Chambers Bay!

One of the greatest golf courses in the United States. Site of the 2010 US Open. Voted one of the best new golf courses in America by Golf Digest. Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. One Sunday morning, some guys from our church made this 2 hour trek north to take in the experience that is Chambers Bay.

More of the same. I think I have a part of me that is a struggling artist. When I look back on the pictures I've taken, I find that many of them are just scenic shots like this one.

Here is James trying to gain a competitive advantage by studying the layout of the course before we play. We had breakfast at the clubhouse before we started the round.

Here stands the group of ROC men, boldly about to embark on a butt-whoopin of a lifetime. Did I mention that this course was very difficult? And whoever took this picture for us (old man starter guy), the push cart handle and weird shadow on the front left?!!

This is actually a staged picture where no golf ball was involved. We were waiting for the first group to get out of range and I decided to be a poser and take a picture. Thank you for whoever took this picture for me.

I would like to take credit for this shot, but this golf ball belongs to James (I guess the studying helped), who kept on claiming he wasn't any good and then proceeded to hit shots like this. I'm sad to report, the birdie putt was missed. But it was an incredible par.

The round of golf was followed by some good Korean food at Ho-soon-yi's in Tacoma. Nothing like good Korean food after 6 hours of great scenery and depressing golf swings. A great time was had by all! Next up..... Men of ROC conquer Bandon! Stay tuned.

ahola? no, aloha!

Dan's dad is turning 60 this year so we went to Maui to celebrate his hangap.

We woke up early...a lot! Dan and I had to wake up at 5:00 Sunday morning to get to Seattle in time for our flight. Then on Monday morning, we woke up at 3:30 to see the sunrise and go on a 30 mile bike ride (it's all downhill). I'm not into waking up this early in the morning, but I must say it was completely worth it.

We had to wear these funny moon suits.

I thought this was the funniest thing. There was a group of happy Japanese tourists, and they apparently all brought the same binoculars!
The bike ride itself was sooooo fun! it's just cruisin downhill for miles and miles, passing many different climates and sceneries. I really liked passing through the eucalyptus trees and speeding down the windy road. We were actually a bit annoyed because in the very front was this lady who slowed everyone down. She was scared to go down too fast, but about halfway, she got a lot better.
The bike ride ends up on a beach. When we started riding, we were all wearing those moon suits. It was cold and windy as we were riding, but near the base, it was muy caliente! i wanted to jump in the water.

We also went on a helicopter ride. It was pretty cool, but not THAT cool.

One of the coolest things we saw on the helicopter were these waterfalls. Aren't they peaceful?

The ride took an hour, and thank goodness it ended then! Some of us were feeling quite queasy by the end of the hour.

The parents were fascinated with the fruits of Hawaii. Haha. Dad even tried to pick a mango from someone else's yard. We convinced him not to...finally.

A shirt we saw while walking around town. I thought it was clever. =)

All of us in the water (minus Dan).

Here's the man himself! (on land)
He's a land animal.

We asked Dan's mom what her favorite part of Hawaii was, and she said snorkeling, and just hanging out by the beach, and I must totally agree. Just hanging out on the warm sand was wonderful.

Dad's cool outfit. Very matchy.

Probably our least favorite thing was the whale watching. We had already seen so many whales by that time that it really wasn't much of a big deal.

The last evening there, we went to a luau.

I guess someone mentioned that it was dad's birthday, so they decorated his dessert plate, and there was a candle on the kiwi.
As were leaving the luau, the dancers were lined up near the entrance greeting us, and mom was just so happy as she was leaving, she was holding their hands and saying ahola! malaho! haha...we had to correct her in the car. "mom it's aloha and mahalo!"
Last day there. We were so sad to leave. The kids seriously contemplated staying an extra weekend. We were so close to doing so!

Final family (minus Sam) picture before heading off to the airport.