{Ohio} Part 2

On Thursday, we went to a huge amusement park called Cedar Point. I like roller coasters, but I had never been on anything like these rides. They were huge. I was terrified to go on the first one because of course, we chose the most frightening looking one ever, but it ended up being a good one to set the tone because we all had a blast! It was a great day. The park was practically empty and there were barely any lines! Steven's family said that they had never seen the park like that before. The weather probably had a little bit to do with why the park was so empty. It was a pretty day all day, but at dinner time it started pouring. We were caught in a huge thunderstorm and it was actually really scary. The thunder was shaking the chairs and sounded like the storm was on top of us! When it finally passed, we snuck in a few more of the best rides. One of my favorite parts of the day was at the end when Steven and I were dancing in the middle of the park. I had a pretty bad headache that day, so all of the crazy rides weren't really helping that situation but I was having too much fun to miss out. So, when bubba's family went on our last ride a second and third time, S and I sat the last 2 out. We danced to the sweet country music that was playing around us, it was the perfect ending to our exciting day! 

Here are two of the biggest roller coasters there!

The middle of the storm!

The day after that we went on a really cool 7 mile kayaking trip. The scenery on the river was gorgeous and we had a great time floating along. That night we went downtown and listened to a Queen cover band at a free concert venue! The atmosphere was so fun. There were so many people there! We also stumbled upon a really cool popcorn store that had 50 different flavors of popcorn! Of course we had to try a few and they were all sooo good.

On our last day, all of Steven's aunts and uncles came over and we had a big barbecue and bonfire in the backyard. It was really fun to meet and talk with his whole family!

Our trip to Ohio was amazing and we had the best time! The fun definitely didn't stop there. We headed straight to our next destination from Ohio...next stop: Cancun!! 

{Ohio}

Steven had 3 weeks of leave this summer, so his family planned a super fun vacation that let us visit with all of his family! Our first stop was a week in Ohio with his dad's side of the family!

I had never been to Ohio, or the Midwest for that matter (except Chicago but that probably doesn't count all that much) before this so I was really excited. We had a little bit of a travel mishap when we arrived at 1am and found out that the airline left our checked baggage where we caught our connecting flight. That was a bit of a bummer, but we luckily had enough essentials with us to get us through the night! 

Steven's roommate from last semester, Joe, lives really close to his grandma's house. So, the next day we all went wake boarding and water skiing on Joe's boat. It was really fun to meet up with him! After we had our fun on the water, we all went out to eat. We escaped the looming thunderstorm perfectly because it was beautiful all morning and the torrential downpour only started the last few minutes of lunch! We got really lucky that day. Later that day, we played mini golf with Steven's family which was a blast. That night, Steven and I met up with Joe again and he brought his girlfriend, Emily, with him. We all had a great time! Those boys are so cute. 

Steven, Joe, Emily and I were talking about the differences between Ohio and California and we were all cracking up. Here are the main things that we noticed! 

• Let's just start off with talking about how green Ohio is...like really, really green. Seriously, everywhere you look there are huge, gorgeous trees. It's not like that here in California. It's a beautiful place, don't get me wrong, but it's definitely not as green as Ohio! 
• Another thing that we noticed was that there were barely any sidewalks where Joe and Emily live. Where Bubs and I are from, it's rare not to see a sidewalk unless you're on the freeway of course. 
• This one isn't only about Ohio, but I always get a kick out of the fact that major super markets are different in different states, I'm weird..I know. In Oahu, it's Foodland, in Southern California Pavilions, Vons, and Albertsons are big. In Ohio...Giant Eagle. 
• And there's the most obvious linguistic difference as well. California- soda. Ohio- pop.

And those were our first two days in the Buckeye State! Check back soon for the next two and then our amazing trip to Cancun! 

xox

Saying {Goodbye}...The First Time Around

I'm back!! For good, I promise. It's been a crazy and insanely fun past 3 weeks with S being home. I seriously love that guy! I've missed blogging a lot, but I couldn't bring myself to sit down and try to blog creatively while there was a handsome man asking me to do fun things all of the time...hence my leave of absence! 

As always, the goodbye sucked. It never really does get easier. So, I thought that I'd do a little throwback to the first time that Steven and I had to say our first goodbye before he left for BCT. I figured that this sappy post would give a little backing to how much his leave meant to us because it's been the longest we've been together consecutively in over a year! It was flippin' awesome, to say the least. 

So, without further adieu, here's the worst goodbye I've ever experienced: 

(Okay, so it wasn't that bad but I'm currently suffering from the oh-yeah-I'm-in-a-long-distance-relationship-and-I-forgot-about-that-whole-thing-when-he-was-home blues so I'm truly sorry if I'm depressing!) 

A little over a year ago, I said goodbye to my best friend before he left for basic training. I'll never forget the look we gave each other as he got in his car and drove away from my house, both of us with tears in our eyes.

I had known that it was going to be hard, but saying goodbye to the person you love most isn't really something that you can prepare yourself for. I was so happy that he was getting this great opportunity at the Academy and I was so proud of him for all that he'd worked for to get there, but I was devastated that he was leaving. Our relationship up until that point had been close distance and the longest I had gone without seeing him was 10 days. I laugh at that number now but at the time, 10 days felt like an eternity. We would be going 10 weeks without seeing each other and I had no idea what I was going to do without him. 

After dragging out the inevitable and being overly dramatic, we finally managed to say goodbye. And you know what? We lived. Although it seemed like our worlds were tumbling down, they didn't. Yes, we were sad for a while after that goodbye. Yes, somedays I hate the distance between us. But I know that this is what is meant to be. I know that because we chose to be independent of each other and follow our own dreams, our relationship is that much stronger. Somedays I do wish that he was there to give me a hug and cuddle with me on the couch, but there's never a day when I think the distance between us has a negative effect on our relationship. This long distance has brought us closer than I could have imagined. We've learned how to communicate and how to trust. The days that we do get to spend together are the sweetest. I love Steven more now than I ever have before. It's not hard for me to be in love with a man who lives 1,000 miles away. I am so grateful for the relationship that I have with my man. I know that I will fall more in love with him everyday, no matter where we both are. 

The man behind all these girly emotions...
P.S. I'm obsesssssed with the Rhonda Designs App!