Sorry to my loyal followers, some of whom have been complaining about my lack of posts lately. April begins crazy time and between camp, planning our wedding, and renting out my condo in Philly, things are a bit hectic! Although things are busy, this is the best time of year because camp is just around the corner.
As I type this, camp is right outside my window! I am sitting in my office with Matt Unger and we are busy preparing camp for our opening weekend, which is on April 30. Also joining our group rental that weekend is our CIT’s of 2010 who I know are so eager to get up to camp. Matt arrived here on Monday and has been hard at work doing all of the little things (and not so little things) to make sure everything is ready. Our kitchen staff will be arriving next Monday and some of our precamp counselors on Wednesday. We have staff flying in all the way from New Zealand for next week already. It’s unreal how time truly flies.
It’s 5:26 right now, which means Matt would be getting the soda from the secret hiding spot for camper’s birthday parties at dinner, Sam Ginsburg would probably be falling asleep at his desk, and I would be trying to get a few emails done before dinner. Now it’s 5:28 (yes, I am a slow typer!) and the pizza man would be delivering 5 pies per camper’s birthday, so I would be yelling at Sam to wake up, jump in the mule, and get the pizzas! Just kidding about Sam sleeping, but while all the campers are in their cabins for shower hour, it’s a good time for the Ops (Operations) Staff to get some downtime (just a few minutes though) before heading off to the dining hall.
Flash back to this past weekend- On Saturday, Will Armon arrived to PHL airport around 12:30PM, so I picked him up and we went out to lunch at a local diner. It was men’s time because in a few hours, Robin would be arriving from Florida. Jaycal also took Amtrak up from DC to join in the fun weekend planned. Well, not so much fun because Sat. afternoon after I picked everyone up, we went back to my place and they all watched me starting to pack up my condo! I lived in this apartment/condo for the past 6 years and so of course I have alot of junk. Now that I am getting married on Sep 5 (at CAMP!!), Robin and I will be getting a larger place in the suburbs of Philly. I need my space, ya know, although she definitely feels the same way. Anyway, Saturday night was a mega dinner at Taconelli’s, which is a great pizza place here in Philly. You have to pre-order your dough a day ahead and all they sell is pizza and soda. Robin made an awesome salad for us to enjoy, which you can bring with you, along with cupcakes from Jaycal from Georgetown cupcakes! Pizza, cupcakes, and soda…sounds good to me! Karen Sharir, Cara Corradetti, and Pam joined us at dinner along with Andrew (my best friend from growing up) and one of Pam’s friends. It was a blast and we had so much fun catching up with everyone.
Sunday morning the alarm went off at 6:30AM because 4 of us had to use one bathroom to get ready for the day. We headed out to pickup everyone from the night before and we all crammed into my Honda Pilot (yay 3rd row back back seats). We arrived a few minutes early, so we ran to Dunkin Donuts for some quick coffee and egg white flatbread sandwiches. The new campers began arriving, as well as some of last year’s juniors, and we had 3 different sessions of kids. It was a blast seeing everyone and made us all (staff included) excited for camp! Special shout-out to counselor Pete Tarnoff for also helping us out that day.
By the end, I was wiped out! I guess I am not back into the camp groove just yet and was so tired when we returned to Philly that I cleaned up a bit more of my condo, had some salad, and went to sleep.
Monday was a busy day in the office because I knew I wouldn’t be there on Tues & Wed. Hold on one second…
“Girls camp please report to the dining hall for dinner now”.
Sorry, it’s 5:35PM so it was time to announce girls camp to dinner. Back to Monday…the office was busy with tons of staff and parents calling with questions. It was great to hear from everyone. Monday night, Pam and I went to see the Green Family. We went to catch up with Rachel (returning camper) and also get to see her younger brother Jason, who will be participating in our Tour and More Weekend for prospective campers this summer. Tour and More is an overnight experience for young boys and girls who are interested in getting a taste of Canadensis. We have had an overwhelming response so far and are so excited about that weekend, as is Jason Green! Also at the house, we saw Rory and Jordan Mitchell who live just a few houses down and enjoyed some great pizza. Rachel surprised us when we walked in with this awesome poster…thanks Rachel!
We also took this photo after eating some yummy cookies and strawberry shortcakes for dessert.
Tuesday I went to an Eco-Conference in Allentown, PA. It was a conference for camp directors about things we can do to “go green”. Ironic, that I was at the Green’s house the night before, right?! I got a few cool and innovative ideas, but most of the ideas were larger scale things for us to work on during the winter. The good news is that ALL of the cabins now have light timers installed (most are behind the wall and you would never know they are there). After 30 minutes, the lights in the cabins will go off and all you have to do is push the switch up again for another 30 minutes. When we looked at how much time the campers spend in the bunks, it seems like it’s usually less than 30 minute intervals. The good part of this is that the lights won’t stay on all day when you accidentally forget to turn them off before leaving your cabin! I also spoke to our trash company again today and confirmed that we will be continuing our participating in the Single-Stream Recycling Program that they offer in our area. So, small steps towards improving our environment. We also have a few other ideas that we are looking into and I will update you more in the future.
Coming back to today, things at camp really look awesome. It was a sunny day so of course that always helps. The fields are all mowed already, the water is on to 85% of camp and Tom is finishing up the water to the rest of camp tonight and tomorrow. The hot water heaters are all lit for the most part, which means we are READY for camp! Of course we have tons to do- put the nets back up, add sand to our beachfront, fix minor things here and there, etc. but when the water gets turned on, that’s a big step towards completing our pre-camp tasks.
Sorry this blog was so scattered today, but I have so much on my mind! My brother will probably be so embarrassed if he reads this, but he has been stuck in London since last Thursday (remember that he just became a father 3 weeks ago to my niece!), so think positive thoughts that his flight home tomorrow will be ON SCHEDULE. I also know one of our staff members stuck in Dubai headed to London- positive thoughts for all in Europe right now affected by the volcano…
