Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  We hope you are enjoying a great holiday with your family.  The images this week are dedicated to the some of the many many Canadensis families that we are thankful for…

Carly (left) and Brianna (right) are both blog readers!!!  They are going to be Freshman girls in 2012, and we got to hang out at Canteen On The Fly in Westchester, NY!

Zoe (left) is a new 2nd grade girl, and Jordan (right) is a current 3rd grader returning to camp for her second summer.  Both girls will be in the Junior Division in 2012, and Jordan did a great job telling Zoe what to expect being in bunk 2 (youngest bunk).

We gave out awesome camp t-shirts at every location – this is me giving out the shirts in the parking lot at the North Jersey Canteen on the Fly.  Won’t this be awesome for tye-dying this summer??

This is Bailey, who is a current 3rd grader, and will be coming to camp for her first summer in the Junior Girls division.  We got to hang out at the Long Island Canteen on the Fly, where she met up with a lot of the new girls coming in…

Bailey and her new Canadensis Friends were winning tons of tickets in the arcade, and they were so thoughtful that they decided to pool their tickets and get a bunch of rings to share.  They got one for me, Cara and Robin too – we are so excited to be in on the fun!

At the very last Canteen on the Fly Stop, Eric and I stop for a camera op!

Baby Forti! Robin and I in May will be welcoming the newest member to the Forti Family and even more importantly the Canadensis Family!

We are unsure yet if the baby is a boy or girl, but he or she will definitely be up at camp spending the summer with all of us. And all of you are the big brothers and big sisters. Obviously, our entire family is so excited and we are beginning to prepare for the lack of sleep now (by going to sleep at 10PM!!)

Facebook went wild with the news. We posted it on Sunday night and on my personal page there were over 100 “likes” and over 50 comments, ranging from good luck to “Eric, you better wait on Robin hand and foot with whatever she needs!”. On the Canadensis Today page, tons of shout-outs from alumni, parents, and campers, so thanks to all of you who sent in your well-wishes. And, to save the best for last, don’t forget to visit the BRAND-NEW Official Facebook Page for Camp Canadensis at http://www.facebook.com/campcanadensis

Changing gears, it was great to see everyone at all of our Canteen on the Fly Events! It seems like it is now an “annual tradition” to hold these and it was such a great turnout at all of the locations. We got a chance to hear about all of the great things our campers are up to, details about Bar/Bat Mitzvah’s, take pictures, and eat ice cream!! Cara will be uploading the photos from Canteen on the Fly to Facebook in the next few days, so don’t forget to check back there often!

Speaking of Bar Mitzvah’s, Robin and I were at the nearby deli Pumpernick’s enjoying dinner and we ran into Max and Blake Rapoport’s mom, who sent me this photo from Matt Wiener’s Bar Mitzvah. Congratulations Matt!

Matt Wiener's Bar Mitzvah!

Tonight, I will be having dinner with camper David Brucker in Plymouth Meeting. It has become our annual chance to catch up from the summer and hear all about his school, activities, etc. Looking forward to catching up with him!

Camp is looking great and remember there is a BIG announcement coming real soon about something new at camp! Stay tuned…

Hi Everyone!

Over the last few weeks we’ve been on the road meeting up with our camp friends and enjoying some ice cream during our annual Canteen on the Fly! Here are some of the glorious pictures I took:

Forti and JCal are besties!

JCal is loving the breakfast options...

Brooke stopped by to visit!!!

Pam shows off her camp tee!

Showing off the camp gear!

Long Island Canteen on the Fly!

My new best camp friends flashing our rings!

So cute!

Right now I’m on my way to Long Island for our last Canteen on the Fly for 2011 – I can’t wait to see some of our NY families, and I’m really excited for the Senior Summit which is happening right afterwards!  I just wanted to share two amazing photos for Frame Worthy Friday- we have an amazing staff at Canadensis – and they put the campers above everything else, and here are just two photos that prove it!

So when you become my age (I feel so old saying that) Halloween just isn’t that much fun anymore. It’s definitely cool to see all of the kids in costumes, make roasted pumpkin seeds, hand out candy, but come on…if you don’t get to go trick or treating and eat all of the candy that you get that how much fun is it really? So for years, I haven’t been the true grinch of Halloween (I happily give out candy), but I haven’t been so “into it”. Then we started Halloween at camp and that got me more into the spirit (in July though), but this year I got to spend Halloween with my niece up in Boston!

Emily Forti (now 1 year 8 months old) was dressed as Dora the Explorer. To try to get her to wear the Dora backpack was quite a challenge, but nonetheless she resembled cute Dora. We set out (with Robin in tow) around 5PM for a night of trick or treating. We even got Emily to say trick treat and she held a pumpkin pail in which she collected all of the candy. Now of course she couldn’t pick which kind of candy she liked from houses, so I had the unfortunate job of having to decide if she should take the Reese’s, Snickers Bar, Kit Kat or PENCIL. Of course, the pencil never got chosen! The ultimate is when you go to a house that gives out the FULL SIZE BARS! Anyway, we stayed out for about an hour and a half and of course snacks were enjoyed by all during the process. It really was a fun time!

Emily as Dora the Explorer

I rarely take the time to talk about my family on this blog, but I figured it was appropriate to give my niece a shout out!

One camp related thing, how cool is this Indian Head Pumpkin?! Special shout out and thanks to the Mindy and Rachael Rosenthal for sending this in. Great job ladies.

Awesome Indian Head Pumpkin

Next blog post, all about camp and some of the new and exciting projects we have planned for this winter! Enjoy the warm up coming over the next week or so!

I delayed my “Frame Worthy Friday” blog until today because I knew I wanted to post some photos from Canadensis Halloween during the summer!  We don’t really need excuses to dress up at camp – between the 4th of July, Crazy Night, Miss Canadensis, the Camp Shows and Color War, it’s actually rare to go a whole day without seeing someone in costume!

We pull out all the stops for the Canadensis Halloween Celebration – which includes trick or treating, games, costume contests, parades, “haunted houses”, golf cart “hay rides” and so much more!  Below are some of my favorite pictures from last year – I hope you have a very Happy Halloween!!!

I dressed up as grapes – Eric was an apple, and Brian was a banana.  We all wore capes, and were “Fruit on the Fly” – which is an awesome time each day when the camp comes together and enjoys a fruit snack.  Here I am with Super Seniors: Sam as Kermit the Frog, and Carly as a Canadensis Hockey Player.

Girls Bunk 8

Cowboy Roy and Mets Player Josh

Boys Bunk 8

Ben dressed as Mario, and Ethan as a magician

Girls Bunk 5

With Julia dressed as a Pajama Girl – did I mention that I’m wearing this 50 pound costume on one of the hottest days of the summer??

It’s that time of year again! Time for the Winter Office MONSTER MASH.

I loved it! Who watched Once Upon a Time on Sunday?!?!?!