It’s been a while since I returned home to Philadelphia, but I wanted to use this blog post to throw back to some of my favorite memories of summer 2013…the best summer ever at Camp Canadensis!  Just like the Canadensis campers and staff, camp is my happy place, and here’s why…

I get to spend a ton of time outside…usually I’m right next to Pam like in the photo above.  Sometimes I get distracted by chipmunks, or the delicious smells coming from the BBQ grill on the weekends, but I always find my way back.

I get a ton of hugs and belly rubs from campers – they are SO nice to me!  Jordan (above) from the Lower Inter Girls even made me a rainbow loom collar on the first day of camp, and it stayed on all summer!  She made it in blue and gold so I could show off my camp spirit all summer…thank you Jordan!

I had a new partner in crime this summer…it was so fun to hang out with Carli during Morning Line Up!  We are around the same size right now, but I have a feeling she’s going to keep growing every year, and I’m done!

People tell me I look like a puppy all the time, but I actually turned 13 at camp this summer!  The Canadensis Dog Club helped plan an amazing Bark Mitzvah for me at Morning Line Up…we danced the hora, had a delicious cake made by Jojo in cooking and I got to say thank you to the many people at Canadensis that make me feel loved.

At another Morning Line Up, I was called up for “Unnatural Siblings”.  It’s one of my favorite camp games – kids get called up with people who look like them, even though they aren’t related.  I was called up with a soccer ball, and we won by round of applause!

I bet that one of the kids cheering for me was this girl above.  Believe it or not, there were TWO Annie Levi’s in camp this summer…I share my name with Annabelle Levi from the Junior Girls!

There were also TWO hotdogs on our “Canadensis Come On Down” dress up night!  We both looked tasty in our hotdog costumes!

We looked almost as tasty as those real hotdogs and hamburgers the Junior boys are holding on their overnight!  I love getting out in the woods and visiting the kids at the campsites.

I got to visit more than half of the overnights this summer, and my goal is to get one every single on next year!

Sometimes, Pam has to do something that I can’t do with her…and when that happens I have a few windows I like to hang out in, that way I don’t miss a single moment of the camp action!

But, it’s MUCH better when I get to hang out with different people in camp while Pam is busy.  In the photo above, I had the coolest babysitters ever…the CIT girls let me spend the whole day with them!

Another day, Cade from the lake looked after me while Pam was on the Summit with campers!

No matter who I’m with, or what I’m doing…I’m happy if I’m at Camp Canadensis!  Thank you to everyone who made summer 2013 my best summer yet…thank you for the walks, hugs, manicures (see my blue nails above, thanks to Girls Bunk 7!), belly rubs, treats and love you all shared with me.  See you in summer 2014!

Hello Canadensis!

It’s my first day back!  After one of the best summers ever, I was up at camp for two more weeks putting the finishing touches on Summer 2013.  Then, I treated myself to some rest and relaxation after such a busy summer.  But now, it’s time to already set our sights in planning Summer 2014.  That’s right, time to do it all over again and work on topping the summer we just had!

Upon coming home, Jaime and I headed to the Jersey Shore, for some family time and sitting in the sun.  The weather was really nice as we enjoyed a few days on the boardwalk soaking up the rays, playing games and going on the rides.  Over the break, we also finally had some time to plan out our delayed honeymoon, after our wedding in May.  Jaime and I have set our sights on Hawaii in October-November.  Should be fun!  For my birthday, Jaime bought me a very cool gift…she got me a Wii video game system.  Last week, I spent several days playing my new favorite game…Grand Slam Tennis.  Over Labor Day Weekend, Jaime and I went to MetLife Stadium to see my alma mater Syracuse play Penn State in football.  Syracuse played good, but they weren’t good enough to defeat the mighty Nittany Lions.  Here is a pic…

In our first weeks back, we hope to review all of the information we received from the 2013 Camper Survey.  If you haven’t completed it yet, please do so, by clicking here.  The feedback we get really helps to put things in place for next year and get an idea of the activities you liked or how we can make things even better next summer.  We are also starting to plan many of our off season events, including our Canteen on the Fly Ice Cream Socials and our Reunion in January.  We will soon unveil all of these details in the upcoming weeks.

For anyone prospective family interested in touring Camp Canadensis in the upcoming months, we have established three Fall Tour Days.  They will be Sunday, September 22 at 1 pm; Saturday, October 26 at 1 pm; and Sunday, November 17 at 11 am.  If interested, call our Winter office at 484.674.1941 or e-mail us at info@canadensis.com .

Since the summer ended, it has been great to get e-mails, letting us know of camp get-togethers and reunions that have taken place already.  Here are some that we received…

If you have any pictures of reunions and get-togethers, we’d love to see them.  Please e-mail me.  Well, more blogging to come soon.  For all of our campers and counselors that are back at school, good luck on the upcoming semester and hopefully you get some assignments in the next few weeks where you can somehow relate it to your time at Canadensis.

Have a great day!

-Brian