Free Fallin'...Never Again

Me before the jump. All smiles and a bag of nerves!
Boyfriend was getting strapped in behind me.

This summer completed something and can now cross it off my bucket list! It was terrifying, exhilarating, stupid and fun all at the same time and I will never (ok most likely never) do it again. I went skydiving with my parents, my brothers, my boyfriend, his sister and 4 other friends. We went to Skydive Midwest in Sturtevant, WI and they were awesome. The first time we tried was my 24th birthday weekend, it was too windy so we showed up 2 weeks later on June 9th early in the morning. We had all flown up, jumped, fallen, and landed safely by 8:15 a.m. What were you doing? I'm glad I did it, but like I said, never again...

My little brother walking to the plane and my mom behind him. You can see me coming down:
I'm the tiny dot above the corner of the building in the center of the photo!

My mom jumping/falling.

I don't have pictures of my jump but since I look so much like my mom,
I imagine this is what I looked like except much more scared and more like this.

Surf's Up

I almost forgot about learning to surf--another bucket list item! We went on a family vacation this year over spring break to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. We went with a large group of families from our local high school and had about 20 people learning how to surf at this tiny beach in PC. It was a little awkward at first because the instructors and helpers for the class hardly spoke English, were all male and we had a good amount of female high schoolers with us. But by the end everyone was becoming friends and swapping Facebook info! I wasn't as skilled as I thought I'd be and I ended up getting in a fight with my board and a wave and losing. I was better off as the photographer anyway! Here are some amusing images from the trip.

Yes, I know it's not "real" surfing but I don't plan on moving to the coast and becoming a beach bunny in my lifetime so this counts! ;)

That's the best I've got! Shortly after this, I lost the fight with my surfboard!

Took Steps for Crohn's and Colitis

I thought I'd give you a quick update to my post from May about the Crohn's and Colitis walk in June. Boyfriend and I walked with family to help raise money for Crohn's and Colitis research. There were maracas, food, friends, family--young and old, dogs galore but mostly just support and love! I raised $155 of the $150 goal I set for myself so THANK YOU to everyone who donated! I appreciate it! I wish I knew the final total that the Milwaukee walk raised but I can't find it listed. We had a great time and I felt good helping a charity that helps our family members.

It was indeed happy, colorful and fun!

As an update to my Color Run post a few months ago, my family got to sign up for the Milwaukee run! I put together a video to summarize our experience :) Enjoy!