Meet Lulu!  She lives in Bryn Mawr, PA and is a current 3rd grader who will be a new Upper Junior Girl at camp this summer.  She sometimes goes by the nickname “Lu”. We had a lot of fun hanging out the day before she got braces, so her smile is probably looking a little different right now!  I had a great time touring around her house and seeing her room and playroom (which has a cool spiral staircase leading up there!)  She’s going to be celebrating her birthday at camp a few days after Visiting Day, and we talked all about the fun she’s going to have on that special day! Here’s what you need to know about this creative, colorful and happy new camper: After school she likes to hang with her sister and dog Rocky, and do handstands.  She loves gymnastics, and will be signing up to spend elective periods there, as well as ceramics, dance, art shack and the pool for swim team.  Her favorite food is ice cream (pizza is the runner up) and she loves the color pink.  Her favorite animal is a puppy and her favorite TV show is “The Amazing Race”.  She loves Taylor Swift (she has her poster up on her wall!) and her favorite movie is “Sing”.  Her favorite hobby is gymnastics, and she likes reading the “My Weird School” book series.  She roots for the Eagles (even though her dad is from NY!) and her favorite candy is MilkDuds.  When Lulu was telling me all about herself, her parents were able to guess all of her favorites, they really know her and they know she’s ready for an awesome summer at Canadensis!

Meet Dani!  She lives in Plymouth Meeting, PA and is a current 2nd grader who will be a new Lower Junior Girl at camp this summer. She very often goes by the nickname “Dgrace”.  She attended the Tour & More Weekend last summer, so she knows a lot about camp and is totally ready for more summer fun!  She’s a younger sister (her big brother goes to camp, see below) and their family recently adopted a new puppy named Roxy, who doesn’t look at all like a puppy!  Here’s what you need to know about this nice and helpful new camper who is full of love: After school she likes to do her homework…seriously!  Her dad confirmed that she really enjoys doing it, and if she’s done with time to spare she’ll watch some TV.  Her favorite TV shows are “Jessie” and “Bunk’d”.  She’s got a lot of her artwork and crafts on display in her house, and she’s excited to do art electives (including glass fusion, and woodworking) and also play some sports.  She is playing basketball this season, and she’s on the Pink Panthers.  Her favorite animal is a dog or a panda, and she loves pasta.  She thinks pasta is “The Best Thing In The World!!”.  Her favorite colors are purple and orange, she loves Ariana Grande and Justin Timberlake, and she also loves chocolate…any kind of chocolate you’ve got, she’ll take!  She enjoys building legos, and I saw a recent one she built of “Moana”, which is one of her favorite movies.  She also really likes the movie “Sing”.  Overall, Dani loves to help others whenever she can, which means she’ll be an excellent bunkmate!!

Her big brother Aidan is a current 7th grader who will be a Lower Senior Boy, moving over to Senior Boys Side this summer.  He’s spending his 3rd summer at Camp Canadensis and he’s been having a busy year!  We got to hang out for a little bit before he went to Mitzvah Academy, and we talked about how we hope the weather cooperates better with us this year so we can get in more night time baseball games!  He’s getting ready for his Bar Mitzvah and he’s got a lot of camp friends he’ll be seeing all year at different celebrations!  He can’t wait to be back at camp!

Meet Lila!  She lives in River Vale, NJ and is a current 3rd grader who will be a new Upper Junior Girl at camp this summer.  She sometimes goes by the nickname “Li”. We hung out after she got home from her sign language class (they are performing to a song in the school concert!) and she also had Brownies, she’s a busy lady!  Even though I got to know her on her tour this summer, and she came back for more fun at the Tour & More Playday, I still learned so much more about her…and she introduced me to her favorite things, including the “Geronimo Stilton” books and Musical.ly.   Here’s what you need to know about this kind, and artistic new camper who loves to dance: After school she likes to watch TV, and she always hopes for no homework!  She goes to dance twice a week and takes a bunch of different styles, and will be signing up to spend elective periods there, as well as considering lots of other options.  She’s a girl who likes detail, so we got serious about looking at the schedule and she totally understood our crazy system of how Day 1 = Monday, and Thursdays are it’s own Special Day…maybe in the future she’ll work in Programming at camp!  Her favorite foods are cupcakes, sushi and ice cream.  She loves the color blue, puppies and the TV show “Good Luck Charlie”.  Her mom is from the Boston area so she cheers for the Red Sox and Patriots, and her dad went to Michigan so she’s a fan on theirs too!  She likes Taylor Swift music and loves gymnastics.  Her favorite candy is Twix (we both agree frozen Twix is the best thing in the canteen!) and she had a great favorite movie, she loves “E.T.” – classic!

Lila’s younger sister Brynn was part of the home visit too!  She’s only 5 and in Pre-K now, but she had awesome questions about camp and in a few years she’ll be packing her bag to try out Canadensis for a Tour & More program!

While in River Vale, I got to stop by and hang out with siblings Alex & Gabby and enjoy some banana bread while we caught up.  Alex will be back for his 4th summer and is excited to move up to Freshman Hill with the current 6th grade boys.  There are so many changes in store for him this summer, it’s a huge year!  He’s going to have to take a little time out from the Freshman Hill excitement this summer to practice for his upcoming Bar Mitzvah because he’s getting ready for it in October!  Currently, he’s keeping busy with sports, including Lacrosse and Tennis.  He also has started his own business creating apps, he’s made them for his school and other organizations, and he offered to make one for Camp Canadensis.  The app he created for camp has been downloaded over 160 times and hopefully after this blog post a few more times!

Gabby had a great first summer at camp last year, and she’s looking forward to returning to camp as a Lower Inter Girl.  She’s enjoying 4th grade, and while she’s taking tennis lessons currently, she’s really looking forward to warmer temps when softball season begins!  Softball is definitely her favorite sport, she stayed in the softball elective all summer last year, and she hopes we’ll have an intercamp game for girls her age this summer.  We traded lots of stories about camp (and memories about the overnight!), discussed the camp show and which bunk the family will go to first on visiting day this summer.  Can’t wait to see them when camp starts in 162 days!

You can download the app Alex made for free from the iTunes Store here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/camp-canadensis-sticker-pack/id1188135930?mt=8   

Once it’s installed, here’s an easy tutorial about how to use them! https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206906

Meet Lily!  She lives in Scarsdale, NY and is a current 2nd grader who will be a new Lower Junior Girl at camp this summer.  She often goes by the nickname “Lil” and oh my goodness is she excited for camp!!  She was already 110% ready for camp by the time our home visit started, and when we were done she was at the highest number possible 🙂 . She’s got an older sister (see below), and a dog named Rosie. This weekend her family is heading up to the Poconos to go skiing at Camelback, it’s close to camp so they might make a side trip to Callies Candy Kitchen!  We spent the night looking through camp photos, talking about the best activities and making the tough decision about which perfectly mushy pillow to pack for camp!  Here’s what you need to know about this big hearted, crazy and friendly new camper: After school she loves to do gymnastics, she’s the cartwheel queen!  This summer you’ll definitely see her doing gymnastics electives, along with mountain biking and some of the options up in art!  Her favorite food is ice cream (in addition to sushi, and junk food) and her favorite color is specifically shiny pink!  Her favorite animal is a puppy, and she likes watching the TV show “My Babysitter is a Vampire”!  She loves the movie “Trolls” and likes the song “Can’t Stop The Feeling” from the movie.  In the canteen she’ll choose anything gummy, and we picked out which three books she’ll be bringing to camp…two are “Dork Diaries” and the other is her favorite book “The Descendants”.

A lot of Lily’s spirit and knowledge about camp comes from big sister Izzy!  The girls greeted me in Canadensis gear they had gotten as Hanukkah presents!  Izzy is currently in 4th grade and will be heading to camp for her 3rd summer, this year she’ll be a Lower Inter.  Being a Lower Inter means some elective choices open up for you, including Video & Media (which gets to make segments for the Canadensis Today Show), Ceramics Wheel and Quads!  Her bunk won Honor Bunk (the clean-up competition) 4 out of 6 weeks this year, which means they earned the pizza party, but didn’t make it all the way to the Callie’s Candy Kitchen, so she hopes they can stop there this weekend!  She’s been in the camp drama productions, and through rehearsals she’s gotten to know a lot of the older and younger campers, she’s made so many friends at Canadensis.  Some of the camp friends in her bunk have younger sisters in 2nd grade that are also starting this summer, so it’s fun to think about the new friendships that are about to start!

Hello Canadensis!

Just got back from our annual Reunion and I must say that it completely got me in the Summer Spirit!  While the Reunion is still an opportunity to look back and reminisce on the amazing 2016 Summer we shared together, it is also a time to get excited about Summer 2017!  Even in a snow storm, we were so happy to see so many campers and staff turn out for the event.  This year, we held the festivities at the Brunswick Zone in Feasterville, PA.  The location provided bowling, arcade games, and laser tag for everyone to play.  We learned that many campers also coordinated the Reunion with a bunk sleepover, which always makes the Reunion extra special.  To check out some pictures of the event, click here.  But, here were some of my favorite shots…

Our Winter office is getting really busy this time of year, particularly with our staff hiring.  Starting very soon, we will all be “hitting the road” in our effort to hire some amazing new staff.  If you know of anyone that is interested in working at camp, please have them complete an application on our website here.  As always, our staff search is to find Mature Goofballs to work at camp.  Here is a new poster we created to help us with our search.

Also to note in the staff news of things is that Summer 2017 is shaping up with so many returning staff members from last summer.  This year, we have received so many re-applications for counselors that would like to experience camp all over again.

 NOW, it’s time for my first BLOG BAND CALL.

First five campers and/or staff to e-mail me at brian@canadensis.com with the correct answer to this camp related question will be sent a much coveted white team band.   The question is…

At what time did reveille blow this summer to break Color War 2016?  

As always, the blogs are a great way to introduce so many new and returning Canadensis campers.  Over the past 5 weeks, I’ve met so many excited campers that can’t wait for Summer 2017 to start…

In Bala Cynwyd, PA, I met up with Zach (3rd grade; 1st summer) and Noah (6th grade; 3rd summer).  I learned that Zach plays midfield and defense on his Lower Merion Soccer Club team in both the fall and spring.  He is a huge lover of music, particularly pop music, and is known to be the family DJ.  When at home, he enjoys playing video games.  When he gets to camp as part of the Upper Junior division, he is looking forward to things like soccer, cooking, the lake, the banana boat and canteen.  As for Noah, he is playing basketball in the Penn Valley league.  In the spring, he will play both baseball and run track.  On top of that, he plays piano and saxophone.  Both boys also enjoy hanging out with their dog Molly.  Noah, now a Freshman at Canadensis, wanted to give a shout out the 2016’s Bunk 11.  In 2017, he can’t wait to be “up on the hill,” going to Cooperstown and having twice the electives.  Here is a photo…

In New York City, I got to hang out with twins Sydney and Aiden (2nd grade; 1st summers).  As for Sydney, she is very active taking both gymnastics and computer coding classes, where she makes games that can be put on the internet.  Sydney also loves arts and crafts, dance parties and is a big fan of Taylor Swift, who she saw over the past year for her very first concert.  As a Lower Junior in 2017, Sydney is excited for the waterslides at the pool, going in the lake and canteen.  Aiden is currently taking a robotics class.  During my visit, he even showed me some of the cool projects he’s completed.  In the fall and spring seasons, he plays baseball.  Aiden is a big fan of the New York Giants as well as the Yankees, Knicks and Wisconsin Badgers.  When he gets to camp as a Lower Junior, he is ready for activities like football, baseball, robotics and canteen.  Here is a pic…

In Livingston, NJ, I spent some time with Riley (3rd grade; 1st summer), who will part of our Upper Junior Girls group this year.  Riley is currently playing in a basketball league.  Her team is the Liberty.  Just recently, she finished up her soccer league in the fall.  In the spring, it will be time for softball.  When not out on the fields and courts, Riley loves to do arts and crafts.  When she’s in the mood to chill, she can be seen watching her favorite TV show “Jesse.”  Riley is really looking forward to all of the different activities at camp from all the great stuff at the lake to riding the quads to Color War.  But, must of all, she said that she is really excited to meet all of the new people and make new friends.  Here is a snapshot…

In Merion Station, PA, I saw twins Eli and Julian (4th grade, 1st summers), who are tremendously pumped for their first sleep away camp experience!  Both just recently completed their soccer seasons and have now moved onto playing in their Penn Valley basketball league.  On top of that, Eli plays the drums and trumpet and enjoys taking care of his pet guinea pig Max.  He also likes sports cars, rooting for his Philadelphia Eagles and playing computer games.  Julian plays both the guitar and violin, likes technology and playing video games and cheering on his favorite basketball team, the 76ers.  When I asked the boys what they are looking forward to at camp this summer, both said all of the water sports at the lake, Color War and sports leagues.  Here is a photo…

In Mt. Sinai, NY, I got to know twins Austin and Hayden (4th grade; 1st summers).  Austin told me all about how he is involved in karate, where he is currently a brown belt.  On the other hand, Hayden is a guitar player and likes playing tunes from 21 Pilots and Coldplay.  In the fall and spring, both boys play on baseball teams.  Austin likes playing CF and SS while Hayden likes SS and 3B.  Both are sports fans of the Mets, Giants and Islanders as well.  Just recently, the two of them started playing on a hockey team.  As part of the Lower Inter Boys division in 2017, Austin is ready for things like gaga, fishing, morning line-up and CBL while Hayden is looking forward to rock band, morning line-up, the Canadensis Today Show and CBL.  Here is picture…

In Setauket, NY, I was with Mason (3rd grade, 1st summer).  Mason likes to play lacrosse all year round.  Currently, he is also playing on a basketball team.  In the fall and spring, he plays baseball.  On top of all that, Mason is master lego builder and showed me some of his finished pieces, which were mighty impressive.  He is also a big fan of Star Wars and Harry Potter.  When it’s time to root for his favorite teams, you’ll see him cheering for the Rangers, Jets and Mets.  When he gets to camp in June as part of the Upper Junior division, he is looking forward to learning how to play hockey, robotics, legos, ziplinling and the quads.  Here is a pic…

In Port Washington, NY, I saw Andrew (3rd grade; 1st summer).  Andrew loves to play basketball.  Recently, he even took a trip to Springfield, MA to visit the Basketball Hall of Fame.  His favorite teams to root for are Duke and the Golden State Warriors.  Andrew even declared himself a Cameron Crazy (which is another name for die hard Duke fans).  Andrew also loves to swim.  When at home chilling out, you can find Andrew surfing the web, watching his favorite You Tube videos or some of his favorite movies like “The Karate Kid” and “ET.”  As an Upper Junior in 2017, Andrew is eagerly awaiting activities like basketball, the pool and water slides, lake, ropes course and, of course, Color War!  Here is a shot…

In New York City, I also saw Colby (3rd grade; 1st summer).  Colby is a huge football fan.  He currently plays in two different flag football leagues.  On Sundays, you’ll find him rooting for his favorite team, the New England Patriots.  He also enjoys playing video games, with Minecraft and Roadblox being two that he currently enjoys the most.  Colby is creative and really likes to build with Legos as well.  He told me that he also likes music and let me know that he attended his very first concert last year, seeing the band Pearl Jam.  Finally, Colby is a big fan of movies and enjoys classics like “Spaceballs” and “The Karate Kid.”  When he comes to camp in June as part of the Upper Junior Boys division, he is really excited for all of the sports leagues, learning to play lacrosse, the quads and waterskiing.  Here is a snapshot….

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

Have a great day!

-Brian

Happy New Year!  All of us here in the winter office are ready to make 2017 the Best Summer Ever!!  I spent some time during winter break visiting new campers, and they can’t wait to be a part of the activities, fun and spirit that we share each summer!  All of them happen to live in Plainview, NY so I covered a lot of ground in town!

Meet Sofia & Zach! This brother/sister pair loved their tour at Canadensis last summer and decided to come back up and join us for Tour & More Playday!  They each got a great chance to experience the magic at camp and are looking forward to the 7-week experience!

Sofia is a current 4th grader who will be a new Lower Inter Girl at camp this summer.  She often goes by the nickname “Sof”. She’s into tons of different activities, and I had so much fun hanging out with her (and her very cute dog, Maggie!)  Here’s what you need to know about this fun, adventurous and crazy new camper: After school she likes to play with her dog…if she’s not preparing for a show at “Take A Bow”.  She likes to do every activity under the sun, and is thinking about doing dance, swimming, arts and media electives.  She’s excited to help us create the Canadensis Today Show!  Her favorite food is salad and her favorite color is pink.   Her favorite animal is a puppy, and she likes watching the TV show “Henry Danger”!  Her favorite hobby is dance, but in her drama performances she sings, dances and acts.  The first time she ever auditioned, she got the role of Cinderella in Cinderella!  Her favorite type of music is “Hip Hop” and she’ll be choosing Hershey chocolate bars when her bunk goes to the canteen!  She has recently finished reading the book “Wonder” and she loves the movie “Star Wars: Rogue One”.

Zach is a current 7th grader who will be a new Lower Senior at camp this summer.  He’s a huge sports fan, and loves the NY Islanders, as you can see from his shirt in the photo above!  His Bar Mitzvah is happening next weekend, so the whole family is preparing for a really special time together (but I’ve been sworn to keep all the secrets I saw!!).  His favorite sport to play is soccer, and he’s been playing deck hockey since 1st grade.  He recently started playing basketball after trying out and making the middle school team!  He’s into the statistics side of sports as well, maybe we’ll even catch him doing a sports report on the Canadensis Today Show!  He’ll be aiming to get on roller blades before camp so he can join the CHL (Canadensis Hockey League).  That will be convenient since the hockey rink is right on Senior Boys Side!

Meet Maddi!  She is a current 2nd grader who will be a new Lower Junior Girl at camp this summer.  In her house, she often goes by the nickname “Momashea”. She’s got an older brother (see below), a younger sister and two dogs!  Over Thanksgiving she went to the shelter with her family and she was the one who spotted the newest puppy addition!  We hung out during Winter Break at home, but she’s looking forward to an upcoming island vacation with her extended family and cousins – it’s a tradition for them to go most years and we looked through lots of old photos from their trips!  Here’s what you need to know about this funny, creative and kind new camper: After school she loves to do gymnastics.  This summer you’ll definitely see her doing gymnastics electives, along with soccer and art!  Her favorite food is spaghetti and her favorite color is blue!   Her favorite animal is a dog, and she likes watching the TV show “The Simpsons”!  She cheers for the Mets, and will be snacking on Kit Kat Bars anytime she has a chance at the canteen!  Her favorite movies are “Moana” and “Trolls”, and she’s also enjoying listening to the “Moana” music (in addition to “Hamilton”!).  Without a doubt her favorite hobby is gymnastics, but she is also a very talented artist!

Above is a photo of me, Maddi and her older brother Nate.  Nate is a current 5th grader and will be an Upper Inter Boy returning to camp for his second summer!  I didn’t get to do his home visit last year, so I learned so much more about him during my visit.  He’s really into collecting cars/vehicles and he is such a talented artist!  I saw a lot of his works around the house and I’m so impressed, can’t wait to see what he creates at the Canadensis Art Shack this summer!  Right after my visit, he had a sleepover with his bunk mate Hunter, so he had a big Canadensis day!!

Meet Rachel!  She is a current 4th grader who will be a new Lower Inter Girl at camp this summer.  In her house, she often goes by the nickname “Rache”.  She’s an older sister, and she’s following in the footsteps of her parents who both went to sleepaway camp!  Since we hung out during the holiday, she had started a collection of Hanukkah gifts that will come in very handy at camp, including camp necessities like stationery and a camping chair!  Here’s what you need to know about this energetic, tall and unique new camper: After school her favorite activity is singing, acting and dancing in her “Take A Bow” class.  This summer you’ll definitely see her learning to waterski, playing BBK (Basketball, Baseball, Kickball) and doing photography electives!  Her favorite food is pizza (we shared some pizza together for dinner that night!) and her favorite color is purple!   Her favorite animal is a dog, and she likes watching the TV show “Liv & Maddie”!  Since Rachel is good at both acting and sports, she’s a perfect combo of both the Liv & Maddie characters.  Basketball is her favorite sport, and dancing is her favorite hobby.   She likes listening to hip hop music, reading the “Dork Diaries” books, and at the moment her favorite movie is “Star Wars”.

Meet Ava!  She is a current 4th grader who will be a new Lower Inter Girl at camp this summer.  She often goes by the nickname “Aves”. We met up only a few hours after she got back from a trip to Florida – and her family brought me back a surprise gift, mints in a personalized Florida licence plate tin!  Such a handy thing to have around!!  She’s the little sister in her family, but she is the first one to pack her bags for Canadensis!  Here’s what you need to know about this active, funny and nice new camper: After school she likes to have playdates with friends and she also is a competitive soccer player that works on her skills year round.  This summer she’ll be signing up for art shack and climbing wall electives!  Her favorite food is french fries (which we always have on Saturday BBQ night!) and she loves the color gold, so maybe she’ll be on the gold team for Color War?!  Her favorite TV show is “Chopped” and she loved the movie “Trolls”.  She loves Giraffes, and she has a big collection of giraffe stuffed animals in her room…super cute (I love giraffes too, it was my sorority mascot!).  Her favorite hobby is soccer, and she plays on the Warrior Soccer Team.  She loves snacking on gummy bears, listening to the song “I Lived” by One Republic, and her favorite book is “One and Only Ivan”.

Can’t wait to welcome all these new faces to camp!!