Camp is all about fun, but we can’t save all the fun for the summer…sometimes we spread it out during the year, which is why Cara and I threw a “Royal Wedding Viewing Party” at work today!  We both came in dressed up, and and enjoyed a lovely cup of tea with cookies and finger sandwiches.   We watched a few video highlights (while answering the camp phones) and it was a lovely way to mark the day.

In the above picture, you can see that even Annie got into the wedding spirit…she wore a ruffled dress.  If you want to have some royal wedding fun at home, here’s what I suggest:

1.  Make simple cheese sandwiches, cut off all the crust and chop it into bite size pieces.

2.  Wear a fun headband or hat, but if you don’t have either of those things, just grab a bobby pin and some flower (mine are fake florals from the craft store) and stick them in your hair.

3.  Wear tons of jewelry – you can’t really see it, but I have about 12 necklaces on!

4.  Use some pretty china to make a cup a tea…it doesn’t have to be expensive, Cara and I used a set I found at Goodwill for under a dollar!

Hello Canadensis readers! It’s been waaaay too long since my last blog, I can hardly believe it’s the end of April! So much has been happening, both in and out of the office, so I’ll try to keep it short and simple!

Earlier this month Mara came to Pennsylvania to visit Dani, and by default (I mean, we DO live together) I got to see Mara too!!! The best part was that I had planned to make a quick day trip up to camp to get some things out of my camp house, and Mara and Dani got to come along for the ride! We spent a beautiful hour in the Poconos, including stops at Callies and Sonic!

The fun didn’t end after my weekend with the girls. Just as the cold weather was deciding to come back for a visit, my gal pals and I hopped on a plane and jetted off to Cancun! The weather in Mexico was perfect, sunny and 82 everyday, and we spent our days by the pool and splashing in the ocean. Our resort was the same location where they filmed MTV’s “The Real World”, so it was a really cool place to be! We had the best long weekend, and returned home just in time for Passover.

Cancun was fabulous, but as soon as I got home I was happy and excited to get back to real life, because camp is getting here so quickly, and I still have lots to do. The sheer excitement of so many of my best camp friends coming back this summer after taking a year or two off, (Gabe, Moira, Steve, Alex, just to name a few…) has got me out of my mind with joy! When Gabe was away in Africa for two years we couldn’t talk about camp on the phone like we did in years past, so now that he’s back we’re talking about it constantly, which is not helping!!! Ahhhh can it just be camp now?

The biggest event these days is Dani’s spring musical, The Sound of Music. She’s playing Mother Abbess, which makes it really hard for me to keep a straight face when she’s dressed head to toe as a nun! She does a fabulous job, as always, and I cannot believe it’s her last musical with this Theatre Department. Tears!!! The show opened last night, and will play again tonight, and then twice tomorrow, at 2 and 7:30. If any campies want to join us, you know how to get me!

Well, I’ll try to blog some more before I move to camp on MAY 23rd!!! I’ll be picking Gabe up and taking him to precamp in less than two weeks, so I’ll try to take some pics and blog from camp for you all!

This week I had the chance to meet a great new family that will be coming to camp this summer!  The Moyer Family lives in Reading, PA, and they are related to the Konst Family at camp (Terri runs our Evening Activities and Special Events – Maxim and Lydia are in the Junior Division, and Sam is going to be an Upper Inter this year).

This will be the Moyer’s first camp adventure!  Michael is currently in 8th grade, and he will be an Upper Senior Boy this summer, and he’s already looking forward to the three-day trip to Boston.  During the year he enjoys playing some sports, XBox and doing a lot of Tae Kwon Do.  Henry is currently in 4th grade, which means he’ll be starting as a Lower Inter Boy, and he also loves doing Tae Kwon Do.  Henry is also pumped for all the activities at camp that his cousin Sam told him about, he can’t wait to Zip Line, try out for the Camp Musical and do everything else that camp has to offer.  He loves sports, fishing, and just about everything under the sun!

Carrie will also be coming to camp for the first time this summer, and she will be running the Arts and Crafts Program.  During the year she paints beautiful murals for children’s rooms, and she also refinishes cabinets.  As pictured above, she is sharpening her crafting skills, and is practicing her tye-dying technique for camp!  Husband/father, Michael (not pictured),  will be found fishing on our lake during the weekends, and he has a green thumb, so maybe he’ll help us with out our flower gardens around camp!  Please join me in welcoming all four of them the camp!

Everyday at camp is amazing, and there are always highlights…like Color War Break, Carnival and the first day when all the campers arrive. During the “off season” there are highlights too, and I want to dedicate this blog post to the BEST day I’ve had this winter.

It happened last month when my boyfriend surprised me with an anniversary trip to see a taping of The Nate Berkus Show – and the episode is airing TODAY! I LOVE The Nate Show because it’s all about design and decorating, which is a hobby of mine. Everyday I get home from work and watch Nate on my DVR. It was such a sweet and thoughtful surprise for Dave to take me to see a taping of the show, and it was really wonderful that the Canadensis office gave me a day off on a Wednesday to go to NY for the taping!

Just seeing the show would have been more than enough – but while waiting to go into the audience, we started talking with a producer for the show, who wanted us to ask a question to Nate on the air!! Dave (who also works at camp, it’s a day camp in NJ called Pine Grove) asked about Nate’s hair, and you can see the rest through the photos and videos below…

In the hair and make-up chair backstage

After hair and make-up…in the green room!

A screen shot of us with Nate (and Kimora Lee Simons)…thanks Cara!

Another screen shot!  I think Nate is touching Dave!!

A few months ago, my camera had a meltdown and I lost of the photos I had taken with new campers.  Luckily, I got to see both of the girls at New Camper Bowling earlier this month, and we did some photo retakes.  Above is Abby, who is from Briarcliff Manor and is in 3rd grade.  She will be a Junior Girl at camp this summer, and no doubt we will see her on the sports fields and up on stage!  She is well rounded, and super outgoing!

Here is the “make-up” photo that Chelsea and I took!  She is currently in 4th grade, and will be spending her first summer at Canadensis in the Lower Inter Girls division.  Her big sister Lindsey (who will be a Super Senior!)  has been helping her get ready for a great summer, so Chelsea is looking forward to MTV Night, Color War and making tons of new friends.  During the year she loves going to school, skiing, playing soccer and basketball, and you will often find her dancing, being silly or telling jokes!

Do you have any good rhyming quotes for this ‘Annie the Dog’ photo?

Annie the Dog, eating some food…

Annie the Dog, sticking out your tongue is rude!

Hello Canadensis!

So glad April is here!  That means we are one month closer to the best summer ever!  And, the month of April got off to an amazing start with our Annual New Camper Bowling Event in North Brunswick, NJ at the Brunswick Zone!  This get together for our new campers and some of our younger returning campers was an unbelievable opportunity for a meet and greet, some games, pizza and bowling!  The event, which was split up into four different meeting times for different age groups in the Junior and Lower Inter divisions, started with each group playing a game of Camper Bingo, which allowed all the campers to meet one another.  Some age groups even played a name dance game.  Then, campers were split up into different lanes for bowling and a pizza lunch.  All campers left with the names of all campers in their division as it is our hope that they will set up get-togethers of their own before the summer begins.  The New Camper Bowling was also attended by many of our staff including me, Eric, Pam, Cara and Matt as well as Girls Head Counselor Robin Forti, Camp Mom Stephanie Vorcheimer, Boys Group Leader Pete Tarnoff and Camp Media Guru Jason “Jay Cal” Calabretta.  Thanks to all of the families that came to the day.  Here are some pictures from this wonderful day…

The home visits keep on comin’ and it’s so great to see all of our campers and camp families.  In East Rockaway, NY, I got to hang out with Mitchell Klee, who is in the 3rd grade and will be part of our Junior Boys Division.  He has been so excited for baseball season to begin.  This season, Mitchell is playing on the RiverCats and will be playing 2nd base, 3rd base, short stop and 1st base.  In the winter, he played on a basketball team.  He also takes tennis lessons.  He is a big sports fan and roots for the Yankees, Islanders and Miami Heat.  Mitchell is also a big follower of WWE and his favorite wrestlers are the Undertaker and Jon Cena.  This summer, he is excited for baseball, boating and meeting new friends.  Here is a picture…

Also in East Rockaway, NY, I got to hang out with the Goldbergs, Robbie and Sammi.  Robbie, returning for his 5 year jacket summer as part of our Freshman Boys Division, is busy playing both soccer and baseball (his biggest passion) while Sammi is working her way through her junior year in High School.  Sammi is now part of our staff as a Junior Counselor this summer, which will be her 10 year jacket summer!  Sammi showed me her room at home, which is basically an homage to Camp Canadensis, including actually lake water and beach sand from Lake Lenape.  Needless to say, she loves camp!  Along with dad Lionel, the four of us got to hang out at one of my favorite places…Ralph’s Italian Ices.  Here is a pic…

In Merrick, NY, I got to see Freshman Girl Sophy Feldman, returning for her 5th summer, and her younger brother Joey Feldman, who is coming to camp for his first summer.  Sophy told me just how excited she is for camp to start, saying that it is one of her favorite places.  In fact, she was hoping to skip the rest of school to come up and help us open camp for everyone in June.  As for Joey, who is in the 2nd grade and will be in the Junior Boys Division, he was starting his baseball season as part of the Blue Jays team, where he will be playing catcher, pitcher and 1st base.  Joey also plays goalie on a soccer team.  He is a big fan of Star Wars and video games, his favorite game being Ninja Garden these days.  He also roots for the Islanders and Rangers hockey teams.  This summer, he is ready to try the batting cages, golf, soccer and making new friends at camp.  Here is a photo…

In Summit, NJ, I spent some time with Lily Ufberg, who will be part of our Junior Girls Division and is currently in the 3rd grade.  Lily is a 2nd Generation Canadensis camper as her father Jeff Ufberg remembers all is wonderful days at camp.  Lily is rehearsing with her hip hop dance team as she has an upcoming performance in the spring in which she will be dancing to the song “My Shoes.”  She is also already skiing black diamond slopes when she and her family go skiing in Scranton, PA.  She loves gymnastics and bike riding with friends.  She is also a fan of the TV show “Zoe 101.”  This summer, she is excited for the activities on the lake such as kayaking and boating, activities at the Art Center like Glass Fusion and Ceramics and making a whole bunch of new friends!  Here is a photo…

In South Orange, NJ, I got to know 3rd grader and Junior Boy Ethan Goldman a whole lot better.  For starters, Ethan is an accomplished piano player and he even played me a few tunes.  That was nothing compared to the recent performance he put on in front of his entire school!  Ethan is also playing soccer on his travel team called the South Orange Fireballs.  He also enjoys rock climbing, tennis and ice skating lessons.  This summer, he can’t wait for all the stuff to do on Lake Lenape including banana boating, waterskiing and boating.  He is also looking forward to the climbing wall, ropes course and zipline and the hondas / go-karts.  Here is a picture…

In Plymouth Meeting, PA, I saw the Brucker Family!  David Brucker, now in the 4th grade, will be returning for his second summer in the Lower Inter Boys division.  David filled me in that he just recently competed with some classmates in the Odyssey of the Mind Competition.  For this, his team had to write and perform an 8-minute skit, which was called “Le Tour Guide.”  His team finished 8th out of 26 teams.  Way to go, David!  David is also playing the oboe (which I initially thought was a string instrument…ha ha!) and is taking tennis lessons.  He also visited the Casino Movie Theater near camp on a recent ski trip in the Poconos.  This summer, David looks forward to the lake activities and waterskiing, the zipline and ropes course and Color War.  He also wanted to say hello to all of the boys from Summer 2010’s Bunk 4.  Younger sister Marissa Brucker, who will be attending our Sibling Sleepover Weekend at camp this year, is now in the first grade.  She is busy with skiing, piano and gymnastics.  Here is a shot…

In Short Hills, NJ, I spent some time with 3rd grader and Junior Boy Austin Peng, who will be joining us for his first summer.  Austin is currently playing catcher, 1st base and 2nd base on his baseball team, the Thunder.  He also likes to swim and build with Legos.  Austin is a pretty good Wii player and Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros. and Mario Party are his favorites.  At camp this summer, he is excited for baseball, go karts / hondas, archery, basketball, climbing wall and ropes course, fishing, mountain biking, soccer, rocketry, lacrosse and cooking.  Here is a picture…

Also in Short Hills, NJ, I saw Mitch Braunstein, who is in the 3rd grade and will be in our Junior Boys division for his first summer at camp.  Mitch currently plays baseball on his team, the Royals.  He also plays basketball.  Mitch loves building with Legos and he showed me a wide assortment of his amazing creations!  He also likes having sleepovers with friends, fishing and candy!  When he comes to camp, Mitch is excited to play newcomb, go waterskiing and banana boating and the hondas and go karts.  Here is a photo…

As someone that “lives camp all year round,” I always get excited to learn about bunk reunions and get-togethers that are planned.  A few weeks ago, the girls from Summer 2010’s Bunk 8 had a get-together in southern New Jersey for a full day of fun, swimming and dinner.  Here are some pictures I received…

Also, I got a great picture from Lauren “L-Mac” Mcguire of a recent trip she made to the Midwest to see other camp staff.  Here is the shot…

Finally, thanks to everyone that participated in our First Annual College Basketball Bracket Pool for the NCAA Tournament.  Our camper winner was Junior Boy and first year camper Jake Brownstein.  Our staff winner was our very own year round employee…Cara Corradetti!  Congratulations!

Well, that’s all the blogging for now.  More to come.  Counting down the days to camp.  My count says  74 days!

Have a great day…Brian

Congratulations to my two friends who got married this weekend!  It was a beautiful wedding and a really fun night of dancing with the newlyweds.  The bride has an extremely strong connection to the camp where she went as a child, and many of the friends at the wedding were people she connected with as a child growing up at camp.   Camp even came up during their wedding ceremony!  The Rabbi was attesting to what a great couple they make, and mentioned that they do not even argue about anything, except…where to send their future children to camp!

I have no doubt that this amazing couple will work out the debate about where to send their kids in the future, but it just goes to underscore the important of summer camp!  Mazel Tov!

(The couple cutting the wedding cake)

Over the weekend some of the girls of Bunk 8 got together for a little mini-reunion!