YAHOO!!!  Cara and I are warming up in the South, and we are in my absolute favorite state…Louisiana!!!  After I went to college in Arizona, I moved to Louisiana for my first camp director job, and I worked at the New Orleans Jewish Community Center for three amazing years.  If it weren’t for my dream job at Camp Canadensis, I don’t think I would have ever left!

Today we are going to the University of Louisiana Lafayette, and tomorrow we’ll be hiring staff at Louisiana State University.  On both campuses, we’ll get to see some of the kids who used to be campers at the day camp I ran, but now they have grown up and become college students!!  Although Mardi Gras is still a few weeks away, the celebrations have already begun, so after we’ve hired some great counselors, we are going to check out some of the parades.  We will to try and catch as many blue & gold beads as we can…they will come in handy for color war!  To learn more fun facts about this amazing state, click here.

Cara and I are making a quick stop in Ohio today – we are hiring staff on the Bowling Green State University campus.  This is my third straight year at BGSU, and it’s so much fun to see our returning staff members and familiar faces.  A highlight of our Ohio trip will undoubtedly be our visit with Michael Millinger, a second year Group Leader.  He works at the Pinkberry in town, so we are excited to enjoy some frozen yogurt with him, even if it’s kind of freezing!  To learn more about Ohio (the state that the show Glee is set in!) click here.

I recently spent an evening visiting two new campers, and my first stop was in Woodbury, NY.  I got to spend time with Kaylee, who is a current 3rd grader, and will be a Junior Girl at camp for the first time this summer.  Going to camp this summer was all her idea, and she even got to spend the night before Visiting Day at camp last year in the Tour & More program. Kaylee is super sweet, very funny, and clearly she is awesome because we have the same favorite color…green!  She loves to dance, play the piano, and she is looking forward to tennis and cooking at camp this summer.

She is really lucky to have a late bus to school, she only needs to wake up at around 8AM (the same time we wake up at camp) and before she gets on the bus, she manages to eat breakfast and practice piano – she is super dedicated!  She gave me a tour of her awesome room…she really has two rooms, her main bedroom and her “secret room”, which you enter from a small door in her closet, and it’s full of dolls, toys, and it would be a fun place to hang out with a few of your closest friends.  She also showed me her collection of angry bird dolls…she loves them!  Kaylee has a very tall bed, it’s like being on the top bunk (which only counselors are allowed on at camp).  It also has a railing all the way around it, so it’s pretty impossible for her to practice making her bed, but we’ll make sure she’s a pro by the end of the summer!

Kaylee is the youngest of three sisters, and her oldest sister Sam has a lot of years at Canadensis under her belt.  She will be going on a teen tour this upcoming summer, but I hope she knows that camp will always be her second home!  Kaylee will be really excited to receive letters from her sister, and she plans to write home a lot.  Maybe she’ll write a letter about the first time she goes on the ropes course!?  At her day camp, she didn’t like climbing up that much, but she loves the feeling of flying while coming down.  She pretty much loves everything…except homework!  But, she does enjoy school, and in her music class she is learning to play the recorder.

On the other hand, Shawn loves homework, and said her teach barely gives her any!  I had never heard that complaint until I got to hang out with Shawn, a current 5th grader that will be an Upper Inter Girl for her first summer at camp.  She is a very good student, and her favorite subjects are science and Spanish.  She is about to take a French class, and then when she is in 6th grade, she will have to pick a language to focus on.  One thing is clear about Shawn…she wants to go to camp right now!!  She wanted to know exactly how many more days were left until she could hop on the bus and then run into the lake!  We checked out the counter on the website so we could have an exact number, and I showed her this blog which helps introduce the new campers to the Canadensis family!

When we looked at the blog, my paper bracelet DIY was on top, and she wanted to learn how to do it.  It only took her about a minute to learn, and by the time I left she had already made herself a blue and gold bracelet, and she made me one in pink and green (which I’m wearing as I type!).  She and I have a lot in common – she is super crafty, and love crochet too!  She showed me a crochet blanket she is working on, and it’s REALLY good!  It’s pink and white stripes, and she’s doing a perfect job!

When I first met Shawn at Canteen on the Fly, we looked through the photo album of camp photos, and she remembered so much!  She remembered that COALS activity stands for Canadensis Outdoor Adventure Learning/Living Skills.  She’s really excited for the overnight, and that makes me happy because after arts and crafts, it’s definitely my favorite!  She is in her school chorus, so maybe she’ll lead her bunk in some sing-alongs while they are hiking out to the waterfall? She also plays the violin in the orchestra, but I don’t think she’s going to pack it for camp!

Although she will miss her parents, cute little brother and an adorable dog named Marley, she is ready for camp to start!

Behold the cuteness that is Aiden & Sydney!  They are the most adorable 2-year-olds walking around New York City, and they happen to be the children of my very best friend in the world!  I definitely don’t get to see this amazing family enough, but the last time we were together, I asked if they wanted to me to make them a hat like their favorite animal, and although they didn’t spend much time deliberating, Aiden requested a “Nemo” hat, and Sydney wanted a giraffe!  It’s been a while since I’ve done a crochet project for “I Made This Monday”, so I thought this would be a good time to show you how the hats turned out!

1:  Make the basic hat shape, and be sure to get a good head measurement, you don’t want it to be too small or too big (not to many kids want to wear a Nemo hat to high school!).

2:  Make all the appliques/attachments.  The photo above shows you that I had to make the eyes, tail, fins and stripes separately.  I think this gives a better finished look instead of trying to do a lot of yarn changes.

3.  One you have all the appliques, you have to sew them on.  This is probably my least favorite part!

4.  For the “horns” on the giraffe, I wanted them to stand up, so I used a tissue (clean of course!) to act as stuffing and keep them up!

5.  When all the appliques are attached, you have to weave in the ends of all the yarn so you can’t see the raw edges.

6.  Now the finished product is ready to be mailed to the twins!

Just looking at these hats make me ridiculously happy!

Cara and I have arrived in Michigan!  Each year, we hire a good portion of our staff from this awesome (but chilly in February) state!  We will be on the Central Michigan University and Western Michigan University campuses.  We can’t wait to see some of our 2011 staff members who attend these schools.  In the past, we’ve hired staff on the Michigan State University campus, and also University of Michigan…but since we are visiting so many schools, we had to be selective!  I will always love UMich though – that is where my best friend went to college, and they have the same colors as Canadensis (but they call their colors “Maize & Blue” instead of “Gold & Blue”).  To learn some fun facts about this state, click here.

GO GIANTS!!!

The day after the Giants sealed their place in the Super Bowl, Brian and I went to visit Noah & Rachel in Wynnewood, PA.  Everyone in their family is a HUGE Giants fans!  It was very fun for them to get to celebrate the victory together.  Noah is a current 5th grader, and will be an Upper Inter Boy at camp for his second summer.  He had just celebrated his birthday last month, so we met his “birthday gift” a super cute cat he named Hamlet, that enjoys getting to hang out with their other cat Heidi.  Noah stays really busy with sports, baseball is his favorite…but I also got to see some of his dance moves – he did a great touch down dance for us!

Rachel is a current 3rd grader, and will be a Junior Girl for her first summer at camp!  I first met her at her home a year ago when we came to meet Noah, but she wasn’t too interested in camp then…she even fell asleep while we were there!  In the past year, I’ve gotten to know her on several occasions…she came to the Sixers basketball game, the Jewish Relief Agency volunteer event, and most importantly, she came to the sibling Tour & More Weekend to test out camp last year.  Rachel was at camp on one of the hottest days all summer, so we changed up the regular program and we took all the campers on a golf cart tour of camp, ending with cooking workshop where we made delicious milkshakes – this was her favorite activity of the weekend!

Rachel and I have a shared hobby of knitting/crochet – I got to see some of the projects she made, including a stuffed owl animal, and a super cute scarf.  She’s really good, and she even knows how to make pom poms.  Going to the Handworks Studio is one of her favorite afterschool activities, so I think she will enjoy the Fabric Arts program at camp.   Her number one activity is definitely dance!  She is dancing a few times a week, and even was doing ballet moves during our visit.  She was recently in 12 performances of The Nutcracker with the Pennsylvania Ballet.  She was a toy soldier/bunny – and Noah was there to cheer her on at a lot of the shows.  She is very comfortable dancing in front of a lot of people, so the camp crowds will not be a challenge for her!

Rachel loves a lot of things…corn (good thing because Canadensis campers LOVE the cornman!), carrots, American Idol and Michael Jackson.  She is also very creative, she came up with her own Halloween costume this year, she wanted to be a witch that flew into a wall, so she dressed up as a witch with crutches!  She is ready to try everything at camp this summer, and since she has done an excellent job transferring to a new school this summer, I know she’s going to do great at transitioning to her first summer at Canadensis!

Our next stop was very close by, also in Wynnewood, PA.  We rang the doorbell at Cole & Sophie house, and we were greeted by four amazing and very sweet dogs at the door!  Once we were inside, we got a chance to get to know Cole, a current 6th grader who will be a Freshman Boy and Sophie, a current 3rd grader who will be a Junior Girl.  They are both coming to camp for their first summer, and it was great to see another set of siblings that really enjoy spending time together!

This was one of the most active home visits I’ve ever been on!  Sophie has tons of energy, and was jumping rope while we chatted, and before the end of the night she got me skipping rope too – but she is much faster and more graceful than me!  They gave us a tour of their basement, and they showed us how they can close of the doors to make a Gaga area.  We played a four person round of the game (it’s like dodgeball) and I was the first one out!  We have two dedicated gaga pits at camp, and I’m excited to challenge them again at camp this summer.

I was glad to get my energy up over a great vegetarian dinner – and we discussed the many veggie options we have at camp.  I told them that whatever meal is being served, there are always a few options for the vegetarians like us – some of my favorites are the tofu stir fry, tomato basil mozzarella sandwiches and veggie meatballs! They told us about their favorite things to do, including taking trips to places like Universal Studios and Vermont.  We also talked about favorite TV shows, and Sophie loves Spongebob!  Their afterschool activities include Main Line Girls Basketball, Handworks Studio and some time to play the drums – they have two sets in the basement!

Sophie also gave me a tour of her newly remodeled room – her father had surprised her with a redesign while she was at school!  The purple walls and carpet were the same, but all the furniture had been shifted.  A lot of the artwork on the wall was her own personal work, art is one of her favorite activities.  She has a special “tea party” area of her room, and she is taking care of some baby cactus, which have a prime location on her desk.  Luckily, cactus don’t need a lot of water to survive, so she won’t have to worry about them while she’s off having an amazing summer at camp!

My hiring trip has begun!  I’m in Arizona until Sunday, and I will be hiring camp counselors on the campuses of University of Arizona, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University!  I went to college at U of A, so it will be great to be back on campus, and I’m even meeting with some girls who are in the same AEPhi sorority that I was in!  An added bonus of this trip is that my parents live in Phoenix, Arizona – very close to the ASU campus.  Arizona is absolutely beautiful…if you want to learn more about the state, click here.