Flocks of folks were funning and sunning at Ala Moana Beach Park yesterday.

In short: volleyball, football tossing, tennis, barbecuing, picnicking, sunbathing, swimming, paddling, sailing, jogging, cat-napping, biking, reading, girl-watching, boy-watching, fishing and baby-stroller pushing.

Swaying ladies did the hula. Surfers caught a robust southern swell that crested over the rock seawall at the Magic Island lagoon.

Smack dab in the middle of it all, the death-defying Pharaoh's Fury ride rocketed skyward at the Honolulu Family Festival at Magic Island.

When the ride disgorged its screaming passengers, Joey Tezuka, 7, of Narita, Japan, bolted for the mini-helicopter ride. His dad Ken huffed and puffed behind him.

"We're going to ride all the rides," Ken said as Joey nodded vigorously. "He's smiling and I'm so scared."

Vernon Williams, a Schofield soldier from North Carolina, rode the merry-go-round with his 2-year-old nephew Malakai. "My cousin had reserve duty today," Williams said, "so I'm baby-sitting for her."

Malakai preferred the giant slide, perhaps for the stunning view it offered of Diamond Head and the Wai'anae Range.

Williams said they might "eat a lot."

Toothsome treats abounded: Korean barbecue, pizza, garlic shrimp, candied apples, shave ice, huli huli chicken, plate lunches, fried noodles, saimin and Dippin' Dots, "the ice cream of the future."

There were games of skill, many of which involved throwing: darts at balloons, basketballs at hoops, softballs at stacks of blocks, at goblets, at milk cans.

Eugenia Smith of Kaimuki brought her nephews Keoni, 8, and Taj, 5, who are visiting from Northern California. They mopped up, winning a stuffed blue monkey, a stuffed brown dog and a big blue inflatable bat.

The interview with Smith was cut short when Taj began vigorously beating the reporter questioning her with his big blue bat.

"He won the bat at the fishing pond," Smith said. "He's beating his brother; he's beating me; he's beating everybody."

When asked why, Taj just grinned wickedly.

No carnival would be complete without lost kids, and Phil and Junko Lopez were grateful when police officers found their son Christopher, 3, after he wandered off.

"They were real quick," Phil Lopez said. "It's the first time he's ever done that."

Junko Lopez hugged her boy tightly. "We turned our backs and just a few seconds, he's gone," she said.

Officer Joe Chvosta said another lost boy was quickly reunited with his parents because he knew his mother's cell phone number.

"That's always a good idea," Chvosta said.