Aloha families!!
June 29, 2025
Aloha families!!
We have arrived safely in Maui, and we are so excited to get the next two weeks started! George was our first arrival at the airport, and he came in with nothing but high energy. Joe taught him hacky sack lessons 101, and before we knew it, he was able to stall a hacky sack!! Kate and Caroline watched in awe as he mastered the skills they had been trying to learn from Joe. Our next arrival was Stone, who jumped into all the group games being played with enthusiasm and excitement. As the rest of the group started rolling in, we played a variety of name games and group games to begin to meet one another. Before we knew it, we were heading into the van – which had decorated windows – to go to our campsite for the first time. Of course on the way back, we had to stop and pick up some pizza for dinner!! Once we made it back to camp, we enjoyed our first meal together as a Moondance family. Van impressed us all by mastering everyone’s names and how to remember them first (ex: George (like King George), Caroline (like the song Sweet Caroline), etc.). After dinner, everyone unloaded their belongings into their tents and we got ready for our very first moonup! We had moonup under the beautiful Maui stars and we selected Lilly and George as our first leaders of the day (LODs)!!
The next morning started bright and early with a bit of jet lag having the group up right as the sun rose. We enjoyed the nice weather of the morning by throwing the football, playing hacky sack, and chatting with one another under the tent. Goerge and Lilly led the group in our first morning huddle which got the group ready for our very first activity…. rappelling!!! With a later start, Joe got started on cooking some delicious chocolate chip pancakes, while Davis was photographing pictures of the group. Shoutout Davis for his talent with the camera!! Once we got in the van, we had a bit more time so we decided to surprise the group with a coffee run in Paia town. We all got varieties of matcha, coffee, and acai bowls which got us ready for our big day ahead. Caroline, Cole, Quinn, and George all made their way into a surf store to buy matching tank tops. We of course had to get some photos in our matching shirts and then we headed down the Road to Hana to make our way to rappelling in The Garden of Eden. We soaked up the beautiful views on the Road to Hana before we made it to our destination!! After a quick safety brief from our outfitters, we found ourselves ready to hit repels. Reagan was the first down the repels, and she looked like a pro! The waterfalls looked absolutely stunning due some rain the night before! We all agreed that our favorite one was the second repel with an 8 foot hanging drop into a lake of water. After we finished up the activity, we loaded back into the van and headed back to our campsite for a picture perfect kind of evening. Lilly and Maggie helped Caroline and Kate get started on our first dinner (tacos!!), while George and Cole led the group in a game. When the tacos were ready, we all sat in a circle together outside and saw the most beautiful sunset. We shared our most embarrassing stories and all had plenty of laughs at dinner. Stone led a group in a game of volleyball, while another group played a game of jackpot. Once the sun had set, we played a game of man hunt (with a pink team victory), before our LODs led us through moonup. We elected Maggie and Stone as our next LODs!!! Before the night closed, we all listened to Lucy’s hilarious stories that were so entertaining to listen to!
The next morning, Joe woke up before everyone and selflessly made breakfast burrito bowls! We were so thankful when we woke up. We then headed out for Kanaha park to windsurf!!! The guides taught us how to correctly read the wind which set us up for success on the water. George won the award for quickest learner, and didn’t want to quit even when the lesson was over. Stone also impressed us, being from Wilmington he has it in his nature!! After a few hours of fun on the water, we sat by the beach and ate our lunches together before heading to the Waihee Ridge trail head!! We stocked up on water and started our two mile hike of pure beauty. All of the kids agreed that this was the prettiest hike that they had ever been on. You can see the entire island from the top!! Joe, Cole, and Stone decided to run to the top to get a little more exercise. They completed it, and even came back down to hike the rest of the trail with the group! After a game of hacky sack at the top, we started our much shorter descent. The views continued to wow us!!! Back at the campsite, Griff came by to give everyone a Hawaiian history lesson and fresh mango taste test from his tree!! We had stir fry for dinner, which was a huge hit!! Maggie even tried it for the first time! During moonup our LODs today elected Quinn and Reagan to lead us through our day tomorrow!!
We woke up today for a fun morning of conservation at Maui Cultural Lands! Our guide, Ekolu, taught us a native song before letting us into the sacred lands. Lahaina was badly damaged by the wildfires. Seeing the fancy resorts still standing next to burned grass really made the kids think. It hit even harder when they talked to someone who’s spent their whole life taking care of the land. Hearing his story helped the kids understand how serious the fire was and how much the land means to the people who live there. Molly and Davis in particular really put their nose down and got to work. Pulling weeds isn’t the most fun activity in the world but everyone did their share and had a lot of fun learning from the guides about their culture. By the time we were done, it was a little overcast so we decided to take everyone to Leoda’s Pies, the best pies is Maui!! The fan favorite was the coconut creme! Afterwards, we loaded up and headed to the famous Ho’okipa beach. The girls sat by the beach and took naps while the boys used our new boogieboard in the water! Joe also made a huge rock tower which was incredible. We drove back to Pono to start cooking our baked potato bar for dinner! Our LOD’s elected Molly and Cole to be our leaders for the next day!
This morning we woke up with the sun and got ready for a well-anticipated activity… sea kayaking!! We had breakfast to-go in the van to meet Griff, a Moondance leader alumni, at our beach for the day. In the van, we played some remixes that got everyone awake and ready to conquer the water. We split the group into teams of two to be in the kayaks together and before we knew it we were out on the water. Our LODs for the day, Molly and Cole, absolutely CRUSHED it in sea kayaking and were flying ahead of the group. George and Quinn decided to team up and miraculously flipped Joe’s kayak! After kayaking for a good bit, we stopped and Griff led us to a fabulous snorkeling spot. Reagan was the first in and found a turtle for the rest of the group to see. Molly quickly joined her and they spotted an eel!! We had so much fun on the water and even taught Maggie a quick “How to snorkel!” lesson. Lucy was the group photographer and made sure everyone got a picture with an ocean creature underwater. After snorkeling, we paddled back to our initial starting point and loaded up the van to head to Foodland – a Hawaiian favorite spot. We let the group pick out lunch, which even included delicious poke bowls, chicken, and our favorite assortments of chips. We took the food to-go and headed to the beach. Stone brought his volleyball (which has been a group favorite), and began teaching Caroline, Kate, and Quinn how to spike the ball over the net. This lesson quickly turned into a volleyball rally where Lilly joined the team. Meanwhile, Joe led the group to the ocean where they played Marco Polo among the beautiful Hawaiian waters. Molly did her first backflip in the ocean! Everyone had an incredible time and before we knew it, we headed back to our campsite to cook the group favorite nacho bar. Molly absolutely crushed it, chopping up the lettuce, tomatoes, and onions, while we taught Cole how to cook ground beef. We laid out the tinfoil, and everyone gathered around for a family meal. Afterwards, we discussed how fabulous the dinner was, while Joe and George went chip-for-chip to try and finish the leftovers. We ended the night with moonup where we elected Davis and Van for our LODs!!
Families, we have enjoyed getting to know your children so much and we can’t wait to continue our journey as a group. We have loved and cherished every moment SO much and everyday with them just keeps getting better. Mahalo, mahalo, mahalo! Until we chat again 🙂
Lilly- Aloha family! I can’t wait to see you but I’m having the best time here. So far we have done repelling, hiking, kayaking, conservation, and snorkeling. My favorite thing has been snorkeling because we saw SO many turtles. Love yall so much! 💕💕💕💕
Maggie- Hey fam jam! I’m soon excited to see y’all soon! It’s awesome here! We have repelled hiked and snorkeled… I’m awful at snorkeling but it was fun. Everyone here is so fun! I love yall so much see yall in Macon!😘🏄♀️✌️
Reagan- Hi padre and madre I miss you guys so much!! Maui is so so soooo fun! So far snorkeling has been my favorite thing. I am so excited to do more snorkeling and go surfing. I hope you guys are having a good time in Asheville. Also, I got to swim next to a turtle today and it was beautiful and it’s like my new favorite creature!!
Lucy- Hey queen mama and dad! I’m living to the fullest here in Maui. I have loved the activities- you guys don’t get to know yet. Let sugar know I miss her so much. Let Izzy know I’m having fun and I hope Wells misses me. The weather is superb and I’m not a sunburnt dad! My group is elite and fire🔥. My counselors are really funny and nice 👍! The fruit is bussin and yummy. Google plex! Don’t think I would forget! I love you so much. I have new besties too!
Lottie – hi we’re having a lit time and I’ll tell you about the stuff we did later. It is really pretty here and text Addison on snap that I miss her🥀. I hope Henley and Brahm are having a good time without me.
Van- Hey!! I am having an absolute blast in Maui. It is so pretty. Love you so much. My group is amazing! Have so many slay people. I have done so many cool things! There are chickens everywhere! Tell Mac and Julian I said hello and I miss you. Also say hi to Cricket and Betsy. Love them! Well byyy!!! going to a rodeo!❤️😘🤪🌊☀️👙🏝️🐚
Quinn- What’s up crew were all having a good time and chilling, activities were a ton of fun and everyone’s cool. Miss you guys, tell poppy I said what’s up. No phone is pretty cool as well.
Davis- Hi mom and dad, I am having a great time and it’s so fun here. The weather is absolutely hype (it’s beautiful)🏝️. I shouldn’t have followed the packing list because shirts go by quick, Sorry dad for the purchases… I hope everyone is having fun in Charlotte and I miss y’all so much. I absolutely LOVE the mangos 🥭 here and all the food is amazing. I’ve made lots of life long friends and memories. Before I say bye and I’m back, dad what’s the plan after? We hiked the 2nd biggest mountain here. I forgot what it’s called but I remember it’s 8000ft⛰️. I miss y’all (including buggy🐩) and see you soon!
George- love you guys see you in a week.
Cole- Hey mom and dad i miss yall so much I am having so much fun it doesn’t smell like pineapples😂 but tell duke I miss him a lot and tell gamey I love her and I love yall so much Caroline and Kate are epic and joechocho is a my dog. the views are sick. miss yall so much love you I miss duke.
Stone- Hello family…. It’s been so much fun so far and the people are soooo nice, amazing, Also please tell Syd Syd that I, happy for them!! I miss Saylor so much!! And I got Turner a shirt for his birthday…. Okie love yall!
Molly- Hi guys! We’ve done so much stuff I’ve never done before. I haven’t used my card yet but I’ve used cash to buy a permanent bracelet with all the girls here! We all fit so well together and these guys and girls are so perfect for me like something I could never find at home. These days are flying by and I already know I’m not gonna be able to leave the last day, but do I miss y’all! Love you so so much! Tell Alice I miss her! ❤️
The Adventure 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
