really excited and then very surprised as our friends began to appear a couple at a time. We all had a great time and I hope to get everyone together again sometime soon.

This was a group shot when Robin was sure that noone else would be joining us. He was really surprised when we were in the hot tub and Ed and Mish appeared...

Robin and Kyle couldn't resist climbing...

On our hike Kyle caught a brook trout--we were all impressed. It looks like he is a little hungry...



Overall it was a great weekend. Maybe I shouldn't have made such a big deal out of Robin's birthday though--now I'm going to get it bad on my 30th. This was one of the shirts that I made for Robin, it says: "In tree years I'd be young, in dog years I'd be dead."

The Craig Sisters trip to Michigan to see Grandpa

Last summer my sisters and I went to Michigan to visit Grandpa and the Craig's in Michigan. We enjoyed the cooler weather, the walks with Grandpa, and spending time with our aunts, uncles, and cousins. One day we went to the Indian casino and then went to Petoski to find some rocks.

We had a ton of fun spending lots of time with Grandpa and visiting with Theresa and Esther. The girls' night was great--playing Dominoes, late-night swimming, and plenty of talking.





After dropping Tara off at the airport, Vanessa and I had a chance to visit Craig, Denise and their three girls.

Enjoying the big city...

On our first day of walking around we realized that we hadn't seen the sky in hours--you have to look straight up. Some gray clouds had moved in and we hadn't even noticed.

Relaxing in Central Park...

We walked almost non-stop while we were in Manhattan. This was a little break we took in Central Park. Well, maybe not so much of a break but more of another photo op :)

I guess it is time...

I have been putting off starting a blog, but I think it is finally time to give it a try. I'll start by posting some pics from recent trips for family and friends.

Enjoy...