Wow, camp is coming so soon!  At this point next week I’ll be living at camp (I’ll also be turning 30, but that’s another story…)!  I know we are all looking forward to being back around Lake Lenape with our favorite camp friends, or coming to spend our first summer at Canadensis as a camper (or staff member), and meeting some of the most amazing people in the world!  In light of that, I thought I would dedicate this ‘Annie the Dog’ post to friendship.

Above is a picture of Annie with her BDF (best dog friend) Cooper.  This photo was actually taken at camp a few years ago, and the reason they are so excited with their heads out the window is because they are looking around at all the trees, grass and small animals to have fun with!

Below is a photo of Annie with her friend Rinker.  They were only at camp together for one year, but they had each others back – just like a true camp friend!  Just remember, friends come in all shapes and sizes…this photo isn’t doctored at all!

And finally, here is a picture of me and my two best Philly friends, with all of our dogs!  Clearly, you can see how well we have them trained.  This photo is the result after 5 minutes of trying…oh well!  Annie will totally write Stella (left) and Bishop (right) letters while she’s up at camp this summer.

Annie the Dog, making lots of friends – – Annie the Dog, hopes the summer never ends!

(Don’t forget to submit your rhymes for the Annie the Dog music video that JCal will be filming at camp this summer!)

Coming soon, you’ll be receiving a postcard with information about the Indian Summer Family Camp Weekend that we run at Canadensis each summer.  The postcard features two of our current campers, Brett who will be in the Freshman Boys Division and Katie who is back for her second summer as a Lower Inter Girl.  Also pictured are their parents (mom Meredith and one of our Camp Doctors, Ross) who loves spending time at Canadensis!  Keep an eye out for it in your mailboxes by the end of May!  More information about the weekend is posted below…we hope to see your whole family at Canadensis this Labor Day Weekend!

As shown in the photo above, I got to hang out with one of our new Bunk 2 girls in NYC over the weekend.  Mackenzie is a current 2nd grader at the Ethical Culture School and she was at Canadensis last summer for the Tour and More Weekend.  She is a super silly girl, she showed me some of the funny faces she likes to make, and she loves to laugh.  This year she dressed up as SpongeBob for Halloween, and she also loves to watch iCarly.  She enjoys riding her bike, and she can’t wait for the activities at camp, including rock climbing, waterskiing and gaga.  She likes gaga “very much” and plans to join our Gaga League at camp this summer.

Mackenzie recently got her ears pierced, and she showed off her emerald studs, which are the color of her birthstone.  Her birthday is in May (just like mine) and she’ll be turning 8 soon!  She really likes going to the beach, making art projects and splaying sports like softball, soccer and tennis.  Mackenzie is an all-around camper, and we can’t wait to have her spend the summer with us at Canadensis!

I haven’t uploaded any of my crafts recently, but I have definitely been working on some projects.  One of the more recent examples are the coin purses shown above.  The actual coin purse is store bought, and it’s large enough to store plenty of treasured objects (I actually have one for myself that is the perfect size to hold my MahJongg card, coins and cell phone!).  I personalized each one above for some of the “Mothers” in my life.  It was a simple project using iron-on letters from a craft store, but once they were personalized I also stuffed them with some candy and chocolate covered pretzels.   Happy Mother’s Day to all the Canadensis Moms!

“Annie the Dog” and I took a trip up to Camp Canadensis this weekend, and we both had a great time, but Annie was especially happy to be back in her summer home!  As soon as we turned on to the camp road, she literally started doing flips in the front seat, and couldn’t wait to get out of the car so she could spend some time with her camp friends (the chipmunks and squirrels of course!).  So, I just wanted to post these two pictures real fast…remember to submit your “Annie the Dog” rhymes – they will be collected and used in the “Annie the Dog” music video this summer!

Annie the Dog, shaped like the letter “C”…Annie the Dog, Camp Canadensis is her favorite place to be!

Annie the Dog, on the lookout for some chipmunks…Annie the Dog, I hope you don’t find any mean skunks!

Camp is all about fun, but we can’t save all the fun for the summer…sometimes we spread it out during the year, which is why Cara and I threw a “Royal Wedding Viewing Party” at work today!  We both came in dressed up, and and enjoyed a lovely cup of tea with cookies and finger sandwiches.   We watched a few video highlights (while answering the camp phones) and it was a lovely way to mark the day.

In the above picture, you can see that even Annie got into the wedding spirit…she wore a ruffled dress.  If you want to have some royal wedding fun at home, here’s what I suggest:

1.  Make simple cheese sandwiches, cut off all the crust and chop it into bite size pieces.

2.  Wear a fun headband or hat, but if you don’t have either of those things, just grab a bobby pin and some flower (mine are fake florals from the craft store) and stick them in your hair.

3.  Wear tons of jewelry – you can’t really see it, but I have about 12 necklaces on!

4.  Use some pretty china to make a cup a tea…it doesn’t have to be expensive, Cara and I used a set I found at Goodwill for under a dollar!

Hello Canadensis readers! It’s been waaaay too long since my last blog, I can hardly believe it’s the end of April! So much has been happening, both in and out of the office, so I’ll try to keep it short and simple!

Earlier this month Mara came to Pennsylvania to visit Dani, and by default (I mean, we DO live together) I got to see Mara too!!! The best part was that I had planned to make a quick day trip up to camp to get some things out of my camp house, and Mara and Dani got to come along for the ride! We spent a beautiful hour in the Poconos, including stops at Callies and Sonic!

The fun didn’t end after my weekend with the girls. Just as the cold weather was deciding to come back for a visit, my gal pals and I hopped on a plane and jetted off to Cancun! The weather in Mexico was perfect, sunny and 82 everyday, and we spent our days by the pool and splashing in the ocean. Our resort was the same location where they filmed MTV’s “The Real World”, so it was a really cool place to be! We had the best long weekend, and returned home just in time for Passover.

Cancun was fabulous, but as soon as I got home I was happy and excited to get back to real life, because camp is getting here so quickly, and I still have lots to do. The sheer excitement of so many of my best camp friends coming back this summer after taking a year or two off, (Gabe, Moira, Steve, Alex, just to name a few…) has got me out of my mind with joy! When Gabe was away in Africa for two years we couldn’t talk about camp on the phone like we did in years past, so now that he’s back we’re talking about it constantly, which is not helping!!! Ahhhh can it just be camp now?

The biggest event these days is Dani’s spring musical, The Sound of Music. She’s playing Mother Abbess, which makes it really hard for me to keep a straight face when she’s dressed head to toe as a nun! She does a fabulous job, as always, and I cannot believe it’s her last musical with this Theatre Department. Tears!!! The show opened last night, and will play again tonight, and then twice tomorrow, at 2 and 7:30. If any campies want to join us, you know how to get me!

Well, I’ll try to blog some more before I move to camp on MAY 23rd!!! I’ll be picking Gabe up and taking him to precamp in less than two weeks, so I’ll try to take some pics and blog from camp for you all!