How do these 3 words go together?? See below!!

Hey all!

This is Will Armon.  Eric Forti, as always, is busy with pre-Camp so I will be blogging for him this afternoon.  The story from Camp at the moment is rain.  It’s been raining on and off all day; the lake is way up, and we are all wet.  We had a Middle School group from Wissahickon leave this morning.  As they left, buses from PS1 and PS2 were rolling in.  So, the fifth graders have been playing in the rain all afternoon.

We unfortunately closed the Low Ropes Course this afternoon because the various obstacles were getting too slick.  So instead, Pete Tarnoff, Lauren Berry and I played a game with the kids in the Rec Hall.  It was a group jump roping game.  We took a forty foot piece of old climbing rope and the kids had to jump through it in pairs.  We then went to triples.  And by the end, we had fifteen kids jumping through the rope at the same time.  It was a simple activity, but I think that they liked it.

Other than working through the rain, there isn’t a whole lot that’s too exciting going on at pre-Camp.  I’ve been busy working on Counselor Orientation.  Believe it or not, our Group Leader Orientation starts in less than a week!  Counselors get here soon after that, and I think we all know who gets here next!

I will say this, Camp has honestly never looked better.  As I drove in three weeks ago I noticed it, and I am still noticing it today: Camp looks great!  I’m not sure what it is.  The pre-Camp staff is of course working hard, but they do every year.  Regardless, I’m looking forward to another beautiful summer at Canadensis.

Well, I guess I’ll leave it there for now.  I’m sure I’m be logging in to blog again before too long.  I hope that you enjoyed the first episode of Canadensis Today, which is posted in the Media Room.  I’m really looking foward to filming the show this summer.  Eric’s been pretty excited about it.  He ordered mugs and mousepads with the Canadensis Today logo.  Let’s face it, Forti was built for the camera!

Alright, Canadensis, I hope all are safe and anxiously awaiting the Summer of 2009!  Take care…

Throughout the day many photos were taken. One that stood out to me was a photo I took with Garrett Cohen, a 3rd year camper. Take a close look at the photo (you can click on it for a larger version) and see the color of his braces! Thanks Garrett for allowing me to share this photo.

Eric Forti here up at camp. The last family left a little over an hour ago and what a day it was! The weather was absolutely perfect and the families who came up to enjoy the corn man, a BBQ lunch, and participate in some activities appeared to have a blast. Yes, the corn man was here today and we went through over 500 ears of corn, as well as tons of toppings- parmesan cheese, hot sauce, garlic powder, and my personal favorite Canadian Steak Seasoning (sounds odd, doesn’t it?) to name just a few.

The lake was full of boats, the pool had swimmers (after all it is heated and it was a gorgeous day), and all four ropes were setup at the wall. Adam Center, a second year camper and his brother (Matthew- a new camper) seemed to have a ball as well. Adam climbed one of the walls that he wasn’t able to last year- way to go Adam!

It’s time for me to head to the dining hall for dinner with the staff. Speaking of the staff- about 40 counselors were here today and did such a great job at assisting in all of the activity areas. A few new counselors- Lauren McGuire and Vanessa Johnson drove here to assist us and we truly appreciate their efforts. Thanks to Glen Mackey for taking photos, Jaycal for videotaping throughout the day, and everyone else who worked so hard to make today such a huge success. As I said when I introduced our head staff during the “lineup today at the amphitheatre” there are three people who are working so hard behind the scenes to prepare camp for June 27th. Justin Winch, who is now in his fifth year and is a groupleader during the summer, has been in charge of our precamp staff. Not an easy task when you think about how much has to be done in such a short period of time! In my office during the summer is Sam Ginsburg, who arrived a little over a week ago. He has been a huge asset to both the camp and to me, ensuring that all of the small details are taken care of and helping out wherever he is needed. And last but not least, Matt Unger who has been here forever, but started full-time this past winter, has been overseeing the kitchen and food orders, working with all of our precamp groups, and working alongside me and Sam to take care of everything that needs to be purchased, setup, cleaned up, etc.

These are a few of the “behind the scenes” people who are doing everything they can to make this the best summer ever! Thanks to all of the families who came up today and shared in our Open House.

Eric

P.S.- Will Armon and I shot our first official Canadensis Today show together earlier today. We will post it, along with an Open House 411 and photos from the day, in our website media room (www.canadensis.com) and click on media room in the next couple of hours/days. Check back often!

Here is some funny entertainment featuring the Canadensis Today show anchors to get you through a rainy, cold Friday afternoon. Enjoy and keep checking back for updates.

As you can see from the photo in the previous post, yes it’s true. Will Armon and I sacrificed our dignity and entered the photo booth at the Stroud Mall. But, it was all in the name of Canadensis Today! We did a “photoshoot” with Cara Corradetti assisting us in different poses. It was a quite a sight and I think the 25 people in the entire mall (AKA OUR STAFF!) enjoyed the laughs.

So today is unfortunately a bit rainy and cold again. I thought the weather had broken, but to no avail…However, the good news is that Sunday (Open House) is supposed to be great weather.

We welcomed a school from NJ who will be with us until Friday. There was a bit of an “incident” today when the buses pulled in. They brought 12 coach buses to camp, which is alot to try to park all simultaneously on the camp roads! It takes alot of coordination and effort on our part, believe it or not. So the “lead” driver insisted on remaining first, however it’s not always possible because buses can’t exactly pass one another in front of the office, especially with kids roaming around, luggage to unpack, etc. To make a long story short, the driver argued with some of our staff so I had to get involved and defend our staff, who were just doing their job correctly. I think I made an enemy in him, but it was all for the safety of the kids and the camp. Oh well, can’t win them all!

In more positive news, a few nights ago Aunt Terri hosted the Barrett Business Association, which is comprised of many of the local businesses. The owner of Lewis’s supermarket nearby, realtors, an insurance agent, etc. all attended the free BBQ. The kitchen went “fancy” and made burgers from scratch, hot dogs, and many salads. Aunt Terri coordinated the dinner with about 50 people in attendance and it was enjoyed by all. At the end of the night, some of the staff (namely ME) had a craving for cookies, so I put some frozen cookie dough in the oven, turned the switch to ON, but never turned the gas to ON. Therefore, the oven was blowing air, but never got hot. Eventually the cookies baked (sort of), but who cares- they were good!

Last night as I mentioned earlier we took all of the precamp staff as a little treat to the local movies. They enjoyed it and tonight they are planning staff parties for the rest of precamp. One night will feature a Rock Band Tournament amongst many other activities and ideas they have come up with.

This group is here until Friday and then a busy weekend ahead. Looking forward to a great Open House, so remember if you didn’t RSVP yet, please do so! We hope to see as many 2009 campers up here as possible.

I promised everyone updates on what we do precamp, but unfortunately there isn’t much more to write than the title. Don’t worry, I am sure I will fill this blog entry up with other things, but basically what we have done the past few days is Powerwashing, raking, and painting.

The past few days, yours truly (ME!) climbed on top of the main office and powerwashed the roof shingles and the awning. We also powerwashed the many sheds, additional awnings, benches, and sidewalks to wash away all the winter “junk” from them!

James, one of our woodworking counselors, painted the HQ door frames white and they look fresh and new! Many of our counselors continue to rake, rake, and rake. Every year I say the same thing, but it seems like more leaves somehow appear.

Brian is busy in the office finalizing the schedule, games/activities, and making nametags for Open House. Cara is working on the trips and finalizing our hotel reservations, entertainment, and meals on the road. Matt spent half of the day accepting food deliveries, including tons of flour, sugar, and other bakery supplies as Harold the Baker will be arriving in the coming weeks.

Today, Will Armon arrived for the summer. As many of you already know, Will and I are the co-hosts for the upcoming Today Show. We will bring to all of you another episode of Countdown to Canadensis Today during the Open House.

I hope many of you are planning on coming to Open House this coming Sunday. If you haven’t yet RSVP’d please do so via email or call our office, but let us know so we can plan on seeing you up at camp for what promises to be an excellent day!

Wednesday through Friday a school from NJ will be here and then this weekend we welcome Girl Scouts and YMCA’s, who will be leaving at 11AM Sunday, just in time for Open House!!

For now, that’s all. Keep checking both the www.canadensis.com website as well as this blog for more videos and blog postings in the coming days. We have a very special video introducing some of our many new areas of camp for Summer 2009 in the works for all of you to enjoy!

Its still cold! The weather is playing games with us, going from extreme heat to extreme cold for this time of the year! The nights have been dropping to the 40’s (Fahrenheit for you Aussies reading along). We have a school from Philly (common theme on the precamp posts), and despite the chilly temps and overcast skies, they are having a blast. I mean come on, they are at Camp Canadensis after all! It’s so refreshing having “kids” running around camp- climbing the wall, boating in the lake, doing tie-dye in the art center, etc. but it still isn’t the same as camp time. Only a few more weeks until we get to greet all of you back up here for another great summer.

We have been getting rave reviews on the food this year. We have switched our main food supplier to a large company from NJ and they seem to have fresher ingredients and better products. Our London Broil tonight (Flank steak) marinated of course by cook Silas, was great! Tomorrow is grilled cheese and fries (cheese toasties anyone) and then the group leaves.

They have also been commenting on how great our staff have been. They told us that this year the staff seem to be even more accomodating than usual and asked if we did any extra training. I was extremely proud to hear this, because our counselors and staff are on the “front lines”. They are the ones running our activities, serving the food, and keeping the facility running in good, clean condition. Our precamp staff is small- 16 counselors, 4 kitchen girls, 6 kitchen guys, and a few of the “head staff”. They are truly working so hard and it’s great to hear compliments.

Speaking of our staff, this past Tuesday they had a day off. Some of us head staff folks took advantage and went out for dinner to give our kitchen staff a break. Brian Krug, Justin Winch, Sam Ginsburg, Cara Corradetti, and I crammed into a booth at Texas Roadhouse in Stroudsburg, PA near our local mall and enjoyed a bloomin’ onion type thing (called a Cactus Blossom), fresh rolls, pulled pork, steaks, etc. Our waitress was especially nice and gave me a brand new sealed bottle of Roadhouse Gold Steak Sauce to take home and Justin/Brian received their famous rolls to go!

Sam Ginsburg (as I mentioned above) arrived at the perfect time to go out to dinner! Sam was a camper at camp and is now in his 10th summer at camp. Last year, the Operations Office welcomed Sam and he was a fabulous addition to our staff. Sam, Unger, and Forti- the Operations team (or as some Juniors called it last summer, the Optional Office) is now complete and we are in full swing getting everything in pristine shape for the upcoming new camper Open House and then Opening Day!

So as you can see there is alot going on up here. Will Armon will be arriving on June 1 and he doesn’t know it yet, but he will be driving all of the precamp staff out to the local bowling alley as a special thank you for all that the staff do up at camp!

One final thought- yesterday marked exactly one month until the opening day of camp. I couldn’t be more excited. The winter office staff (including me) works extremely hard 10 months each year for the upcoming 7 weeks of camp! Memorial Day weekend just passed which is the unofficial start of summer for most Americans. The official start of summer (as the highers ups in the world determine) starts on June 21. However, for Eric Forti, the absolute official start of Summer 2009 is on June 27, 2009 when the buses roll past the parking lot and park at the main office and we welcome both new and returning campers to their summer home. I am looking forward to seeing all of you soon and good luck with packing, because trunks will be picked up before you know it!

P.S.- Remember to login to the media room from our homepage for our latest Canadensis 411 and additional videos to be posted soon!

Hey All!

Good Sunday Morning to everyone and Happy Mother’s Day to all the mother’s out there! Today camp is cool. We had great weather yesterday, after an entire week of rain. Despite the rain, we had staff outside raking in between the rain storms, doing the best they could. Yesterday, with the sun shining, we had a very productive day. The entire wall/ropes area is now leaf free (on the ground that is!) as well as the area in front of the cooking room/mountain bike shack. Today, we will be raking the baseball field backstops, the Senior girls tennis courts, and a bunch of other areas.

In the office, I have been busy all week receiving the required forms for the summer. Before a camper can attend Canadensis, we require certain forms to be completed, including a doctor’s phycial form, activity permission form, and a bunch more! They were all due this past week, so there was a mad rush to turn them in! I have finally sorted through all of them and have entered them into our database.

Last night I left camp for the first time in a few weeks. Justin Winch and I went out for him to get a haircut while I ran in to Old Navy to spend a giftcard! We went to dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s and then stopped at a supermarket for a few items, including Maxwell House Coffee for our brand-new coffee machines (shout out to all of the coffee drinking staff!).

Today, we are hanging orienteering flags, cleaning the cleaning supply room (oxymoron??) and of course I will be calling my own mom to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, I have to work today and can’t be at home. On top of all this, we will have 8 staff members arriving to join our precamp staff. We are looking forward to their arrival and getting some more help here at camp.

We have groups for the next few weeks every single day! Alot of work to do for camp as well, but it’s all good because we are up at camp! Have a great day.

So the theme of this week for the staff is RAKING! We have leaves, pine cones, pine needles, sticks, and other assorted finds all over the place. Yesterday and today the staff (which now includes Luke Holten and Levi Smathers) as well as our kitchen staff raked from the Rec Hall all the way down past the boys pool, movie theatre, Honda shed, following the drainage ditch along the lake field down to the lake. We have two ways of collecting the leaves- a state of the art leaf vacuum, which I refer to as the leaf sucker upper, as well as the old fashioned way of filling trash cans and dumping them in the woods. So the sounds around camp are rakes, leaf blowers, leaf suckers, and trucks driving back and forth.

Tom is busy at the Boys Pool now (the girls pool is FILLING as I type this!) draining the pool, taking out all of the wet leaves, and powerwashing it clean. We will then have the pool painted white (with black lane markers) and then begin the filling process. During this time, the pool company has to come in and install the new drain cover to comply with the act (which you can read more about from a previous post last week).

So as you can see, things are quite busy around camp. We have lots to do before we welcome our first school next Monday and then welcome new groups almost daily until staff orientation. Saturday and Sunday are big staff arrival days for us, as we will have about 16 total staff by Sunday for precamp.

Before I go, shout-out to Cara’s blog about the CIT weekend. I was going to write all about it, but she beat me to it and did a better job! Enjoy the pics on her blog. She briefly mentions a custom made cake by me. Well on Saturday, just before it was time to serve dinner to our CIT’s and rental group, I was in the back of the dining hall in the bakery and saw a circular cake lying around. So I decided to ice it and dedicate it to the CITs. What I didn’t know is that you are supposed to remove it from the pan and flip it upside down BEFORE icing a cake, since the bottom is flatter and smoother. So, the CIT’s ended up with a double sided iced cake, HAHA! Nonetheless, they devoured it and clearly enjoyed eating every last bite- none was leftover for me. Oh well, I get the last laugh since I have the keys to the bakery all summer long once the “real” baker (NOT ME) arrives and we start producing black and white cookies, chocolate chip cake, etc.

Off to do some work and then bed. By the way, 24 is the most amazing TV show! Goodnight all.