Rein Teen Tours Blog

Rein Project Hawaii – helping the world one child and one animal at a time

Aloha from Rein Project Hawaii ~The first week of the program was incredible. Here’s a recap of what we’ve been up to…It all began when we arrived in Hilo and we were welcomed with these beautiful flower leis:

Aloha ~ welcome!
Excited to finally be at Project Hawaii
After getting a good night of sleep, we awoke the next morning and did lots of team building and orientation programming.
Team Building in the backyard of our hotel
Our teenagers have made incredible contributions at their service projects.Here’s a glimpse of the work we’ve done so far at our volunteer sites:Summer Fun:
Reading to the kids
Time with the young ones
Swimming with the kids
Sports time
Rainbow Friends Animal Sanctuary:
The group!
Walking the dogs
So sweet
Working with the cats
Camp Aloha:
Art time
Working together on a project
Play Time
Good times
Water balloon day
We’ve been on some really amazing field trips in the afternoons. Our first field trip was to Akaka Falls:
We hiked to see this beautiful waterfall
Wow - this is soooo Hawaii
Group photo at Akaka Falls
We also took a really cool field trip to Volcanoes National Park, where we saw Halemaumau Crater at Kilauea Volcano ….http://www.nps.gov/havo/index.htm
Halemaumau Crater at Kilauea Volcano in Volcanoes National Park
… and we walked through the Thurston Lava Tube…http://www.nps.gov/havo/planyourvisit/craterrimtour_tube.htm
Walking through the lava tube
The entrance to the lava tube
In the evenings, we have the unique opportunity to take part in Cultural Immersion Activities. Our cultural kumus (teachers) have been so warm and welcoming.
We love Uncle!
At Cultural Nights, we’ve learned to dance hula:
…. how to play konane (hawaiian checkers)
… and  how to husk a coconut
Before....
After!
Taste testing the finished product
After working hard at our projects all week, we flew to Maui for our first weekend resort getaway. The Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa was our home for the weekend:http://maui.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels-maui/index.jsp?null
The Hyatt Regency Maui
Another view of the pool
The penguin habitat at our hotel
Yup, in Hawaii!
During the weekend, we played in the pool and the ocean…
And we went banana boating!!!!
What an incredible time it’s been so far on Project Hawaii! Aloha…..