Now that we’re officially on our way to summer 2012, it’s time to introduce this summer’s CITs!!! Every few days I’ll be updating the blog to feature a new 2012 CIT. Keep checking back to read all about this summer’s rockstars!

Brett Feldman

Hobbies when you’re at home: Hangin’ with friends and dreaming about being a CIT someday.

Years at Camp: 4 going on 5.

One fact about you: I regret not coming to camp sooner.

Favorite Camp Activity: NBA, not even close.

Favorite Camp Memory: Winning showcase and rope burn last summer.

Best Advice for a First Time Camper: Get along with your bunk and cherish being at camp because it only lasts for 7 weeks.

One thing you’ve never done at camp that you’re going to do this summer: Be a counselor for part of the day.

If you could plan your own perfect camp day, what would it look like: Sleeping through breakfast then waking up and seeing my bunkmates shining faces, having basketball elective in the morning, then having a taco salad for lunch made by the great Dara Zeltt. After lunch i would like to take a long nap and have NBA in the afternoon. Then having BBQ for dinner and finishing the night with MTV night and canteen.

I had a super fun trip to Long Island last week, and I got to hang out with two sets of twins that will both be coming to camp for their first summer!

First, I met Alexis & Ilana who current 3rd graders, and will be Junior Girls at camp this summer.  When I rang their doorbell in Roslyn, they answered wearing the adorable airbrushed Canadensis shirts above!  I’ve gotten to meet these girls a few times…I gave them their tour of camp this summer, they came back to visit their cousin the next day for Visiting Day (Zach S was in boys bunk 8 last summer), and I saw them at the Canteen on the Fly in Long Island…but there is still so much stuff I didn’t know about these awesome girls!

Ilana is super sweet and did an excellent reading of reading the packing list reminders about not over packing for camp!  Her favorite colors are red and purple…so maybe she’ll decide to decorate her camp bed that way?  Alexis is ready for an adventure and will be the first to get in line for a big scary roller coaster!  She was wearing a Mets shirt, which shows some of her “team spirit” and she’s also very patient (she waited with no problems while we were checking out Ilana’s room first).  Her favorite colors are blue and pink.  After the girls had shown me their rooms (both of them have a chair FILLED with stuffed animals in their room…so cute!), we went to their basement and wow! They have super cool parents who have let them and their friends write on the walls!  There were names and pictures drawn everywhere…and “Canadensis” was up on the wall a bunch too!  The girls even asked me to add my name, so I wrote it in their favorite colors – it was a big honor!

They already know a lot of stuff about camp because their mom is a Canadensis Alumni.  Dad also went to sleepaway camp (the same one I grew up at!) and since cousin, Zach was at Canadensis last summer, they watched every episode of the Canadensis Today Show, and they are huge fans!  They also have excellent memories, so they remembered the names of staff members, evening activity programs, camp shows, meals…and pretty much every detail about camp there is to know!  They even remembered that my favorite snack is a can of Fresca with a Red Vine as a straw, and they sent me home with a thoughtful gift that I will be enjoying soon!They’ve got tons of excitement and spirit!  We took the photo above to show off their “pizzazz”!  They stay busy during the year with after school activities, including dance classes, gymnastics and tennis.  They also like drama, and they suggested we do “The Lion King” or “Mary Poppins” this summer – both are great suggestions!  Alexis & Ilana are good skiers, so I’m sure they’ll be water-skiing around Lake Lenape this summer! During dinner, we enjoyed some good food (including a candy popcorn cake for dessert!), and the girls told me how much they love sauce! That means I’m going to have to warn their counselors about not wearing white shirts on pasta day!  During dinner, we took a break to answer their really well planned questions about camp (see below) and they even did some “line dances” including the “Dougie” – they are totally ready for the Rak Dan Evening Activity this summer! Their birthday is only a few days away, and I wish them a ton of fun and their glow-in-the-dark roller skating party!

About 20 minutes away, I also met with twins who live in Melville, LI.  Jessica and Amanda are current 4th graders, who will be Lower Inter Girls at camp for their first summer.  Because my visit ran a bit long, the girls and I were up until almost 10PM on a school night – but they said they have no trouble staying up late…luckily, they are good at waking up in the morning too!

Jessica (or maybe she’ll go by the nickname “Jessie”) is super bubbly, and loves to talk!  She has a personality that sparkles, almost as much as the sequiny shirt she was wearing!  She was telling me about some of her favorite activities at her day camp, including the time she caught a coy fish!  Amanda is incredibly sweet, and had some awesome questions to ask about camp!  Amanda has a lot of nicknames she likes to use, including A.J. & Mandy, but she’ll let you know what she wants to be called this summer!  The girls already know a bunch about camp because they took a tour last summer, they came to Canteen on the Fly to meet all of the camp staff, and best of all…they are friends with someone who came to camp last summer!  Sarah A. was in girls bunk 4, but she will be a Lower Inter with Jessica and Amanda this summer.  Sarah’s been giving them all the inside information about things like Color War and flashlight time.

Some of their favorite activities include soccer and dance.  They also really like playing tennis, which is great because they have tennis courts right across the street from them!  We will definitely teach them some extra tennis skills at camp which will improve their game!  They are really excited for the ropes course and zip line at camp, and they are planning to work on their bike riding skills so they can hit the 12-miles of private Canadensis trails!  Amanda & Jessica actually have bunk beds at home…how cool!?  When I asked who slept on top, they said they switch every night, which proves they are great at sharing, and will be awesome bunkmates this summer.

I ended the home visit by going out to the car with their dad, and putting the “Camp Canadensis” magnet on the trunk!  It’s official now, and all of Long Island will know where Amanda & Jessica are going to camp!

So, I told you above how Ilana & Alexis had really organized questions about camp…they actually made these giant posters that you see above which are covered with questions!  I’ve never seen such an awesome display!  If you have a home visit with one of the Canadensis directors, you definitely do not have to make an amazing art project like this (unless you have a snow day with time to waste!) – but it’s so important to spend some time in the days before thinking about questions to ask!  We want to make sure campers and parents feel completely comfortable asking us anything…but if you forget anything, you can always call, email, tweet, facebook message, blog…

I just wanted to do a quick blog post with some photos from our AMAZING camp reunion this weekend!!  We had nearly 300 campers, and many more staff members, join us for some winter time camp fun!  Thank you to everyone for coming out and being so flexible about the location change.  Can’t wait for summer 2012!!

Alex, Josh M., Ben, Josh R. & Alec – They will all be back for their second year as a Lower Inter Boy in 2012

Valerie is coming to camp for her third summer, and will be an Upper Inter Girl

Jordan will be coming to camp for her 2nd year in the Junior Girls division, and she was randomly selected to be the first recipient of our new Flat Indian Head – which will travel to different campers this year, just like “Flat Stanley”.  I know she’ll do a great job with it!!

Okay, I know this might sound lame…but this blog post is all about the dog sweater I crocheted for Annie.  Annie loves camp almost as much as I do, and although the kids at camp might paint her nails or use washable hairspray to make her blue & gold for Color War, she really doesn’t dress up much (except for her Halloween costume!).  I don’t expect to use this sweater much – but it was a really good project for me to learn new skills, and now that I’m telling the whole Canadensis community about it, I’m just going to proudly admit that I made a dog sweater.  Anyway, we are in the photo above showing off our crochet creations (I made the scarf I’m wearing).

I’ve never made any clothing before, and the idea of making a shirt for me seemed overwhelming, so I made this instead.  The sweater is orange with beige details and monogram.  This was my first time learning how to make a letter in crochet, and I found this tutorial really helpful.  The collar is ribbed crochet, there is a cable running down each side of the letter, and the stitching around the arms and bottom are slipstitches.

You can see that I started with the collar at the neck, and the sweater grew and grew from there.  I had to keep trying it on her to make sure it fit, and I took a photo each time.  Whenever you are crocheting with multiple colors, you have a lot of loose ends to weave in at the end, which is my least favorite step, so I wait until the project is finished to do them all.

Annie was very cooperative with my crochet experiment, and I think she enjoyed her trip around the block to show it off…

The Camp Canadensis Reunion location has been changed!!

On the last day before winter break ended, I got to spend some time with Jordyn, a current 3rd grader that will be a Junior Girl at camp for her first summer.  I met her for the first time at her house, but it was clear from the home visit that she is going to be an awesome Canadensis camper…camp is in her genes because both of her parents went to great overnight camps when they were kids.  She lives in Lafayette Hill, PA and through her day camp and extra curricular activities, she’s met a lot of kids who have been going to Canadensis, or are coming for the first year.  I’m sure they will be looking out for her, and helping to make her first summer amazing.

There is a lot to know about Jordyn, but above all, she loves to sing and dance.  She gets a bit nervous to be on stage (just like me!) but it doesn’t stop her from performing, and most recently she played the role of Jan in Grease.  She is a well rounded girl, she loves to rock climb (even when she slips), she is excited to do the lake activities, and basically try anything that her bunk does.  She can learn how to do things really quickly…for example, her family went on a ski vacation last week, and she learned how to ski in one day, and made it all the way up to level six!  She also went swimming in a pool on vacation that was half indoors and half outside…which seems crazy for a winter ski resort!

Jordyn is most excited for dance because she dances two hours a week, she loves hip hop and plans to tryout for our dance team this summer!  She also was very excited for soccer & softball because she plays on teams for those sports as well.  She is also a great artist, and I got a tour of her room to see a bunch of her projects that she has made and painted.  She is a great student, and has tons of Golden Tickets and Awards on her wall from her teachers.  She’s also really neat, and had one of the cleanest camper closets I’ve ever seen – apparently she is good at folding!  Most importantly…Jordyn was the Gaga Champion of her camp age group last year, so you better watch out if she’s in the Gaga pit with you during Free Play!!

She also loves pillows, and we counted 19 of them on her bed at home! This will help her make friends easily at camp because she’ll have the most comfortable bed in her bunk!  She has a little brother named Jared (he’s a huge Eagles fan!), and she’s excited to meet her new “camp sisters” at Canadensis!

Speaking of sisters…check out this adorable photo of sisters Dylan, a current 1st grader who will be a Lower Junior Girl and Madison, a current 4th grader who will be a Lower Inter Girl. The girls will both be coming to camp for their first summer, and they found out during winter break by opening up a present that had these two Camp Canadensis t-shirts inside!!  Madison plans to wear it every day until camp starts (mom might have to put it in the washing machine while she’s away at school!), but clearly the girls are pumped for their first summer, and we can’t wait!

I had such a good time during Winter Break, I thought I’d make a Top 6 Memories list (I couldn’t stick to 5)…

#6: Waking up to breakfast in bed

#5: Going to see a taping of the Jimmy Fallon Show in NYC

#4: Doing tons of Arts & Crafts projects (see “I Made This” Monday…I have craft projects to post for months to come!)

#3: Baking Challah with my TBF (“The Best Friend”) and her 2 year old twins

#2: Going out to Chinese food on Christmas with friends and running into Marc Summers – host of my favorite childhood TV game show “Double Dare” and more recently the host of “Unwrapped” on the Food Network.  Marc Summers thought my friends son, Sammy, was SO CUTE that he actually came over and introduced himself!

#1: Without a doubt, meeting my cousin’s newest addition to the family, and being asked to be baby Simone’s legal guardian was one of the most special moments in my life!

Hello Canadensis!

First, I want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!  I hope 2012 brings everyone a great year ahead.  And, hopefully, just a few days in, everyone has stuck to their new year’s resolutions.  At the same time, I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday time, whether it be some time off from school or work and an opportunity to be with friends and family.

During the holiday week, our camp office is completely closed so we can all enjoy some time off as well.  I typically don’t go anywhere, but really enjoy the days to relax.  As many of you know, I am a huge music lover.  For the holiday break, Jaime and I decided to “test” our love of music by attending four concerts in a row, including New Year’s Eve.  I had never ever gone to four concerts in a row, but we were up for the challenge and saw the band Phish play four sold out nights at Madison Square Garden.  I know what you’re saying.  Four shows sounds repetitive.  However, the great thing about this band is that in the four nights, they never repeated one song.  The New Year’s Eve show is also a special treat as the band usually pulls a “stunt” at midnight.  This year didn’t disappoint as the band had trapeze artists (disguised as fans in the crowd) dancing over the crowd at midnight.  Check it out by clicking here.  Great, fun stuff!

Of course, on top of four very musical nights, there was also two additional great nights as I attended both the Giants vs. Jets game and the Giants vs. Cowboys game.  Both games were must wins for my Big Blue and we are now in the playoffs.  Sorry Jets fans.  Sorry Eagles fans.  Sorry Cowboys fans.  Ha Ha!  How great were these plays by Victor Cruz versus the Jets and the Cowboys.  I have to learn how to salsa like him!  Ha Ha!

Of course, there was also some great at home time over the holiday break.  With what has seemingly become an annual tradition, Jaime and I built a ginger bread house.  We made a fire and broke out the icing and candy to build this holiday treat.  Here is a picture of the final product…

The holiday time for me brought the opportunity to see many camp families.  In Scotch Plains, NJ, I met up with Amanda and Kyle Burger.  Amanda, now in 5th grade, will be back at Canadensis for her 3rd summer as part of the Upper Inter Girls division.  She is excited to introduce to camp her brother Kyle, who is in 2nd grade and will be in our Junior Boys division.  This year, Amanda has been taking hip hop dance classes, preparing for a recital in the spring.  She is also taking piano lessons.  Amanda was also happy to tell me that she recently had a sleep over with bunkmate Valerie Solomon.  She is really looking forward to the reunion and wanted to give a shout out to the Girls of Bunk 8 from Summer 2011 and remind them of the clogged toilet chart.  As for Kyle, he is busy with a bunch of sports and plays flag football, basketball and soccer.  In the spring, he will also be trying lacrosse for the first time.  Speaking of first times, Kyle was psyched to tell me that he was going to his first NFL football game when the Jets played the Giants.  Kyle also loves video games and plays the drums.  This summer, he is ready to try rocketry, basketball, cooking, archery and the climbing wall.  Here is a photo…

Also in Scotch Plains, NJ, I got to hang out with the Steeles, Ava and Max.  Ava can’t wait for her 5th summer as a Lower Senior and receive her 5-Year jacket!  Now in the 7th grade, Ava is still playing lacrosse and cheerleading for the Scotch Plains / Fanwood Raiders teams.  She is also involved in hip hop and jazz dance classes and will be performing at a recital in the spring.  Ava wanted to give a shout out to the Girls of Bunk 13 from Summer 2011 and had an inside joke for them…don’t swing on shower curtains.  Ava is so thrilled that she will be joined at camp this summer by brother Max Steele, who is currently in the 5th grade and will be in our Upper Inter Boys division in his first summer.  Max just recently finished up his football season as he plays guard, tackle and defensive end for the Scotch Plains PAL Raiders.  He was very happy to tell me that the team won its first ever state championship!  In the winter, Max is playing center on his travel basketball team.  In the spring, he will move to travel baseball, where he plays outfield, catcher, third base and first base.  When at camp, Max can’t wait for Color War, lacrosse and hondas.  Here is a pic…

In Roslyn, NY, I got to see Jaymie and Avery Gilady.  Jaymie was telling me about how she is really enjoying middle school now that she is in 6th grade.  She is also taking art classes where she is primarily focusing on acrylic painting.  She is an avid reader and just told me that her most recent favorite book was “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” which she said was way better than the movie.  Jaymie will also be hosting a bunk sleep over in January.  She wanted to say hi to the Girls of Bunk 10 from Summer 2011 and can’t wait to see them.  As a Freshman Girl in 2012, Jaymie is really looking forward to her trip to Hershey Park.  As for Avery, now in the 3rd grade, he is still enjoys playing guitar and chess.  He is also currently in basketball season while also taking tennis lessons.  In the spring, he will move onto baseball.  He also recently saw all of his bunkmates at camp sleepover and wanted to give a shout out to the Boys of Bunk 3 from Summer 2011.  Next summer, Avery is looking forward to mountain bike rides as part of the Junior Boys division.  Here is a photo…

In Jericho, NY, I got to spend some time with Mandi Kurtz, who is in the 3rd grade and will be coming to camp for her very first summer as part of the Junior Girls division.  Mandi is very busy with her competitive dance team in which she performs hip hop, jazz and ballet.  The team’s competitions will begin in March.  Mandi also loves hanging out with her friends.  She let me know that over the holiday break, she will be going to CoCo Key in Connecticut.  Mandi is a huge fan of the New York Giants (awesome!), that her favorite color is hot pink and that her favorite TV shows are Jessie, I-Carly and Victorious.  When she gets to camp this year, she is looking forward to cooking, horseback riding, being in the play, the dance team and BBQs on Saturday nights and waffles and ice cream for breakfast.  Most importantly, she is looking forward to making new friends at camp.  Here is a picture…

In Dix Hills, NY, I met up with Ryan Sher, who is in the 3rd grade and will be part of our Junior Boys division in 2012.  Ryan is busy with a number of different activities these days.  He just finished up his flag football season, where his team the Patriots made it to the playoffs.  Now, he is busy with his basketball season.  On top of playing, he is also a big fan of the New York Knicks.  When spring comes, Ryan will be playing left field, third base and second base on his baseball team.  Ryan is also an accomplished piano player.  Just recently, he performed in a recital as well as in front of a judges panel for NYSMA, which is for select players.  He will also be playing at a talent show in March.  Ryan loves video games and his current favorite is Madden ’12 Football, which he also beat me in while I was at his house.  This summer, Ryan is excited for all the water activities, swimming, sports leagues, movies, hiking, art and hanging out with his cousin, Zach Sher.  Here is a pic…

In Edison, NJ, I got to have lunch at the Skylark Diner with two girls from our 2012 Upper Senior Girls division, Jessie Novey and Dani Sussman.  The foodie in me picked the place as I saw it on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives on the Food Network.  The three of us had a good time talking about our favorite place…Canadensis!  Both Jessie and Dani have been very busy in the 8th grade but have definitely been keeping in touch with camp friends and have even been able to see them at a few camp bat mitzvahs.  Both can’t wait for an awesome Summer 2012!  Here is a picture…

We hope to see as many campers and staff this weekend at our Annual Reunion.  Just like last year, the reunion will be at Jeepers in Elizabeth, NJ from 11 am to 1 pm.  Everyone in attendance will receive two camp posters!

Well, that’s all of the blogging for now.  More to come!

Have a great day!

-Brian