Hey, all! Happy mid summer! We hope you are enjoying it as much as we are! It's been a
hot summer- but no complaints here! It's so crazy it's August! We've been slacking majorly on our blog-we can blame that on summer festivities right?!
Our Fourth of July was awesome... we spent a good chunk of the day on the beach relaxing right off the ocean with a few friends and a cooler full of goodies. Couldn't think of a better way of relaxing! That night we caught a few fireworks -it never gets old watching fireworks on a beach with their reflection bouncing off the ocean. We have been going quite frequently to the ocean at night and bringing a few beach chairs, cooler stocked with beer (Angry Orchard to be more specific) and just enjoying the warm summer nights with Cleo. The smell of salt water with the beauty of Waikiki glowing in the background never gets old. There is something about sitting by the ocean after the sun has gone down and listening to the music of the waves that is so relaxing to me.
I had a ridiculously great birthday weekend- Mark spoiled me way to much. One of my favorite things I've done so far in Hawaii thus far was thanks to Mark. I was able to go horseback riding on July 5th as one of my many birthday presents. I grew up horseback riding and spending so many of my summers on or caring for horses that after a few years of not riding it felt awesome getting back on one. The ride itself was so fun. The trail took you through and around beautiful old banyan trees, and deep into a forest lined with symmetrical trees. A majority of the ride was on the sand riding next to the Pacific Ocean. I remember clearly looking out to the ocean while riding and feeling so, so happy. After not riding for so long I was amazing with how fast everything came back to me. There's a bunch of ranches on the North Shore of Oahu that offer advanced rides, so I'm beyond excited to start riding more often.
On my actual birthday, Mark and I worked but at the end of the day Mark had sent a
huge bouquet of my favorite flowers to my work. The vase held the most amazing smelling lilies, sunflowers and beautiful roses. It was by far the largest arrangement of flowers I have ever received- I could barely carry the flowers to my car when I was leaving work. I never really consider myself a "flower girl" but anytime a fresh bouquet of flowers is in the house you can't not smile! Mark is a keeper!! :) My coworkers are so amazing as well- I was brought a beautiful flower lei and a delicious chantilly cake- yummmmm! That night we had an awesome Italian dinner including Martinis and dessert at Assaggio at Ala Moana with birthday money my mom sent me =).
The middle of July we saw our favorite band, Yellowcard play a sold out show at a venue called the Rebublik in Honolulu. It was really awesome seeing them a few blocks from our place and adding to the number of states we've been able to see them in (it's at about five or six). The venue was pretty small so it made for a really, really LOUD rock concert. The show itself was really awesome- aside from being partially deaf for up to a week afterwards- haha. That's the sacrifice we had to make though! With constantly being out of our comfort zone being in a new place and always finding new things/places to try it was nice for one night to be in our comfort zone with a band and music we know so well. Yellowcard has always had a strange way of being the soundtrack if you will to our relationship as a whole. We first saw them together at Summerfest in June of 2006-which was a few months before we officially started dating. Even at our wedding their song "Only One" we had playing during our cake cutting. It's special to us that we were able to see them in Hawaii because it's just another chapter of our lives/relationship that we can tie to each other and their music.
(^Video! Yeaa!)
Last weekend we attended the 45th annual ukulele festival. We were able to go last year really late so it was nice to attend again and have the opportunity to walk around and see a little more this year. The festival is held at Kapiolani Park which is walking distance from our apartment so we made a afternoon out of it. The main event the past two years has been one of Mark's favorite ukulele players; Jake Shimabukuro. The main event for me is the Leonard's malasada truck, hehehe- yum! This event is always one thing we really look forward to because it's a 100% free event where you are able to see ukulele players from all over the world come to Hawaii to share their talent. It always amazes me how versatile the instrument is and how many different sounds you can create. Plus it's such a happy sounding instrument it's impossible to be unhappy listening to it. Mark bought a really nice ukulele when we were on our honeymoon on the Big Island a few years back and his dad and stepmom were nice enough to bring it our here for him when they came to visit in January. Now to get it out of the closet and start playing it!
Next week will be a very busy, exciting week for us. Next Monday August 3rd we celebrate our 9 year anniversary and 2 year wedding anniversary. I (and I know I can speak for mark when I say that) am so blessed that I just turned 27 and I have already been with the love of my life for NINE years. It's been a crazy ride and we plan to celebrate the last weekend of August by going back to the Fairmont Orchid on the Big Island-the same hotel we honeymooned on two years ago. I remember so clearly when our honeymoon was coming to a close saying to one another that we had to come back on our five year anniversary. But now even better yet, our two year anniversary we'll be there. Mark's birthday is also next week Thursday so I'm sure we'll have celebrating to do next weekend for him as well!
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| One of our favorite places on Oahu; Disney Aulani |
We are counting down to our FIRST visit home since we moved to Hawaii! About two and half months and we'll be back in Wisconsin. We can't wait to see everyone! Hope everyone has an awesome August! Tonight we are going to a comedy/music show called Laugh under the stars. We'll share all about it soon!
Jen and Mark
