Independence Day, Island Style

A fun video on Independence Day with an unexpected surprise.

A Fourth of July celebration here in Maui has some similarities to those on the mainland, but also some awesome differences. The "thing to do" on Maui for this holiday is to trek down to  Lahaina where they close down Front Street from traffic for pedestrians to overtake the streets. We did this last year. We had parked a 10 minute walk away from Front Street because we knew there wouldn't be any room to park, we came hungry to get some dinner before the fireworks show, but left early. We aren't into big crowds, 2 hour wait lines for a meal overlooking the coast, and also our beloved local families turned into crazy mainlanders when it came to "their spot" they staked out for the family to watch the fireworks. Plus firework shows get a little monotonous and boring to us after awhile. 

So we went a different route this year. In the afternoon, we went on a couple miles long beach walk to walk off some calories before we over indulge that evening. Along Ka'anapali is the Westin Hotel and they do something special for Independence Day. In an environmental friendly attempt to keep the air a bit cleaner on this holiday, they came up with the Flower Shower. They fly a helicopter over the hotel and Whaler's Village and drop flowers to the guests. It was very sweet and can only make you smile. Some years they have different flowers, or if you collect a certain flower and turn it in you get a prize, etc. So on our beach walk we witnessed this cute little tradition.

Best shot I could get of them dropping the flowers

 In the evening, we invited some friends over and Jon BBQ'd one of his well thought out amazing meals, when even for 5 people he made way to much food haha. Then we walked down to the beach in front of our condo and set off fireworks on the beach. Fireworks on the beach are so much better in many ways. Instead of using ladders or chairs to prop up fireworks and set off a bunch at a time, we can build up sand piles and stick in sparklers where ever we want to make the show more entertaining! Instead of sidewalks to draw on with the sparkler's smoke, we drew on the wall. Some friends joined us from their condo downstairs of us with their son. It's always fun to see young little guys learning how fire works and scarred but wanting to play with fireworks.


BUT! We did not use the ocean to put out the flames. We had a separate pile and water to pour on the used fireworks. We saw some people just throwing fireworks into the ocean, polluting the beautiful water. Made me a little sad how many tourists probably did that thinking it was okay and safe because their fire landed in water, but imagine the pour sea life and what the coastline looked like the next day with the debris washed up, or even worse, not washed up...


So here's a summary of our evening. I apologize, the only camera I had was my camera phone the flash isn't powerful enough to really get a clear picture.

Being festive

Ladies tribal dance... with sparklers

Sand crabs come out at night. He was my friend.

Bradley yelling "ZUMBAAA"

This made me nervous that he going to singe off the hair on his face

Gang of ladies defacing the wall with happy messages :)

" :D 4th of July "

Lighting up our display

The finale!

Only good picture of the fireworks haha...

MONTAGES

Friends <3

Boys be crazy

Love

We had a great time! I'd say better than last year, more fun than the supposed "thing" to do on the Fourth. Of course family memories flood back from times with family. But rather than being sad that we can't take part in any family traditions this year, we just have to smile at the great memories. 

For the cat lovers, here's some cute photo's I've snapped recently:

What I wake up to in the morning. Two sleeping kitties on both sides of me <3

Big yawn

So our trip to Italy is official :) Our tickets have been bought!! September 15-October 10 and hopefully a Greek Island Cruise in October :) I'm still working on my Italian every couple of days. I can't control my excitement... 

Our celebratory dinner the night we finally booked tickets. Steak. Brown Rice. Grilled zucchini. Grilled onions. Grilled Carrots. And THE Wine of Italy, a bottle of Chianti Classico

Maui No Ka Oi