para sweet sailing

Believe it or not, I am afraid of heights. But I live for a good thrill. Parasailing wasn't as scary as I hoped it would be. You are totally buckled in and secure. It's just like being up on a really high swing... A swing that's about 800 feet in the air.

Before we went, I had a brilliant idea to bring one of our disposable cameras up with us and take a few pictures while in the sky. After we took the shots, I wrapped the camera in a plastic bag and put it inside my life jacket. They aren't great quality and the coloring is pretty funky, but it's so fun to have these:

The ride was more exciting if you let go and flew.. We were daring each other not to hold on to the straps the entire time, but 15 minutes in the air was much longer than we thought it would be and we both needed to hold on for dear life at some point.

The only time I got really freaked out was when I leaned forward and looked over my feet. It was at this time I wished I had gotten a pedicure before the trip-- or at least touched up my polish a bit. Live and learn.

We were screaming and laughing our guts out. The BEST part of it all was getting dipped back and forth in the water at the end of the ride. The boat would slow down, we would fall in the ocean and then it would speed up fast again and we were yanked back in the air. It was awesome. A couple of people on our boat went up in the air but didn't do the whole water dunking... what a waste of money! That was (by far) the most exciting part of it all.

(The one above was obviously taken by someone in the boat.) As another couple was about to go up in the air, I yelled at the wife and asked for her camera so I could take pictures of them. She yelled back, "The battery died!" So I yelled to her, "Would you like me to take some and email them to you?" And she said, "PLEASE!" As I was snapping pictures of them, Aaron was making fun of me. He doesn't understand the importance of documenting. While on a ride like this, he's bothered that he has to stop for a picture rather than enjoy what he's doing. I told him that one day, when he's older, he would understand why it's so important. Right now he might roll his eyes, but someday he'll thank me for it. And really, why would you pay good money to do something if you're just going to forget it ever happened? No. Memories like this need to be captured. I think this shot will be enlarged and go up in our bedroom... isn't it romantic?