I’m so excited to introduce you to our first camper from Paradise Valley, Arizona!!  Jaden is currently in 4th grade, and she cannot wait for her first year as a Lower Inter Girl this summer! In the picture above we are hanging in her backyard in the middle of March on a sunny AZ day – she gets to wear shorts and tanks all year long!  Here are some important things you need to know about her:

• She loves being up on stage and is a great actress!  She has been in pretty much every show twice, including Suessical the Musical, and Alice in Wonderland.   Even though its hard work, loves it!
• She was in the newspaper when she was 4 years old playing the role of Dinah, the cat in Alice in Wonderland.  She’s also been in Grease, Willy Wonka and more!
• She’s really brave, there is a high dive at her school, and the first time she did it she wasn’t afraid at all!  She’s going to love our zipline this summer.  She also likes roller coasters.
• She’s got blue eyes, which you might get to see under her sunglasses!
• She once won a gaga medal on a cruise.
• Jaden really ikes tennis – and is excited to play at camp!
• She gave me a tour of her house, including her awesome new room makeover!
• She goes to a really good school, and she gets around three hours of home work every night!  She loves the “specials” classes, like art, music and technology.  She learning how to use iMovie – and she is creating a documentary about sea level rise.
• She says she used to be the teachers pet, now she’s known as more of a class clown.
• Blue and gold are also the colors of her school, she has lots of great things she plans to bring to camp for spirit and dress up!
• Everyone should watch out, Jaden knows how to do tae kwon do to protect herself.
• For electives, she is excited to try Canadensis Today & Glass Fusion.
• She loves to go horseback riding, on a horse named Candy.
• Jaden has a candy addiction (to the sweets, not the horse) and she even had some on display in her room – I’m impressed she’s not tempted by it all the time!
• We have a lot of her favorite candies in the canteen, including milky way, sour straws and gummy bears.
• She loves to be clean and organized, she is going to help her bunk win Honor Bunk every week!
• She loves mushrooms, but is not a huge fan of pizza.
• She has two awesome dogs named Joey and Whitney – (Whitney is named after Whitney Houston)
• She loves monkeys
• Jaden is a big sister, she has a younger brother Dylan (currently in Kindergarten)

While in Arizona, I also got to meet with one of the new staff members that will be joining our Health Center team this year!  Karen is so warm, and welcoming.  She is a Grandmother to 11 Grandkids, and there is one more on the way! She has so many hobbies: she spent a lot of last summer fishing with her brother, she is taking a quilting course, and she would like to learn how to crochet.   She also loves to travel, she’s see pretty much every corner of the country!  She’s been to Alaska (which reminded her of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where she grew up), but her favorite state she’s ever visited is Oregon.  We can’t wait to have her join us in Pennsylvania for a great summer at camp!

While on the U of A Campus, I met with some of my AEPhi sisters who were applying to work at Canadensis, and we actually did the interviews at my old sorority house.  Above is a picture of me in college from the sorority composite!

My parents live in Arizona, so we were able to celebrate Passover together, in the desert…haha.  On the left is my sister who came in from Texas, it was great family fun!Even Annie got to come to Arizona, she’s my favorite hiking buddy!  It such a wonderful state, but it’s awfully hot there during the summer…I’m glad that at least 10 AZ residents are leaving the 120 degree heat behind, and will be joining us for a wonderful summer at Camp Canadensis!

I hope everyone has been enjoying my “Meet the CITs” postings, they really are an amazing group of people and you all have NO IDEA how much fun and spirit they are going to bring to camp this summer. You thought camp was fun? You thought we had spirit? To quote the song… You aint seen nothing yet!!!

But, I must take a moment to pause my regularly scheduled blogging to update everyone on all the happenings in and around my office life lately. Last night finally brought bread back into my life as another Passover passed over us, so today is made even better by the lack of matzo in my lunch routine! Our family’s Passover celebration was highlighted by the Macaron tower I created, much to the delight of everyone’s taste buds. Kosher for Passover, Gluten Free, Nut Free – there was a treat for everyone! Even my puppy, Bella, tried to devise a way to climb our chairs and tables to steal a treat… luckily she did not succeed!

Wondering how far she can jump...

That weekend, my mother and I had plans for a double show day in the city! Lucky for us, Sarabeth’s had an alternative to their usually delcious muffins…

Matzo Heaven!

After I posted that picture on Instagram, CIT Mindy sent me a message saying that she was at Sarabeth’s as well! We had been at the Tribeca location, while Mindy and her family were at Central Park South. After we saw our first show downtown we made our way back uptown and finally got to see the Rosenthals… along with surprise guest star, Alex Feigin!

Alex, Cara, Mindy, and Rachel!

It’s always fun to run into your camp friends, even if it’s only for a few minutes! After our evening show we made our way home, although we’ve already got plans to return for some more theatrical fun next weekend! If you’re going to be in the city perhaps we’ll have another camp story to tell!

Gifts Galore!

When I’m not seeing shows or busy working in the office I’ve been having a blast experimenting with all sorts of French Macaron flavors! I must give a HUGE shout-out to Jason Calabretta, who hooked me up with some insane flavors to try. From s’mores to chocolate fudge – my kitchen is practically a bakery! Perhaps this is an iCan night in the making – what do you think?

Leo would like a puppy macaron, please?!

Allow me to introduce you to some awesome new Canadensis campers!  First up is Alexa, a current 3rd grader that will be a Junior Girl this summer.  She lives in Gladwyne, PA and also goes by the nickname Lexi.  Here are some important things you need to know about this fun new camper…

• She has an adorable rescue puppy named Penny, because she is the color of a penny.
• She attends The Shipley School, and has the best teacher in the school, Mrs. Riley.
• Alexa loves Justin Bieber, and had more than 10 pictures of him in her room.  I left the house smelling like Justin Bieber perfume!
• She has a super fun bedroom now, but if she’s at camp for the full summer she gets to move into a new bigger room with her own bathroom!  Imagine the awesome camp friend sleepover parties she can throw!
• She is a big sister to Brooke, they are two years apart.  Brooke will be doing the Tour & More Weekend this summer!
• The best part about being a big sister is getting to stay up later!  Alexa is also an early riser.
• Alexa thinks she’s going to want to be in the camp show, and she suggested that we do Wicked.
• She will want to dance every day of the summer, and also will choose gymnastics as an elective.
• Currently, she takes dance classes three days a week and on Saturday she dances for four hours!  She’s definitely going to want to be on our inter-camp dance team.
• The name of her year round competition dance team is the “mini-pops”.   She dances with a lot of other Canadensis Girls at Liberty Me, including Kylie, Marissa, Skye, Brooke, Madison and Jenna.
• Shabbat is a big deal at her house, and a lot of fun!  They invite friends to celebrate each week.
• When Color War breaks,  she hopes she’ll be on the blue team!  Her mom was a blue team color war captain and did some cheers for us in the dining room!
• Her favorite color is purple and her favorite candy is “dots”.
• Her family went on an RV vacation to Niagara Falls, and along the way they jumped into a freezing cold gorge of water – so cool!!
• She has a super neat and clean room, her parents agreed that she is very organized.
• She had so many great questions about camp – how do phone calls home work, how do we celebrate stuffed animal birthday parties, and what kind of stuff do staff have to jump in the lake for?
• She’s already planned out what she wants to wear at crazy night (one of our wild evening activities!)
• She’s planning to try everything by the end of the summer!

• She has cut her hair three times for “Locks of Love”, a charity that provides hairpieces for disadvantaged children – so impressive!
• She loves piggies, and had too many in her room to count!  She taught me a fun song that shows you how a draw pigs really easily by making little circles and bigger circles…you can learn the song here.
• She has a snow globe collection, and has more than 20!
• Each week she takes more than seven hours of dance classes.  She can’t decide if hip-hop or modern dance is her favorite.  She knows Alexa (above) from dance, and does competition as well.
• Brooke is a great eater likes trying all different kinds of things.  Her dad is from my hometown (Hewlett, LI!) and her Grandparents still live there, so we have some of the same favorite restaurants, like Matteos.
• She’s got some awesome baking skills.  As you can see in the photo above, Brooke made an amazing cookie cake, that she decorated all by herself!!  It was SO awesome, and delicious!  We gobbled it up in the winter office the next day…thanks!!
• She is a really good big sister to her brother Aidan, but he’s impossible to share a bed with because he takes up the whole bed!
• She likes to ride her bike, even though she never has enough time.
• Brooke showed me tons of art project she’s made, like glass fusion trivets, ceramic projects, popsicle sticks bowls, hand soaps, and scented candles that smelled like hot chocolate!  She has an aunt who works at Make Meaning in NYC, and she gets to try tons of fun projects there.  If you are ever looking for something to do in NY, check it out!
• Brooke has an amazing memory.  She remembers so much about the Tour & More weekend, she already knows the locations of where everything is in camp!
• She is going to a Maroon5 concert before coming up to camp, and she is going to do a camping trip with her dad to get ready for the COALS overnight at camp this summer.
• Some of her electives choices will definitely be glass fusion and dance.  The 3rd elective will be a wildcard… maybe something at the lake?
• She might want to audition for the camp show – she has been in Glee and Grease in the past.
• Her mom is one of her dance teachers, and her dad is her soccer coach…some of the many activities she is involved with!  Her parents met at Ohio State University, and she has them winning in our Canadensis March Madness NCAA Bracket Challenge, and she’s been high up on the leader board the whole time!

Brooke wore a special Canadensis shirt for my home visit!

Jes is going to be returning to camp for her 2nd summer, she will be in the Lower Inter Girls division.  She lives in Maryland, and recently celebrated her 10th birthday.  She had a “color war” themed party, and the two teams were purple and pink!  In the photo above you can see Jes in the purple shirt in one of the competitions, she had to eat a donut off a dangling rope as fast as possible, just like the carnival game we play at camp.  Looks like tons of fun!

I must take a break from my regularly scheduled CIT Intro postings to tell you all about the amazing fun had with camp friends over the weekend!!!

For those of you who are new to my blog or have yet to meet me, you should know now that I loooove theatre – musical theatre and plays, from Broadway to community, I love it all. I spent my entire childhood and high school career performing in shows and now as a semi-grown-up, I try to see as much theatre as possible, as often as possible, with as many friends as possible. Loyal readers may have noticed that every few blog entries involves me being in New York with camp friends seeing a play or grabbing rush tickets to a musical. It’s just one of my favorite things…cue: Julie Andrews singing My Favorite Things from the Sound of Music…

My very first job at Canadensis was “Theatre Specialist” and it was here that [Junior Boy/now CIT] Brett Levine and I starred in the Camp Canadensis Production of “Once on this Island”.

Here we are in 2006, belting out a tune!

8 years later we still talk about how much fun we had doing Canadensis theatre, and I have always wanted to go see Brett perform in a show in the off season – kid has some serious talent! The planets aligned and this year I made it my goal to get to his musical, and in the spirit of this upcoming summer, I got some of the other CITs involved in the fun! Brett had no idea we were bringing along some of his camp friends, and the result was an amazing evening of friends, fun, and musical theatre!

Rachel, Carly, Mallie, Bari, Maddie, Melissa, Grama, and JRo pose after dinner!

JCal made an appearance to help get everyone to the show!

Grama shows off her Brett tee shirt!

Dani and Alex representing the Super Seniors!

Brett Fan Club with Brett after the show!

Dani and I are so proud of this talented kid!

Backstage tour for camp friends!

After the show the Levine family (who, if you haven’t heard, are AMAZING!) invited everyone back for snacks and silliness at their home. We talked about camp and our summer ideas and just had the most wonderful time being together. Camp friends may be miles apart, but when we all get together it’s as if camp was only yesterday!

And of course, no time with camp friends is ever complete without trying to take a selfie with their dog:

Tori, Kobe, and Dani for the Selfie Win.

Lauren Grama, just hangin around at the Rock Wall!

Name: Lauren Hannah Grama

Years at camp: This is going to be my 8^th summer (8 year jackets wooo!)

Hobbies when you’re at home: Cheerleading, I am the mazkirah (secretary) of my chapter board in BBYO (B’nai Brith Youth Organization), and of course thinking about camp!!!!

Secret Talent: I am probably the best acapella singer there is out there. I can sing but I am also good at modern dance, olden dance, and mermaid dancing which is a little different. I look forward to being the lead singer of Canacapella this summer so I can showcase these skills to such a large audience.

Favorite Camp Activity: Definitely tech booth doing the spotlight with J-Ro. But a close second is COALS!!!

Funny Camp Memory: My junior summer I was in mountain biking elective with Mindy Rosenthal. It was one of our first days at camp so we did not really know each other too well yet. As we were biking around the lake we had to cross over the dam that is right near the summit that had water running over it. I was the last one to cross and I of course was the only one to ride my bike into the lake.

Advice for a first time camper: I am sure you will hear this 100 times, but it is so important to really take it to heart. Literally don’t waste one second of camp fighting or disagreeing over the little things. You want to make memories in the few precious weeks you have at camp filled with only incredible things. So don’t sweat the small stuff! Also, don’t be afraid of what anyone thinks of you. Camp is one place where you can be yourself and no judgments will be passed. You don’t want to look back on your summers saying that you wish you did something; you want to look back on your summers being thankful that you did something. Savor every moment you have, because before you know it, you will be a CIT wishing that you could just relive it all again.

Something you learned at camp (that you couldn’t learn anywhere else): That your camp friends are the greatest people you will ever meet.  You wait all year to spend two crazy months with your best friends in the world.  You learn how to live cohesively with your sisters and to respect all kinds of people. It’s one of those lessons that you continue to expand upon each year at camp as long as you allow yourself to open up to new people and new experiences.

I never leave for camp without my: sleeping masks. I can’t sleep without them!!

If I could have any job in the world it would be: The owner of camp. I would be Aunt Grama and Aunt Terri and I would hang out ALL day. Also, Alex Feigin would be there.

My favorite place that I’ve traveled is: Camp. No vacation is better than camp!!!

One thing my campers will learn about me is: When I am in camp, I find that if someone calls me Lauren, I get very uncomfortable. My name is Grama in camp.

One fun fact about me is: My home friends yell at me whenever I talk about camp because that is probably the only thing I ever talk about!

Casey, Hannah, and Mallie are loving Color War!

Name: Hannah Schepps

Hobbies When You’re at Home: Cheerleading

Favorite Camp Activity: Archery

Funny Camp Memory: When I slid down the side of the bunk bed and ripped Carly Lieberman’s shirt!

Advice for a First Time Camper: Enjoy every moment of the summer because the friends and memories you make here last a life time!

Something You Learned at Camp: Color War Songs

I never leave for camp without my… Pillow Pet.

If I could have any job in the world it would be… Lion Tamer.

My favorite place I’ve traveled is… Dominican Republic

One thing my campers will learn about me is…  I am very funny.

One fun fact about me is… I used to live in Las Vegas

Let me tell you, I’m lucky to have 200 amazing coworkers each summer at camp, but our tiny team that works all winter is pretty fabulous too!  As the two full time office females, Cara Corradetti and I wind up getting into all sorts of fun together.  She’s unbelievable, and exactly the kind of camp friend you want to have…every day she’ll make you laugh, encourage you to join in a sing along, teach you a new craft project and tell you about some fabulous game/product/website you had no idea existed.  She’s up for anything (like decorating the Matt & Melissa engagement bus ride with tablecloths and balloons) and she’ll help you with whatever is on your plate.  She is an amazing Head Counselor and the CIT Program has really grown under her leadership.  She is also a fantastic trip leader who takes our kids out of camp for around 12 days each summer, and you’ve probably grown to love her as co-host on the Canadensis Today Show.  I’m so lucky to work with her all year, and I thought I’d share just a few of our recent adventures…

We do LOVE Bingo!!  Our first Bingo outing was in Canadensis during post camp 2012 with Sam Ginsburg and Robin Forti, and we were instantly hooked.  There were awesome prizes (like a whole watermelon!) and Cara won the biggest cash prize of the night.  Since then, we’ve been actively seeking out Bingo playing opportunities – we’ve played with Robin at Temple Beth Or where one of our camp moms, Stacey Frezel, organized a huge Bingo fundraiser!    We’ve also played in Philadelphia at an 80’s themed Bingo night where Lower Girls Head Counselor Melissa Torban joined us in crazy costumes as well…Robin was a big winner that night!

We want to bring our love of BINGO to camp this summer…we’ve learned a lot of exciting ways to play, fun games and contests to go along with the number calling.

The pictures above are a BIG REVEAL!  Cara and I recently spent a day painting plaques that represent the amazing theatrical productions that the Canadensis campers put on each summer.  We’ve gone back in time to create plaques for some recent years, and they will be hanging in the Rec Hall this summer – each year new plaques will be added and it will be a fantastic reminder of the hard work our actors, actresses, tech crew and staff put in!

Cara has introduced me to many new crafts, including paper embossing and stationery – but our most adventurous crafting by far was the glass blowing class we recently took!  We were instructed by Julia Eckenrode (our returning glass fusion director at camp) and it was an incredible experience!  It was amazing to watch Julia work, and we very quickly got our turn to learn how to make paper weights, cups, flowers and bowls…unbelievable!

Name:Mallie Feldman

Years at Camp: 9 Years

Hobbies When You’re at Home: Tennis

Secret Talent: I can talk with my mouth closed

Favorite Camp Activity: Cooking and Ropes Course

Funny Camp Memory: That time my bunk had a huge shaving cream fight.

Advice for a First Time Camper: Camp goes by so fast so make every moment count.

Something You Learned at Camp: Camp friends are your best friends

I never leave for camp without my… Nutella

If I could have any job in the world it would be… A journalist

My favorite place I’ve traveled is… Paris

One thing my campers will learn about me is… I’m weird and fun

One fun fact about me is… I can touch my tongue to my nose

Mallie, Casey, and Lauren by the lake!