last aloha week parade

On September 25  Ryan marched his last Aloha Week Parade as a Kamehameha Band member.

Usually the tubas wear blue tunics and berets rather than the regular band "full dress" uniform.  I thought it was because the uniform would interfere with their playing of the tuba, but apparently at one time the band was so big that there were not enough uniforms for everyone.  So they elected to put the tubas in a different uniform.  But Ryan decided that he really wanted to wear the "real" uniform since this is his last year, and the band director was all for it.  The parade was the first time they got to wear the full uniform, with the jacket and helmet, which were modeled after the Hawaiian royal guards'.  Unlike most of the other band uniforms, which are generic ones from a catalog, the Kamehameha uniform was custom-made for the band and has the school name stitched on the cuffs, with maile lei embroidered on the jackets.  I took a bunch of pics of the tuba line as well as the seniors.  Ryan made the tubas take a pic with me too.  I set up a new email account this year to use as Corresponding Secretary for the booster club - tubamom2011.

I was planning to help with breakfast before the parade, and then go with the band to Ala Moana Park (the starting point) to take pictures, maybe walk a ways with the band like I've done the past three years.  But Ryan said, "Mom, it would be nice if you walked the parade with us since this is my last parade."  So mom decided to go for it.  I walked the 3+ mile parade, taking photos and videos along the way.  It was a struggle at times because they walk really fast!  But I finished.  And it was worth it to get this hero shot at the end, in front of the Kapiolani Park Bandstand.

It was nice to see some of Ryan's Kapunahala Elementary friends, who are now seniors in the Castle High School Band (l-r, Ryan, Gavin, David and Tracy).  David is the drum major for the Castle band.

The bus ride back to campus was very long, with lots of traffic due to an accident.  And when we were finally going up the hill on campus, the bus overheated and broke down!  One of the boys on the bus was in our group on the Pasadena Rose Parade trip and he looked at me and said, "Aunty!  This is just like Pasadena!"  Our bus kept breaking down on our way up to Big Bear;  it was a nightmare that turned out to be a fun memory for the kids.

It wound up being an awesome day...especially when I went home, took a shower, and took a nap!