Our visit to 'merica.....

After living in Korea for 1 year, it was time to go home to visit the family. Since Ben had never been to Kansas, and no one had met him in person, we decided that we would spend the first 8 days in Kansas and I would travel to Wisconsin for the last 8 days to meet his family and friends.
Our flights were miserable of course, but I feel that is always expected when you have 3 flights and 2 layovers, and 1 of the flights was 13 hours. It's just NOT fun. We flew into Kansas City, and after a small problem with the rental car we were on our last 3 hours to home. First thing we did in Kansas- Sonic. We needed to eat, and Ben had never had sonic before...
We finally made it home to my parents house, and we.... hmmm what did we do? Those first days back in America are a bit hazy since we hadn't slept in days.... Oh yeah, we had a lovely dinner that my mom made. The next day we went to my Grandma's house and I sifted through some of my things that had been in the fire. In the evening we went for Mexican food and  Ben and I went to Wichita to see Sarah's family.
On Friday, Daniel, Melissa, and Zeke came into town so we could carpool together in our rental car/van they gave us, to Jason's wedding.

Jason and Anna's wedding was in Missouri so part of my time in Kansas was actually spent in Missouri. It was a really great time with family though. Ben and I travel with Daniel, Melissa and Zeke, so that was great to spend time with them even if it was on the road. 

In Missouri, my Aunt Carrie had organized for us to stay in a house with Phil, Sarahanne, Vatiken and Bosten, as well as Daniel, Melissa, and Zeke. While this was a bit of a shocker for Ben and I to be woken up in the middle of the night by crying babies and such, it was still a great time! On the nights, other family would come over to hang out. Duane and Shelby, and Michael and Lena joined us and we had a lot of informal fun and talking. It was the first time that we had all been together with girlfriends/boyfriends and husbands/wives. I enjoyed that time alot.

The wedding was really neat. It looks like Jason is joining a really awesome family and I'm so happy for him! There was a lot of singing at the wedding and Ben was very curious is this is what all Mennonite weddings are like.... I told him that while there is some, this wedding had A LOT! :) No worries there Ben...

But Ben did get to see something Mennonite... While in Missouri, we ran into some guys that are friends/ former roommates with a guy that Ben and I know in Korea. Of course we had to get out picture taken with them to blow Curt's mind back in Korea!
On our way to Wisconsin we stopped and spent some time in Iowa, with my Iowa family! :) We caught most of the cousins before they were off again to school and other things. It was great to see everyone! My Grandparents took Ben and I to my favorite restaurant, Bonaparte Retreat (a.k.a. Ben's). 

 As soon as we reached the Wisconsin boarder all decisions were Ben's. We needed to eat shortly after arriving in Wisconsin and the first place we went was Culvers, a fast food place that I would compare a bit to Kansas' Braums. There I tried my first fried cheese curds. Yum!

When we got to Oshkosh, Ben was reunited with his family. There I got to meet his parents, Tim & Nicetas, his brother Emil, and his dog Rocky. Rocky was the chillest dog I have ever seen. While in Oshkosh I also got to meet most of Ben's extended family as well at a party he had at his house. I really enjoyed meeting his grandparents. They were really great! 

Also, in Wisconsin, I ate a ton of food. Ben's dad is a great cook, and made a lot of food. Another thing that we did was a river float. We floated down the Wolf River with many of Ben's friends. It was a really nice day and the 3 1/2 hours didn't quite seem like enough. We were able to take food and drinks, so it was a great time! Other noteables that we did revolved around eating food as well. We went to a Filipino restaurant, and we also made sure to eat steak, Chinese food, and gyros. All of it was AMAZING and prepared us for another year of Korea and Korean food. 

While in Wisconsin, I got to do some things that I have never done before. A trip there wouldn't have been complete without learning how cheese is made. I always thought that maybe it was an exaggeration about the amount of love for cheese in Wisconsin, but I found out that it is not. They LOVE cheese! haha
We went to a cheese factory about 20 minutes from Oshkosh. The factory was a small one called Union Star Cheese Factory. It was exciting to see how cheese was made. We saw them finishing up the cheese curds. We got to taste some of the newly made cheese, and I had never had cheese this fresh! It was SOOOOOOO good! It was very squeaky! I wasn't used to eating cheese that squeaked, but it was amazing!
Another thing that we did while we were in Oshkosh was go frisbee golfing. This is one of Ben's favorite past times while living there and he and his friends used to do this a lot. I had never frisbee golfed before so this was my first time! Steve went with us. I actually did okay. On a 3 par course, most of the time I was getting 4's. I thought this was pretty good for someone who had never disced before.

Another random thing that happened while we were in Wisconsin is that we got free tickets to a pre-season Green Bay Packers game. Even though it was a pre-season game it was still full of avid fans! We had toured the stadium a few days before, so it was fun to go to the stadium full. First we tailgated in the parking lot before the game. Afterward on our way into the stadium we HAD to find cheese heads, because who goes to their first Packers game without one?
The game was actually against the Kansas City Chiefs, how appropriate! The game itself was not that exciting because like I said- it was a preseason game. The Packers won quite easily. In the 4th quarter it started to rain a little bit, which ended up being a good thing because a lot of people left, so the traffic was much better when we ended up leaving after the game! 
It was a fun experience to get to go to the game and we were so lucky to get random tickets! :)
Our trip home was really great. Ben and I got to see where each other grew up and meet the important people in our lives. I'm really glad that we decided to go to America, and although the trip back was HORRIBLE, it was still worth the journey!