It’s been a busy past few months and as usual, the blog has slipped behind… we haven’t stopped running around doing what we do here – selling homes, meeting great people, getting outside with the family, drinking in the sunshine and enjoying the arrival of Spring, but I’ve been derelict with my blog posts… no matter… we’re all in attendance now.
My sister, Maile, and her husband (my newly minted brother-in-law, Tim Green) were in town a few weeks ago.
I suppose I can’t start this story without a bit about Tim, and if we’re going to talk about Tim, then we’re also talking about his twin brother, Anthony. (Sidebar – My sister is a twin and she married a twin. I expect twin nephews and nieces soon.) Tim and Anthony form the ultra mega super dynamic duo the “Acrotwins“.
“Acro-what” you ask?
“Supreme-Acro-Wizardy”, I say.
The best kind of acro. The kind that involves the sky, a sneeze of a breeze and anything you can jump off of.
More specifically, the Acrotwins are a paragliding team that know their way around the sky. You know – The Big Blue. If you get a sec, do a quick search for them and watch a couple of their videos… there’s one here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0guuIdh8MA
All of that backstory bring us to the paragliding mecca of – wait for it! – Turtle Rock.
That’s right.
Turtle Rock.
In Irvine.
There’s probably a Turtle Rock in France or the Cayman Islands, but this is not that. This is humble little Turtle Rock. A place I know and love. Family lives there. Nice trees; good schools. Good neighborhood to raise a family. Escaped my attention as a place to go paragliding, but apparently, not Tim’s… but, like I said, give those boys a breeze & a hill and off they go.
And off we went.
Here are some photos from our recent adventures:
Hiking up, hoping that what goes up might get to come down on a wing.
Cresting the hill, looking towards Newport Beach; Fashion Island in the distance.
Scouting the takeoff.
Tim pulls the wing up and shows us how a takeoff gets done. Bottom line? Run and commit.
The helm is exchanged and First Acolyte Travis S. steps up.
The wing is up! Yes! Hold it!
Turn! Run! Watch that edge!
Oh! Collapse. And down.
Let’s try this again. Wing up!
Good form, Trav!
Running, jumping. Not thinking about the homes below. No worries.
We some friends while we were there…
An then these visitors showed up in the sky to show us how flying gets done.
Thanks for stopping by, buddies!
And… now, Brian’s turn. This was Brian’s first time doing this and he scored a killer flight after some solid attempts at getting the wing up and out.
Tim gives Brian a little run down on how it works. People – paragliding is all about faith. I’ve done it a couple of times but right before my first time, I asked Tim, “Tim – what happens if I jump and I get sucked up into the sky and I can’t get down?”
Tim looked at me and said “You wish! Never going to happen. Now go run and jump!”
The day got cool and I made my trademark Daddy’s Impromptu Fort From Towels that my babies have come to know and love.
The wind picks up, Brian steps up, the crowd clears the runway, anticipation high…
Up, up! Tim steps in to assist.
Yeah, Brian! Run it!
And off and up!
I had already packed up and headed down the hill when I saw Brian come cruising out of the blue, giant smile plastered across his face as he came in for what might have been the ride of the day… not bad for a little hill in Turtle Rock…
Up for more and praying again that what goes up might get to come down nice and easy.
Thanks for stopping by; hope you enjoyed the pix. I’m sure this goes without saying, but if you’re going to try any of this, make sure you do it with someone who knows what they’re doing and make sure you are in an area that is safe.
