We spent this past Sunday downtown in the chilly, rainy weather, watching Big Papa run in another Corporate Cup race. He'd had no time to train, with the exception of the 2.3 miles he'd run the day before, hoping that would prepare him for the 6-mile jaunt ahead. Mike has always lived each day in a mind-over-matter way, so I was praying that's what would get him through this time. 🙂

Sophie was given the choice to stay home in her warm bed and sleep in, but she insisted on getting up and cheering on her Best Buddy – and being at the finish line to call 911 if necessary.

One last Hook 'em Horns sign, and he was off…

As we approached the 1-hour mark, we started looking out for Mike to come around the bend…

There he is! Go Big Papa!!! You can do it!!!

You're doing great, Mike! Yes, that's right -  You're in Nebraska, but Hook 'em Horns anyway!

Go, Best Buddy!

In just over an hour's time, he was finished! Sophie and I were so proud of him. (We love you, Big Papa.)

After the race, we headed back to the car, and passed this sculpture I'd never seen before. (Possibly bc I never venture downtown)

Turns out it was a memorial to the victims of 9/11. I thought it was both sad and fascinating…

After we got to the car, we headed over to the Farmer's Market at Aksarben Village, where Mike was eager to munch on any samples the vendors had to offer. (Btw, Aksarben is Nebraska, spelled backwards.)

I bought some of these and made a buttery apple crisp later that evening.. for those of you who follow me on Instagram, I posted the recipe in steps there…

The best part about the Farmer's Market was that Jones' Bros. Cupcakes was nearby…

(Btw, they won Cupcake Wars in the show's second season!)

I love this picture, bc it looks like Sophie has a mustache…

After our cupcakes (they carry gluten-free ones as well), we walked around the Village a bit more.. I'm inserting this picture here bc I want to show it to Bre (who paints beautifully!), if she's reading this; it's a new painting studio called Village Canvas and Cabernet, and for $30 one can sit for 2 hours and learn to paint one of the projects featured up on the wall. An artist guides the students in various techniques, all while each person sips away on a glass of wine. (Mike and I figured the alcohol was to help people let go of their inhibitions and end up being surprised at what they could come up with! LOL)

After I took this photo, I looked around to see where Mike had disappeared to, and I found him munching away on the free cookies, saying things like, "Believe it or not, I have an inner artist."

Once I pulled Mike away from the tea and cookies table, we wandered back through the market so he could pick up some enchiladas he'd sampled earlier. On the way, we passed this folk band…

I could have stood there and listened to them for hours…

…Except for the fact that this dude was giving me the stink-eye…

Sophie and I backed away, caught up with McFoodie Mike, and we all headed home.

P.S. Mike is still coming down from the high of the day… not a runner's high, mind you, but a sugar high.

Mike has always enjoyed taking the girls fishing at the lake near our house, but since only Sophie is home now, it's just she and her dad these days. I came along this time though, just to see why they're always so happy to go.

Sophie did what any self-respecting girl would do and let her dad put the worm onto the hook.

Btw, I love my girl's profile.. I've kissed that nose at least a few hundred thousand times.

For those of you who follow me on Instagram, this is the lake I'm always running/walking around in the mornings.

Way to go, Big Papa! He gets just as excited over the little ones as he does the big ones.

Great job, Joon!

Joon also lets her dad deal with the task of removing the hook and releasing the fish back into the lake…

The setting sun was casting the prettiest glow on everything…

Btw, this container of bait reminded me of when Sabrina was in preschool, and they would give the kids a snack called Dirt and Worms. It looked exactly like this bc it was made of gummi worms buried in Oreo cookie crumbs. However, back then I didn't know such a snack existed, so imagine my surprise (horror) when I asked Sabrina what her school snack was that day, and she answered with her precious lisp, "Duht and wumth."

Now, whenever I see Mike and Sophie's container of bait, I get hungry.

This is Jimmy's old tackle box, with his glasses still in the same place he left them.

The last catch of the night was a good one!

I was glad I tagged along. Believe it or not, I did actually bring my stitching bag with me, as well as a travel mug of coffee. Mike toted a lawn chair for me to sit in and stitch, but I had so much fun watching these two, I never got a single thread in the fabric.

Oh – and right after I took this photo, I had a Loch Ness moment… a large head was skimming the surface of the water and, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what it was before it suddenly disappeared. Moments later a beaver broke the surface and clambered up onto the bank across from where Mike and Sophie were fishing. Those things are huge, btw.

Until next time!

For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you may have figured out that my husband is addicted to having fun. Not necessarily what I would deem as fun, but that's beside the point. (Let's visit the beside-the-point for just a moment… my idea of fun is stitching and watching a Jane Austen movie. Not jumping out of a perfectly good airplane with someone hanging onto me like a backpack while I free fall toward the earth.)

Mike and Bre have been talking for a while about doing a tandem jump together, but it never quite worked out in the past. It seemed that when Bre was ready, Mike wasn't, and so on. But a few days ago, Mike suddenly announced he was going to just do it while he had the chance, and invited Bre to make the trek back to Omaha so they could finally jump to their doom together. Unfortunately, Bre couldn't get off of work at such short notice, so Mike ended up going it alone.

Sophie and I went with him to stay on the ground and record the event. 🙂

Here's Mike – who was surprisingly not acting the least bit nervous – listening to his instructor, Gary, teach him what he was to do first…

Then how to free fall…

To properly "fit" together during the fall, Mike was to lift his legs up in between Gary's legs…

To the left of this photo is Klicky, the guy who would be videotaping Mike's jump. He was a fun guy, and was very enthusiastic about his job, which made it all even more exciting (for Mike)…

Let's do this before we chicken out!

Soph and I gave him lots of hugs good-bye, and he was off to cross one more thing off of his bucket list. (Mostly his bucket list includes bored games he wants to play before his Last Day on Earth. Btw, Last Day on Earth is the title of a bored game he's always trying to get me to play.)

Good luck, Big Papa!

We love you!

You're insane, but that's okay!

Soph and I sort of got quiet as the plane growled away, bc we knew there was no turning back now.

I had asked one of the videographers ahead of time what color Mike's chute was so we would hopefully be able to spot him, as there were several jumpers going at the same time, and I didn't want to have to guess at who to watch.

Sophie and I got very excited when we first spotted him…

Unfortunately, we couldn't see his landing bc it was behind another plane, so we anxiously waited for him to walk into view.

And we waited..

And waited…

Finally, Klicky walked toward us, and we were starting to get concerned. Especially when I asked how Mike did, and he said, "We made it… barely!"

Finally!

Turns out, after landing, Mike's instructor had to catch his breath for a bit. During their free-fall, they'd been chatting a bit through the mic/headset before the first canopy deployed (which is used to soften the blow of the main chute opening). However, it was the first time this particular brand of canopy was being used, and the instructor wasn't prepared for its sudden jerk, and he got the wind knocked out of him. At that point, there was no communication bw Mike and Gary, which was a bit unnerving for Mike, needless to say. A few moments later, when Gary regained his composure, he said to Mike, "Don't get nervous, but I need you to make some adjustments to your harness…"

I do believe I would have expired at that point. But Mike's wits never left him and he made the necessary adjustments (although he did confess that he was resisting the urge to say, "Couldn't we have made these adjustments when we were on the ground?"). When they landed, he and Gary talked over what had happened, and that's why they took so long emerging from behind the plane. 🙂

Btw, here are a few photos taken up high!

What a day that was! Sophie was very proud of her Big Papa, and I was too!

In case you'd care to see it, here's a video of Mike's crazy skydive… Klicky did a fantastic job on it, and it even had me wishing – just for a tiny moment – that I could have jumped too. But then I snapped out of it and got back to my own bucket list: stitching an entire reproduction sampler while watching Pride and Prejudice.

Big Papa's First Jump from Paulette Stewart on Vimeo.

Every time we pull out of my parents' driveway after enjoying one of their cookouts, Mike always says the same thing: "I always have the best time at your parents' house."  It really is so fun to get together with them, and I'm sad that for this one, the older girls had to miss out. (Sophie, on the other hand, wasn't too upset about it.)

I made a fresh pear cobbler, and Mom made homemade ice cream to go with it…

As usual, Mom has the prettiest things sitting around on the deck my dad built for her…

The milk jars are actually tea lite holders…

The weather was perfect, and looking out into the yard was almost inspiring enough to get my own yard in shape. Almost.

This is Sophie's favorite part of her Meems' and Pops' garden:

And this was Major's, when he used to romp around and drink it dry:

Mom's newest addition to a tree (you can find all sorts of little things hidden in the trees here):

(Mike was content with his marshmallows, but when he finds out there were photos taken that he wasn't included in, I'm sure he'll be sore over it.)

I wish I had been able to get a better photo of these two trying to get the fire started for the marshmallows, but I do like looking at this one and remembering how much fun Soph had helping out her Pops…

My dad is a quiet man, and would usually rather observe than verbalize (and that's actually something I love about him; he's very comforting to be around)…

This one, on the other hand, would prefer to verbalize…

Ah, here's the marshmallow man!

This may be too charred for some people, but I love them this way!

We also played the usual ladder ball and bean bag toss, which is always so much fun. (Btw, I've had a few people ask me about ladder ball.. you can find a whole set for under $20.00 at Wal-Mart, along with several other lawn games.)

I hope you all had a really nice Memorial Day weekend. As usual, when we spend an evening at my parents' home, we certainly did.