I’ve been excited about this “Mystery Box” idea for months, and now that it’s been announced, it has been so much fun to hear the positive reactions from Alumni & Parents!  In the same realm of popular gift services like Birch Box, we have put together a number of Canadensis items that would retail at a higher value than $60.  None of these items have ever been available before, and are sure to bring many smiles during the winter! Our Canadensis Carewear collection is usually only available at the camp store, but just like Carewear, all proceeds will go into the Canadensis Cares! fund.

Canadensis Cares! is a scholarship program designed to benefit Canadensis campers whose families are impacted by adverse or unusual circumstances. In some small way, every member of the Canadensis community can help families facing circumstances less fortunate than their own.

I can’t give away too much detail (the mystery is a big part of the fun!).  All items have been selected by the Camp Canadensis Winter Staff to be perfect for campers and alumni of every age.  Each box is gender specific, but are one size fits all! The boxes have 6-8 items, and will come ready to give your child during the holiday season – no wrapping needed and the $60 also covers shipping!  Give your kids this special Canadensis gift, while giving the gift of camp to another child.

To sign up for the mystery box, log in to your online Canadensis account, or call the winter office at 484-674-1941.  Boxes are only available until Wednesday, October 9th at midnight.  After that, we will be placing orders, and cannot accommodate any additional requests.

After camp ends, I have the enormous (and fun!) task of going through every single one of the amazing photos that capture the summer fun at Camp Canadensis.  Without these photos, it would be hard to remember the unbelievable moments and summer memories.  95% of the approximately 25,000+ photos uploaded every summer are taken by Lauren “LMac” McGuire – shown in a rare photo above where she is in front of the camera!  She’s spent 5 summers at Canadensis, and this year she went above and beyond every single day.  She created and supervised our Media Programs, ensuring that our photos & videos helped families at home be a part of the magic at Camp Canadensis.

Many of our families use these photos to share on social media, put together collages, posters, photobooks, slideshows, and much more.  If you have a great way you display your summer 2013 photos at home, take a photo and email it to me at pam@canadensis.com – I’d love to see it, and include it in a future blog post! Thanks to LMac, some of my own summer highlights were captured, and here they are…

I was so excited about our two GIANT new waterslides…I couldn’t wait to try them!  As soon as they were up and running, I just jumped right in, fully dressed!

We know the campers live 10 months for 2, and that’s especially true for us directors…we wait all year round for the campers to step foot off the bus!  I’m lucky to work with Brian Krug & Eric Forti, and the rest of the full time staff year round.  It’s become a tradition for us to take a photo on opening day before the first bus pulls in – look how excited (and well rested!) we are on day 1!

We love seeing camp come to life as the kids jump off the bus.  The Lower and Middle Campers (current grades 1-6) bunks are already unpacked and setup, so they get to start bunk bonding and activities right away.  Kylie (a new Junior Girl) got off the bus, and handed me my first Rainbow Loom bracelet – checkout her full wrist!

For me, camp is all about the games and friends – and Mah Jongg brings those two things together!  It was a new elective at camp this summer, and thanks to the Super Senior Girls (like Heather & Julia above), it was a popular!  I loved every minute spent teaching this game and playing with the amazing girls who learned Mah Jongg this summer.

Another game I can’t get enough of is Connect Four!  I came out on top in this round vs Sami (a Lower Senior Girl), but I’m up to be challenged anytime!

My desk is in the programming office – and luckily campers stop in all the time to check what’s on their schedule or make changes to their electives.  We love visitors, like the Upper Inter Girls above (from left to right, Samara, Haley, Elana & Sarah)!

But most of all, I love getting out and visiting the campers at activities – especially when I get to craft alongside them at art!  Here, the Junior & Lower Inter Girls art elective were teaching me how to finger weave and make a headband!  From left to right, my teachers were Skye, Amanda, Kailey, Brooke, Paige, Annie & Sierra.

We start every day with a whole camp dance party, followed by Morning Line Up (MLU), where we celebrate birthdays and make announcements for the day.  This summer, mystery envelopes were being hidden all over camp with facts and clues inside.  When campers found an envelope around camp, they brought it up at MLU and we opened it on stage.  In the photo above, Lower Junior Boys, Mitchell & Luca found one!

In one of the mystery envelopes, it said “Pam Levi, Jump In The LAKE!” – so I had no choice but to run and belly flop off the dock!  When we discovered the mystery writer was our one of our ceramics specialists, Mike Morrissette, I got my revenge by sending him into Lake Lenape!  It was all in great fun, a definitely highlight of the summer!

At another MLU, we had a staff limbo contest.  It was during Staff Appreciation Week, and the winners got Dunkin Donuts coffee delivered to their table during breakfast!  In the photo above, Theresa from programming, AKA “Mama T” helped judge – checkout the amazing moves for our soccer specialist Issac Peglow!

Right before parents arrive on Visiting Day, we have a jacket ceremony for campers and staff that have spent 5, 8 or 10 summers at Canadensis.  This year I received my 5 year jacket with my favorite partner in crime, our unbelievable Program Director, Moira Ciechoski!  It’s been amazing to work next to this lady for the past few summers, and getting our jackets together was a special moment.

After the parents leave on Visiting Day, all of Lower Camp, Middle Camp and the CITs have a huge water fight!  I look forward to this every summer, and it just keeps getting bigger and better every year!

We have endless activities at camp, but for our Seniors (currently in grades 7-10), the program includes weekly trips.  I had an amazing time chaperoning the Super Seniors at the Skytop Adventure Course & Ziplines!  We go through training before getting up in the trees.  I took a break from learning how to work our harnesses and carabiners to snap the photo above with Alex Ehrenthal (counselor) and Erica, Amanda & Morgan.

The whole camp is treated to special events and programs!  One of our summer highlights is when Rak Dan comes and teaches us Israeli line dancing – we love it so much, we do it as a preview with the staff before the campers arrive!  It happens to be a great workout, and excuse to dress in some crazy outfits!

 

But, the most highly anticipated event of the summer is Color War!!  When is it going to break?  How is it going to break?  What will the team names be?  What do the shirts look like?  Will there be a fake break?  The color war hysteria reaches its peak in the 6th week of camp every year…and it becomes hard to focus on anything else!  In the photo above, I was mid-interrogation with some Senior Girls – Ally, Jamie, Madison, Lauren & Ali.  I love listening to their theories, and not revealing any of the fun surprises!

 A few days later, when Color War did break (in the rain!) the CIT Leaders dug up some buried treasure on camp, and inside were the Color War Shirts!  As a tradition, Eric and I hold up and display the shirts that all the campers receive! 

There are so many amazing photos from the summer – I hope this post encourages you to go back and look at some of yours!  Close your eyes, and imagine you are back at camp enjoying Fruit on the Fly (like in the photo above – with Junior Boys, Andrew, Ben, Eddie, Jason & Andrew).

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

Hello Canadensis!

It’s been about a week and a half since the buses took all of our campers home and I must say that I have begun to get sad now that camp is over.  I’m still up here at camp (for a few more days before I go home), but it’s just not the same without the 400+ campers and 200+ staff that make the summer complete!  So hard to believe that 49 days flew by so quickly!  Summer 2013 is certainly one to go down as one of the BEST SUMMERS EVER!

And, we want to thank all of those that have e-mailed and phoned us with the same sentiments.  It’s been great to hear all of your feedback.  We hope to see many of you at the Reunion in January and our other offseason events.  We also hope that many of you will plan your own camp reunions all winter long!

As I think back on the summer, there were so many wonderful moments from the summer, but here are just a few of the highlights from Summer 2013…

Color War between Nautical Blue and Apollo Gold comes down to the last few songs of the Sing to determine this year’s winner.  In the end, Apollo Gold claims victory!

We handed out 724 TAC (Tagged at Canadensis) awards to campers this summer.  For those that don’t know, TAC stands for “Tagged At Canadensis,” which recognizes random acts of kindness of our campers who go above and beyond to help out fellow campers and staff.  That means, there were at least 724 nice things that campers did for others this summer.  Way to go, Canadensis!

Our new camp alma mater was just beautiful and to hear it sung by all of camp, led by our amazing CITs, at the end of every evening activity was so very special.  “We watch the golden sunrise / In Canadensis blue skies / There’s nowhere else I’d rather be / Than on the shores of Lenape.”

Morning Line-Up continued to get the camp spirit going everyday with dynamic dance parties on the amphitheater.  This summer’s song of choice seemed to be Emblem 3’s “Chloe (You’re the One I Want).”  If you find yourself already missing line-up, click here.

The two great Fun Runs we had this summer, a Zombie Run and a Mud Run!

All of camp got surprised with a Bunk-O afternoon, which also included a frozen yogurt truck to serve everyone a cool treat!  For video footage of this, click here.

The new water slides were a huge splash, especially at the night time pool parties.

Thanks to Matt Cook and Jake Asman, the Gaga elective reached new heights with a wide range of game innovations, including multi-ball gaga and irregular shaped ball gaga.

The camp musicals of “Seussical The Musical” and “Once Upon a Mattress” produced standing ovations in the Rec Hall.

Campers had the chance to partake in the Evolution Lacrosse clinic, the Brad Henderson magic workshop and the Path to Rhythm drum circle.

Reveille, Morning Line-Up and Fireworks at night created one of the best Color War fake breaks of all time!

We had a Mystery Writer as campers find hidden notes around camp, revealing interesting facts and tidbits.  In the end, it was Junior Boys counselor Mike Morrissette who was revealed as the playful scribe.

Cade Mein wins the 2013 Ms. Canadensis Beauty Pageant.

Boys Bunk 3 and Girls Bunk 8 win Honor Bunk every single week of camp, earning an off camp trip to Callie’s Candy Kitchen.

Boys Bunk 16 wins the All-Camp MTV Night with their song “Let It Grow.”

The Seniors / CIT Glow in the Dark Dance rocked!

We will miss you!

And, for one last time in Summer 2013…

 

Have a great day!

-Brian

*Cara’s letter to the CIT Girls, Girls’ Camp Ceremony – Click to view larger…

 

I love opening day of camp!  After all the planning and staff training, we are about to have the campers arrive and the real fun will begin…it’s electric, and I have goosebumps as I type knowing that many of our campers are already on the buses on the way to their summer home – with us at Camp Canadensis.  We have an unbelievable summer in store, and we are so thankful to the parents, campers and staff members that allow us to spend our summers at Canadensis doing what we love.

The photo above is from Opening Day, 2012…it’s an annual tradition that we take one every year as we welcome kids off the bus.  When you check the website to see photos of your kids arriving this evening, you’ll probably see our 2013 group photo!  Being on a team with dedicated co-workers like Eric Forti & Brian Krug (the directors of camp), and all the winter staff including Cara Corradetti, Matt Unger, Aunt Terri Saltzman & Neil Sukonik is something I’m truly grateful for everyday.  We are so excited for the summer to begin, so get here already!!

Name: Lauren Gadol aka Lgadol

Years at Camp: This will be my 8th summer at camp!

Hobbies When You’re at Home: I sing, I dance, I act, hang out with friends and stud!!!

Secret Talent: I don’t really have a secret one because everyone knows that I can sing however I have a secret language, zubidik, that only I can speak. My second summer, I claimed I had a concussion after I banged my head on the bed board and I started talking strange and that’s what I called it! Silly but always remembered!!

 

Starting Monday, the camp office is officially setup for the summer at Canadensis, if you need to reach us call 570-595-7461.  With just a couple of more hours left in Philly, I’m packing up and getting ready for another wonderful season up at camp!  Before I head up to the Poconos, check out some of the amazing Canadensis campers I got to see this week!

 

Above is a photo of Jason & Luke (both coming back to camp for their 3rd year as Upper Inters!), Sabrina and Rachel (coming up to camp and receiving 5 year jackets as Lower Seniors!) and Sage (coming for her 3rd year as an Upper Inter).  We enjoyed some pizza, and talked A LOT about camp!  They are all moving into new sections of camp this year, and will get to enjoy lots of new changes and perks – extra trips, extra choice periods, and much more.  They had great suggestions for Evening Activities they’d like to do this summer, and I took notes!  Their camp enthusiasm is contagious!

 

I also got to spend some time with Anna (2nd year camper, will be a Lower Inter) and we made some bracelets on the rainbow loom.  I also got to hang out with her sister Lindsay (first time camper, will be a Junior…not pictured!) and we made some crafty cards which you can see below!

 

And, my week wrapped up with a lovely Shabbat dinner with Alexa (1st time Junior camper), and Brooke (1st time Lower Inter) was a special visitor who stopped by!  After dinner, we talked camp packing – and check out the super cool lounge chair (pictured above) that is coming to camp with Alexa!  The girls had a dance competition today, and I hope they had a great time!

Well, I’ve got some more packing to do myself…including these great Canadensis items my friend Sara spotted and was sweet enough to get…just one more way I’ll be showing my camp spirit this summer!

Hello Canadensis…

So, things have certainly been busy around here these days.  If you didn’t know, my BIG Day (aka my wedding) was last weekend up at camp.  Jaime and I then escaped to Lake George for a mini honeymoon.  We just got back the other day.  We want to thank all of those camp family and staff for the congratulatory e-mails and letters we have received.  It has meant so much to us that you took time out to wish us well.

As for the wedding weekend, itself, Jaime and I had a blast.  I am so happy that Jaime decided to have it at camp.  It was the perfect venue for our friends and family.  To give a little re-cap of all the festivities…on Friday afternoon, everyone arrived for the weekend.  That night, we had a BBQ dinner.  This was followed by an hour of live music from our band, The Grift.  The theme for the night was cheesy 80s songs set to bluegrass.  It was an absolute blast to hear tunes like Sweet Child Of Mine and Living on a Prayer set to a different melody.  Very cool and everyone that showed up seemed to have a good time.  We then moved over to the Health Center fire pit for (what else) S’Mores.  About 30-45 minutes into the campfire, it started to drizzle, but that didn’t mean the fun stopped as everyone made their way over to my house for a porch party.

On Saturday, the weather was a bit iffy, but that didn’t stop us from having a good time.  In fact, just like at camp, we had a rainy day schedule.  We played basketball game in the pavilion and had gymnastics / foam pit open in the morning.  In the afternoon, we got a few innings of a softball game in and still had a guided hike around Lake Lenape.  Guests also joined us for breakfast and lunch.  A few hours before the ceremony, the sun made its way out and the weather completely cleared up.  Our ceremony was officiated by my brother and Jaime’s sister and it was held in the senior boys dining hall.  From there, the cocktail hour was both inside and outside.  The reception was held in both the boys dining room and in the senior boys dining room.  We were completely amazed at how our caterer made over the venue for the event.  Just beautiful.  Our band rocked the night away!  As you may know, Jaime and I love our music and attend a ton of concerts throughout the year.  With that, our band played tunes from our favorite bands all night long…Phish, The Black Crowes, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and The Grateful Dead just to name a few.  For the last hour of the night, hundreds of glow sticks filled the room (a Phish tradition).  A lot of fun!

On Sunday, our guests had an amazing brunch put together for one final hurrah.  We want to thank all of the Canadensis staff that helped with the weekend.  Your help was awesome!

Here are some pictures…

So, after such a BIG day, there is another BIG event coming up and that is my BIG move up to camp.  That’s right!  We all move up to camp next week.  That means my weekend will be spent packing.  Since this will be my 32nd summer at sleep away camp, I think I have it down in terms of what to pack.  However, it is usually a ritual that I wish just took care of itself.  Ha Ha!  Whereas I love moving up to camp for the summer, it is always a chore to pack.  Does anyone want to volunteer to pack for me?  Probably the hardest thing about being in the camp business is having to say goodbye to all of my family and friends for 3+ months.  As has become a tradition, my friends will be throwing me an Annual Bar-B-Krug on Saturday.  This way, I can say goodbye all at once.

So much going on up at camp these days.  During the wedding weekend, it was awesome to see the new water slides installed.  If you haven’t checked out the sneak peak video on Facebook, you should.  The water slides are massive!  So cool!  The new tennis courts and volleyball courts look amazing as well.  When we get up to camp, we will also be looking into ways of making the new Senior Canteen backyard come to life!  We are thinking about adding some cool lighting, seating and a fire pit to that area.  Should be an awesome space for our Senior and CIT campers!

We hope that many of you are planning to attend our Annual Open House on Sunday, June 2.  This is always a great day for camp families, new and returning, to spend a day up at camp and enjoy the facilities.  New campers will have an opportunity to meet other campers as well.  June 1-2 will also be our CIT Weekend!  Can’t wait to see all of you!

There is also one last home visit to tell you about.  A few weeks back, in Livingston, NJ, I got to hang out with Justin Nikpour, who is currently in 3rd grade and will be in our Upper Junior division in Summer 2013.  Justin plays lacrosse in the Livingston Lacrosse League.  In the Winter, he plays in a street hockey league.  In the Fall, he plays tackle football.  He is a huge fan of WWE wrestling and his favorite wrestlers are the Undertaker and John Cena.  He is also a big Yankees fan.  When he comes to camp this year, he is looking forward to wrestling, lacrosse, tubing and banana boating at the lake and the ropes course.  Here is a photo…

A few weeks ago, I was invited by the Rhodes Family to attend a sleepover hosted by Samara Rhodes for the Girls of Bunk 8 from Summer 2012.  It was great to see most of this gang together.  According to the girls and parents, they stayed up well into the wee hours of the night having a blast!  Here is a photo…

So, this is my last blog from my desk in New Jersey.  The next blog will be from camp!  Can’t wait to get there.  Have a great day!

-Brian