I woke up Saturday morning in a crafty mood, so I decided to make some small notebooks!

As always, step one is to ask your parents and then you can gather your supplies.

1.  Scrapbook paper

2.  Plain printer paper

3.  Scissors (and a paper cutter if you have it)

4.  Strong, but sharp needle with thread (I used the thick kind you use for friendship bracelets)

5.  Pretty tape (I used washi tape, but duck tape would be cute too!)

All you have to do it cut the printer paper into a size you like, and then you will fold it in half (remember, this doubles the amount of pages).  I suggest only using 5-8 sheets of printer paper so you can easily sew through it.  You want to make a REALLY good crease in the middle so that you have a nice binding.  Then start sewing!Next, you’ll put some tape on the edge to cover the stitches and give it a nice edge.  I was really happy with the way these looked, they were good…but not good enough!  My friend Ali was with me while I was crafting (she is a former Canadensis counselor!!), so I decided to add a little detail to the front… I used the accucut to cut out our initials in a contrasting scrapbook paper, and then I used some spray glue on the back to turn it into a sticker.  You can use any kind of glue, but this stuff is great because it doesn’t make your paper wet and gloppy.  And now…it was finished!

But after making some notebooks, I still had a lot of crafting energy!  So, I decided to make the freezer paper stencils I’ve been seeing all over pinterest, and turn my boring plain t-shirts into exciting Canadensis Gear!  This project definitely needs parental supervision.  Instead of explaining all the steps, I’ll let you click here to read about how to do this project…

A few months ago I showed you the awesome personalized Indian Head Accucut tray that we got, and I thought it would be the perfect thing to use and experiment on shirts.  I cut out the logo and letters, and all you have to do is iron the shiny side down (it comes up REALLY easily later).Then, I took it outside to a well ventilated area, and I started spritzing.  My bleach must have gone bad because it wasn’t working…but this bathroom cleaner did the trick.  (I later went to the store and bought new bleach!).The shirt I’m wearing didn’t bleach at all…I kept adding more, but the colors didn’t run.  I didn’t want to waste the cute design, so I spray painted over it so that when I peeled up the freezer paper, you could see the design.  My sweatpants came out cool…love them!  Even though the bleach spread a lot more than I planned, I will definitely still be rocking them this summer, so watch out!

So, my experiments didn’t all come out amazing, but I enjoyed it and plan to make more again soon.  I think with the stencils I was using, it would have been a much better idea to paint it instead of squirting it all over with bleach – and, when you use bleach you should have a bucket of water nearby so you can stop it from spreading and getting to areas you didn’t want it to reach.  You craft and you learn!

And here is some exciting news…Camp Canadensis now has Pinterest! Click below and follow us…

In the winter office, we seem to have a new “tradition” where during lunch we go around the office and discuss our BIG weekend plans. Unfortunately, it’s rare that any of us have such thrilling and exciting weekend plans. But…starting in 2 weeks, Matt and I will easily answer that question with an excited response of “WE WILL BE WORKING UP AT CAMP!!”. We both move up to camp in <2 weeks and are thrilled to be back in our 5-month home (we are there from late April through late September). So, this weekend is supposed to be nice and warm…what are your weekend plans?

Tomorrow, I will be spending some time prepping the house for our new arrival next month (Baby Girl Forti) and then spend the rest of the day seeing family. On Sunday, I will be participating in the MS Walk in Freehold, NJ on a team with one of my friends. Looking forward to spending some time with her and my friends, before it’s time to pack up and head to camp. And Sunday night, I will be having dinner with Dr. Menkowitz and his wife, Sue! Dr. Menkowitz has been a camp Doctor for a bazillion years at camp and is still continuing in the tradition for the 2 weeks following visiting day. So, an exciting weekend and hopefully I will enjoy some time outdoors.

This past week, I had a belated Passover seder (more like dinner) with Robin’s side of the family and that included campers Allie and Lily Ernst! My family is a little jealous of the Ernst girls because by them being at camp, they will get to see Baby Girl Forti more than anyone else in mine or Robin’s family!! They are really excited for camp and as you can see, Lily bought a special furry, soft, and cuddly sweatshirt with a Canadensis patch on it- AWESOME! They were both down in FL spending time with their grandparents (Robin’s Aunt and Uncle) and doing trapeze and other cool activities. While they were down there, Allie got an awesome airbrushed shirt made of the Indian head, which is certainly not something that’s easy to replicate.

Here is a photo of the 4 of us:

Dinner with Allie & Lily Ernst. What do you think of Robin's belly? She looks great and feels great. Due date of May 26, still on track:)

Yesterday, Brian, Pam, and I met to work on the Programming Schedule for this coming summer. It’s a really fun few days of meetings where we design, from scratch, the Canadensis Daily Program for this coming summer. By redesigning it each year, we get to take the input we get all year long (camper surveys, Senior summits, home visits, emails, phone calls, etc.) and incorporate as much of it as possible into the schedule. I say as much as possible because sorry campers, we can’t schedule each of you for cooking EVERY DAY of the summer!

Well, time to finish up work for the day and head out to enjoy the beautiful weekend. I hope you enjoy it as well!

Max getting ready for a fun day at camp!

Max Hecht

University of Wisconsin-Madison studying Business Administration. From Plainview, NY.

Years at Camp:10

Position this Summer: Group Leader

Previous Positions: Junior Counselor, General Bunk Counselor

Favorite Camp Memory: CIT summer amazing race.

Advice for first year staff: Treat the kids with respect. You give respect, you’ll get it back in return.

One thing you’re going to do this summer that you’ve never done before: Mah Jongg.

Advice for a first time camper: Don’t take a second for granted. These seven weeks will fly by. Cherish every moment of it.

In just 75 days, the Camp Canadensis Arts & Crafts Complex will be alive and buzzing with camper creativity, but Cara and I just couldn’t wait, so we did some crafting during lunch in the winter office today.  Cara taught me how to do her new obsession…embossing!  It’s a way of taking paper crafting to a whole new level, and you can easily make some professional looking stuff with a few supplies.

1.  A Watermark Stamp Pad (the black pad above)

2.  A Heat Gun (the pink item above)

3.  Embossing powder in the color of your choice

4.  Assorted rubber stamps

5.  Card stock paper is preffered, but you can use any paper you have on hand!

Embossing paper through this method allows you to take a stamp image you like, and by applying heat, you can actually raise it off the paper and have a 3D look.  Many cards, stationery and invitations use this technique.  Here’s what you have to do…

1.  Push the stamp into the watermark pad, and then press it onto your paper in the location you want to emboss.

2.  When you remove the stamp, you will have a wet mark.  Generously cover the area with embossing powder, and then shake it off onto scrap paper so you can collect what is unused (this is a similar process to using glitter).

3.  With the help of a parent, use the heat gun and watch as the embossing power melts together and rises off the page.  It’s like magic, and very addicting!My friend Caroline loves stationery, so I made my first project for her.  You can see that some of the letters I stamped up top were a bit messy, but using the clear embossing powder made them rise off the page.  I think the flowers at the bottom came out great, but I’m most proud of the gold flower I embossed at the bottom left!Once the envelope was sealed, I did one more embossing over the flap.  It’s a bouquet of flowers embossed with white powder.  This was such a fun activity, we will definitely be teaching it during camp…possibly at an iCan Night when our Senior Campers get to choose their evening activity.

In addition to crafting with Cara, I’ve also been doing some urban gardening.  I live in the city of Philadelphia, and I have a front yard that is about the size of a car, but in the past few weeks I’ve been loading it up with plants!  I have never gardened or taken care of plant before, but this has become a new passion of mine over the last few months (mostly because of this amazing garden store called Terrain at Styers that is owned by Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters).   I’ve got a big project I’m going to share with you next week, but right now I wanted to show you some of the veggies I’ve been growing…I’ve been growing two different kinds of lettuce…mesclun and buttercrunch.  I planted them as tiny seedlings a few weeks ago, and they have already grown into the huge plants you see above!  These lettuces are considered “pick and come again” which means I can pluck off enough leaves for a salad, and in a few weeks the plant will grow back again.So, all I have to do it take my bowl outside, and for the buttercrunch, I pluck the outer leaves off.  For the mesclun, I just chop all but the bottom two inches down.  Everything needs to be washed really well, but it’s worth it!  This salad is so fresh and delicious, it’s totally different than when you pick it up at a grocery store!The first time I served it, I added shaved onions, parmesan cheese and cannelloni beans.  It was so good that Dave and I almost finished the whole thing before I remembered to take a photo!  I snapped the picture above just before our final bites.   I’ve named my crops “Levi Lettuce” and I’m looking forward to a lot more salads from the yard before I head up to camp in May!Although I didn’t grow the salad you see above, it was my contribution to the amazing Seder Dave’s family put together this weekend.  As you can see, it was large enough to feed the whole group, and it was a combination of tomatoes, asparagus, avocado, red onions, quinoa and feta cheese.  If you are looking for a good Kosher for Passover recipe, I recommend whipping up this filling salad!  Hope everyone who observes Passover is having a great holiday!

Hi Everyone and sorry for the prolonged absence from blogging. I know it’s been a while, but things have been busy busy in both the camp world and my personal life.

In the past few months, I traveled to Australia, had back surgery, have been up to camp numerous times, and oh yea one other thing…Robin is due in May and we are busy planning for our newest addition!

So, to start with…camp is looking amazing. I think I mentioned it before, but with the warmer than usual winter, which of course is bad for most businesses in the Poconos, we lucked out. Our maintenance team at camp has been able to accomplish so much more than usual. Numerous cabin renovations have been completed, the brand-new Fitness Center is just about completed (just need to lay the cool rubbery type floor), additional renovations to the front of the Rec Hall, fences are almost completed at the baseball fields (landscaping begins next), the tennis courts are being prepped for major upgrades, and most exciting…beginning today, the water is being turned on!

Back in the winter office, we are full steam ahead. We attended the annual camp directors conference in Atlantic City. We got new ideas for fun and exciting projects, things to buy, and bonded with other camp professionals who all feel the same passion we do towards camp. We even had a surprise visit from Becky J at the convention center. Neil and I were sitting in a workshop session and in walked in Becky J! So random, but fun and exciting of course. Becky is excited to be a GL this summer at Canadensis and we of course can’t wait to see her up at camp.

Two weeks ago, we enjoyed NEW CAMPER BOWLING, where we got to meet many of our first time campers in the JR/LI divisions. It was a fun day and all of the campers this summer seem so excited to be at camp…well of course they are! Each group seemed to hit it off really well and parents were already making plans for upcoming play dates over the next few months before camp. Actually, not really all that many months left now..Open House is less than 2 months away! Wow.

In my personal life, Robin is doing great. Baby Girl Forti (as Robin has named her) is growing well and weighs over 4 pounds now! Robin and I have been busy shopping for everything- from furniture to onesies and having a blast doing so. I haven’t sent over the onesies to be embroidered just yet with the Canadensis logo, but that’s on my list of things to do soon! Robin says hello to everyone and she can’t wait to be up at camp this summer with our daughter.

Switching gears…Happy Passover to everyone who celebrates! Pam, Dave, Robin, and I spent our 2nd day of Passover in New York City, where we saw JERSEY BOYS on Broadway! I love going to see shows and the last few years haven’t had a chance to see that many. However, in December I saw Billy Elliot which was terrific and yesterday got to see another great show! Of course, there is a camp connection (like everything in life) in that the role of Frankie Valli is currently being played by the Uncle of one of our campers! Skye Kades, a new JR girl this summer, was able to work her magic and helped us get amazing tickets to see her Uncle, Jarrod Spector, perform in the lead role. The music was terrific and Jarrod’s voice was simply amazing. An extremely talented guy! After the performance, Jarrod invited us through the stage door and up to the stage, where we saw a bit of the magic behind the scenes. It was awesome to see and Jarrod was so nice. Pam and I invited him up to camp this summer, so hopefully he will stop by and maybe he will perform in Canadensis Idol? Hey, you never know! Thanks again to the Kades Family for making it possible.

Pam, Robin, and me with Jarrod Spector, the lead actor (Frankie Valli) in Jersey Boys on Broadway!

Hopefully everyone enjoyed or is enjoying their spring break from school. I will be moving up to camp over the next several weeks (well more like commuting back and forth when needed). I look forward to seeing as many of you at Open House…and then the rest of you all on OPENING DAY 2012!!

I had a great time today with Lily, a current 2nd grader that is coming to Canadensis for the first time this summer as a Lower Junior Girl! She lives in Maple Glen, PA and I got to meet her for the first time last summer when she came up and did the Tour & More Weekend.  I’m so excited for her to spend the full summer at camp…her father grew up at Canadensis – and now it’s her turn!

Lily has an older brother, and a younger sister.  She loves to “play teacher” and sometimes her sister Madison will be the student.  Little sister Madison also inspired a school report this year, when she had to pick a President to learn about, she chose the 4th President (James Madison) to write her report about.  Lily is a great student, who used to say gym was her favorite subject, but these days she is really loving math.  She was recently learning about math probabilities, which came in handy while playing the Mega Millions Lotto last week…she understood the probability of winning was really small!

She also loves to dance!  She goes to Hip Hop Dance class every week, and she’s working on a routine to the Britney Spears & Madonna song “Me Against The Music“.  Her dance recital is on the same day as Open House (up at camp on June 3rd) but luckily she is going to be able to do both!  She is going to perform on stage, and then rush up to camp in time to enjoy meeting new camp friends, and eating some Corman!  Some of her other favorite after school activities include gymnastics, and playing field hockey.

We talked about what to pack for camp, and she will definitely be packing some books!  She recently read a celebrity biography about Selena Gomez.  We looked through the camp photo album, and she is totally pumped to try all the activities – especially the arts.  She was also excited to hear about the Canadensis Outdoors program that will take her on an overnight, and the cooking program that she didn’t even know we had!  Lily will definitely have a ton of fun at camp this summer, and maybe she’ll even learn some good recipes that can accompany the Italian Wedding soup that her mom makes and is her favorite!

I wanted to share one other thing with you on this beautiful Thursday evening…  The word art above was created by two new Canadensis Campers, Anna & Sophie.  They are both in 3rd grade and will be Junior Girls this summer, and if you read back through my older blog posts, you’ll get to read more about each of them.  They were super sweet to write me an email during a recent sleepover – it had TONS of smiley faces in it, and it said how much they can’t wait for their first summer at camp to start!  They attached the awesome word art that you see above.  It absolutely made my day, and I wanted to share it with all of you!

I love all the words that they picked to describe Canadensis, and it makes me want camp to come even quicker.  Only 80 days left to go!

Hello Canadensis!

If you are coming to Camp Canadensis this summer and haven’t seen the new “Are You Ready?!” video produced by Jason “J.Cal” Calabretta, you need to check this out right now…

After watching this, you have to be psyched for Summer 2012!  Or, as our CITs girls would cheer…P-S-Y-C-H-E-D!    P-S-Y-C-H-E-D!  P-S-Y-C-H-E-D!  LET’S GET PSYCHED!

On Sunday, March 25, our new campers in our Junior and Lower Inter age groups were psyched to be part of our New Camper Bowling Day in New Brunswick, NJ.  This annual event gives campers the opportunity to meet other new campers, participate in get to know you games, bowl and eat pizza.  The event was attended by more than 70 campers and their families.  What a great turnout!  You can see pictures of the event at our Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/campcanadensis.  Of course, there will also be another opportunity for new and returning campers to meet at our Annual Open House up at camp on June 3.  We hope as many families as possible will be able to attend.

Speaking of Facebook, seems like everyone is loving the new Facebook Timeline format.  Still trying to get to the 2000 likes plateau.  Like us if you haven’t already.  Let’s get to 2000 before camp!

Things are still getting busier and busier by the day.  Matt and Eric have been back and forth to camp several times over the past few weeks.  They have been overseeing many of projects from the new pool to renovated tennis courts to renovated baseball / softball fencing and backstops to the new fitness center.  Pam and Cara are very busy with a number of staffing plans and scheduling for the summer.  Later in the week, me, Eric and Pam will be meeting at a top secret location to begin working on our 6-day master calendar for camper activities.  There are some plans in the works for some new activity areas including Zumba, Cheerleading and Jewelry (as its own activity).  We just recently received the first draft of the Pike County Athletic Inter-Camps and will be involved in a number of events where campers will compete with other camps in our area.  Here is a picture of some of the construction of the new Blue Pool…

Workers starting to lay down the cement.

We have also opened up our Tour Schedule for any families interested in Camp Canadensis for Summer 2013.  If you are looking to book a tour for this summer, please give us a call soon.  We are also returning this summer with our Tour and More Weekends for younger siblings and any prospective campers.  The dates are July 7 & 8 or July 28  & 29.  More info about Tour and More Weekend can be found by clicking here.  The past two summers, these weekends have been an absolute blast, allowing us to introduce the Canadensis experience to 40 campers each weekend!

As always, if you have some good ideas for camp, let us know by e-mailing info@canadensis.com.  As I mentioned in my last blog, we will once again have our campers and counselors voting on our drive-in movies for the summer.  If you have any good suggestions, e-mail us.

Some more great home visits to report about since my last blog…

In Cherry Hill, NJ, I saw Sammy and Paige Miller.  Sammy is back for his 4th summer as part of the Freshman Boys division while Paige returns for Summer #2 in our Junior Girls division.  That day, Sammy was competing in his basketball leagues championship game, which I got final word the next day that he won.  Congratulations!  Sammy is also beginning baseball season with practices.  Sammy can’t wait for camp and wanted to give a shout out to Boys Bunk 12 from Summer 2011.  Paige has been very busy with hip hop and lyrical dance competitions, rehearsals and recitals.  She also filled me in that she performed “The Nutcracker” over winter break.  Paige has also been playing basketball, soccer and lacrosse.  She, too, wanted to give a shout out to her bunk from last summer….Girls Bunk 2!  Here is a photo…

Me with Freshman Boy Sammy Miller and Junior Girl Paige Miller.

Also in Cherry Hill, NJ, I spent some time with Justin and Lauren Liebman.  Justin is back for his third summer and will be a Freshman while Lauren returns for her second summer in our Upper Inter Girls division.  Justin said that he desperately misses camp and is really counting down the days ’til summer.  He has been playing a lot of tennis lately and even told me that he is currently writing his own book, which he hopes to get published.  This summer, he is really looking forward to tennis and the Triple Dare.  Lauren is also excited to return and has been thinking about camp a lot these days.  She is excited to continue making great friends and activities like cooking.  Here is a picture…

Me with Freshman Boy Justin Liebman and Upper Inter Girl Lauren Liebman.

In Merrick, NY, I met up with Lauren and Chase LaMagna.  Lauren is back for her 5th Summer Honor Jacket year and will be in the Upper Senior Girls division.  She is happy to introduce her brother Chase to camp, who is currently in the 7th grade and will be a Lower Senior.  Chase is very active in sports like baseball and basketball.  This summer, he can’t wait for all of the different activities at camp.  He also heard from his sister, that Color War is awesome at Canadensis!  Lauren is super excited for camp, too!  She has seen many of her camp sisters throughout the year at many Bat and Bar Mitzvahs.  She wanted to give a shout out to the Girls of Bunk 15 from Summer 2011!  Here is a pic…

Me with Upper Senior Girl Lauren LaMagna and Lower Senior Boy Chase LaMagna.

In Allentown, PA, I had breakfast with Jenna Fromer, who is back at Camp Canadensis after a summer away.  Last year, she had an incredible experience traveling with her family to Israel, but is super ready and excited for another summer at camp.  Jenna, currently in 7th grade, will be in our Lower Senior Girls division.  This is her 4th summer at camp.  Jenna filled me in on all she is doing these days.  For starters, she plays on the middle school tennis team and is also taking tennis lessons.  She has been seeing many of her bunkmates and camp friends at a number of Bat Mitzvahs this year.  She recently traveled to Capetown, South Africa to see some of her relatives there.  She also filled me in that she is a big fan of the “Hunger Games” books and movie.  At camp in 2012, she can’t wait for tennis, the new pool and Bunk-O.  Here is a photo…

Me with Lower Senior Girl Jenna Fromer.

Here are some great photos that were sent to me over the past few weeks…

Some campers from Summer 2011's Bunk 11 and younger siblings had a get-together a few weekends ago. I got to hang out with them for a little bit, too!

Bunkmates Jason Green (left) and Jeremy Brecher coincidentally found each other on a plane trip to the Domincan Republic.

Jeremy Brecher (right) also met up with bunkmates Ethan Levinbook (left) and Ben Kaller for a day of hanging out in Connecticut.

As a big music fan, I had to share this story and photos that were sent.  Freshman Boy Eric Miller went to the Bruce Springsteen concert last week in Philly with his family.  Turns out, they got right up to the front of the stage.  During the concert, Bruce Springsteen, after playing his harmonica on a song, threw it into the crowd.  Eric was the lucky recipient of this rock-n-roll memorabilia.  Check it out…

Eric Miller has great seats to the Bruce Springsteen concert in Philadelphia. There is Bruce and guitarist Steven Van Zandt in the background.

Eric Miller shows the harmonica he got thrown to him by Bruce Springsteen! I must say I am a bit jealous.

2012 CIT Rebecca Altschul sent me a great photo the other day.  Turns out, everyone at her school dressed in blue for Autism Awareness Day.  For Rebecca, this was not only a way to show her support for autism, but a great way to show off her camp colors.  Here is the picture…

Rebecca Altschul in Candensis gear!

This weekend, I also got to see camper Oliver Shaw and his band Going Dark play down at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ.  Going Dark rocked the amphitheater at Camp Canadensis last summer!  The band has certainly reached new heights, releasing their first album in January, entitled “Play Your Game,” has opened up for both Big Time Rush and Sebastian Bach since the summer and has been on radio stations WDHA and WRAT.  Of course, while at the show, I saw Oliver’s sister Avery, who is so excited for camp!  She just recently had a sleep over with bunkmate Paige Miller.  Here is Going Dark’s new video for the single “Play Your Game”…

Well, that’s all the blogging for now.  Summer is creeping up on us.  Continue to be P-S-Y-C-H-E-D!

Have a great day!

-Brian

Carli in the middle of a CIT 2009 hug by the lake!

Carli Sukonik (CJ)

Lehigh University studying Graphic Design; from Penn Valley, PA

Years at Camp: This will be my 9th summer

Position this Summer: General Counselor, with some lacrosse on the side 

Previous Positions: JC!!

Favorite Camp Memory: A memory that has stuck with me to this day was from my first summer at camp in 2003. I was 10 years old and went camping for my first time. Although nervous at first, I ended up really enjoying all the activities that were planned for my friends and me. The first activity I loved was the trust walk. All of us walked in a single file line with our eyes closed and our hand on the shoulder of the girl in front of us to help guide the way. The leader of the walk (who fortunately had their eyes open  ) guided us to an opening in the woods where we could see the stars perfectly and hear the water of a nearby waterfall rolling in a short distance away. I remember the next morning was even more exciting because we got to make blueberry pancakes with blueberries that we picked fresh off the bush on our morning walk. What a great way to start off an amazing camp experience at Canadensis!

Advice for first year staff: Being around kids on such a regular basis can be overwhelming at times, but you have to remember how special they make your summer, along with how special you make theirs. Make sure you develop great relationships with the campers; you are their role model and it is the best feeling in the world knowing how much respect a camper has for you and the impact you can make on their life.

One thing you’re going to do this summer that you’ve never done before: Even after being at camp for half of my life, and participating in and enjoying nearly every activity, I have still never tried to ride a Honda. For those of you who do not know, we refer to the small, motorized dirt bikes as Hondas at Canadensis. I definitely want to try them this summer!

Advice for a first time camper: Whenever you get homesick, simply take a step back and look at what you are surrounded by. Not only is there a beautiful camp around you that offers every activity under the sun, but there is also a close-knit family that is there to help you whenever you need. Believe me, I know it is a lot easier said than done, but try to appreciate how lucky you are to be a part of the incredible Canadensis family.