The girls go sky diving with Varun uncle..

This weekend was interesting. Came back from Asia and was still recovering from food poisoning and jet lag. Sangeetha's baby cousin (not a baby anymore, just like how the Little One is not little anymore!) came to visit us. I decided to make the most of his visit and cheer myself up. This kid was seven I think during our wedding and somehow I still see him as a seven year old. . . as usual I digress.

He came for a weekend visit from Melbourne. So we decided to go take him bowling and then Indoor sky-diving.

He won the bowling by a wide margin and beat everyone in our house. Then came the sky diving..

he did great! He was startled at first but adapted well and went up the wind tunnel! 

but we had some unexpected surprises.

We learned that Jr. is a natural at this!

The little one surprised us as well.. 

Jr. went up the wind tunnel on her second try and that was something to watch! 

They all came out with certificates and coupons for future visits. Something tells me that we will be going there again. The place is 35 minutes away from home and if we can reserve a spot (which was available that morning) it is a good deal.. especially if you have had a rough three days and just want to watch some smiling faces and family members have a great time! 

Have not been in this tunnel in almost nine years! "Damn I looked young once!" was the thought that came to mind after looking at that old post from 2008.. maybe will go again to celebrate 10 year anniversary of first indoor sky-diving experience in January.. and maybe, maybe, will take Sangeetha with me!

At this rate, not sure if I will ever get to post things from the Pittsburgh trip. It is going to be another hectic week.. maybe this weekend... lots of tea, sit outside and blog! 

I just wanna fly...

Over the Christmas break, we had decided not to go on any long trip, partly because our trip to Santa Barbara, for the last week of december was planned way ahead and also because the BIL and his roommate were driving down to visit us!

We decided to do something local, but different.. we went on a free fall trip (just like jumping off a plane without a parachute), except you are 6 feet away from the ground inside a wind tunnel!

They spent 6 million dollars to build this tunnel in the bay area and for a modest(really!!) fee of 50 dollars a person, they give you two chances to go in the wind tunnel and experience free fall!!!

(needless to say, San looks real pretty in that suit and therefore her picture has been cropped on demand! Now back to the topic...)

Of course, there is a training class, safety instruction, gearing up with a suit, pads, helmet, ear plugs etc.. just like you would prepare for a free jump. So the preparation is half an hour for a two minute jump! That is to be expected for any adventure I guess...

It was fantastic!!

We took the kids with us into the outer chamber where they watched daddy and mommy and uncles fly. They did start screaming uncontrollably when Grandma decided to fly. Good thing no one could hear them. Grandma made an attempt which was aborted but did a nice comeback on her second try! She flew for a total of 1.3*10^-13 seconds. Those video clips will never see the light of day, I am being told!

If you want to try this, go to www.iflysfbay.com , but you have to call in well in advance to get a reservation. The instructors are really nice, courteous and extremely patient with first time fliers! They practise formation flying inside this tunnel. We watched the pros inside the tunnel for a full 15 mins before we got in. It was mind boggling..

We had a great time!

ps. make sure there is someone with a steady hand outside to take your pictures or you will get out of focus shots. It is noisy in there..
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