Spring Break Music Fest

   Spring Break is big deal on Kwaj and we kick it off with the Spring Break Music Fest.  Brewers start months ahead of time to have the perfect beer ready for the beer tent,  musicians and dancers practice for weeks before the show and the island's chili chefs pick out their favorite recipes for the chili cook off.  There's cotton candy, Italian ice's and baked good to be had, and this year, a whole lot of sunshine made for the perfect afternoon at the beach.
  We headed out to Emon Beach after Sky's nap and went right to Swanby Snow, the island's Italian ice maker.  The Swanby's have an ice machine and grinder hooked up to a bike trailer and they bring it to every event.  It's something we all look forward to and it was a great way to start the afternoon.

 I had a "special" Italian ice: Bacardi and Root Beer!

 Sky loved the strawberry and banana flavored on that we got for her.

The dunk tank features island "celebrities" and raises money for the Kwajalein Swim Team.  The celebrities I saw were two Scout Masters, the Catholic priest and one of the top radar managers. 

Sky loves the big bounce house they set up at these events and probably spent a half hour playing in it.  Most of the time she just sat in the middle and had fun getting bounced around by the bigger kids.   She's still so light that anytime someone bounced near her, she would go flying in the air and then land and giggle like crazy.

The chili cookoff is a big event every year.  This year there were 15 entries and some of the judging categories for Best Chili, Hottest Chili, and Best Vegetarian Chili. 

 Jenna and Karen share a chili-tasting plate

 D wasn't going to share his chili with anyone!

Another big draw is the beer tent.  Kwaj has a lot of home-brewers and there were a lot of beers to sample this year.  D tried the beers inside the tent and Sky and I hit up the home-made root beer outside.

 Laura and D, on the over-21 side of the fence

Too cute!

There were musicians:

and dancers:

And then musicians and dancers:

 Hula is really popular here and most girls and women take lessons.  This is the high school advanced group.

As soon as Sky hear this group, "Drum Down the Sun" start playing, she ran over and sat down to listen. 

The last band we stayed to see was "Life on a Boomerang".  Sky was having such a good time sitting with the "big girls" and listening to the music that we didn't want to make her leave.