Post-Skydiving! A birthday throwback, Pt 2

From Tuesday:

Happy birthday, Lena!  Our baby girl is two years old today!  We'll have a special birthday post for Lena this weekend.  But first... Here is Part 2 of last year's skydiving birthday weekend!

One of last year's post-skydiving birthday hikes with Kathy and an 11 month old Lena

Jumping out of a plane was just the beginning!  The skydiving action may have taken place the day before my actual birthday last year (Check out the insane skydiving stories and pics from Pt. 1 here!), but we kept the party going all weekend. We managed to work in rock wall climbing, hiking in the Columbia Gorge, go carts, laser tag, worshipping with our church family, a party, multiple coffee/lunch/dinner get togethers with friends, a Los Lobos concert, and taking a leap out of an airplane flying above 12,000 feet!

My throwback birthday post was so long that I had to split it into two parts.  Enjoy the rest of last year’s birthday weekend below:

Saturday: Post-Skydiving

Chilling for a spell:  My high from skydiving would take all weekend to come down from.

On Saturday evening, after another post-skydiving lunch with friends, we invited some buddies to hit up a local music festival with us.

Pepe and the Bottle Blondes played a crowd pleasing opener, and the always versatile Los Lobos turned the Tualatin Valley Parks Center field into a giant dance floor.

Basking in the music and sunshine

We eventually broke free from the crowd's bilingual grooving to mellow out on the lawn with our adorable Lena.

Sunday: My real birthday

Worshiping with our church family at Aloha Church of God was the perfect way to start out my birthday morning.  I thank Jesus for every wonderful year that He has given me so far, and especially for the past year with Kathy and Lena.  Life just keeps getting better and better.  What better place to give thanks than at the church where God has called us into student ministry since 2001?  We love those people.


Bullwinkles Fun Center in Wilsonville was the place to be that afternoon.  Admission to all activities was covered by the Portland Clinic for any of us who checked in for Kathy's company picnic.  We took full advantage of our all access passes!

Several rounds of laser tag ("No running!"), carnie type games, and tummy stuffers later, we left Bullwinkles and drove out to the Columbia River Gorge for some late afternoon hiking.

Hiking a couple of Gorge trails near Bridal Veil Falls

As daylight began to run out...



...we headed to McMenamins Edgefield for my birthday dinner.  The timing was right for enjoying a private outdoor concert afterwards, on the sly.  If only we had been on the guest list!


Before returning home for the night, we walked away from the lights for a better view of the starry nighttime sky above.  The faint sounds of live music still hung in the air.  Peace.

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A birthday weekend like this could easily rank among my best ever.  My birthday itself, perfect as it was, was predictably overshadowed by our high altitude stunt (link) from the day before.  But that's not a slam on my amazing birthday in the slightest, especially considering how my family and friends made my entire weekend so special.

After all, I had just jumped out of a FREAKING airplane!  Cheers to making my first skydiving jump the first of many.

Bonus Pic:

A Chevy's birthday dinner with the fam, later that week:  I think we found a new look for baby Lena.

Coming next weekend on Garth's Blog...

A celebration of Lena's 2nd birthday!