Making Memories in Maui
June 29, 2025
Aloha friends and family,
Maui 2A has been a blast, and since we are unplugged and y’all aren’t here to fully understand it, we thought we’d send an update. (Warning: you might get a little FOMO) Kahului Airport arrival day went smoothly, all kids landed safely and on time into Maui! We sat in a nice courtyard with the other Maui groups with some good tunes and good snacks. Amelia and Katie were there first and without their constant energy and smiles, the day would not have gone by so quick. Everyone got to know each other while playing huge games of hackey sack and vroom vroom skirt. Henry and Duncan may have showed up later in the day, but their sack skills were quite visible. All Maui groups talked about what we were excited about for the trip. We gathered the troops and devoured some always tasty Costco pizza and settled into our new home for the next two weeks. We introduced ourselves and gathered under the stars for our very first moonup! Congrats to our new LODs, Amelia and Brooks!
Day 2 began like all great days do, with a beautiful sunrise and blueberry muffins. Today was a challenging day, starting off with Windsurfing lessons, but no one shied away from the challenge. At one point I even saw Alex and Whitney teaching MC! Meanwhile Alice and Heidi learned some sick 360 tricks on the board. We enjoyed a nice leisurely swim on the beach before we headed to our next activity at Pono Grown farm. Evan Ryan welcomed us into his fully self sustaining eco-friendly home/workplace/community in which our group learned, worked, and played. We got to get our hands dirty and everyone was able to plant an entire row of different vegetables, all grown through the process of regenerative farming. Duncan and Gavin loved meeting some new farmer friends, like Joe and Calder, planting cabbage and learning about each other’s lives. And finally, to celebrate our hard work, Evan suprised everyone with his homemade waterslide! Everyone got to cool off while also getting some pretty gnarly speed! We then headed home, ate some homemade chipotle bowls and burritos, and played mafia in the grass before our moonup, can’t wait to see what our new leaders, Whitney and Duncan have in store for us!
Day 3 invited us to Maui Cultural Lands, one of the most sacred and special places we get to visit. Ekulu and his beautiful family welcomed us with tangible aloha spirit onto their conservation, where we challenged ourselves to fighting every invasive plant that got in our path. Getting to listen and learn from the MCL crew about their invaluable restoration work inspired us to give it our all in service. MCL is one of those places you are better in heart and mind after visiting, and we are so grateful to their group for teaching us more about the rich Hawaiian culture! For the afternoon, we treated ourselves to some general store snacks and headed to Fleming Beach where legend has it the best hot dogs were grilled. Brooks tried a cold hot dog for the rest of us, who then decided not to give it a try! We had the best of times swimming in the ocean (shoutout Gavin and Amelia for winning Taps) and chilling under MC’s shibumi. On the way home, we took a certainly scenic route that took our breaths away (but left just enough to sing to Jack Johnson and eat ice cream sandwiches). Jack L and Whitney helped chef up some wonderful fettucini alfredo that refueled us all after a day of unforgettable adventures!
Day 4 challenged us a little bit when we woke up to some pretty serious rain, but that did not stop Maui 2A from enjoying every bit of what the day had to offer. We went down south to hide from the rain and found a really awesome hike called the Hoapili Trail, which took us through a breathtaking lava rock field along the coastline, formed around 1790. We hiked to Cape Hanamanioa to find some of the most blue water you’ve ever seen. We then had a lunch picnic while we decorated our van windows with colorful pens, who knew we had so many talented artists like Jack A. After lunch, our LODs thought we needed some celebratory ice cream, so we got some at the Maui mall and headed to our final activity for the day, a tour of Maui Tropical Plantation. Here we learned so much about Maui’s history, but also about the ecosystems and crops here in Maui. We all watched in awe as we learned how to properly open a coconut, it’s far more work than you’d expect. Finally, we headed home to enjoy some free time, Katie, Heidi, Amelia, MC, and Davis painted while the sun set in the background of the camp, while the boys had an intense spike ball match, Brooks and Gavin beat Parker, and I don’t think he’ll ever hear the end of it! We finished off the day with some amazing chicken stir fry, truly cooked and eaten by everyone. It was so good we had to make 2 batches! Shoutout tomorrow’s LODs, Henry and Heidi!
Day 5: Today was truly a day of transformation, more specifically facing fears! We got to sleep in a little so we decided to celebrate with some of Chef Davis’s breakfast burritos. We used that energy to carry use through the long scenic drive to one of my personal favorite places on the island, the garden of Eden. Here, we rappelled down a couple huge waterfalls and swam in the pools below them! Shoutout to Jack A, Whitney, Katie, and Amelia (and probably a few others, secretly) for facing their fear of heights head on! They flew down the cliff with no regrets and enjoyed the views! After our high stress morning, we got some lunch and spent some time catching rays on the beach, but few people sat on the sand… Gavin became our personal trainer, leading us in some sandy core workouts. The rest of the group played a very complicated game which I like to call, “see big wave, jump over big wave”, a source of endless entertainment! We settled into camp, played our favorite game “signs” and cooked some spaghetti. What an amazing day, closed out with our LOD’s for tomorrow, Katie and Gavin!
Aloha!
-Davis, Mary Claire, and Parker
Jack Lyle:hello mom and dad! I am having a lot of fun in Maui. Thanks for sending me here! Love you!
Duncan: hey mom and dad! I am having so much fun at Maui and I have met a lot of good people here. Say hi to my brothers for me! Love you!
Brooks: wassup hope you guys have a good 4th have a good time having fun!
Jack Armstrong: what’s up Shonkla and mom, hope y’all are doing good and the dogs are doing well. Maui is amazing and the people here are pretty cool. I’m glad I’m here.
Gavin: Hey Mom and Dad I’m having lots of fun and hope you guys are doing well. Love you guys. Also hi Bridget
Katie: Hi mom and dad I’m having an amazing time and Moondance is really fun. I miss you guys!
Heidi:Dear Mom and Dad and Hans, I miss you guys so much! so excited to see you soon! Definitely miss you guys so much! I know God has amazing plans for us! love you always and forever! -Heidi
Alice: Hi mom and dad, I’m having so much fun, miss yall!
Scarlett and Finley, I miss you guys so much and wish yall were here!
Victoria, I miss you so much and I hope you are having fun riding horses! I can’t wait to see you in 2 weeks!
Alex: hii mom and dad I am having soso much fun this is the best trip and I miss yall and Morgan and I hope yall have a great fourthhhhhh💕💕💕
Henry: Hey mom and dad this trip has been a ton of fun and I already made some good friends that I’ve been having a lot of fun at the beach and all the other stuff We’ve been doing. I love yall and can’t wait to see yall soon!
Whitney: Hey!!! I’m having so much fun here. Everyone is so so nice and the campsite is so perfect. We went windsurfing, repelling and on a really really pretty hike. I miss yall so much. Tell all my friends I mis them too. I’m having so much fun here and the food is so amazing! I have never consumed this much food in my life. I love you guys so much and can’t wait to see you all. I hope you guys are having the most fun in London and will see u all soon
Amelia: Hey mom and dad I have had so much fun and Maui is so pretty. I have made so many good friends and I can’t wait to see you when I get home. I love and miss you so much but I am having so much fun.
The Adventures Begins!
June 25, 2025
Hello Maui Families!
We heard from our leaders this morning that the group has landed safely on the island! The group is so excited to start their adventure together!
Please remember our leaders and students will be unplugged during their trips, but we will be posting trip updates throughout the next week! This will allow you to follow along with the trip. You can also follow us on Instagram, @moondanceadventures, to see more of what we are up to!
-Moondance HQ
