A Skydiving and Date Night Getaway

As Nick told me, "This was a total 'Jonikka' weekend"!  And boy, was he right!  Our weekend began with a trip to Winstead, MN on Saturday morning to go skydiving.  Several months ago, Nick found a deal on Groupon with a nice discount on a tandem skydive.  Nick and I had both gone before in 2004 during a trip to Alaska and we had really enjoyed it.  So Nick thought it would be a great idea to get some of the family together to go as a group and that way, we could all enjoy the experience together.  We were able to persuade John and Heather and Mom to go (Steve had no desire to go, Amanda was actually on board until she got pregnant, and Dad decided someone needed to be the babysitter for our two girls).

Mom and Nick just before their skydive!

Nick and Mom making their way to the ground...

It was so much fun!  The weather was a little sketchy in the morning, but we were able to hang out at the hangar for a couple hours and eventually it cleared up so that we could head out (weather conditions have to be so exact for a skydive).  There ended up being over 100 jumpers that day and they would take us up in loads.  They only had 4 instructors that day, so we knew that our group would have to go in at least 2 groups.  Nick and I opted to go in separate loads just in case anything should happen, one of us would still be fine for the girls.  So, in the end, Nick and Mom went up in one load, and John, Heather, and I went up in the next load.  Mom was the only one that purchased the video of her jump (Nick and I have one from our first jump in Alaska), but because Nick was with her, they were able to get a little of Nick's jump from the plane (a backwards flip) on her video as well.  Next time you see my mom, you should ask to see her video - I just think it's so awesome that my mom was willing to jump out of a plane with her kids!  So fun!

Heather, John, Jonikka, and Joe - the owner of Westside Skydivers

Heather, John, and Jonikka on their way up...

John and Heather were also first-timers to skydiving.  Since I was on their load in the plane with them and was also the last to jump out, I was able to watch them as we flew up.  John seemed fairly calm and collected and just seemed to be along for the ride.  Heather, who also had never been on a small plane before, looked like she was going to vomit when they waddled up to the open door!  I really wish they would have gotten the video so I could have watched her the rest of the way down!  My jump went really well, though maybe I should say the LAND went really well!  (Who cares how the jump goes, so long as you land well, right?)  Like my first tandem skydive, I was much taller than my instructor.  So when that happens, they will always bring you in in a sitting position so that the instructors legs will touch the ground first, thus taking the brunt of the force in case they came in too hard.  So we more or less gently slide in on the grass.  Mom was the only one who actually landed on her feet (surprise, surprise!).

Ellie caught a nap in the hangar, too!

Victoria slept most of the day in the hangar.

Meanwhile, during our training and jumping, Dad hung out in the hangar with the Eliana and Victoria.  Thankfully they were both able to nap a bit, but the unfortunate part was that because Dad had both of them by himself, he wasn't really able to watch any of us land.  We have just decided that we will have to get him to jump with us next time so that he can experience it himself!  And yes, we have all decided that at the right opportunity, we would all jump again.  We had an absolutely fantastic time and it was a great activity to be able to do with my family!

The Wyffels Family Skydivers!  (Minus E & V, of course)

After the awesome skydiving, we all had a late lunch, then mom and dad drove back to Willmar, and we headed to Heather and John's apartment.  John and Heather had volunteered to watch the two girls for us overnight so that Nick and I could have a romantic date night in downtown Minneapolis.  After getting them settled, Nick and I checked into the Regency Hyatt downtown, went out for some FANTASTIC sushi at Nami Sushi, enjoyed a walk up and down Nicollet Ave, stopped for drinks at Brit's Pub on the rooftop terrace, and just had a great date night.  The next morning we slept in (can't tell you how good it felt to stay in bed together past 6:30am!), then got ready and went for brunch at Hell's Kitchen.  Again, AWESOME food.  Then we spent the rest of the day with Heather and John, just hanging out.  The girls really had a good time with their auntie and uncle!

On the rooftop terrace at Brit's Pub in downtown Minneapolis on our date night!

It was such a fun weekend and we look forward to doing something like this again someday!