Whale Day

Today was Whale Day on Maui where it seems like the entire population of the island gathers in Kihei to watch a parade in honor of the Humpback Whales who migrate to the warm waters of Hawaii each winter to mate and give birth. There's also a large "festival" type of thing at Kalama Park all day with music, hula and other entertainment at the pavilion, food vendors, art vendors, keiki activities (jumpy castles, face painting, etc). The main purpose of Whale Day is to raise awareness and implore humans to "Save the Whales", protect our oceans and in general serve as a reminder that we are not the only species calling this island paradise home. It's probably all wonderful, but every year I can remember going it's always HOT, dirty, and extremely CROWDED - all things I don't particularly enjoy. Add to that a 4-year-old yanking on my arm every 45 seconds and whining about the fact that the parade people aren't throwing enough candy and/or the right kind of candy for his liking or "can we go to the jumpy castle now" every 1.5 minutes and well, you can imagine that it's just almost more fun and excitement than I can stand!! But of course Dean had a blast and the little turd is so stinking cute that he almost makes you forget how miserable you are for those 45 seconds in between arm yankings. So anyway, here are the pics from Whale Day 2011...

We had to park a few miles away from all the excitement (because of the huge crowds) and take a bus to the park. Dean LOVED riding on the bus. One of the entertainers, an older lady all dressed up to dance hula, got on the bus and sat down behind him. (Dean loves hula and often puts on hula shows for us at home.) My Mom asked the lady if she was dancing today and she said yes. Dean turned around and gave her a huge smile and said "I looooove you". He looked a little embarrassed after, I think he might have meant to say "I loooove hula", but she didn't seem to mind! It was pretty cute.


We found ourselves a place to sit on the curb along South Kihei Road to watch the parade and then waited (and waited and waited) for it to begin. It was SO dirty and dusty - we all had brown butts when we got up and I'm just hoping my shorts aren't ruined.


The Kihei Canoe Club were the parade leaders, blowing several conch shells in unison to start things off...
There were several groups with "floats" in the parade (or just walking together or doing something entertaining). Dean's little buddy Miles was dressed up like an Orca Whale and rode his bike along with a few other kids and their parents with the Montessori school from Kihei.

My personal favorite though was the Shaka Divers Scuba Bus...music, bubbles, crazy swim rings, girls roller skating around in grass skirts and swimsuits, and pulling a trailer full of colorful mermaids! It was definitely the most fun group in the parade!


After the parade we headed over to the park to do a little shopping among the many vendors - we didn't buy much because it was just too hot and crowded. Then we let Dean spend some time in a few of the keiki activities. We ran into one of his best buds from school, Maddox, and they had some fun being goofy of course! After that, I was ready to head home - I had had about all the fun I could stand for one day!!!