Captain Caila applies gold face-paint to one of her campers...

Caila Cohen

Melville, NY

Years at Camp: This will be my 9th summer

Position this Summer: General Counselor

Previous Positions: CIT (Color War Captain of Gold Arcade in 2011)

Favorite Camp Memory: My favorite camp memory would have to be when the CITs and I went out in a huge rainstorm and just danced. It was still warm out but since the rain was heavy we got soaked in less than a minute. We just went around the senior girls tennis courts, laughing and running. Then, we all went inside and dried off and had a great BUNKO day. This was amazing and was something we never had a chance to do until this past summer.

Advice for first year staff: Though I have never been a counselor before, I have learned from my camper experiences that it really means a lot to the kids when the staff member is there for them, for both support and for a good time. Yes, a counselor has a job to make sure that the kids follow the rules and have a safe camp experience, but it is also very important to make sure that the campers’ summers are the best and have endless opportunities to have fun and create memories.

One thing you’re going to do this summer that you’ve never done before: This summer, I am going to go on the triple dare which I have not been on in quite a few years. I’m sure that I will have a chance to go on with my campers or even my friends too.

Advice for a first time camper: My advice for a first time camper is to live every moment to its fullest. Camp is a privilege and though it seems like 7 weeks are a long time, it goes by in rapid speed. The memories you create, the experiences you have, and the friendships you make are like no other and they should be treasured.

Check out these awesome shoes camper JAKE GARFINKLE created!

Avery, Haley, Brittney and Ruby – all Lower Junior Girls

What a fun day!  On Sunday, we welcomed many of our super fabulous and awesome new campers at a bowling party in North Jersey!  The New Camper Bowling event is a great chance for campers to get to know each other, and we had families attend from states as far away as Maryland and Connecticut…we have the most dedicated Canadensis Parents ever!  I wanted to upload a few photos from the event so you could get an idea of what we did, and you can see more photos by liking us on Facebook here. 

I love a good game!  I’m helping 2nd year Junior Girl, Jordan

After putting on our name tags on, we started playing “New Camper Bingo” which is a great ice breaker that helps campers meet each other.  Each paper has a grid with 25 boxes that says things like…”Find a camper who…can do a cartwheel…has been to the top of the Empire State Building…has been in a show…can touch their tongue to their nose…etc”.  The campers race to meet new kids and find people who fit the description so they can write them in the box.

We end New Camper Bingo with the campers showing off their skills

When the game wraps up, we all come together and have a good laugh.  Then we break up into bowling lanes, and get to know even more campers!  Between all the great people to meet and delicious pizza to eat, we actually don’t do that much bowling!!  However, I did see a bunch of great strikes and spares on the lanes…

The last thing we do is take a group photo, so check out the great photos we took with our incoming campers!A HUGE thank to to all our staff & staff parents that were there for the day!  We’ll be formally introducing you to our Canadensis family soon.  An extra big thank you to Pete Tarnoff for always being willing to help!

I hope you have been enjoying the amazing weather we are having on the East Coast!  Today is another beautiful day (I can see it from my office window) and it reminds me how quickly camp is coming!  During the summer, one of my favorite afternoon snacks is to drink a Fresca, with a special straw…I actually use a Red Vine!  Red Vines are a much better version of the popular twizzler candy.  I know some people who don’t love the taste, but I think it’s a far superior candy, and it works really well as a straw!  When you drink it with the Fresca soda, it starts to melt and you get an extra burst of “fruitiness” with your drink!

I mentioned that this was one of my favorite snacks to Ilana and Alexis while I was giving them a tour of camp last summer, and they actually remembered!!  When I went to visit them this winter in NY, they gave me a parting gift with Red Vines and Fresca, and today was the perfect day to start enjoying them!  Thanks girls!

(Alexis and Ilana)

I’m excited to see you, and many more of our new campers at our New Camper Bowling Event this Sunday…it’s going to be so much fun!

Pete as Color War Counselor Captain in 2008

Pete Tarnoff, Group Leader
Kutztown University, Elementary Education.

Years at Camp: 14

Favorite Camp Memory: Color War 2008, being a Counselor Captain for Tropical Gold.

Advice for first year staff: Care about what you do. If you care about the kids and take pride in being a great counselor, the rewards are endless.

One thing you’re going to do this summer that you’ve never done before: I want to try and learn to wakeboard during free time if possible. I’ve been wanting to try it for years.

Advice for a first time camper: ENJOY EVERY MINUTE!!! The friends you will make will be treasured for a lifetime. You don’t get to be a Camper forever. ENJOY IT!!!

Some of our Canadensis families met us yesterday at the Jewish Relief Agency warehouse, which meets once a month to pack up food items, and then delivers it to households in need.   I know I usually blog on Monday’s about crafts…but I’m so impressed with the boxes of food we made and delivered yesterday, so I wanted to show you pictures from our awesome families that volunteered their Sunday morning!  Many people in the Philadelphia community come together each month to make JRA happen – and we like going in March to help with the Passover deliveries.  You can see how busy the warehouse was in the photo above!The first step of the process is that our volunteers grab an empty box, and walk down the line as other volunteers load it up with food.  It gets very heavy by the end of the line, but Rachel (a Junior Girl, shown above) was eager to do more heavy lifting!  Noah (a Upper Inter Boy) and Josh (a Lower Senior boy, both shown below), made many trips through the “conveyor belt” style line, loading up on things like matzah, carrots, gefilte fish, tomato sauce, crushed pineapple, potatoes and grape juice.The second step of the process is actually getting to deliver the boxes of food.  When we deliver as a group, they give us an apartment building where a lot of people are waiting for these boxes of food, so we can all be together.  When we got there, we unloaded all 60 of our boxes, and then we need to make sure each of them are going to the right place!  Valerie (a Upper Inter Girl, shown below) labeled each one with big, clear numbers.It was a really great event, and we definitely appreciate everyone who came out to help!  We have been helping JRA make deliveries for 4 years!  During the summer, we do it with our CIT’s, and we will plan to do it again next March…hope you will join us!

Some of our campers call today “Double Digit Day” because it is the day when we go from hundreds of days until camp, down to less than 100 days…hence, we are in the double digit figures!!  Can’t wait for summer 2012 at Camp Canadensis!!

My parents came to visit me in Philly this weekend, and it was so much fun!  We went to tour some of the historical sights…like the Constitution Center (which had an amazing Bruce Springsteen exhibit!), Independence Hall (where the Constitution was signed) and the Italian Market (a fresh air market, and my favorite place to stock up on veggies).  We also spent some time at the Philadelphia Flower Show, which was amazing!  The theme was Hawaii, and the florists created amazing displays with waterfalls, volcanoes, etc.   We were there on the last day of the 9 day show…so all the vendors were trying to get rid of their stock of flowers.  In the few hours we were there, we saw the price of a dozen roses go from $10 each, to 3 dozen for $10!!

So, of course I bought three dozen roses, and when I got home, I tried to get creative with my flower arrangements…I don’t know a ton about flowers – but plants in general has become a recent hobby for me.  I do know that you are suppose to cut the stems of your freshly bought flowers on a slant, under water.  In the photo above, I’m adding baby’s breath – a filler flower – to round out my arrangement of white roses.This is how it turned out…probably my favorite overall!  I had some clementines that weren’t tasting very good anymore, so I put them in the bottom of the glass vase, and I think it brought some fun color to the arrangement.I spread the three different bouquets around my house, and they make me smile every time I walk by.

I’ve been planting a bunch in my tiny city yard as well, when things start to bloom this Spring, I’ll post photos here.  I can’t believe it’s almost spring…that means camp is around the corner, only 103 days to go!

It’s a warm Friday afternoon in the camp winter office, and we have a special visitor today…my mom!!  My parents live in Arizona, but they are visiting me in Philadelphia for the weekend, and while my Dad is off doing consulting work, my Mom is hanging out with us here in the office!  As you can see, no one gets to just sit around when they are at work…we actually have a lot of stuff to do each day!  She’s putting together a mailing right now, and next she’ll be organizing some of our camp t-shirts.  It might not be tons of fun for her, but I’m loving having her here!