Alhoa Festival '08

Till next year...Aloha!

Today we took a family outing to the 14th Annual Aloha Festival hosted by the PICA at San Francisco's Presidio. We love this and are there every year. The food is always 'ono' (where else could you get a fresh malasada?), the music is fantastic, and the shopping is choice. We always love watching the local and not-so-local halaus doing what they do best. The weather, as usual, was foggy since we were by the beach but it was warm enough that it didn't drizzle like last year.

No-No took a minute to warm up to the noise and masses of people but soon made herself right at home. She flirted with the lady next-door and made herself the center of conversation as usual as we ran into family friends. She's such a "ham". Yes-Yes got to visit his favorite vendor, a man that carves and sells beautiful pendants and other things out of wood and bone including mammoth tusk! I, as usual, bought my share of Kelly's Kookies and said hello to Gwen, of Classic Hawaiian Designs, where I buy all of my jewelry. No money this year though.

The only downfall to today was our own Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu of the Academy of Hawaiian Arts, who was missing from the performances. For those of you not familiar with him, you may be surprised that you might recognize him from the Disney movie Lilo & Stitch. He became the ever famous voice of Hawaii as he wrote and preformed "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride" with Allen Silvestri, along with "He Mele No Lilo". I absolutely love his music and choreography and is always the fantastic finish to this wonderful gathering. We missed him so much that even DH, who's not as excited to go as I am, said that it didn't feel right without him there.
We missed you Mark!

Watch Mark carve a beautiful Hawaiian drum on You-tube (he is hilarious!) or watch his halau's performance at the Merrie Monarch Festeval '07, last year, which carries the same energy as we love him for.