My hiring trip has begun!  I’m in Arizona until Sunday, and I will be hiring camp counselors on the campuses of University of Arizona, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University!  I went to college at U of A, so it will be great to be back on campus, and I’m even meeting with some girls who are in the same AEPhi sorority that I was in!  An added bonus of this trip is that my parents live in Phoenix, Arizona – very close to the ASU campus.  Arizona is absolutely beautiful…if you want to learn more about the state, click here.

Hello Canadensis…

This latest blog is being written from Cloud 9!  That’s because the New York Football Giants are the in the Super Bowl!  As many of you know my love for the Big Blue, I cannot wait for this Sunday’s game versus the New England Patriots.  In what was a tradition started four years ago, we will be tailgating in Lot L12 on Gameday for any Giants fans that would like to join us.  That’s right!  We will be tailgating in the Giants Stadium lots!  Anyone have any predictions for this weekend’s game?

Onto camp news…exciting stuff going on in our winter office.  The end of January / beginning of February truly starts our “travel season.”  Matt is currently abroad in Eastern Europe hiring many of our support staff that work in critical areas like maintenance, laundry and the kitchen.  Eric is on a plane to Australia in search of some great staff for a number of different program areas and bunk staff.  This week, Pam and Cara will head out to places like Arizona, Michigan and Louisiana in an effort to find some of the best staff around!  Next week, I will even be getting on a plane to Paris, France.  There, I will attend several camper fairs, meeting many families that might be interested in sending their child to Canadensis this summer.  Over the past few years, we have had a great opportunity of having campers from international countries such as France and Spain.  This has been an amazing experience for these campers to come to the United States and be part of the Canadensis Summer!  I will be sure to include photos of my trip in a future blog.

With the end of January comes one month closer to Summer 2012!  We hope that all of our families have begun getting in the “camp mode.”  For all of our new campers that are currently in Kindergarten through Fourth Grade, we hope to see you at our New Camper Bowling Event on Sunday, March 25.  If you haven’t RSVP’d yet, please do so by e-mailing us at info@canadensis.com.  If you haven’t done so yet, please submit “YOUR 3 WORDS” to Jason Calabretta at jcal@canadensis.com .  He is eagerly awaiting your photos!  And, of course, be sure to “Like Us” on Facebook.  I can’t wait until we hit 2000!  Should happen soon!

A lot of wonderful home visits to report in this blog as well…

In Melville, NY, I got to hang out with both Marlee Krasin and Sarah Abrams.  Marlee, now in 5th grade, will be back for her third summer as an Upper Inter while Sarah, currently in 4th grade, returns for her 2nd summer as part of our Lower Inter division.  Both had a lot to tell me.  Marlee is busy with dance and is currently taking classes in hip hop, lyrical, ballet and tap.  She is also swimming, playing tennis and involved in chorus.  She wanted to give a shout out to the Girls of Bunk 7 from 2011, whom she just recently saw many of them at a camp sleep over, and wanted to let them know that she is bringing back her CatRat this summer (obviously, an inside joke).  In 2012, she can’t wait for waterskiing on Lake Lenape.  As for Sarah, she is also very busy with dance classes in both hip hop and lyrical.  She is also taking an art class, involved in the newspaper club and active in tennis and chorus.  Sarah is looking forward to “everything” next summer and wanted to say hi to all of her camp sisters in Girls Bunk 4 from Summer 2011.  Here is a picture…

Me with Lower Inter Girl Sarah Abrams (left) and Upper Inter Girl Marlee Krasin (right).

In Plainview, NY, I spent some time with Bailey Germain, who is in the 3rd grade and will be in our Junior Girls division in her first summer at camp.  Bailey is very involved in dance and currently takes classes in hip hop, jazz, lyrical and ballet.  She also takes competition classes in hip hop and jazz and competes against other dance schools throughout the year.  Last year, her hip hop team won first place.  Bailey likes to act and performs in a theater company called “Stars of Tomorrow.”  In June, she will be playing Ms. Hannigan in a performance of Annie.  Bailey loves to hang out wiht friends and have sleepovers.  She is always willing to help out her friends.  She also wanted me to let everyone know that she is known for wearing mismatching socks and that her favorite color is sparkles!  When she gets to camp, she is excited for photography, the lake activities, being in the camp show and meeting new people and new camp sisters.  Here is a photo…

Me with Junior Girl Bailey Germain.

In Wynnewood, PA, Pam and I got to see Noah and Rachel Stern for awhile.  Noah is now in the 5th grade and will be in the Upper Inter Boys division in his second summer and he is excited to introduce his younger sister Rachel, currently in 3rd grade and will be in with the Junior Girls in her first summer in 2012.  Noah plays a lot of different sports through0ut the year.  In the fall, he plays both baseball and flag football.  Currently, he is playing guard and forward on his Stanford team in basketball season.  In the spring, he will once again be playing baseball.  This summer, he excited for the Summit at the lake once again.  He also gave a shout out to Boys Bunk 8 from Summer 2011.  Rachel is very active in dance and takes classes in ballet, jazz and tap.  She will have a recital in June.  Rachel also told us that she was in 12 performances of the Nutcracker with the Pennsylvania Ballet Company over the holiday season in which she was cast as a bunny and an angel.  Rachel also loves playing with friends.  When she gets to camp this year, she is eager to try cooking, the climbing wall and all the activities at the lake.  Here are two pictures…

Our home visit with the Sterns happened to be the day after the Giants win that put them in the Super Bowl. And, even though the Sterns live in PA, they are huge Giants fans! They greeted me in their Giants gear. As you can see, I was also prepared for the visit!

Me and Pam with Upper Inter Boy Noah Stern and Junior Girl Rachel Stern.

In Wynnewood, PA, Pam and I also saw the Sweetmans, Cole and Sophie, both who will be joining us at Canadensis for their first summers.  Cole is in the 6th grade and will be in our Freshman Boys division while Sophie is in the 3rd grade and will be in our Junior Girls division.  Both Cole and Rachel are animal lovers and we were greeted by their four dogs and two cats.  Cole plays both basketball and soccer for the Woodland School teams.  He also loves to play street hockey and is a big Philadelphia Flyers fan.  He likes playing X-Box, too.  When he gets to camp, he is looking forward to waterskiing, the hondas, going to the Baseball Hall of Fame on his trip and playing hockey.  Sophie is currently playing on the Pink Panthers in the Main Line Basketball League.  She also attends art classes at the Handwork Studios and has already completed a number of painting projects.  She wanted to let us know that she loves macaroni and cheese and ice cream!  At camp, she can’t wait for the Summit and water trampoline on the lake, go karts and going to Dorney Park.  Here is a pic…

Me and Pam with Freshman Boy Cole Sweetman and Junior Girl Sophie Sweetman.

On my last stop in Wynnewood, I got together with the Copit Boys, Scott and Robbie, both who will be back for their second summer at Canadensis.  Scott, now in 6th grade and in our Freshman Boys division, and Robbie, now in 5th grade and in our Upper Inter Boys division, both said that the reunion was awesome and that they had a lot fun seeing their camp friends.  They told me that they also just went snowboarding and skiing in Vail, CO and met up with Group Leader Pete Tarnoff.  Robbie is currently playing tennis and told me that he is “still hating the Giants” while Scott is also playing tennis and wresting for the Episcopal Academy Middle School Team and has started the season with an impressive 3-1 record.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture.  But, I really enjoying hanging out guys!

In Summit, NJ, I spent some time with Lily Ufberg, who will be back at camp for her second summer in our Lower Inter Girls division.  Now in 4th grade, Lily recently performed in her school’s variety show.  She also told me a great story where a few months ago, she helped raise money and food for a food drive at Giants Stadium and even got on the field.  For her efforts, she was also put on the stadium’s jumbotron, got autographs and meet the players.  Lily has also been hanging out with friends after school and on weekends and recently had a sleep over with bunkmates Sydney Cohn and Nikki Novey.  Lily also loves winter because that means she gets to go skiing at Montage Mountain.  Right now, she is super excited that the Giants are in the Super Bowl.  When she gets to camp, she is looking forward to go karts and waterskiing.  Here is a picture…

Me with Lower Inter Girl Lily Ufberg.

In Summit, NJ,  I also met up with Brandon Shaw, who is in the 3rd grade and will be in our Junior Boys division and coming to camp for his first summer.  Brandon participates in a wide range of activities during the school year.  He plays the piano and will be performing in an upcoming talent show at his school.  He plays on his basketball team, The Buzz.  He enjoys biking and motorcycle riding.  He is an avid lego builder, has a pet lizard Leah and loves to draw pictures of trucks and cars.  One thing I learned about Brandon that was most impressive is that he and some of his friends run their own company called Handy Kidz, whose motto is “We do big jobs with little hands.”  I even got a business card during my visit.  The company will do neighborhood jobs including shoveling driveways when it snows.  When Brandon comes to camp, he can’t wait to do a lot of activities including hondas, mountain biking, high ropes, photography, waterskiing and glass fusion.  Here is a photo…

Me with Junior Boy Brandon Shaw.

In Dix Hills, NY, I got to spend some time with the Newman Girls, Rachael and Abby.  Rachael is now in 7th grade and back for her 3rd summer in the Lower Senior Girls division while Abby is in 5th grade, back for her 4th summer as part of our Upper Inter Girls division.  Rachael is still taking many dance classes including hip hop, jazz, tap, lyrical and ballet.  She has an upcoming dance competition in March.  Just this past weekend, Rachael saw all her camp friends and had a sleepover at Nicole Zibelman’s house for Taylor Schwartz’s Bat Mitzvah.  She was excited that she will see everyone again in a few weeks at Rachel Bresalier’s Bat Mitzvah.  Rachael wanted to give a shout out to all of her camp sisters!  This summer, she can’t wait to be on Senior side and is excited for the camp dance team once again.  Abby is also taking dance classes in hip hop, jazz, tap and ballet.  She also has a competition in March.  She is playing tennis and in the spring will play travel softball.  She wanted to say hello to all her bunkmates in Summer 2011’s Bunk 8.  Abby is really looking forward to Color War this summer, the dance team and has already started the countdown to her 5-year jacket (in Summer 2013)!  Here is a picture…

Me with Upper Inter Girl Abby Newman (center) and Lower Senior Girl Rachael Newman.

In Bellmore, NY, I saw Jake and Elana Abrams.  Jake is back for his 4th summer as Lower Senior while Elana returns for her 2nd summer in our Lower Inter division.  Now in 7th grade, Jake just recently hung out with camp friends as he is on the Bar Mitzvah circuit seeing everyone.  In fact, including the reunion weekend, Jake will have seen camp friends on 4 out of the last 5 weekends.  Awesome!  Jake is also very involved in kickboxing classes at the Bellmore Kickboxing Academy.  He was also happy to let me know that he achieved Honor Roll in school this year.  In 2012, Jake is excited for the new pool, cooking, Senior Choice and being on Senior Side.  Elana, now in 4th grade, is taking hip hop dance classes and rehearsing for a recital in the spring.  She also takes gymnastics classes and just recently achieved a back handspring on her own without a spotter.  Terrific!  She, too, has been hanging out with a number of camp friends.  Elana is also excited for the new pool and wanted to give a shout out to her bunkmates from Summer 2011’s Bunk 4.  Here is a photo…

Me with Lower Senior Boy Jake Abrams and Lower Inter Girl Elana Abrams.

As always, we love to hear it when camp friends get together.  A few weeks ago, the Girls of Bunk 10 from Summer 2011 were supposed to have a full bunk reunion.  However, inclement weather didn’t allow for it to happen.  Bummer.  Still a few girls that were close to one another still got together for a great time.  Here was a photo that was sent to us…

Carly Koutcher, Sabrina Snyder and Rachel Green give the peace sign while hanging out together!

Well, that’s all the blogging for now.  If you have any great photos of winter reunions, get togethers, etc, be sure to send them to us.

Have a great day…Brian

This was a super easy project!  And, now that I’ve bought a quart of chalkboard paint and have a lot left over, I plan to use it on a lot of random items!

Supplies:

1.  Chalkboard paint from Home Depot – it’s already on the shelves mixed.  My quart was less than $15.

2.  Paint Brush – I prefer the foam brushes, they are less messy!

3.  Something to turn into a chalkboard – I used a baking tray that was old with stuck on grease, and just wasn’t something I wanted to use for baking anymore.  Some other ideas are a…picture frame, vase or wall!

To Make It:

1. Get your parents permission!

2.  Cover your workspace so you don’t drip on the floor.  For indoor projects during the winter, I use an old flat sheet.

3.  Paint the area that you want to be able to chalk up in the future.  The paint goes on very thin, so do 3 or 4 coats.  Give each coat 5 minutes to dry before painting the next one.

4.  Let it dry overnight, and in the morning, start writing messages with chalk!  It will wipe off easily with a damp paper towel.

As shown above, I’ve used my tray to serve sushi!  This was right before the last Giants game – so excited that they made it to the Super Bowl!  It’s going to be an exciting game on Sunday!

Carly in 2011 and 2004 - She's a camp lifer!

Carly Fleischer

Hobbies when you’re at home: Soccer, Track & Field, Pole Vaulting, Gymnastics, Playing French Horn, Robotics, Photography, Hanging out with friends

Years at Camp: 8 going on 9

One fun fact about you: I love photography and took over 3,000 pictures last summer! This summer I will be helping out the Media Team so look for me around camp with my camera in hand! 🙂

Favorite Camp Activity: Soccer!

Favorite Camp Memory: Every single one of the 40 days of Color War I’ve experienced in my life.

Best Advice for a First Time Camper: Enjoy and cherish each and every second of camp, this will become your favorite place in the entire world.

What you’re most excited to do this summer: Leading Color War as a CIT!

One thing you’ve never done at camp that you’re going to do this summer: Become a positive influence and role model for younger campers.

If you could plan your own perfect camp day, what would it look like: Late wake up, bagels for breakfast, and hanging out on the amphitheater or by the lake with my best friends in the world!

Last week, I went on an awesome trip to Westchester, NY, where I met a lot of ladies who will be spending their summer at Camp Canadensis!  My first stop was in Rye Brook, NY, where I got to hang out with Lisa and her girls.  Lisa grew up at Camp Canadensis, and will be returning to camp for her first summer on our staff team.  She will be the Office Manager this summer, so at some point you might get to chat with her on the phone!

Dylan is a current 1st grader, and will be a Lower Junior Girl.  She didn’t get to come up and visit camp this summer, so even though she doesn’t know what it looks like, she can’t wait!  Dylan loves to dance, and her favorite is hip hop.  She also likes to dress up, and she was wearing a special outfit for me, including a skirt!  She loves the days when she doesn’t have gym class, because it means she can wear Uggs instead of sneakers.  However, she is excited for all the camp activities…even the sports!  She is most excited for swimming, and she was very happy to hear about the new pool we are building.  She is going to be celebrating her birthday at camp this summer, and she was happy to hear that she could enjoy pizza party with her bunk on the back deck for dinner!

Madison is a current 4th grader, and will be a Lower Inter Girl.  I first met her during Tour & More weekend last year – she was actually my sidekick for an hour, we went around camp and she took photos for the website, and did a great job!  She is also a big dancer.  She is really excited about the art program and ceramics – she showed me some of the projects she had made, including a super cute cupcake.    She loved going on the banana boat around the lake this summer, and she can’t wait to do more lake activities this summer, including the summit.  She loves matzah ball soup, and she’s excited that we have it for dinner on Friday night.  I can’t wait to see the girls again at New Camper Bowling on March 25th!

My next stop that evening was in Scarsdale, NY, with two sisters who are new to camp this year!  They are going to be coming to Canadensis with their Philadelphia based cousins Luke & Sam.  Morgan is a current 5th grader, and will be an Upper Inter Girl.  She has some prior camp experience, so she knows all about color war and the goofy things we do at camp.  Haley is a current 2nd grader, and will be a Lower Junior Girl.  She is very excited to go to overnight camp, and do all of the activities!

I met up with them on a night after they got home from ice skating practice.  They are on Team Image, which is a synchronized ice skating program – and they practice a few nights a week!  They have very cool uniforms that have their name on it – and they both really love skating.  They are really excited for the lake activities this summer, and they are glad that we don’t have any age restriction on the motorized water sports – all age groups get to go tubing and water skiing if they want to!  They are also really excited for the evening activities – specifically “crazy night” and “minute to win it”.

Morgan has been in a few plays before – she has played a “Grandma”, and she also has played the role of Sharpay in High School Musical.  She might try out for the Canadensis camp show, and she suggested that we consider doing Peter Pan.  Haley stays really busy, and on nights when she doesn’t have ice skating, she likes to have playdates with friends.  The girls recently got back from a vacation to Hawaii – how cool is that?

We hung out with their dog Rosie, and they asked a lot of questions about Color War breakout – I told them how we keep it a big surprise!  I also told them about how things work at camp – including the 8AM wake-up time (they were happy about that) and the mandatory 3 letters home each week (we check to make sure it’s happening!).  They asked about camp food, so I went through a bunch of camp meals like tacos, cheese-steaks, bbq, pizza, pasta bar, grilled chicken, etc – and they gave almost everything a thumbs up!  They do NOT like quinoa though (one of my personal favorites), so I told them they should avoid Miriam’s delicious quinoa salad with crasins on the salad bar, and they’ll be just fine!

My last stop of the night was in Larchmont, NY.  Stella is a current 4th grader, and will be a Lower Inter Girl for her first summer at camp.  Her cousin Zoe is also coming with her, and she knows a TON about camp already because her mom, Laura, was a camper when she was growing up.  I met Stella this summer when she came up to spend the night with Tour & More, and it’s been fun to see her throughout the year at Canteen on the Fly, and now at her home visit!  We gave out white shirts to all the campers that came to visit Canteen on the Fly, and checkout the awesome way that Stella styled hers…as you can see in the photo above, she colored her shirt in, and even drew some of her favorite camp activities.  She drew the banana boat on the sleeve, because getting to do that on the lake was one of her best Tour & More memories!  When her mom was at camp years ago, the lake wasn’t as exciting as it is today – the main thing she remember is the ski-doodle – which was a “merry go-round” that helped you learn to waterski!

Stella is a really fun and sporty girl who loves anything neon!  Her favorite sports are soccer, basketball and hockey – but not tennis.  She is definitely willing to try and do anything at camp, so maybe she’ll come home with even more favorite sports.  She really can’t wait to go horseback riding, and she is very excited to put together an “MTV Night” dance with her bunk – it’s an evening activity that we do every year.  Stella has an awesome memory, so she remembered seeing “Graffiti Night” in the camp video, and she’s also excited to get to decorate her t-shirt and glow in the dark!

She does a lot of after school activities, including hip hop dance and Hebrew school.  She’s the first kid I’ve ever met that actually like going to Hebrew School!!  She gets to walk there with friends, and she has a cell phone she can use to stay in touch with her family.  She is already thinking about the activities she wants to do in the future, and she plans to be on the high school track team.  She is a great big sister to her brother and baby sister, and since her father is originally from Italy, the family gets to travel there very often!  They will be going to visit when she gets home from camp, and she has so many cousins over there to play and practice her Italian with.  She gave me a great tour of her bedroom, and showed me her “Nerds” candy blanket (even thought it’s not her favorite candy).  Stella must be very sweet because her mom said the mosquitoes love her…we are going to have to make sure we apply the bug spray a lot this summer – we don’t want bites slowing her down on the soccer field!

Have you ever seen these cool bracelets and bags made of out candy wrappers or magazine paper? I’ve always wondered how to make them, and I recently got a chance to learn.  It all started when……the postcards that we ordered arrived in the office, but they were too big!  We use them to write thank you notes, and it wouldn’t fit inside the envelope!  We needed to cut off  about a half an inch –  BeckyJ did a great job cutting off 1,000 postcards tops, and then she had all these cool Blue & Gold strips left over.  I told her to trash them, but Eric Forti & JCal intervened and suggested that I do a craft project with them.  I thought it was time to finally learn how to make one of these chains, so I found a great tutorial here.

I cut the long strips in half to make a blue side and a gold side, and then I alternated colors as I went.  It took some time to get the hang of it, but once you have this easy skill down, the process goes quickly!  When I knew the bracelet was long enough, I used a piece to attach it, and voila…You can easily make these after Visiting Day with candy wrappers for your bunkmates – but remember, it’s made out of paper, so you should definitely take it off before jumping in the lake!!