Mahalo, Maui, and Memories We'll Never Forget
July 23, 2025
With a lot of yawning and morning van naps we all admired the morning maui sun on the way to redline rafting! That beautiful red raft was gleaming as always and Nick and Jake were freaking psyched to get us going. As we motored into the molokini crater Hudson sang every word to any country song that came on and Sam seemed squealed with joy. Everyone hopped off the boat and Joe even saw a reef shark booking it out of there. Finley was a rascal in the water pushing people and scaring people, giggling the whole time. As we swerved to the other side we were treated to a swell and as Addy thugged out a little sea sickness we took a ride on the molokini elevator, and Henry casually dropped that it was probably the coolest thing he had ever done. As we hit some more donuts and explored a few more reefs George and Joe went on an unsuccessful octopus hunt (very sneaky prey). After we wrapped up the kids were still hungry for the ocean so we jetted over to our favorite beach where Huiet and the boys tossed football with group C and some locals took us on a tour of the local rock pools. Just when we thought the day wouldn’t get any better Kate announced our local food stop (Mexican in Makawao) where Hudson was thrilled to see Scheffler dominate the tournament, and we all got to sit and laugh at all of Ashlin’s shenanigans. This was one of the best days of my life and I know the kids felt the same as we wrapped up with a little Moonup where we announced Finley and Hudson as our new LOD’s.
A late morning allowed everyone to hang out around camp, listen to music, and cook some yummy breakfast. Joe, Caroline, Huiet, Hudson, Scarlett and Finley decided to spend the morning on a run, and even tried to PR their mile time. Hudson impressed EVERYONE with a 4:59. Meanwhile, Kate cooked pancakes for the rest of the group and they were waiting for the runners when they got back. Later that morning, we had our lei making class at Pono, where we learned how to thread Plumeria flowers with a sewing needle and onto the necklace. Sam’s all pink lei was beautiful and very coveted by all of the girls. After lunch, we headed into the town of Pa’ia for some lunch and shopping! The majority of the group decided on Poke bowls, a Hawaiian classic and something you can’t miss out on in Maui. After an hour of walking around, we ended our town day with some ice cream! Back at Pono, we prepped for the Maui Olympics. The girls decorated red shirts while the boys decorated themselves in paint. Olympics was full of games such as Birdie on a pirch, Knockout, Dude don’t touch my rock, and the infamous Montessori relay race. I’m very proud to say the Maui B took home the Olympics WIN!! We were so proud of the kids and had so much fun with them. Later at moonup, our LOD’s announced who they picked for the last day.. and it was Selah and Huiet!
Our final full day together brought a very bittersweet beginning. We were all excited to see what the last day had in store, but we knew that our time together was coming to a close. On the agenda, we had a surfing lesson in the morning. Everyone was pumped to get out there and start crushing the waves. George made great friends with the surfing instructor and he was up on practically every wave. Huiet also looked like a pro on the board and he and Joe were shredding the waves together, while Caroline and Ashlin were determined to get up on a party wave together. After we wrapped up our second day of surfing, we got in the van and headed to Iao Valley State Park for the afternoon. The crisp and warm weather made it ideal conditions for a perfect afternoon there. Caroline, Finley, Scarlett, Mathes, Hattie, and Ashlin all jumped off the ropes, swung into the creek and met up on the rocks with Selah and Addy afterwards. Meanwhile, the boys and Kate went on an excursion through the forest and found themselves in an incredible state of meditation. We had so much fun seeing the beauty of Maui and its rich culture, and it was the perfect close to our final day. We stopped for lunch at Foodland (our favorite!!), and Finley always joined Caroline and Kate in eating poke bowls. While eating, the kids continued to chase after chickens in hopes of finally catching one (it did not happen…)!! After a delicious lunch, we headed to Goodwill to find some AWESOME outfits for our banquet ceremony. We used a wheel spinner to assign everyone in the group to another person to pick out their outfits. Everyone looked fantastic ~ with more pictures to come ~ in their new attire. We headed over to meet up with the rest of the Maui groups for our banquet ceremony. We watched in awe of the luau happening right before our eyes, and we even got some people up and dancing. Pork, slaw, rice, and chicken laid the table and it made for a perfect final night together. After, we headed back to our campsite where we had one more final moonup as a family before parting our ways the following day.
Families, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for sending your children with us these past two weeks! They are truly each incredible human beings and were irreplaceable assets to our group. We laughed a whole lot, learned a ton, and had the best two weeks of our lives. We will miss them dearly, but we are confident that they will continue to thrive in their high school years. Mahalo!!!
With love,
Caroline, Kate, and Joe!!
Mahalo and Memories From Maui
July 19, 2025
Ahola families!!
We are having the BEST time in Maui and we can’t believe that we are over halfway through our stay here. We have had such an incredible time being with your kids, and the fun literally has not stopped since they arrived on airport day.
From where we last left off, we woke up with pancakes on the grill made by Joe, Henry, and Hudson! They were quite delicious and we enjoyed them as a group before packing up the van and heading to our morning activity – windsurfing!! Our LODs of the day, Hudson and Ashlin, set the tone of the morning through an awesome morning huddle. Before we knew it, we were out on the water. Scarlett ambitiously was the first to try out the new activity, and she windsurfed like a pro. Our guide claims “she is a natural” at the sport. Shortly after, George was sailing through the winds with the help of our beloved guide Casey. Everyone was having so much fun just laughing off our failed attempts and celebrating our wins!! Caroline, Hudson, and George walked along the beach back to the van while they watched the rest of the group windsurf in. After windsurfing, we headed back to our campsite for our afternoon activity at Pono! Joe and Caroline cooked up some mac and cheese and hotdogs for lunch. Everyone decided it would be the best for us to mix the two together as many of us did so when we were younger. It was a hit! Once we were done with lunch, we met up with Evan who runs the camp to hear an introduction to his farm/mission. We then divided everyone into groups and we began working. Some people were planting fennel, while others were planting carrots and lettuce. Finley was crushing it with one of the farmers and was very intentional on asking questions about the farm. She also got the group going on a carrot eating challenge and she claims she ate almost 20 carrots that afternoon! After an afternoon of learning and working, Evan greeted us with a waterslide! The group was so eager to try out the slide and Huiet was the first to go down. Shortly after the rest of the group was sliding down! Kate got an awesome photo of the group pointing at George as he was mid sliding down!! Selah was definitely one of the fastest down the slide in the group we agreed. Once everyone was worn out from the slide, we headed back to our campsite to shower off and made dinner – a nacho bar!! We set out tin foil across the table and laid out nachos for the group. It was arguably one of our favorite dinners made by Caroline and Kate. While we were cooking, Mathes, Scarlett, Hudson, and Sam were in an intense game of Spikeball. They are currently on game 9 of their tournament. The rest of the group joined in for a game of Mafia – a group favorite. Scarlett has been elected as the narrator for just almost every game because of her storytelling abilities!! We had an incredible moonup under the stars after dinner and elected Hattie and Henry as our next LODs 🙂
We had a later start to the morning, so Joe decided to take Hattie, Henry, Sam, Hudson, and Huiet on a run before our activity. They saw a horse on the way down and stopped to admire its beauty. Meanwhile, Kate and Caroline hung out with the group at camp. Caroline braided Finley and Addy’s hair and we all listened to music as we got ready for our day. On the way to ziplining, we stopped for breakfast as a group which was a hit! On the way to ziplining, we were listening to the “Masto Frat Remix”, a ten minute mashup of all our favorite songs. It definitely set an upbeat tone for the day and got everyone super pumped!! At ziplining we had to divide the group into two, so Kate and Caroline took the first half of the group and Joe took the second half. The views were absolutely beautiful ziplining – we were overlooking the entire ocean and ziplined across the greenest bamboo trees. Group 2 planned and executed an epic prank on one of the ziplining guides that got the whole group laughing. Once we wrapped up ziplining, we piled back into our beloved van and headed to our cooking class. Each of the kids were put on a team of three, each with a special role in the class. One group made dressing, one made the salad, another with the pineapple salsa and the last group chopped the coleslaw. Henry and Hudson were super excited to help cook the beef, as were Selah and Addy to help scoop the banana ice cream. Our taco meal was extra special knowing that their hard work was put into it! When we got back, moonup was under the stars! Our LODs picked George and Selah for the following day!
The next morning we had conservation again at Kipuka Olowalu! After making connections with the people there, we were all excited to see them again. We helped clear the invasive plants by cutting down trees and passing the limbs across the pond. Mathes did an amazing job carefully stripping the tree bark, and Henry impressed everyone with how quickly he worked. We couldn’t be prouder of our students—their strong work ethic and positive attitude made the day a huge success! To reward ourselves for our hard work, we ate lunch at Leodas again! It was a great meal to celebrate all that we had accomplished. After lunch, we headed to Black Rock Beach, one of the best cliff jumping spots on the island! We spent the afternoon hanging out on the beach and playing spikeball. Scarlett, Mathes, Hudson, and Huiet have been in an ongoing spikeball tournament– will update later on the final winners. Once we were all tired of the sun, we loaded up the van back to Pono. The kids participated in a Moondance classic- Master Chef! This is a fun way we like to make dinner, dividing the group in half and having them come up with a meal. Although there wasn’t a clear cut winner, they had so much fun working as a group to make dinner out of the ingredients we had leftover. At the end of the day, Mathes and Huiet were picked to be our next LODs!
With a later start, Caroline got started on cooking some bacon and pancakes. Once we got in the van, we started our trip 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. Finley and Scarlett were the first down the repels, and they looked like pros! 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 to a beach near Pa’ia. The boys found a few kids whom they befriended and played wiffleball with. The kids even gifted us two boogieboards to use for the rest of our trip! Meanwhile, the girls were using Hattie’s camera and taking beautiful photos of each other, and the rainbow over the water. It was a little bit stormy when we got back to Pono, so we cooked some hot ramen and mac and cheese for dinner. Luckily the rain cleared, and we were able to have moonup under the stars. Scarlett and Sam were picked to be LODs for tomorrow!
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 🙂
Thank you’s:
Ashlin- Thank you Mom and Dad for sending me! I’m having so much fun and Maui is so pretty! I miss you guys!
Selah- Thank you Mom and Dad for sending me to Maui! I love it so much and it’s such a great experience. I miss you guys a ton and I’m so excited to see you when I get home!
Addy- Thank you mom and dad for giving me this opportunity. I miss you so much though. I love the ocean here. love you from goose
George- Thank you mom and dad. This was so fun. It was great. Thank you
Sam- Thank you mom and dad for sending me it’s fun and i’m ok. 👍 love you
Huiet- hey mom and dad this is great and im having a great time! can’t wait to see u!! luv u
Hattie- Hi mom and dad!! I miss yall so much but I’m having soooo much fun here and I’m so so so grateful that you guys could send me here. Can’t wait to see yall! Love y’all❤️❤️
Henry – Hi mom and dad. I miss you guys a lot. I will see you soon. My nickname is consuela because i’m the designated dishwasher. it’s pretty fun. thankyou guys for sending me here it’s a lot of fun. bye!
Hudson- Thank you, mom and dad, I’m having a lot of fun with sticky Joe, Caroline and Kate. I have made a lot of new friends and Me and Henry are now the meat men.
Finley- Thanks so much mom and dad!! I am having soooo much fun. Love u bye
Scarlett- thanks so much mom and dad!!! i’m having a great time but it rained and now my sleeping bag is wet but it’s ok. take care of Gibbs. love you bye
Mathes- Thank you so much mom and dad! i love it here it’s so fun! We sleep outside everyday and surfing was so fun. We also cliff jumped (safely). I miss y’all so so much! Bye!!
Mahalo from Maui!
July 15, 2025
Aloha families!
The first full day on Maui was filled with sun and smiles, and we are ecstatic for the next two weeks! We started off the day with an early morning (due to jetlag) and a breakfast of bagels and oatmeal before we started our drive over to Kipuka Olowalu. Our LODs (leaders of the day) Finley and George, hyped us up for a morning of conservation! Once we arrived, we learned about the culture of the community we were working with and a quick safety brief. Maui is filled with invasive species, so our work for the day consisted of removing these invasives by utilizing non-pesticide forms of killing them. Ashlin removed the tree barks to perfection and Hudson blew us away by his speed of work. We were so proud of our students for working hard and having such an uplifting attitude! To finish out our time, we made a huge assembly line across the river with Hattie and Kate holding down the back and Huiet and Selah in the front. To reward ourselves for our hard work, we got a treat at Leoda’s Pies, supposedly the best pies in Maui! Most of us tried the lime pie and Addy got the banana creme! We were eager to get to the water, and quickly threw on our swimsuits and headed for west Maui. Joe took us to a place called Cliffhouse to go cliff jumping! We were so proud of everyone jumping, and Selah facing her fears with lots of encouragement from the crowd. Meanwhile, Caroline was picking up Sam from the airport and the group was all able to meet him back at our campsite- Pono Grown Farms. We were all so excited that he was finally here and started a game of spikeball as soon as he arrived! For dinner we had our favorite meal to cook as leaders… TACOS!! Finley and Hudson were very kind and willing to be our first clean crew, and executed it flawlessly. Our six alumni, Mathes, Scarlett, Finley, Ashlin, George, and Hattie helped guide the rest of the group through our first moonup of the trip. At the end, our LODs decided to choose Henry and Scarlett to lead us through our next day!
We woke up the following morning right as the sun was rising and we were so excited to start another day full of adventure. On the agenda, we had sea kayaking with Griff (a Moondance leader in the late 90’s!!). On the way, our LOD’s for the day, Scarlett and Henry led us through our morning huddle and set the positive tone for the morning. We listened to some of our favorite Hawaiian tunes and introduced the group to our very own “Sticky Joe”, Joe’s rap songs. It was safe to say the group loved it!! We had a quick safety brief before setting out for the day. The water had perfect conditions – clear, calm, and not too windy. We took in the breathtaking views while we kayaked! Sam and Selah were quite the ambitious duo and took on Griff for a kayak race. We learned so much about the Maui culture and everyone was very surprised to learn that the entire island of Maui is a dormant volcano. At our halfway point, we stopped to snorkel and were greeted by the beautiful ecosystem. We saw so many sea turtles and our guide Sky pointed out an octopus to us. Hattie and Caroline took off on the reef together and had an underwater photoshoot with the coral. Finley was granted Griff’s GoPro and she did a great job getting content for him throughout the day. Once we were done, we paddled back and loaded into the van to head to our next activity… surfing goat dairy!! We ate lunch on the way and laughed about funny stories from the morning before we made it to our destination. We were introduced by our lovely outfitters who gave us a tour of the farm. We got to feed so many goats and Ashlin, Addy, and Selah fearlessly went first. We also got to try all varieties of the goat cheese – which was delicious!! We got back to our campsite in the early afternoon which set us up perfectly for a Spikeball tournament. We set the groups in pairs and fearlessly fought for the title (Caroline, Selah, and Hattie fearlessly fought to learn the rules and keep up with the intensity of the group), but our winners were Henry and Hudson!! Once they were declared on top, the leaders cooked the group Joe’s Famous Pasta… with the secret ingredient of Chalula hot sauce (shhh). It was safe to say the group LOVED it!!! We ate till our stomachs were full and our elected cleaning duo was Selah and Mathes. We ended the night as a group with moonup and elected Addy and Huiet as the LODs!!!
Today we got in the van and headed to one of our favorite activities.. stand up paddleboarding!! The conditions were perfect for this activity, clear blue water and not a wave in sight. Right off the bat, Joe was trying to flip all of the boys off of their paddleboard. This started a competition which lasted the entirety of the morning. The girls tried to do headstands on the board and Hattie really got the hang of it! Our guides were super fun, told some spooky stories, and Hudson paddled around the group like a pro. After we got off the water, we headed over to Foodland- home of some of the best Poke on the island. Although, Finley was the only brave soul to try it with us leaders. Sam also dabbled into a little of Caroline’s leftovers. Everyone else’s lunches consisted of some sushi and some fried chicken. Post-lunch, we plopped on the beach for the afternoon. The boys immediately started a game of spikeball, and even played with some new friends that they met on the beach. Henry even saw one of his lacrosse friends there! After a few hours of swimming and napping, we went back to Pono to cook some chicken quesadillas! This quick dinner allowed us to surprise the kids by taking them up to Lavender Farms to watch the sunset. We frolicked in the field, watched some paragliders over us, and cooked some s’mores as the sun went down. Moonup under the stars was also a highlight, where Sam and Addy were picked to be LODs for the following day!
The next day we started bright and early – we were so excited for our morning activity… surfing!! On the way there, we were able to stop for some acai and we were able to chill at the beach before our lesson at 10:30am. The waves were awesome today and everyone was excited to get on the water. Our LODs of the day, Mathes and Sam set the example and immediately started getting up on waves. It was so awesome!!! George became buddies with one of the outfitters and they got on a party wave together. All of the students were able to get up on the board… We were so proud of them. Our afternoon had the Waihe’e Ridge Trail hike in store. On the way, we listened to some awesome tunes to get the group motivated. Once we started the hike, Hudson and Joe decided to chase Mathes, Finley, and Scarlett to the top. Mathes won!! Meanwhile, the rest of the group stayed in the back with Caroline and Kate. We took some awesome pictures and we are so excited for you all to see them!! We soaked in the beautiful views before heading back down to our van. On the way back, we decided to stop for ice cream at our favorite… Uluani’s Hawaiian Shaved Ice. It truly is some of the best on the island! At our campsite, we showered off our dusty legs and all played spikeball, volleyball, and soccer before beginning dinner. Addy and Selah got the group going to ralley some volleyball. Meanwhile, Sam and Hudson showed off their best dance moves to the music playing on the speaker. Kate cooked the group pepperoni pizzas and it was safe to say it was a hit – Sam even said it was some of the best pizza he has had! After dinner, we got ready for moonup under the beautiful Maui stars before heading to bed!
Thank you parents for sending your kids with us for two weeks!! We have loved every minute of it so far and the best is yet to come… which is crazy to think because we have already had the best time ever!! A hiki i ko makou kamailio hou ana (until we speak again!!!).
Caroline, Kate, and Joe
Finley- Hey guys, Maui is so much fun and the camera is GREAT. I’m having the best time and tell everyone I miss them. Also tell Alice and Elizabeth I say hi. Love you!
George-Hi. Thanks for sending me. Activities are fun. Bye.
Ashlin- Hi Mom and Dad, miss you guys lots and I am having lots of fun! Maui is so pretty and all the activities have been so much fun! Love you!
Sam- Hi mom and Dad, I miss you alot. I am having a lot of fun and I’m glad you sent me.
Addy- Hii! I miss you a lot. Maui is pretty good I’ll give you details later but I’m having so much fun with Selah! I love you to the moon and back. Love, Goose
Scarlett- Hi family, I’m having fun and the activities are really cool. Tell Alice I said hi and take care of Gibbs.
Love, Scarlett
Selah- Hi Mom, Dad, and Caleb, I miss you guys so much and Maui is so pretty! I hope you guys are having so much fun in Cabo. I love you guys so much! Love, Selah
Hattie- Hi Mom, Dad, and Crawford, I love and miss you guys. I’m having so much fun in Maui. I love my group and my counselors. I miss everyone!! <3
Mathes- Hi Mom and dad, Maui is really fun. We surfed and hiked and went to the beach. The hike was really long. Everyone here is so nice. I miss you! Bye
Hudson- Hello, parents, I am next to Henry and Kate rn, I miss you, Mahalo nui, Aloha!
Henry- Hey mom and Dad! Thanks so much for sending me to this camp. Love you guys! Aloha 🙂
Huiet- hey mom, dad, sam, and davies. I learned how to surf and I’m actually pretty good. The water is so clear and awesome. I am having the best time. Thanks for sending me here. Love you!
Safe Arrival in Maui!
July 11, 2025
Hello Maui Families!
We heard from our leaders this morning that the group has landed safely in Maui! The trip is off to a great start, and we cannot wait to hear more stories from their adventure! 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
