Wow! It is hard to believe that David, Liz Fierst and I pulled this trip off June 10-17th. It was simply amazing and quite enjoyable. This was my first time on the island of Maui (although I've visited Kauai and Oahu many times) and I got to share this trip with 14 students of mine, my great friend, and my wonderful and amazing husband. I put in a lot of time into this trip. Let me tell you, trying to run a convenience store in my classroom is not fun. Giving up two full weekends to park cars at Marina Middle School is not paradise, and making sure that I could get 26 students to volunteer two full weekends for the Chinese New Year's carnival was a little hectic. We decided not to go through a tour group but rather design the whole trip ourselves. That meant we had to find places to stay at a very low cost, create an exciting, fulfilling itineray, rent vans/car and drive the ENTIRE TIME, make sure everyone had three full meals each day, make sure noone got hurt or lost, and make sure the trip was educational and fun. All and all, I think everyone had a blast. We actually got all of the students to wake up at 2:00am to drive up to Haleakala Volcano and bike down 38.5 miles. Not everyone made it, but everyone tried at least. Most of the students and myself are not competent swimmers, however, everyone got geared up to snorkel and boogie board. It was hilarious to watch all of these city kids strap on floaties, walk in flippers and not care if anyone was watching them. That was great. The students complained a little about the four mile hike, but when they got to see waterfalls and walk through the bamboo forest their eyes just lit up. The film festival under the stars was perfect with live opening music, free massage, and a shooting star at the beginning and end of the film--as if on cue. They loved the Luau and enjoyed the food. The students tried everything. I'm grateful that everyone for the most part, had a positive attitude.

I want to thank Liz for being a part of this trip at the last minute. As usual, I can always count on Liz for her support, positive attitude, and just simply for being who she is, an awesome person. Thanks Liz! And to my husband, he is my silent hero. He made sure that the schedule was nice and tight. He scheduled all of the activities and knew how to get there, and he took care of the budget. I would have been stressed if I had to deal with all of that. And of course, thank you David for being my backbone and reminding me that I made the right decision in making this trip happen. Thank you love for everything.

If anyone else wants to do a trip like this, let us know and we can talk.

Additional We Remember Maui 2002 Photos

Another fun day in the sun. The day began with an intense and emotional graduation ceremony performance. JoAnn, Jon, Candice and special graduate David created a dance routine that hopefully people will never forget. Our dance mix consisted of I wanna be a dancin' fool sung by Fred Astaire, Joy n' Pain by Rob Bass, a piece from Monsoon Wedding, and Basketball by Curtis Blow. David Michael Dunham was indeed the star. No one, and I mean no one, can copy his dance moves. They are one of a kind!

We then played a game of softball and basketball. This was DMD's lucky day, because he was on the winning softball (10-9) and basketball (11-10, another down to the wire finish) teams. Was anyone so lucky with the seemingly unconquerable pool float thang--see the adventures of trying to relax on the pool float!

Click here for additional PHOTOS from June 23rd Festivities!