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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 8:29 p.m., Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Obama visits grandfather's grave at Punchbowl

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama began his day today with a round of golf at Luana Hills Country Club in Kailua.

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

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U.S. Sen. Barack Obama today visited the grave site of his maternal grandfather at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.

He also spent Day 6 of his Hawai'i family vacation playing golf, visiting the Pali Lookout and taking 12 children for shave ice.

Obama, who arrived in Honolulu Aug. 8 with his wife Michelle and their two daughters, is scheduled to leave Hawai'i on Friday.

He left his rented Kailua residence around 7:30 a.m. today for an early morning tee time at a golf course on O'ahu's Windward side.

The round of golf, at Luana Hills Country Club in Kailua, was the second for Obama, an Illinois senator. Obama played 18 holes Saturday at Olomana Golf Links.

His playing partners included long-time friends Marty Nesbitt and Eric Whitaker, who have been with him in Hawai'i throughout his vacation.

A crowd of about a dozen people gathered at the 18th hole as Obama finished out his round. The group completed the 6,000-yard course in six hours and 45 minutes. It wasn't known what Obama shot. Combined with Saturday's round, Obama has spent close to 12 hours on the links while in Hawaii.

Obama was born in Hawai'i and is in town to visit his 85-year-old maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham.

In mid-afternoon Obama, traveling with an entourage of family and friends numbering about 20 total, including 12 children, went to the cemetery, where his grandfather, Stanley Dunham, a World War II veteran, is buried. Obama credits the Dunhams with raising him as a youth in Honolulu.

"Let's go see your great grandpa," Obama told his daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, before they set out for the grave site. Obama carried a flower lei and was joined by his brother-in-law, Conrad Ng, and one of his nieces, to the grave site, which was out of view from the pool media. Conrad Ng is married to Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng. They live in Honolulu.

They spent about five minutes at the site, before the entire group visited the Honolulu Memorial monument at the cemetery.

The motorcade left the cemetery around 4:45 p.m. and headed back toward the Windward side of the island.

On the way, the group stopped at the Pali Lookout, where surprised tourists gathered to snap photos and try and get a glimpse of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

"Nice to see you," he told one group that yelled encouragement.

The motorcade left the lookout at 4:50 p.m. and headed to Kailua. "Who wants to get shave ice?" he asked to the delight of the children.

At Island Snow Hawaii in Kailua Beach Center, the senator kept calm as he attempted to take shave ice orders for 12 children.

"You guys know what you want?" Obama asked as 12 children screamed back at him.

"It is right before dinner. I don't want to get in trouble," he said as he urged all of them to get the keiki, or child size serving.

Noticing that the keiki size was recommended for kids 8 and under, his oldest daughter, Malia, informed him, "I'm 10, daddy."

After finishing the ordering for the group, Obama asked for a cone with "guava orange, Lanikai lime and choo-choo cherry."

Obama entered the store when there was no line, but as word spread of his appearance, a crowd of about 50 people gathered behind him, snapping pictures with digital cameras and cell phones and giving him a round of applause as he exited.

The entourage hung around outside the store for a while, where Obama fended off some anxious fans who wanted to get close.

"Let's let the kids try to enjoy the shave ice," he pleaded.