Happy Birthday Donald! We're celebrating at iFly!

Donald and a few other pastors are visiting from Michigan for a conference this week.  It happens to be Donald's birthday and Theresa and I wanted to surprise him with a gift he would always remember.
We kept it a secret the entire time until finally we arrived at the Universal Studios City Walk.

We walked by some of the shops of the City Walk then started angling over towards iFly, the indoor skydiving.  Donald finally knew what his gift was!

Looking up at the 36' tall acrylic vertical wind tunnel.  Wind speeds in here range from 130-175mph!

After a brief video and some safety instructions, we were ready to fly.
I think he's pretty excited!

It's going to be awesome!

Leaning in so he can catch the air.

Then he's in a skydiving position.  Belly low, face forward, arms making a U, and feet slightly bent.

And just 10 seconds into his first flight, he's going solo.

The picture we bought from iFly.

You can thank Theresa for the rest of these photos and videos.  She tore some ligaments in her hand playing volleyball and has her hand in a splint, so she won't be able to fly.

Donald was doing great flying on his own.

My turn!

Getting into a stable position.

Then I'm flying on my own.

Getting a thumbs up from the instructor.

This is awesome! A normal skydive from a plane gets you ~45 seconds of weightlessness.  These 60 second dives are a little more than you'd get from a plane.

On our second dive, Theresa got a video of us.

 
The package we got included two 60 second flights.  After you finish jumping though, you can do another flight for $20 more.  I was able to convince Donald to each do a 3rd dive.

And I'm glad we did.  On the third dive we had a little more freedom to try new things.  Here Donald is learning how to spin left and right.

 Then I got in and was able to do the same thing. 

We both had an amazing time!  What a great idea for a birthday present!

Donald will definitely be thinking of the very first time he flew before he goes to sleep tonight.

Thanks for taking pictures and video Theresa!  And for coming up with the idea!