Hi All,
As I sit here Friday night in my office, I can’t help but recall all of the amazing memories of Summer 2009. Currently at camp there is a running group, 2 marching bands, and a daycare from Chinatown. So, we have a full packed house, but of course it’s not nearly the same.

I hear music right now in the Rec Hall and it reminds me of Miss Canadensis, the girls fashion show, and our wonderful theater productions. One marching band is practicing in the pavilion, which makes me think of the showcase basketball game with the entire camp screaming for their color war team! Over on Senior side, another band is playing in the Senior Canteen, but it’s just not the same without all of you here at camp.

Summer 2009 was simply amazing. The summer of Zoogle (shout-out to Will) and who could forget the Today Show. Speaking of, I hope campers have had a chance to check out all of the Today Shows which are posted in our media room. I know there are alot (one for each day), but perhaps you can watch one a week all winter to keep you going until Summer 2010! They certainly were a blast to film each day and I can’t even tell you how excited Jaycal, Will, and I are as we began discussions for Winter Today Shows as well as segments for next summer. I can promise you now that we have one year under our belt, there will be even more camper segments, but one thing is for sure- we will continue to do our “Gold Carpet Interviews”, which have proven to be quite popular.
Back to the summer- there are way too many great memories to recount here on the blog, but overall I just want to say thank you to everyone:

To our amazing support staff- They work incredibly hard behind the scenes to make sure that you have clean clothes to wear, that you are fed, and that you trash is picked up each day! They are a group of extremely hard working college students who participate in a cultural exchange by coming to the states and as they depart over the next few weeks they are looking forward to well deserved vacation/traveling across the country. A few are even going on a cruise to Alaska!

To the head staff- From programming to head counselors and group leaders, thanks for working so hard and paying attention to detail this summer. Our head staff is the best of any camp (of course I am biased) and puts in many late nights and early mornings to make sure that you have the best summer ever!

To the staff of 2009– This year’s staff was absolutely amazing. So many of you did what was asked of you, but also went above and beyond. You had patience dealing with the campers, you showed compassion when needed, and this summer especially you showed flexibility with all of the rain. Thanks for providing the campers with such a great experience at camp. Hopefully you all enjoyed it as well and I look forward to seeing many of you right back here next summer.

To our health center nurses and doctors– Thanks for all you do to keep campers and counselors healthy. While I walk around saying that “I play doctor at camp” our nurses and doctors have so much responsibility for each of you at camp and take it seriously, while still having fun from time to time. Thanks for the water fights and for being you!

To Matt Unger & Sam Ginsburg (the operations team)– They also work mainly behind the scenes to ensure a smooth summer. From organizing transportation out of camp, to ordering food and everything in between they are the backbone of camp and without them, things wouldn’t get done. Thanks guys for such an incredible summer and for all that you do on a daily basis for the campers. I couldn’t imagine anyone else I would want to work with.

To Jaycal- the executive producer of Canadensis Today– You are such a talented young man and deserve all of the recognition for Canadensis Today. It was your brainchild and you gave up so much of your free time to better the show. Thanks for “dealing” with me and Will and not loosing your temper on us (something which would be very easy to do)! Best of luck at GW this year and I know you will be successful at whatever you set your mind to. Looking forward to Canadensis Today Winter Edition and Summer 2010!

To Will Armon– Hey Buddy! As my official co-host of Canadensis Today you certainly had to put up with alot from me. Let alone the schedule, but my athletic inabilities, blundering of lines time after time, and repetition of certain words (which of course you loved to point out) you are a great friend. I will miss you out in St. Louis but I have a feeling that I will get to see you again in PA soon. Keep in touch Bro.

To Robin– You put up with my hectic schedule and embarrassing you in front of millions live on the Today Show when I read the email from “the grandma”. You are the best…enough said!

And finally, to the campers of Summer 2009– You all were terrific. I learned so much from each of you and enjoyed the time we spend together. Whether it was the freshman boys in Cooperstown, or Boys 5 Zoogling out in front of the HQ, or spending time with G3 in ceramics, or Mara Bernstein running on the Today Show you all are amazing. I look forward to seeing many of you throughout the winter in your homes or around town and definitely at the Summer 2009 Reunion!

I have to run and take care of a few things for the groups here. Don’t worry, I am not actually “running”, especially with 300 runners surrounding me, it’s very intimidating. Speaking of, I will leave you with this…I was invited over to their activity this afternoon. They were running on treadmills sponsored by Nike and a computer was analyzing their gait and running form. I laughed and said do you want your computer to break??

Sorry for the lack of updates the past week. It has been a whirlwind week! We said goodbye to the last of our precamp groups. Precamp was a huge success and I can’t thank the precamp staff enough for a wonderful job. They worked so hard, especially with the rain and cold weather.

This weekend is our leadership weekend. All of our activity directors and groupleaders joined us for a fun-filled orientation weekend. What an energizing group of people and it’s awesome to see their spirit and excitement for Summer 2009. Tomorrow morning we welcome the rest of our counselors and support staff for our 1 week orientation until opening day! We can’t wait.

Just to let you know, a new episode of Canadensis Today can be found at http://www.canadensis.com, click on media room, videos, 2009 video clips, Canadensis Today. I hope you will all tune in!

Hey All,

The weather has broken and FINALLY the sun came out! Not sure for how long, but it’s out. This weekend we had an orientation session for some of our staff members who won’t be able to attend our regular orientation due to high school graduation, proms, etc. Will did a terrific job working with them on Saturday and Sunday and it was great to see energized counselors who are excited for the coming summer!

This afternoon, Will, Sam, and I cleaned out the Head Counselors office. From vacuuming the light fixtures to cleaning the windows, we did it all and now it’s ready for summer time! Our head staff/groupleaders arrive this coming Wednesday night for orientation and then we are in full swing by the weekend. I am really excited as this is the start of a great 8 weeks.

Time to go to dinner, but for now enjoy the entertainment provided by Cara Corradetti. Thanks Cara!

How do these 3 words go together?? See below!!

Hey all!

This is Will Armon.  Eric Forti, as always, is busy with pre-Camp so I will be blogging for him this afternoon.  The story from Camp at the moment is rain.  It’s been raining on and off all day; the lake is way up, and we are all wet.  We had a Middle School group from Wissahickon leave this morning.  As they left, buses from PS1 and PS2 were rolling in.  So, the fifth graders have been playing in the rain all afternoon.

We unfortunately closed the Low Ropes Course this afternoon because the various obstacles were getting too slick.  So instead, Pete Tarnoff, Lauren Berry and I played a game with the kids in the Rec Hall.  It was a group jump roping game.  We took a forty foot piece of old climbing rope and the kids had to jump through it in pairs.  We then went to triples.  And by the end, we had fifteen kids jumping through the rope at the same time.  It was a simple activity, but I think that they liked it.

Other than working through the rain, there isn’t a whole lot that’s too exciting going on at pre-Camp.  I’ve been busy working on Counselor Orientation.  Believe it or not, our Group Leader Orientation starts in less than a week!  Counselors get here soon after that, and I think we all know who gets here next!

I will say this, Camp has honestly never looked better.  As I drove in three weeks ago I noticed it, and I am still noticing it today: Camp looks great!  I’m not sure what it is.  The pre-Camp staff is of course working hard, but they do every year.  Regardless, I’m looking forward to another beautiful summer at Canadensis.

Well, I guess I’ll leave it there for now.  I’m sure I’m be logging in to blog again before too long.  I hope that you enjoyed the first episode of Canadensis Today, which is posted in the Media Room.  I’m really looking foward to filming the show this summer.  Eric’s been pretty excited about it.  He ordered mugs and mousepads with the Canadensis Today logo.  Let’s face it, Forti was built for the camera!

Alright, Canadensis, I hope all are safe and anxiously awaiting the Summer of 2009!  Take care…

Throughout the day many photos were taken. One that stood out to me was a photo I took with Garrett Cohen, a 3rd year camper. Take a close look at the photo (you can click on it for a larger version) and see the color of his braces! Thanks Garrett for allowing me to share this photo.

Eric Forti here up at camp. The last family left a little over an hour ago and what a day it was! The weather was absolutely perfect and the families who came up to enjoy the corn man, a BBQ lunch, and participate in some activities appeared to have a blast. Yes, the corn man was here today and we went through over 500 ears of corn, as well as tons of toppings- parmesan cheese, hot sauce, garlic powder, and my personal favorite Canadian Steak Seasoning (sounds odd, doesn’t it?) to name just a few.

The lake was full of boats, the pool had swimmers (after all it is heated and it was a gorgeous day), and all four ropes were setup at the wall. Adam Center, a second year camper and his brother (Matthew- a new camper) seemed to have a ball as well. Adam climbed one of the walls that he wasn’t able to last year- way to go Adam!

It’s time for me to head to the dining hall for dinner with the staff. Speaking of the staff- about 40 counselors were here today and did such a great job at assisting in all of the activity areas. A few new counselors- Lauren McGuire and Vanessa Johnson drove here to assist us and we truly appreciate their efforts. Thanks to Glen Mackey for taking photos, Jaycal for videotaping throughout the day, and everyone else who worked so hard to make today such a huge success. As I said when I introduced our head staff during the “lineup today at the amphitheatre” there are three people who are working so hard behind the scenes to prepare camp for June 27th. Justin Winch, who is now in his fifth year and is a groupleader during the summer, has been in charge of our precamp staff. Not an easy task when you think about how much has to be done in such a short period of time! In my office during the summer is Sam Ginsburg, who arrived a little over a week ago. He has been a huge asset to both the camp and to me, ensuring that all of the small details are taken care of and helping out wherever he is needed. And last but not least, Matt Unger who has been here forever, but started full-time this past winter, has been overseeing the kitchen and food orders, working with all of our precamp groups, and working alongside me and Sam to take care of everything that needs to be purchased, setup, cleaned up, etc.

These are a few of the “behind the scenes” people who are doing everything they can to make this the best summer ever! Thanks to all of the families who came up today and shared in our Open House.

Eric

P.S.- Will Armon and I shot our first official Canadensis Today show together earlier today. We will post it, along with an Open House 411 and photos from the day, in our website media room (www.canadensis.com) and click on media room in the next couple of hours/days. Check back often!

Here is some funny entertainment featuring the Canadensis Today show anchors to get you through a rainy, cold Friday afternoon. Enjoy and keep checking back for updates.

As you can see from the photo in the previous post, yes it’s true. Will Armon and I sacrificed our dignity and entered the photo booth at the Stroud Mall. But, it was all in the name of Canadensis Today! We did a “photoshoot” with Cara Corradetti assisting us in different poses. It was a quite a sight and I think the 25 people in the entire mall (AKA OUR STAFF!) enjoyed the laughs.

So today is unfortunately a bit rainy and cold again. I thought the weather had broken, but to no avail…However, the good news is that Sunday (Open House) is supposed to be great weather.

We welcomed a school from NJ who will be with us until Friday. There was a bit of an “incident” today when the buses pulled in. They brought 12 coach buses to camp, which is alot to try to park all simultaneously on the camp roads! It takes alot of coordination and effort on our part, believe it or not. So the “lead” driver insisted on remaining first, however it’s not always possible because buses can’t exactly pass one another in front of the office, especially with kids roaming around, luggage to unpack, etc. To make a long story short, the driver argued with some of our staff so I had to get involved and defend our staff, who were just doing their job correctly. I think I made an enemy in him, but it was all for the safety of the kids and the camp. Oh well, can’t win them all!

In more positive news, a few nights ago Aunt Terri hosted the Barrett Business Association, which is comprised of many of the local businesses. The owner of Lewis’s supermarket nearby, realtors, an insurance agent, etc. all attended the free BBQ. The kitchen went “fancy” and made burgers from scratch, hot dogs, and many salads. Aunt Terri coordinated the dinner with about 50 people in attendance and it was enjoyed by all. At the end of the night, some of the staff (namely ME) had a craving for cookies, so I put some frozen cookie dough in the oven, turned the switch to ON, but never turned the gas to ON. Therefore, the oven was blowing air, but never got hot. Eventually the cookies baked (sort of), but who cares- they were good!

Last night as I mentioned earlier we took all of the precamp staff as a little treat to the local movies. They enjoyed it and tonight they are planning staff parties for the rest of precamp. One night will feature a Rock Band Tournament amongst many other activities and ideas they have come up with.

This group is here until Friday and then a busy weekend ahead. Looking forward to a great Open House, so remember if you didn’t RSVP yet, please do so! We hope to see as many 2009 campers up here as possible.

I promised everyone updates on what we do precamp, but unfortunately there isn’t much more to write than the title. Don’t worry, I am sure I will fill this blog entry up with other things, but basically what we have done the past few days is Powerwashing, raking, and painting.

The past few days, yours truly (ME!) climbed on top of the main office and powerwashed the roof shingles and the awning. We also powerwashed the many sheds, additional awnings, benches, and sidewalks to wash away all the winter “junk” from them!

James, one of our woodworking counselors, painted the HQ door frames white and they look fresh and new! Many of our counselors continue to rake, rake, and rake. Every year I say the same thing, but it seems like more leaves somehow appear.

Brian is busy in the office finalizing the schedule, games/activities, and making nametags for Open House. Cara is working on the trips and finalizing our hotel reservations, entertainment, and meals on the road. Matt spent half of the day accepting food deliveries, including tons of flour, sugar, and other bakery supplies as Harold the Baker will be arriving in the coming weeks.

Today, Will Armon arrived for the summer. As many of you already know, Will and I are the co-hosts for the upcoming Today Show. We will bring to all of you another episode of Countdown to Canadensis Today during the Open House.

I hope many of you are planning on coming to Open House this coming Sunday. If you haven’t yet RSVP’d please do so via email or call our office, but let us know so we can plan on seeing you up at camp for what promises to be an excellent day!

Wednesday through Friday a school from NJ will be here and then this weekend we welcome Girl Scouts and YMCA’s, who will be leaving at 11AM Sunday, just in time for Open House!!

For now, that’s all. Keep checking both the www.canadensis.com website as well as this blog for more videos and blog postings in the coming days. We have a very special video introducing some of our many new areas of camp for Summer 2009 in the works for all of you to enjoy!