Rowin' Owens

Saturday, July 23rd, marked the 10th annual Dragon Boat Festival brought to us by Partners in Education of Toledo. This year, I joined a team! I had heard of them, seen pictures, but honestly, had no idea what I was signing myself up for. Nor did I realize that it was going to be the hottest week, I'm talking record breaking heat, this week. But you know what? I had a blast! I'm looking forward to next year and have even recruited a few paddlers.

 Dragon boats carry twenty paddlers, a drummer and a steersman. I believe our team came from all walks of life. But check out our first race below....looks like we are winning!! From different backgrounds, we rowed together and came in 2nd our first race. We are boat #2. This picture was also featured in The Blade. I'm in the 7th row of the boat. Can you see me? No? Me either. But I'm there. I promise.

Waving to Gavin as we loaded the boat!
He was Dad's right hand man taking pictures.

Heading out.

Paddling out to the the starting line.

 Getting lined up.
Race time!

 "Hold the boat!"
This means we get the boat to STOP.

Now it's time to bring it in.

We're Back!

I'm back, Gavin!

That was a BLAST! 

Always in the last place you look....

Eight's Great!

Yea!!! It's our 8 year anniversary today! That's like, 2,920 days of wedded bliss. It is so fun to be married to my best friend. I could not imagine life without Tim!

So I thought I would add a few "us" pictures, since this blog is mostly all about Gavin, and I realize I don't have ANY recent ones. He may be gone quite a bit lately, but we really do spend time together. Honest.

So I hired a photographer to take a few for us.

He was generously paid in tickles and hugs.

Conversation with Gavin

Me: (coaxing Gavin to get dressed for daycare) "C'mere and get dressed Gavin, are you ready to go to school to go swimming?!"

Gavin: "No, Mommy, the babies are swimming today."

Me: "It's Tuesday, YOUR class swims on Monday and Tuesday."

Gavin: "NOOO, the babies swim today."

Me: "What babies swim today?"

Gavin: "Those babies." (pointing directly at my stomach)

Me: "Mommy has babies?????"

Gavin: "Babies are in your tummy."

Mmmm, k. Where in the world did you pick THIS up at.

...and no, I'm not expecting.

Me: "Mommy has a baby in her tummy?"

Gavin: "Yes."

Me: "No, buddy, Mommy doesn't have a baby in here. Who told you that?"

 Gavin: "Kyle."

Me: "Sorry, honey, but Kyle is wrong. Mommy doesn't have a baby."

I'm hoping to run into Kyle's mom this week. Perhaps she is expecting :)

Gavin: "Baby, next week?"

Me: "No, no baby next week either. Remember that Daddy will be home next week."

Gavin: "Daddy gonna mow. And make popcorn with me."

Me: "Yes, Daddy can't wait to make popcorn."

Gavin: "And mow."

Me: "Yes, and mow."

Gavin: "Look, Mommy, my oatmeal is all gone!!"

Me: "Good job, now let's come get dressed for school."

Gavin: "OK, we going swimming today! Yay!!"

And the conversation has come full circle.

I'm making a run for it.

 

First trip to the theater

In honor of Daddy's birthday a few weeks ago, Grandma, Gavin and I went to see Cars 2 that just hit theaters. Unfortunately, Daddy was a few states away.

Grandma splurged and purchased the kiddie snack pack Cars edition for G. Popcorn, fruit snacks and a drink all in a cute little container for him. The drink came with a cheap plastic toy on top. It was perfect. And he received Mater! How did they know that Mater was his favorite!

Happy boy.

 

 Did you know there were booster seats available at the theater for toddlers? I noticed a family come in with one, and thought, why that is a great idea. Then I noticed several more people coming in with them. Wait a second...these are all the same. They must be offered somewhere. So I ran back up front to find there were three left. Whew!! Now I know.

There is no way that Gavin was going to sit in the seat for a few minutes, let alone the length of the movie, without it. He might be a big guy, but the seat wanted to swallow him up. The booster seats even have a smaller built in cup holder on one side and an opening on the other side that was perfect for his new Mater toy.

 I chose the row right behind this railing. I knew, even with the booster, he would have to stand up occasionally. This way he could stand up and not be a disturbance to other movie goers.

 The toy was a great distraction for when he became antsy as well.

 Overall, a very successful first trip to the movies!

Thoughts on the sequel: 

      Cars 2, we're not in Radiator Springs anymore. I loved the simplicity of the original film. The first movie had tranquility and a "down home" feel to it that was very reassuring and cozy. It was also very wholesome and calm, not allowing ridiculous action or harshness to the mix. In other words, everything that was good about the first Cars was left out of the second.

First I was afraid, I was PETRIFIED!

Then I was falling...

 FREEEEE FAAAALLLLLLING!

Through the blue clear skies!

How did I come about this crazy insane adventure? Well, that is courtesy of Jake Bower.
I met Jake back when I was working at Fricker's. He became my friend after I left. He's a little nuts, but I like him. He's one of BG's finest in blue, and lets me come tour the fire station with Gavin on occasion. He jumped last year with his cousin and they were going to do it again. He generously offered me a ticket. His brother came to jump too!

How did I feel leading up to the day? Scared out of my mind. Unsure if I would do it or not. Excited. Intense. Stressed out. I think I made myself sick. I simply can't explain it.

Would I do it again? Absolutely!!

The Experience:  Today I did one of the scariest things I have ever done, jumped out of a plane at 14,000ft over Tecumseh, MI. Tecumseh Skydive, the company I did the jump with, were brilliant too - nice facilities, good equipment and friendly people, all of which gave me confidence to trust them with my life!

 I've always thought skydiving would be cool, but never thought I would actually do it. You watch a video first while you sign the forms. I sat there and said, "There's no way in hell I'm doing this." I had nothing but pure panic and the urge to make a run for it. Then I said to myself, "Do I really want to pass up this experience? Is it worth it? If I don't do this, will I have regrets later?" I signed the forms and was quickly harnessed. The instructor showed me how to fall out of the plane properly, different signals, how to fly through the air and how to land without hurting myself. It helps that I had a very amusing instructor who was joking around with me the entire time and helping me to relax. When I say relax, I really mean he thought it would be fun to make jokes that would scare me. As in, I asked him how long he had been jumping, he says "They brought me in Wednesday. But no worries, I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night and I'm great!" " He has made nearly 6000 jumps in ten years. I suppose he's earned his sense of humor.

 I was still petrified getting into the plane but was fine as we were flying.

While sitting, your harness feels looser and my instructor had a field day scaring me with that one.

He also added that he wouldn't do this for a living if he thought it was dangerous.

Then my instructor started strapping himself to me preparing me for the tandem jump. I thought, "Okay well, I'm already up and the only way I'm going back down is to jump." We were the first to jump out behind the camera guy. It's difficult to scoot up the plane while you're very tightly strapped to the front of someone, but we made it to the door. It's surreal to look out of the plane and see the amazing skyline. It's one thing to look out of an airplane window when in midair, it's another to look out an open airplane door when you're midair.

 I was strapped to the front of Adam (the guy pulling the parachute for me and in charge of making sure I don't die), who edged forwards to the door. He stood on the edge of the plane, meaning I was dangling practically outside in the 'banana position' as they call it with my head and legs back.
So I’m at the door, looking 2.6 miles down and trying to figure out where the landing spot is. I can feel the cold air rushing at me at an incredible speed. The sound of the air and the airplane engines is drowning everything else out. At this height, the landing field is the size of a postage stamp and I have absolutely no idea where it is.

the fear is real

I am scared out of my mind. I am not sure I want to do this any more.
My mind is racing and going .. “Oh crap!! There is no way that… AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!”.
Suddenly I am no longer on the plane and am dropping downwards at 130 miles per hour!! My evil instructor jumped off before I had time to get scared properly.

So there I am, flying straight down. And guess what? Gravity does work.
 The force on your body is incredible!
But the fear was completely gone.

They pull this little chute open that slows you down to the speed of one person, rather than two. It's still fast.

These instructors are super animated with the camera guys.

After about 45 seconds Adam pulled the parachute and we slowed down enough that we could talk. It was an incredible sight. There isn't a way to describe it. He filled me on a secret that if I hold my nose and blow, the pressure in my ears would go away. He's a genius. It was also quite chilled out at this point after the intense free fall, although I was still hanging off the front of a him at about 5,000 or so feet, so I didn't notice it. As we got closer to the ground, he gave me control of the cords and helped me pull them to spin us round from left to right, which again puts a lot of g-force on your body, but by this point it was awesome fun.

The funny thing is, the jump wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The scariest part of the skydive was the few seconds before I actually jumped (fell) out of the plane.

The anticipation of the jump is worse than the jump itself.

Once you jump off, there is nothing more to really worry about. Its like the mind goes “Ah well. There is nothing we can do any more. So might as well enjoy the ride”. 

The period of free fall during the skydive is the best part. All your natural instincts still telling you to stay alert since it is hardwired into your head. But your brain stops all silly chatter and starts watching and enjoying what is happening. It is the most peaceful you can ever be while still feeling an adrenaline rush. Scared, excited, and calm, all at the same time. You honestly don't feel the sensation of "falling."

It's incredible to see everything below getting bigger and more clear. Everything looks so small from that far up and it feels like you're just looking at a map instead of the actual ground. The parachute was steered to the landing spot and I landed with no problem. It's a little intimidating to see the ground coming at you though.

Afterthoughts: I felt invincible, exhilarated, and foolish for being so petrified in the first place.
I will never look at Google Maps quite the same.
Cedar Point...is a kiddie park :)

But I'm still not riding that new swinging thing. Now that is crazy.