IIDA On Par Golf Outing

Last week on Thursday I went golfing! Yes Golfing. I haven't been golfing since high school when my parents had me take golfing lessons from Vince. So I didn't expect to be good but I was able to hold my own. I could only hit the ball straight but that is all I really needed to do. It was a great time. Becky, Carolyn, Tina and I all had a great time. With lots of laughs. The event was a hit with everyone. I think IIDA Wisconsin really hit it out of the park. Here are some photos from the On Par Golf Outing

Hi Ho Hi Ho Back to work I go!

Yes reality has finally set in along with deadlines. I am working very hard to finish the construction documents for RMDH in madison. The deadline is Sept 1. I am hoping to finish on time but it will require working weekends. Play hard then you have to work hard. So to keep my spirits up I have booked a trip to San Fran in the middle of Sept. Trevor had to go to a conference so I am going with him for a long weekend trip. Yippy. It is alot easier to work when you have a vacation on the horizon. So with this deadline looming I think it is time to take time off and go golfing. IIDA WI is holding it first annual On Par Golf outing. It should be fun. I am golfing with Becky from Creative and Carolyn and Tina from Flad. It should be a blast. I will post more pictures soon.

Party Time!

When we got back home from Hawaii we heard all of good ole friends were in town so it was time to have a party. I invite everyone thinking that some people won't show up but almost everyone came. We had 65 people at the party including 5 babies and 14 kids. You know your friends are different when you have to purchase juice boxes instead of beer. But we also got beer. It was a huge party in fact more people showed up than RSVP. I think what happened is that people found out that everyone was coming and they went out of there way to show up. We had two families come from California, Denver and Kansas City plus all of our local friends and family. Trevor and I thought we would be exhausted from the Hawaii trip so we got the party catered. Our only job was to clean the house prior to the party and after the party. One issue we had during the party was the weather. We expected that people would go outside but with the thunderstorms and muggy heat. We were all traped in the air conditioning that could not keep up with the number of people. Eventually the weather front went through and it got cooler out and the kids started to play outside. I hope everyone had a great time. I think we found out our house maximum capacity is 65 people. Maybe a we need a bigger house for our parties but then I would have to clean it. Maybe not!

Hawaii 2009

So we made it back from Hawaii about two weeks ago. We had so much fun and once again I wish we were back. After almost 24 hours of travel we arrive at our rental house in Waikokla Village. We flew NWA and the trip was great. I found tickets for only $400 roundtrip. Such a deal. The first day we went to Kona to pick up supplies (aka Costco). We had lunch at Gump's and went shopping at the ABC store to get our floaties. We then went to A Bay a very calm beach. Where Al was stun by a sea urchin. For dinner we went to a great little restaurant in Waimea (the cowboy town) called Meriman's. It was also Trevor's 32nd Birthday. I think it is a great way to celebrate in Hawaii. It was a great dinner with a great desert. We had a variety of deserts but everyone loved the chocolate purses (aka the manbags) Trevor and I had the creme bule. yummy. The next day we traveled up the north coast. We took the road up the windy mountain and landed in a cute little town. We continued to the black sand beach and hiked down to the beach. The hike down took about 30mins because it was slippery but the walk up was easy. Then we went to lunch at the bamboo restaurant and did a little shopping. Then we went to a great beach Hanuma Beach. We loved the waves and spent the rest of the afternoon in the water. Then we went home for a great dinner.

The next morning we drove south towards the green sand beach. Little did we know this was going to be a long day. We started by hiking two and half miles to the green sand beach. It was a dust long road. But I don't even think you can call it a road only 4x4 trucks could drive it and that is why we hiked the road. By the time we arrive we were covered in dirt. We finally found how to get down to the water from the middle of the cresent. The water was beautiful. We were about to go so I started puting my socks on when I turned my back on the ocean and I was hit with a big wave. I was sopping wet including my camera but thank god the case absorbed all the water and the camera was saved. It was so windy that Trevor's hair was standing straight up. After a long wet walk back to the car. We were so hungry so we went to a little hole in the wall place along the rode. I took this time to take a bath. Yes take a bath. I was so dirty that I took a bath in the bathroom sink and felt much better afterward. Next we drove 60 more miles to the Volcano. We saw the volcano steam but half of the park was closed because of the toxic fumes coming from the caldern. Then we went walked thru the lava tube. Then we went to Hilo for a little shopping trip at Walmart. Someone had a great idea to drive home on the saddle road. We thought it would be faster. Well it was a very long and windy road. We saw the best sunset of the entire trip on Saddle Road. It was crazy. Trevor and I were pretending we were on a roller coaster and had our hands up in the air. We finally arrive home white knuckles and all. The next morning I read in the guide book that rental car companies discourage driving the Saddle Road and quote "Only fools drive Saddle Road at night" Check and Check. We are the tourist Fools!

We decieded that yesterday was a long day and we were going to take it easy the next day. So we started the day going to a coffee farm. We saw how coffee was grown from cherries and dried and eventually roasted. We learned all about the different types beans and coffee types. Did you know that most of the coffee in the states that calls itself Kona coffee is really only 10% Kona coffee. Real Kona coffee is really expensive so to hold the cost down they mix it with crappy coffee. We then went snorkeling at the premier snorkel spot told to Al by one of our neighbors. I really can't recall the name but we walked on lava rocks down to the edge and hopped in. Ok not really. Al and Mary learned how to snorkel that day and they did better than me. I started freaking out with all the fish and not remembering that I could breathe underwater. I only lasted for 1 minute in the water. On our way back to the house we stopped to see where Captain Cook was killed and we stoped a fruit stand for some exotic fresh fruit. On our way back home Mom stopped at Macy's to get a new swimming suit. Trevor and I checked out another beach with big waves. We had fun surfing the waves on the floaties. After the beach we went home for dinner.
So the next day we resumed our crazy tourist schdule. We woke up early and drove the saddle road again. Like we didn't learn our lesson the first time. But it was surpirsingly a different road in the day time. We realized what a crazy road we were on the night before. We drove to Hilo on the wet side of the island. We saw rainbow falls and the boiling pools. We were even going to go swiming in a waterfall but it was pouring and we couldn't even get my parents out of the car to look at the waterfall. So we moved on to our next destination. We drove an amazing drive through a jungle road with beautiful trees that covered the road in canopy of leaves. Alahani hot pools which is a man made pool feed by the ocean but warmed by steam vents in from the volcano. I think this was one of my parents favorite activities. It was right up there ally. On our way home we drove by another waterfall the largest of 420ft high waterfall and another very scenic drive past the ocean. This time we drove the north road which was a lot less crazy. We even saw the end of the rainbow but found no gold. When we got back home Trevor and I went out to a sunset dinner overlooking the ocean at the Kona Prince hotel. The dinner was ok but the sunset view was amazing!

The our final day on the Big Island we spent at the beach. We went to Kona to get some gifts and then hit the beach. We got pizza at the Kona brewery and ate it at the beach. We went the beach with the big waves and tried out the boogie board. We had a great time checking the waves dude! I had so much sand in my swimsuit but it was worth it. We then went to another beach Spencer Beach which was calm. Trevor and I spent the last sunset at the Hanaua Beach writing our names in the sand and watching the sun go down on our last night in Hawaii. We went to dinner near Spencer Beach and then went home and pack for another long trip home. One day soon we will return to Hawaii!