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!

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.

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!

Last Monday, if you would have called in to WHYY (NPR Radio here in Philly) that’s what you would have heard! Camp Canadensis volunteers answered the phones and helped raise over $3,000 for the radio station. Our name was mentioned on the radio a bunch of times and you could hear Pam and Phoebe cheering/screaming/clapping in the background each time they mentioned Canadensis. Special thanks to the Starkmans and Calabrettas who called in while we were manning the phones. I should also mention we were fed really well from a donation by a local restaurant, Bistro St. Tropez and it was DELICIOUS. Who could ever pass up free food??!!

The highlight of the end of the week was of course our annual CANTEEN ON THE FLY EVENTS! We held 5 over the weekend and if I had to guess, I would say we had over 200 people in attendance. Campers running around, coloring in the Indian Head, hanging out with their friends, and of course eating ice cream! And how about our “groupies” who followed us to BOTH Philly area locations on Sunday. We love seeing that! It was also great seeing many of our campers wearing their TACS (dogtags) proudly around their neck.

Pictures of the entire event as well as a special Canadensis Today will be posted soon, so check back!

Hi Everyone,

I know it’s been a long break between blogs, but I am back! After camp, we had groups that came in to rent our camp. Marching bands, Karate Camps, and schools just to name a few. Matt Unger and I stayed up at camp through the end of September taking care of our groups, along with a few staff members who stayed with us to help out. It was a great postcamp, but there were of course a few challenges. Below is a list of the positives (and negatives) during postcamp.

• Positive- Mariam from the kitchen was our personal chef and made some amazing foods, some of which she will be making for all of you next summer. Some highlights: homemade Spinach Pie (Spanakopita), Potato Bourekas, Apple Slaw, Chocolate Fondue, Zucchini Quiche, Eggplant salads, and much more. It was amazing and after eating camp food for 5 months (how many hamburgers/hot dogs can one person eat!) it was a welcome change.
• Negative- Hurricane Irene, OY! It was terrible. Luckily, camp survived without too much damage. One tree fell in girls camp in between cabins and took down a power line, plus trees down all along the camp road. Aunt Terri’s basement flooded and myself and Matt were down there up to our waist pumping it out! The worst part was NO power for 4 days and we had a few groups there, with up to 300 people. Of course our backup generator kept the essentials going (the food!), but the dining rooms were dark, so we were eating by high powered light torch things. We got most of the water turned back on to camp so the groups had water (some cabins even had hot water through the gas heaters) and all in all they made the best of it. Everyone laughed, had fun, but of course bedtime was early because camp was PITCH BLACK at night. No area lights, etc. The best part was I figured all of the ice cream would melt, so we ate cases and cases of ice cream. Then I realized the generator ran the freezers (OK- that was just a joke!). Do you guys remember the power going out this summer on a Sunday morning for a few hours? Bagels and lox in the darkish dining hall.
• Positive- lots and lots of projects get accomplished. Without having all the campers there, we have days where cabins are empty and we can begin to do maintenance for next year. So, that’s what we did and will continue to do all winter. Can’t tell you some of the large projects just yet, but stay tuned because we will be announcing them soon.
• Negative- NO CAMPERS….BOO. It’s boring being up there without campers running in and out of the office, playing basketball and the ball banging into my office. No waterskiing on the lake, no color war spirit, eating meals in the peace and quiet (did I say that was a negative??!!). Anyway, we missed all of you up at camp.

After camp, I have a tradition where I usually treat myself to a cruise. This year, Robin and I went on a 4-day cruise around the Bahamas with Royal Caribbean and it was a blast.  It gives us both a chance to spend some time together and decompress from a loooonng summer. Remember, there is no such things as weekends from April – September, so it can get tiring! Spent some time with both of our families for the Jewish Holidays as well and now it’s back to the winter office.

I returned here on Wednesday to tons of mail to go through, bills to pay, and some emails about campers who are enrolling!! We will begin our home visits shortly and before we know it, it’s time for the reunion. Actually, as I type this, Pam is finalizing the reunion postcards. We have extended the hours this year, so we have extra time to have fun at Jeepers!

Before the reunion, don’t forget about CANTEEN ON THE FLY! Jcal will post the info on the blog next week, but Canteen on the Fly in NYC, Westchester, and North NJ is on Saturday, 10/22 and on the Mainline, PA and Upper Dublin, PA on Sunday, 10/23. Long Island we are coming to you in mid-November. So excited to see everyone again, although my new diet isn’t excited for 3 ice cream parlors in one day. Robin and I already agreed to limiting ourselves to ONE lowfat ice cream each day and she is going to pack healthy snacks, UGH. An apple vs. Ben & Jerry’s..hmmmm.

This weekend, we will be celebrating the wedding of MIKE LINDQUIST and ALYSSA THIBODEAU so a very big Congratulations to the both of them and we look forward to a great camp weekend up in Massachusetts. What are you up to this fall weekend? Pumpking picking, hayrides, haunted houses? All things I love to do in October (but hardly have the time for these days).

Wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year and look forward to seeing all of you at Canteen on the Fly and our Annual Reunion.

New Camper Bowling was awesome. Thanks to all of our new families/campers who were able to make it to north Brunswick, NJ and spend a few hours with us. We had such a great time getting to know many of our new campers and putting faces to the names! Everyone participated in Name Bingo, which allowed us to find out some unique things about people, like their dog’s names, which campers will be celebrating their birthdays at camp, and who has flown on an airplane in the past year, to name a few. Of course I was able to contribute to a few of the clues! Some of the groups also participated in a new game that I called Dance Introductions and each camper had to come up with a short dance to introduce themselves with. Assistant Director Pam now has to remember all of these dances for the first day of camp as the campers come off of the bus!

Of course not all of our new campers were able to join us, as some had Hebrew School and sports games and we have some campers from Florida who were enjoying the warm, sunny, beach weather (who could blame them!). So, we are looking forward to meeting with them as well up at camp and having the greatest summer with our new juniors and lower inters!! If Sunday was any indication as to their excitement about camp, then we are in for a blast.

In other news, I must make a PUBLIC APOLOGY TO CAMP MOM STEPHANIE, who was inadvertently left off of last week’s blog. I mentioned all of the staff who would be coming to New Camper Bowling and in a moment of tiredness (or jetlag, perhaps), I totally forgot about Steph. How could I do such a thing? I am so sorry Steph! Thanks for spending your day with the new campers and helping the parents begin to plan for a much quieter/boring summer back at home, while their kids are having the time of their lives!

While we are on the subject of Camp Mom, you might ask what does she do at camp? Well Steph is absolutely amazing for so many kids, especially if they are having a sad moment.Between helping out with the kids who have food allergies or have alternate meal requests, helping out in our health center, cookies and milk on the back deck with our younger divisions, cutting fingernails (ever wonder who does that at camp!), helping out with our camper phone calls, calling parents as needed, being a mentor to many of our staff, assisting during cleanup of the cabins, amongst TONS of other responsibilities, how does she have time to have fun at camp? Well, Steph can be found on the tennis courts playing a game with campers, up in the arts center working alongside them making projects, or anywhere out and about on camp with a camera taking pictures for all of the parents to see what camp is like! So, thanks Steph for all you do and sorry once more for leaving your name out of last week’s blog.

Matt Unger and I are headed up to camp on Thursday and we will be checking on many of the winter projects, which should be wrapping up soon. The water is also going to be turned on any day now, once the snow melts! So, alot going on at camp to get ready for Summer 2011.

Let me set the scene: I had been overseas for almost 6 weeks in 2 months time. That’s alot of time sleeping in random hotel rooms, eating international “cuisine”, and tons and tons of airline flights/miles. So, it’s my last day in Paris before flying home. It’s the last international trip until after camp and I say to Robin (who I so graciously took along to Paris and Milan with me) how much I have enjoyed being overseas and seeing the world, but that I was looking forward to returning home to the good ol’ USA.

The camper fair went great at a private American school in Paris and ended around 8PM. By the time we cleaned up and got back to the hotel, it was around 9PM, so we decided to grab some Chinese food quickly for dinner and call it a night before flying home the next morning. That’s when it all started…

The front desk recommended a Chinese restaurant right next door. The food was sitting in large plates in a trophy looking display case and yes, everyone says “that should have been your first sign”. We ordered our food, which they put into plastic tubs and microwaved (2nd sign) and ate dinner. Because Robin is a vegetarian, we don’t share very many things (I had beef and she had shrimp).

Fast forward to 3AM—I wake up, went to the bathroom, and the rest is history. I will spare you all of the details, but let’s just say it wasn’t pretty, the hotel was sold out so they couldn’t switch our room, and we were both up until 7AM, when we were to leave for the airport. I skyped with Continental Airlines and without any argument (I was shocked!) they rebooked me on the next day’s flight to Philly, while Robin continued on the original flight to Newark. I officially had food poisoning and couldn’t fly home, literally hours before my final trip came to an end! Talk about jinxing it…

All ended OK as I took a day to recuperate at the airport hotel in Paris and flew home the next day. I think my body was just telling me to slow down, stop flying so much, and just RELAX! Of course when I arrived home I went right back to fast paced environment, but it was good to rest for a day.

Highlights in Paris and Milan include:

Amazing pizza, pasta, and gelato. It was nice in Milan to be able to walk into ANY restaurant and order pizza and a calzone and share it with Robin. Yummy!

We did a pastry/baking class while in Paris and that was so much fun. We went to a working Pattiserie and had a tour of the back of the house operations. Afterwards, we had a chance to bake our own croissant (think TONS OF BUTTER, OY) as well as our own baguette (a long French bread essentially).

We had a chance to meet some of our new International campers for this summer! We will be having a few campers from France throughout the summer, and it will provide a unique opportunity to learn about different cultures and what it’s like to grow up in a different country. Last summer we had 3 international campers and they loved the Canadensis experience. Their bunkmates also enjoyed getting to know them, so we are looking forward to yet another positive experience for Summer 2011!

Back here in the US, it’s camp, camp, oh and Passover. Robin decided that we should host 23 people this Passover at our house…that’s TWENTY THREE PEOPLE! Wow. Our first time doing a holiday, did I mention 23 people??

Anyway, like I said, camp, camp, camp. Matt Unger and I are taking weekly trips to camp at this point to check-in with things there. The weather a few weeks ago was great, nice and warm, and outdoor projects were going on. Unfortunately, 8 inches of snow dumped on camp and now we can’t work outside. So, it’s back to the inside projects…which by the way are coming along nicely. I will have more info on that shortly.

New Camper Bowling is coming up this Sunday! Our year round winter staff will be there, along with Robin,  Peter Tarnoff, and Jcal!! Looking forward to a fun day with all of our NEW campers for Summer 2011!

That’s all for now, but check back soon.

Hi All,

Quick blog post to remind everyone that Where in the World Part 2 begins tomorrow! I will be heading overseas once again and hiring some of the best staff for Summer 2011.

Back here in the US, things have been busy. Well when you are “home” for only 2 weeks in between world trips, a lot happens! Things have been busy in the winter office sending out camper mailings, visiting with first time campers in the evening, and working with Matt Unger on purchases for 2011, to name a few things. Speaking of home visits, I have had the chance to meet tons of new families and I hope to see many more in the coming months.

Besides all that, I was honored to attend Max Vorcheimer’s Bar Mitzvah, spend a little time with my wife, visit my Great Aunt, and drive my mom to JFK for a 3+ week trip to Australia and New Zealand. See, the Forti family never rests and I am so excited for my mom to be on the trip of a lifetime. Of course, it would have been nice sponsored by Oprah, but Australia is Australia!

So stay tuned to twitter (www.twitter.com/whereisforti) and the facebook page entitled Camp Canadensis- Where in the World is Eric Forti for updates over the next few weeks!

See you on the other side of the world.

Since I am intrigued about eating on flights and not having a clue about what time/timezone/appropriate meal it is, let’s see what I ate in the past 48 hours:

A. Eggs/potatoes/croissant

B. Salad and Asian Salmon w/ green tea rice (yuck). Then they ruined dessert with coffee flavored ice cream with a hard chocolate shell. I will admit to chipping away at the hard chocolate shell, hahha.

C. Popchips snack

D. Peanuts snack

E. Chicken stir-fry with lo-mein (YUMMY!)

F. Tortilla chips and salsa

G. Salad, Chicken with Thai curry, and apple cheesecake for dessert (just a few bites)

H. A roll

So, since Friday morning (it’s now Sunday morning in Bangkok) that’s what I ate. A nutritionist would yell at me, and it’s weird not eating breakfasts and only having alot of dinners. Trust me, I didn’t go hungry, but my mom and Robin’s cooking is WAYYY better!

Hello All from my usual stopover point of SOUTH KOREA! Trip 1 of Where in the World began 3:15 Friday morning with a van shuttle pickup at my house. Of course I felt bad that Robin woke up from my final packing and preparations, but when I called her at 6AM, she certainly fell back asleep!

I arrived at Philly Airport way too early, but its an international itinerary so they say you need to be there like 18 hours early. Checked in and said goodbye to my one, 53.5LB suitcase (it’s heavy because A. my clothes are heavy and B. I have the new tabletop Canadensis display that many of you saw at the reunion). Hopefully I will see my bag in Melbourne, Australia, my final destination, but I am nervous. Rewind 6 months ago when I thought it would be “fun” to travel to Australia the longest possible way. I thought I did that the last 2 years, but I one upped it and this year my routing is:

Philadelphia – San Francisco – Incheon, South Korea – Bangkok, Thailand – Melbourne, Australia

Getting back to the bag issue, they could only fit 3 cities on a bag tag, so my bag got 2 tags…a first for me! So the first tag said San Francisco and then the other “full” tag says Melbourne by way of Korea/Thailand. My concern is my bag made it to San Fran and is now going round and round on the carousel waiting for me to pick it up…hopefully I am wrong!

So, my flight from Philly to San Fran went off without a hitch. I couldn’t really sleep well, I don’t know why, so I talked to the 2 flight attendants for about 1.5 hours about travel, camp, etc. Had a 1-hour layover in San Fran and boarded a United 747 for Korea. The 747 has two decks and I was lucky enough to be seated on the top deck. For the first time ever, I actually sat in a BACKWARDS facing seat. I know you all think this is dorky, but it was awesome to experience takeoff facing backwards! The seat was amazing and I took a few pics, which maybe JCAL will post here, or else you need to hop on over to my facebook page (see: Camp Canadensis: Where in the World is Eric Forti). It was about a 12 hour flight and I only slept about 4 hours. So, tons of TV watching and tons of eating, but what else is new.

On the plane, I also met 2 ladies in their early 60’s whom are traveling around Bangkok, Vietnam, and Cambodia. We got started talking about camps and they went to a camp in Maine I have heard of and recently just spoke to the owner of! Such a small world. I was telling them how great Canadensis is and one of them has grandchildren in Virginia whom she wants to send to camp, but the grandchildren’s mother is not ready yet. So, maybe one day!

Now I am in Seoul, South Korea sitting in the airport lounge and it’s 10 degrees Fahrenheit outside, but in the lounge it’s like 120 degrees. No exaggeration, it’s so hot in here. I don’t understand why they need to pump the heat in Asia and keep these lounges so darn warm. I just took a shower and changed into a….Canadensis t-shirt of course with a Canadensis long sleeve shirt over it, HAHA. Too funny! Lauren Berry (GL from 2010) and I are skype IMMING or whatever it’s called because all of you are sound asleep.

I will check in again soon, but remember to check in at twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/WHEREISFORTI and  “like” my facebook page by searching Camp Canadensis: Where in the World is Eric Forti.

For now, goodnight!

Hello Canadensis!

As I sit in my home office, the heat is turned up to 70 degrees and Robin is sitting across from me doing some work on her laptop as well. Why does it have to be SO cold? I went up to camp this past Tuesday with Matt Unger and it was FREEZING. Stepping out of the car in front of the office was cold, but when I went down to the lake and stood on the amphitheatre, with the wind howling across FROZEN LAKE LENAPE, that was the definition of COLD! I even braved the elements (for just a few minutes) so that I could film a Canadensis Today for all of you to see a small glimpse of camp in the wintertime.

Camp looks so different this time of year. Of course we are missing the campers and staff. There was a light dusting of snow in most places and ice patches in other. Lake Lenape looks more like an ice skating rink than a place to waterski! The trees are officially bare and there are leaves and branches all over the place. A windy fall means branches falling everywhere. It’s a big cleanup job in the spring for our precamp staff.

Back in the winter office, Matt and I attended an auction at a local school that is shutting down. We were able to buy a few things for our kitchen that are in awesome shape (a stainless steel prep table to name one) which will look great in our kitchen. We are also buying a new ice machine and other “goodies” for our dining hall over the next several weeks.

Last night, I enjoyed dinner at the Garfinkle’s house. Jake and Ryan Garfinkle will be enjoying their first summer at Canadensis in 2011 and are really excited for all that camp has to offer. Their mom made a delicious traditional Chanukah dinner (complete with latkes of course) because I was originally supposed to visit them over Chanukah, but had to delay the visit. It was an AWESOME dinner. To top it off, the boys made their favorite dessert, which is chocolate fondue. They also made smores in the microwave using the fondue chocolate. Amazing idea. Finally, they showed me their new Kinect, which is cool. They did a track and field event and the score was so close after 6 events…looked awfully tiring from the chair I was SITTING in! Thanks guys for a great evening and I look forward to seeing you both at the new camper bowling.

For all of our campers and staff from Summer 2010, don’t forget about our upcoming REUNION! All of the details will be posted on the blog soon, but it’s on Sunday, Jan 9th from 11AM – 12:30PM at Jeepers in Elizabeth, NJ. Hope to see you there.

The flights are all booked for DISNEY WORLD for the 2011 CIT’s! And speaking of Disney World (I know, what a transition), Robin and I are headed to Florida for the next 2 weeks! Next week we will be in Orlando spending some time at the Disney Parks/Universal Parks and hopefully get a chance to see the new Harry Potter World. We will be going with my niece Emily, my brother/sister-in-law, and my mom. Should be a blast for the newly-expanded Forti to have a chance to be on vacation together, away from the daily stresses and pressures. Following our week in Disney, we will be going to Boynton Beach, FL to spend some time with Robin’s parents.  We are both looking forward to seeing them and spending time in (hopefully) warmer weather. After these relaxing 2 weeks, I begin traveling 2 weeks a month for the next few months and Robin might miss me a little, or so she says:)

Robin and I wish everyone a very enjoyable and relaxing winter break and a very Happy and Health New Year. I am sure Jcal has some exciting things to post on the blog over the next few weeks, so make sure you stay tuned for updates!

Hello Canadensis! Sorry I haven’t been able to blog as much as I used to, but things have been so busy here in the winter office and with my “new” life. The question I seem to get most whenever a parent calls this office is “How is married life?” Well to answer that question for everyone, it’s absolutely AWESOME and Robin and I are settled into our new townhouse in Ambler, PA. As great as married life is, it just seems I am always more busy! I used to go home, pickup chinese takeout (or cook something quick and not very gourmet), sit on the couch watching TV, and blog all at the same time. Now that Robin and I live together, I don’t think she would be so fond of eating dinner with me while I am sitting on the computer blogging, watching TV, etc.  So, things are different. On the flipside, we both watch GLEE together and enjoy it (I admit that I am a Gleek), it was nice to light the Chanukah candles with someone else, and the quality of dinners has dramatically increased.

Robin is teaching Kindergarten at a school in Montgomeryville, PA and is enjoying it, although she unfortunately misses out on some of the evening camp fun that I get to do. For example, last night I had dinner with David Brucker (Junior boy last summer). David is doing really well in school and is so excited again for camp. You may remember him as Oliver in our show last summer and we definitely discussed some ideas for a show this year. But, of course he also enjoys a ton of other activities at camp. It was a good opportunity for me to ask him tons of questions about camp, like what was your favorite evening activity, meal in the dining room, etc. We had a great time at Bertucci’s and I look forward to seeing ALL of you at the reunion in a few weeks. (More on that later).

Other camp news: Matt Unger was up at camp yesterday and we are both headed up there next week. He actually went up to deliver a bunch of new weight room equipment. Our weight room is used by our older campers and our staff and there will be additional treadmills, recumbent bikes, elliptical machines, benches, and weights. Of course I will be the first one up each morning leading the 5AM workout session, so if anyone is interested in joining me, let me know (haha).

I was up in Boston last week for a meeting with 10 other camp directors and kitchen managers to discuss our dining hall and share ideas from other camps. I once again gained some new menu ideas, things that worked really well at other camps, and some new enhancements for us to try. This is an area that we are definitely going to be putting more thought into in order to keep the menu items new and exciting for all of you. One small hint: how about a pretzel roll to go with perhaps a grilled chicken sandwich or turkey, etc? Trust me, that’s just a small idea- I have alot more for this coming summer!

I have also been really busy finalizing my recruiting trips around the world. This year, I will be going on 3 “world” trips to many of the same destinations, but just to keep it fresh and new there are a few new places as well. (Do airport layovers count as destinations, hehe). Robin will be accompanying me on one of the 3 trips, but she  is bummed out about missing out on the big “Down Under” trip, which has opposite seasons than us, which means while she is freezing here in Philly, it’s summer “Down Under”. Planning the logistics of these trips is a huge undertaking, so I have been busy with a new passport, specific country visas, flight arrangements, etc. Oddly enough, I have a specific department I called at Continental Airlines and am friends with several of the 9 employees who work there. We are on a first-name basis! Shout-out to Judy!

Back to camp stuff, a few weeks ago we embarked on our local “tours of the area” via our canteen on the fly events. They were once again a HUGE success, so thanks to all of our families who came out to see us. We saw over 150 campers and tons of parents, as well as new campers who are so excited about Canadensis. How cool that they all came out to see us…or was it because of the free ice cream?? For those keeping track, on Day 1 on Long Island I didn’t have any ice cream, Day 2 in NY I had a giant amazing cone at Ben & Jerry’s and that was all, and Day 3 in Philly…well it went downhill from there- 2 out of 3 places. Does it count if one was frozen yogurt?!

Following our Canteen on the Fly events, we hosted informational sessions for our 2010 CIT’s, some of whom will be returning as JC’s for Summer 2011. It was great to see all of them and we are looking forward to having some of them as counselors for you all. Definitely an exciting program and a time for them to share what they learned as campers and apply that to being an amazing counselor.

Pam, Brian, and I are headed tonight to Westchester, NY to meet with the Kilman Family and some of their neighbors/friends who might be interested in coming to Canadensis over the next few summers. I will be hitting the road while I am not overseas and visiting many more campers over the next few months, so let me know if I should stop by and say hello!

Finally, I am so excited for our upcoming reunion. It seems so far away (a month from today in fact), but with the holidays and everyone taking vacations, it really is just around the corner. Pam has found an awesome spot for us called Jeepers in the Newark Airport area (Jersey Gardens Mall) from 11AM – 12:30PM on Jan. 9th and the best part of all is that Canadensis officially takes over Jeepers as we are the ONLY PEOPLE THERE!! We can make as much noise as we want and have tons of fun going on indoor rides, playing video games, and of course enjoying lunch. So, make sure you save the date and I can’t wait to see you all there.