Arizona Aloha Festival 2013

One of my absolute Favorite things about Spring is the Arizona Aloha Festival! It is the Largest Hula Festival outside of Hawaii, and it's right here in the middle of the Arizona desert!

My girls & I used to Dance Hula & we have actually danced in the Aloha Festival! (Great Memories!) And we have gone every year since then to see our friends & Hula Sista's dance.

And every year we always say how much we miss Hula! It is so Beautiful! And it is on my Bucket List to someday get to actually Hula in Hawaii! :) (The above picture is of two of my favorite Hula dancers; Denese & Debbie!)

The Festival is always a Saturday & Sunday in March, at Tempe Beach Park & this year it was cold & storming on Saturday, so no one hardly came out, but on Sunday it was warm & sunny and more crowded than I have ever seen it!

Erica, Lexi & Kyle Hanging Loose in front of a canoe! There are Hawaiian food booths & of course Hawaiian Shaved Ice, (which we have to have EVERY year!) There is all kinds of Vendors & Activities. You can take a Ukulele lesson, (someday I will buy my Husband a Ukulele!) make a lei, hear stories of the Hawaiian culture, & much more.

The girls & I tried our hand at something called Hot Hula Fitness! It was fun! And Erica was directly in eye shot of the instructor & she kept saying "Good Job, girl in the white shirt, you got it!" (which of course embarrassed Erica & made us laugh!) :)

And there is a lot of shopping! Over the years we've bought everything from T-shirts to luggage, from accessories like shark teeth necklaces & flowers for our hair, to pareo's (which is a Hawaiian sarong to use as swimsuit cover-ups!) This year the girls wanted rings. Lexi chose Dolphins & Erica a Treble Clef! Sterling Silver.

And I bought Steering Wheel Covers, Grey for John's car, Green for Kyles & Pink for my car for $5.00 a piece! Score! You can spend a LOT, or a little. But there is always a lot to see!

Smile! Instead of fighting the traffic we like to ride the Light Rail! It's convenient & you meet all kinds of interesting people! And you can usually tell by the way people are dressed who's going to the Aloha Festival! :)

The Festival is always a highlight of our year. Next year will be the 20th Anniversary of the Arizona Aloha Festival! And of course we will be there! Hope you will be too! Until then we will continue to Live Aloha!