Time spent with camp friends is always the best, and we know that many bunks have been arranging sleepovers this winter – we love seeing photos!  I thought I’d blog today and share some pictures of my recent time spent with camp friends, so here we go!

First up was a trip to Pittsburgh to celebrate Noah’s Bar Mitzvah!  He is in the picture above with his mom Sandy, who is part of our fabulous Head Counselor team at camp each summer!

He did a fantastic job leading the congregation, and then we go to enjoy “Club Noah” that night – the party was great, and I loved the logo that captured Noah’s amazing hair!

Everyone loves cupcakes…right?  Well, at the Bar Mitzvah there were tons of flavors, but my favorite was the campy classic “s’mores”!

It was fun to dance and hang out with camp friends, here’s a picture of me with Sandy and BeckyJ in the photobooth!

There was also a caricaturist there -he’s just starting to draw me in the photo above…

 

And here’s the final product – pretty good job!  Of course, I asked him to draw me walking Annie!

  Annie got to come to Pittsburgh too, and before we headed out of town we took a walk over to see the giant inflatable rubber duck that was floating in the river.  He was so cute…I’d love to have him swim over to camp and spend the summer in Lake Lenape!

Later that month, I went to a Chinese cooking class with Eric & Robin.  It was hands on, and a lot of fun!  In the photo above, Eric is working in the kitchen with chef Joseph Poon!

He learned how to make lo-mein, and it was delicious!  He’s so good at it now, he’ll be cooking for everyone on Chinese nights this summer!

We learned how to make about 10 different dishes, and it was hard work!  Once we finished cooking, we got to enjoy the meal and by the end of the night we were totally stuffed!

I recently got to do some traveling to Cuba and New Orleans, and I was so lucky that my time in New Orleans overlapped with Lachie and Steph, so I was able to see them for a few hours!

They have spent two summers at Canadensis, and ran our waterfronts this year.  They are from Australia, and Lachie was our lake director, and Steph was the pool director!  They have been on an amazing coast to coast road trip after leaving camp, and they’ve planned to go and see just about everything the US and Canada have to offer!

We enjoyed beignets at Cafe Du Monde (they are like donuts covered in powdered sugar) and it was so good to hear about their travels!

And finally, as you might know – Matt & Melissa are getting married soon!  Melissa is the Lower Girls Head Counselor, and Matt works full time for camp as the Operations Director.

We recently went to Allentown (where Melissa lives and teaches during the off season) to celebrate her bridal shower.  It was a lovely luncheon, and as is the tradition at showers, Melissa ended the afternoon wearing a hat made out of all the bows and ribbons off her gifts.

One of the coolest gifts was the bus Matt’s mom made for the couple.  It recreated their engagement last year!

In the photo above (from left to right) is Cara, Robin, Matt, Melissa and me – all the purple was just a coincidence!

I look forward to the next time I’ll get to see camp friends…on MONDAY (11/11/13)!  If you live on Long Island, I hope we’ll be seeing you at Canteen on the Fly at Carvel in Westbury NY.  We’ll be there from 2-3:30!

18 Months?! What do you think that represents?

Camp is only 7 Months away…thank goodness it’s not 18 months away!

Carli has turned 18 Months Old and boy did that go quickly! From the blog, you can see some newborn photos of her…to today, an 18 month old, Happy and Healthy, Canadensis Baby, or should I say Toddler! Summer 2014 watch out. She is walking and talking up a storm. I have no doubt that she will walk across your soccer leagues, or draw a picture for you in arts and crafts if you let her.

Last night, Pam and myself got together with some other local camp directors for dinner. It was great to see them, after not seeing our friends since last spring! Everyone said they had a great summer and we went through some of the highlights at each of our camps. One of the directors is uncle to Jordan/Amanda Checkoff, new campers last summer. I had a chance to text with their mom during dinner and I am looking forward to seeing them at NAVE YOGURT in Maple Glen for Canteen on the Fly Philly Style on Sat, 11/16.

But first…it’s Long Island Canteen on the Fly! We hope to see many of you at the CARVEL in Westbury, NY (the Nathan’s Food Court building) from 2 – 3:30 this Monday, 11/11/13 . We will have camp t-shirts with us (brand new design) and of course Ice Cream to eat. So, please do stop on by and feel free to bring a friend along with you to meet all of us.

This weekend we are going to 3 birthday parties! One is Carli’s classmate in school who is turning 2, one is Robin’s childhood friend (who she used to babysit for) who has a son turning 1, and finally my nephew Ben’s 1st birthday! My niece and nephew (Ben and Emily) have come to visit camp each summer and have so much fun up there. You might remember Emily from playing soccer on the pavilion field, to baking cupcakes with Jojo in cooking? Anyway, they love camp as much as we all do and hopefully will spend more time up there this summer, now that they live in Maple Glen, right near me, Robin, and Carli.

Whatever you have planned this weekend, enjoy it! And remember Long Island…see you at Carvel on Monday, 11/11/13!!

Hey Everybody! Happy Halloween, as I sit at my desk here in Plymouth Meeting, PA. Unfortunately, it’s a bit gloomy out, but the good news is it’s in the low 70’s. Nice and warm for everyone walking around trick or treating.

One place not so warm though is camp. I was up there last week and boy was it cold! We are currently working on tons of projects, but as always it’s a little too early to let you in on the secrets just yet. Just know that there are some pretty impressive things that are coming for next summer. Camp looks great and it’s always fun being up there.

From one extreme weather to the other, the week before, my family was down at Club Med in Florida celebrating a milestone birthday for my mom, AKA Grandma to Carli! My niece, nephew, brother, sister-in-law, Robin, myself, and Carli all spent a week enjoying the sun, swimming in the pool, and eating lots of good food. Robin loved the trapeze…I preferred a ground position taking photos! Believe it or not, that’s Robin! I wanted Carli to try it next, but she has to wait until she’s 4!

 

Back in the winter office, we are planning our travels for the year. I will be headed to Australia/New Zealand and London to hire fantastic new staff and meet with our returnees. Then I am headed to France to meet up with some of our French families and introduce Canadensis to a few new families! Robin is looking forward to a quick trip to London with me and we have some cousins there I hope to meet up with too. Throw in a few trips to Florida to meet with our Chef David and see Robin’s family, along with a trip at the end of Dec. to Aruba…it’s alot of flying! Carli is an expert flyer and racking up the frequent flier miles like her daddy! Are you going to be in Aruba during the last week of Dec? Let me know, hope to see you on the beach!

Time for me to head home and trick or treat with Carli! She is going to be a bumble bee tonight, check out photos on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram later. And finally, don’t forget to post YOUR photos in costume by using #spookadensis. We want to see YOU in costume!

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!

*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!!