It’s been a busy time here in the Canadensis office and I’ll tell you about that a little bit later…but after I returned home from a week away, I got to see some of my favorite female cousins for a 40th birthday celebration in NYC!  We all look SO young, I’m sure you can’t even tell who was celebrating the milestone, but it was great to spend some quality time together!  My family can’t wait for the next Family Reunion at Camp Canadensis…it’s coming in August 2015, and I’m glad they are as excited as me!

During those few hours in NYC, I realized what a small Canadensis world it is after all!!!  At the luncheon, I got to meet the aunt of our Arizona campers Dylan & Jaden!  I hope she’ll be coming to to see her niece and nephew on Visiting Day this year!!  I also met a very close friend of several of our Merrick families, and we took a “selfie” to send to the Sigals, Geffners and Michals families!  And then, the strangest coincidence of all…as I was making my way back home to Philly, I was stuck in some serious traffic.  I noticed some kids having fun on the back of the school bus in front of me, and then…

…when I looked a little bit closer, I spotted Josh, a Canadensis camper!!  He’ll be at camp for his 4th summer this year, and he’s moving over to the Senior Boys side of camp!  You can sorta make him out in the right window.  But, here is is looking dapper on photo day last year:Eric had his own Canadensis run-in this week too!

Eric and Robin were heading to London to hire staff at the Camp America fair, and they bumped into a Canadensis family in the airport that was also traveling on the same plane!  In the photo above, you can see Noah, he’ll be coming to camp for his 2nd summer and will be an Upper Junior Boy.  What a coincidence!

Not only have we been traveling internationally, but we’ve been all over the map looking for fantastic new staff members to bring to camp in 2014!  I just returned from a week in the Baltimore, Maryland area.  I met staff applicants at Towson, Goucher, MICA, UMBC and Stevenson.  I also got to catch up with Hannah Race – a Senior at Towson University and former camper and counselor, her parents are both Canadensis alumni and met at camp (I love stories like that)!!  When she graduates this spring, she’ll be heading home to Cherry Hill and begin studying for the LSAT before applying to Law Schools – it’ll be great to have her back in the Philly area!

I met a lot of great staff applicants on the road!  Cara is excited about the staff she met in Western PA, and Brian met tons of students in the Upstate NY area!  Now I’m getting ready for a few weeks of home visits, so keep coming back to the blog to meet some of our awesome new campers!

David Ehrenthal is from Scotch Plains, NJ, and will be returning to Canadensis for his 8th summer! When he’s at camp, David’s favorite activities are cooking and ropes; when he’s at home, David enjoys playing tennis, hanging out with friends, after school clubs, and flying. His love of flight will serve him well, as his dream job is to travel the world as a journalist. One funny fact about David is that his initials are “D-I-E” – he doesn’t think his parents noticed that when choosing his name! One of his favorite camp memories is being afraid to go mountain biking in his junior summer at camp – Eric Forti got on a mountain bike with the bunk and rode with them… and after the ride he opened the canteen for ice cream sandwiches! Throughout his years at Canadensis, David has learned that the friendships you create over 7 weeks can never be taken away, and that your camp friends are always going to be there for you. He wants all of our new campers to know that they shouldn’t be nervous – camp friends will become your best friends for life! David will be coming to camp for his CIT summer with hundreds of episodes of Full House on his iPod, along with a goal to stand up on waterskiis. David buried a time capsule somewhere on camp in 2007, with the intention to dig it up CIT summer, and he won’t be leaving in August without it… time capsule location remains undisclosed…

Alyssa and Emily are ready for camp!

Alyssa Kruman is from Armonk, NY and has been a Canadensis camper for 8 years! When she’s at home in the off-season she enjoys hanging out with her friends, taking care of her 2 snakes, and baking, which comes as no surprise – her favorite camp activity is cooking! One of her favorite camp memories is the time she spent planning prom last summer – prom is a huge senior camp dance thrown by the Super Seniors and they put a lot of time and effort into making the night a success! Alyssa never leaves for camp without her Nintendo DS, and her dream job is to be a Camp Counselor. Going to camp has taught Alyssa  that camp friends are the best friends and they will always be there for you. She wants all of our new campers to know that they shouldn’t waste any time at camp arguing with each other, because your 7 weeks together go by too quickly! Alyssa is planning to go on every ride in Disney on her CIT trip to Walt Disney World this summer, and when she leaves Canadensis in August she will head out of the 18325 having had the best summer of her life!

In between the constant snow storms we’ve been getting in the Philly area, I was able to spend some time with Jordan, who is currently in 2nd grade, and will be a Lower Junior Girl at camp for her first time this summer!  I met Jordan when she came up to take a tour of Canadensis last summer, and I knew that she would be a fun and spirited addition to camp right away!  After the tour, she even sent me a sweet “thank you” note, and I saved it on my bulletin board.  It probably means that she’ll be great at writing letters home, which is a good thing because her parents and little sisters will be wanting to hear about all the fun she’s having!

Jordan has been putting all this snow to good use – she likes sledding in the park across from her house, she built and decorated a snowman in her back yard, and she’s a good skier!  She goes on ski trips in Telluride, and is going to start doing black diamond trails soon!   She enjoys doing a lot of different activities, including hip-hop dance classes (they are doing a dance to the song Royals) and she plans on being a member of the Canadensis competition dance team this summer!  She also takes piano lessons and goes to gymnastics class…she is working on her back handspring!  Jordan goes to the Shipley school, and has done some cool arts and crafts projects that we displayed around the house.

We talked about the camp trips she’ll get to go on, and she already knows that when the Lower Juniors go to the movies, she’s going to get mint chocolate chip ice cream!  We also talked about all the different elective options she’ll get to choose from.  She picked out tons of different things she can’t wait to try…including windsurfing, photography, yoga, archery and fishing!  Jordan has gone fishing a bunch of times before and she’s very lucky – every time she dips her pole in the water, she catches something!  She usually goes fishing on family trips to Florida, and once she caught a hammerhead shark!  She’s gone snorkeling in Florida too and has seen really cool things under the water like stingrays, but she tries to stay away from the jellyfish!  Without a doubt, Jordan is up for anything this summer…even basketball has been really fun in school gym, so I have no doubt she’ll love playing everything at camp!

Another new camper from the Philly area is Ella, a current 5th grader who will be an Upper Inter girl at camp this summer!  She goes to Penn Valley Elementary, but she lived in Atlanta, Georgia for a few years and she has Canadian citizenshipAnother!  A lot of her family still lives in Montreal (where her parents were born).  It means she gets to root for both Team USA and Team Canada in the Olympic Games…how cool is that?

Another awesome fact about Ella is that she attends camps and classes at the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts.  She has been going for a while and her favorite is working on aerials, like the ropes & trapeze.  But her favorite is the silks, and I got to see a video of her doing a flip up in the air…and she told me it was easy!   Other activities she enjoys doing after school include singing at a local guitar shop, going to Hebrew school and cheering for her favorite team at Flyers games!  She loves the Flyers and goes to a lot of games with her family…but she doesn’t really love Hebrew school as much.  However, her family just spent time in Israel with their temple and it was an awesome trip!  Ella’s older sister got Bat Mitzvahed while they were there, and they ate a lot of hummus!  Another recent family trip was to Hawaii, and she was the best in her family at getting up on the surfboard!

Ella is the photographer of her family and keeps a bunch of photos under her bed in her newly redecorated blue room.  At home, she picked out an awesome blue chevron bedspread, but thinks she’ll get a pink one for camp.  Her room is HUGE, plenty of room to host sleepovers for the entire bunk of new friends she’ll be making at Canadensis! Ella is a sweet girl and will be a great bunk mate!  I’ve already recruited her to help me walk Annie this summer because she has two dogs at home, Leo & Mickey (full name is Mikayla).  And, speaking of Mickey…

 …I just spent a few days in Disney World!  Above are some photos from my trip – Dave and I made it to the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Downtown Disney in two jammed pack days!  I think my favorite park was Animal Kingdom, I’d never been before.  Cara gets to take our amazing CITs on a 5-day trip to Disney World each summer, so she gave me fantastic suggestions for what to do at each park, and she told me I’d get extra credit if I went in the front row on Tower of Terror – and here’s the proof that I did it!  I love rides!  It was a huge drop and there was nothing to grab on to!  I loved every ride I did – some of the best were Everest, Rocking Roller Coaster, Toy Story Mania, Dinosaur and Space Mountain.

The reason we went to Orlando was to attend the American Camp Association National Conference.  It’s several days of speakers, sessions and vendors that all relate to the camp industry.  It’s pretty awesome to walk into a bookstore and see more than 100 books about summer camp!  In the vendor hall, you can find all sorts of awesome products for camp, including the shirt above.  If you’ve gotten an email from me recently, you might have noticed I often use “Think Camp!” at the end of it, so I thought this shirt was pretty great!  (FYI, my mentor Aaron Selkow, from URJ Camp Harlam developed “Think Camp!” and I have borrowed the awesome sign off from him!).  It was a great conference, and it got me extra excited for the ACA NY/NJ conference in Atlantic City next month!

One last funny story…I’ve been working and blogging from home today, and guess who happened to stop by…Sam Ginsburg!!  He spent 13 summers at Canadensis, and in his past few years has been an extended member of the Operations team at camp.  He was in my neighborhood checking on some of his properties, and it was such an awesome surprise to see him!

Hello Canadensis!

I write this blog post after another snow storm hit our area last night.  Woke up with a mix of snow, ice and freezing rain!  And, all I have to say about this Winter is…I’m Done!  A few blogs back, I wrote that we should consider opening up Camp Canadensis Pacific in the Winter in Hawaii.  That thought has crossed my mind several times over the past few weeks.  And, when I go to the Camp Canadensis website, it still says that there is more than 140 days until camp.  Ugh!  Can anyone make Summer come quicker?!

Anyway, thoughts of summer certainly kept us warm a few weeks ago at our Annual Winter Reunion on Sunday, January 26.  This year, we gathered at the Funplex in East Hanover, NJ for a few hours of games, rides and fun!  We were happy to see so many camp families brave the elements (it was really cold on that Sunday) to make their way to see everyone.  We had over 350 campers and staff in attendance.  Special thanks to all of the counselors and staff who took time out of their busy schedules to be with us to celebrate this occasion.   The counselors always make events like these extra special.  For pictures and videos of the Reunion, including a special Canadensis 411, go to our Facebook page by clicking here.  Pictures can also be found in the “My Account” section of the camp website.  Here are some Reunion pics to share right now with you…

Some of the Girls from 2013’s Bunk 20 got to see counselor Dani Corradetti at the Reunion.

Luca and Cole from Summer 2013’s Bunk 2 were excited to be at the Reunion.

Lindsay and Amanda win an armful of tickets from all of the games.

Jeremy and Ben get ready to ride!

Some of the Girls from Summer 2013’s Bunk 12 just hanging out.

Here are just some of our Summer 2014 CITs!

Speaking of reunions, we are happy to share with our Alumni of camp that our 75th Anniversary Summer Reunion will be held on June 15, 2015.  Mark your calendars now and be sure to make your way back to Canadensis, PA to help us celebrate camp’s Diamond Anniversary.

Mark your calendars now!

The camp office is starting to get really busy this time of year.  If you haven’t kept up with everything, we have now begun many of our staff travels to hire new staff for Summer 2014.  Some destination pictures have also been posted on our Facebook page.  A lot of the planning for the summer has begun to take place as well.  Pam and I met with other Pike County camps last week to begin to put together our schedule of intercamp games.  We are also looking into a number of different one day clinics where we bring in outside instructors to teach specific skills.  As always, we received a lot of great feedback from the surveys you completed after the summer was over.  We use this information to know what activities you would like to see return in 2014.

With the Super Bowl played last Sunday in New Jersey, I am wondering if any of our camp families were fortunate enough to attend the game?  If so, I’d love to see pictures.  I also want to use this time to congratulate Boys Head Counselor and his Seattle Seahawks on such a dominating win!  The Seahawks were just too much to handle this Sunday and even though he is 3000 miles away right now, I can still somehow hear Marshall saying, “Yeah, Seattle!”

I can only imagine that we will see Boys Head Counselor Marshall Weinstein in a shirt like this in Summer 2014?

Whereas Marshall will be able to tell us that his team is the reigning NFL Super Bowl champion all summer long, I have to do my “talking” while I can.  If you haven’t noticed, this week, my alma mater, the Syracuse Orange are the #1 team in college basketball after an amazing overtime win this past weekend versus Duke (which happens to by Girls Senior Head Counselor Shari Tavroff’s favorite team).  The Carrier Dome (Syracuse’s home court) set an indoor college basketball record with 35,446 fans in attendance.  As is tradition in our household, if Syracuse ever reaches the top spot in the rankings, my wife Jaime says she’ll paint her toenails orange.  She has an appointment on Saturday!  Here was the picture of the toes the last time we hit #1…

Last time Syracuse was number one in basketball, Jaime painted her toenails orange. She even got Otto (Syracuse’s mascot), too! My wife is awesome!

A few weeks ago, Jaime and I, along with some of our friends, got to see the the musical tour of the show Million Dollar Quartet.  This was special for a few reasons.  Most importantly, it is the show that my brother Michael works on as a stage manager.  Since Michael tours around the world, I don’t get to see him that often.  So, it was nice to catch up.  Second, it was special because Michael took us on a backstage tour before the show, letting us see how all the magic is done.  It also included a sound check by the performers, which was so cool because the show is loosely based around the night in 1956 when rock stars Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins all got together to record.  So, the sound check was much like a concert.  The show, by the way, was awesome.  Here is a picture of us on stage before the show…

Me and Jaime and friends on the set of the Million Dollar Quartet tour.

A lot of great home visits to tell you about in this blog as well…

In Syosset, NY, I met up with Ethan Goodman, who is currently in the 4th grade and will be in our Lower Inter Boys division in his first summer at Canadensis.  Ethan has a wide range of interests and activities that he is involved with throughout the year.  To start, he plays the trombone and the piano.  He will actually be playing the piano at an upcoming NYSSMA competition.  His musical skills continue on as he is also in the school chorus, where he recently performed a Winter concert.  Ethan is also on a swim team called the Dolphins where he has also won a number of ribbons this season.  On top of that, he takes gymnastics classes, likes video games and loves to read.  When asked about his favorite series of books, Ethan told me he enjoys Harry Potter the best.  This summer, Ethan is looking forward to making new friends along with all of the activities such as the zipline and ropes course, waterskiing, camping, the Canadensis Today Show, Hondas and mountain biking.  Here is a picture…

Me with Lower Inter Boy Ethan Goodman.

In Weston, CT, I got to spend some time with Sam and Zac Kurian, both who will be joining us at camp for their first summers.  Sam will be in our Upper Junior Boys division while Zac will be part of our Lower Junior Boys division in 2014.  Currently in 3rd grade, Sam is busy with parkour classes and tennis lessons.  In addition, he also plays ice hockey in the Darien Hockey League on a team called the Blue Blades, which is currently playing for the league championship.  When at home, Sam enjoys video games, with Civilization and Skylanders right now being his favorites.  When he comes to camp, Sam is excited to play dodgeball, gaga, hockey, football and baseball as well as go on the watermat in the lake.  As for Zac, who is in 2nd grade, he is busy with parkour classes and tennis lessons, too.  But, Zac also takes karate lessons and is currently a yellow belt.  Zac enjoys video games at home, too.  His favorites are Minecraft and Skylanders Swap Force.  At Canadensis this summer, Zac is looking forward to activities like banana boating, art, woodworking and rocketry.  Here is a pic..

Me with Lower Junior Boy Zac Kurian (left) and Upper Junior Boy Sam Kurian (right).

In Orange, CT, I saw Jason Marino, who is coming to camp for his first year as part of our Lower Inter Boys division.  Now in 4th grade, Jason loves baseball.  In the Spring, he will once again start playing in the Orange Little League, where he usually plays pitcher and 3rd base.  While the snow is still on the ground, Jason trains inside to keep his skills sharp at an indoor facility called The Grind.  Jason is also a big fan of the New York Yankees.  On many weekends, you can find Jason skiing at Mt. Snow.  When at home, he enjoys building Legos, playing Minecraft, reading the Conspiracy 365 books and watching movies.  Jason recently watched the classic Back to the Future trilogy and loved it.  Finally, Jason is a big New York Giants fan and enjoys listening to Maroon 5.  At camp this summer, he is excited for the Hondas and quads, playing in the CBL, waterskiing and glass fusion.  Here is a photo…

Me with Lower Inter Boy Jason Marino.

In Penn Valley, PA, I enjoyed getting to know Matthew Moskow, who is currently in the 2nd grade.  For Matthew, if there is a sports season, he will be playing something.  Currently, he plays in the PVJSA Basketball League on his Drexel team.  In the Spring, he will play baseball.  In the Fall, he played soccer.  Matthew also made sure to remind me that he is a big Philadelphia Eagles fan and even told me that he got to attend his first two games at the stadium this year.  Matthew also likes to go to sleepovers at friends’ houses, likes to play the Madden 25 video game and likes to read the Big Nate book series.  As a Lower Junior in his first summer at camp in 2014, Matthew is excited to make new friends, play a lot of sports, go waterskiing and participate in Color War, especially the Apache Relay.  Here is a picture…

Me with Lower Junior Boy Matthew Moskow.

In Roslyn Heights, NY, I was hanging out with Gabriella Fischer, who is currently in the 3rd grade and will be an Upper Junior Girl in her first summer at Canadensis.  Gabriella loves to perform.  Just recently, she starred as Ms. Hannigan in the Roslyn Theater Company performance of “Annie.”  Gabriella takes dance classes.  In the Spring, she will take part in the dance company’s recital.  While at her house, she shared with me her Yummy collection.  For those that don’t know what a Yummy is (I didn’t), you can click here.  Gabriella also really enjoys have sleep overs with friends.  She let me know that her upcoming birthday party is going to have a baking theme.  Finally, Gabriella let me know that camp is going to be a perfect place for her because she is someone that just likes to be silly and funny.  When I asked her what she is looking forward to at camp, she said, “Pretty much everything!”  She is particularly looking forward to going in the lake, the zipline and free play.  Here is a pic…

Me with Upper Junior Girl Gabriella Fischer.

In Syosset, NY, I was with 3rd grade boy Jake Weiss, who will be an Upper Junior in his first summer at Canadensis.  Jake has a variety of interests.  To start, he likes to act.  Some of his recent roles were playing Danny in “Grease,” Phil in “Hercules,” and Mike Tee Vee in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”  Jake loves music and plays guitar and violin in addition to singing.  He likes to swim.  In the Fall, Jake played in a soccer league.  When at home, he really enjoys playing X-Box, building Legos and having Connect 4 and Life Tournaments with his family.  When Jake gets to camp in June, he can’t wait to try activities like archery, waterskiing, the climbing wall, zipline and performing in the camp show.   Here is a photo…

Me with Upper Junior Boy Jake Weiss.

In Newtown, PA, I was having a great time with the Cramer brothers, Ben and Drew.  Ben is back for his third summer at camp as part of the Upper Inter Boys division and will now be joined at camp with his brother Drew, who will be in the Upper Junior Boys division for his first year.  Now in 5th grade, Ben plays in three different basketball leagues.  In the Spring, he will once again be playing travel baseball.  On top of that, he takes tennis lessons.  When at home, he enjoys playing on the i-Pad.   Ben wanted to give a shout out to the Boys of Bunk 6 from Summer 2013 and wanted to remind them of their bunk motto, which was “Bunk 6 gets chicks!”  When I asked Ben what he is excited about for next summer, he enthusiastically replied, “Everything!”  As for Drew, who is in the 3rd grade, he is a huge fan of WWE Wrestling.  His favorite wrestlers are the Big Boss Man and Randy Orton.  Recently, Drew attended a few live shows that came to the Philadelphia area.  Drew is also a wrestler, too, and is a member of the Council Rock Wrestling team, where he recently took 3rd place in a tournament.  Drew also plays basketball on his team the Wolfpack and plays flag football.  When at home, he enjoys X-Box and Minecraft.  This summer, he is ready for activities like canteen and the wrestling elective.  Here is a picture…

Me with Upper Inter Boy Ben Cramer (middle) and Upper Junior Boy Drew Cramer (right).

We love to get e-mails from campers and staff for our blog posts.  Here are some pictures I received over the past few weeks…

Before our Reunion, some of the girls from Summer 2013’s Bunk 5 had a sleepover at Zoe Gellert’s house. Pictured here from left to right are Lily Frezel, Haley Brettschneider, Zoe Gellert, Avery Wollock, Haley Segal and Marissa Brucker.

Former camper and recent staff member Greg Ricken shared with us a surprise gift he received recently in which all of his past camp t-shirts were turned into a blanket! So cool!

Well, that’s all of the blogging for now.  Supposedly, it is supposed to snow again this weekend!  Can Summer get here any quicker?

Have a great day!

-Brian

Meet Jadyn, a current 3rd grader who will be a Junior Girl and cannot wait for her first summer at camp!  She did the Tour & More Play Day last year and got a taste of all the fun we have at Camp Canadensis, and she is ready for all 7 weeks!  She always introduces herself as Jadyn, but her friends and family like to call her “J”, “JJ” or on the soccer field her team calls her “Jadels”.  She is on the soccer field A LOT!  She plays in the Livingston Soccer Club league for the Lady Legacy team.  Their colors are green and white, and she has indoor practices during the winter so they can be ready for games in the spring and fall.