Cara and I have arrived in Michigan!  Each year, we hire a good portion of our staff from this awesome (but chilly in February) state!  We will be on the Central Michigan University and Western Michigan University campuses.  We can’t wait to see some of our 2011 staff members who attend these schools.  In the past, we’ve hired staff on the Michigan State University campus, and also University of Michigan…but since we are visiting so many schools, we had to be selective!  I will always love UMich though – that is where my best friend went to college, and they have the same colors as Canadensis (but they call their colors “Maize & Blue” instead of “Gold & Blue”).  To learn some fun facts about this state, click here.

GO GIANTS!!!

The day after the Giants sealed their place in the Super Bowl, Brian and I went to visit Noah & Rachel in Wynnewood, PA.  Everyone in their family is a HUGE Giants fans!  It was very fun for them to get to celebrate the victory together.  Noah is a current 5th grader, and will be an Upper Inter Boy at camp for his second summer.  He had just celebrated his birthday last month, so we met his “birthday gift” a super cute cat he named Hamlet, that enjoys getting to hang out with their other cat Heidi.  Noah stays really busy with sports, baseball is his favorite…but I also got to see some of his dance moves – he did a great touch down dance for us!

Rachel is a current 3rd grader, and will be a Junior Girl for her first summer at camp!  I first met her at her home a year ago when we came to meet Noah, but she wasn’t too interested in camp then…she even fell asleep while we were there!  In the past year, I’ve gotten to know her on several occasions…she came to the Sixers basketball game, the Jewish Relief Agency volunteer event, and most importantly, she came to the sibling Tour & More Weekend to test out camp last year.  Rachel was at camp on one of the hottest days all summer, so we changed up the regular program and we took all the campers on a golf cart tour of camp, ending with cooking workshop where we made delicious milkshakes – this was her favorite activity of the weekend!

Rachel and I have a shared hobby of knitting/crochet – I got to see some of the projects she made, including a stuffed owl animal, and a super cute scarf.  She’s really good, and she even knows how to make pom poms.  Going to the Handworks Studio is one of her favorite afterschool activities, so I think she will enjoy the Fabric Arts program at camp.   Her number one activity is definitely dance!  She is dancing a few times a week, and even was doing ballet moves during our visit.  She was recently in 12 performances of The Nutcracker with the Pennsylvania Ballet.  She was a toy soldier/bunny – and Noah was there to cheer her on at a lot of the shows.  She is very comfortable dancing in front of a lot of people, so the camp crowds will not be a challenge for her!

Rachel loves a lot of things…corn (good thing because Canadensis campers LOVE the cornman!), carrots, American Idol and Michael Jackson.  She is also very creative, she came up with her own Halloween costume this year, she wanted to be a witch that flew into a wall, so she dressed up as a witch with crutches!  She is ready to try everything at camp this summer, and since she has done an excellent job transferring to a new school this summer, I know she’s going to do great at transitioning to her first summer at Canadensis!

Our next stop was very close by, also in Wynnewood, PA.  We rang the doorbell at Cole & Sophie house, and we were greeted by four amazing and very sweet dogs at the door!  Once we were inside, we got a chance to get to know Cole, a current 6th grader who will be a Freshman Boy and Sophie, a current 3rd grader who will be a Junior Girl.  They are both coming to camp for their first summer, and it was great to see another set of siblings that really enjoy spending time together!

This was one of the most active home visits I’ve ever been on!  Sophie has tons of energy, and was jumping rope while we chatted, and before the end of the night she got me skipping rope too – but she is much faster and more graceful than me!  They gave us a tour of their basement, and they showed us how they can close of the doors to make a Gaga area.  We played a four person round of the game (it’s like dodgeball) and I was the first one out!  We have two dedicated gaga pits at camp, and I’m excited to challenge them again at camp this summer.

I was glad to get my energy up over a great vegetarian dinner – and we discussed the many veggie options we have at camp.  I told them that whatever meal is being served, there are always a few options for the vegetarians like us – some of my favorites are the tofu stir fry, tomato basil mozzarella sandwiches and veggie meatballs! They told us about their favorite things to do, including taking trips to places like Universal Studios and Vermont.  We also talked about favorite TV shows, and Sophie loves Spongebob!  Their afterschool activities include Main Line Girls Basketball, Handworks Studio and some time to play the drums – they have two sets in the basement!

Sophie also gave me a tour of her newly remodeled room – her father had surprised her with a redesign while she was at school!  The purple walls and carpet were the same, but all the furniture had been shifted.  A lot of the artwork on the wall was her own personal work, art is one of her favorite activities.  She has a special “tea party” area of her room, and she is taking care of some baby cactus, which have a prime location on her desk.  Luckily, cactus don’t need a lot of water to survive, so she won’t have to worry about them while she’s off having an amazing summer at camp!

My hiring trip has begun!  I’m in Arizona until Sunday, and I will be hiring camp counselors on the campuses of University of Arizona, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University!  I went to college at U of A, so it will be great to be back on campus, and I’m even meeting with some girls who are in the same AEPhi sorority that I was in!  An added bonus of this trip is that my parents live in Phoenix, Arizona – very close to the ASU campus.  Arizona is absolutely beautiful…if you want to learn more about the state, click here.

This was a super easy project!  And, now that I’ve bought a quart of chalkboard paint and have a lot left over, I plan to use it on a lot of random items!

Supplies:

1.  Chalkboard paint from Home Depot – it’s already on the shelves mixed.  My quart was less than $15.

2.  Paint Brush – I prefer the foam brushes, they are less messy!

3.  Something to turn into a chalkboard – I used a baking tray that was old with stuck on grease, and just wasn’t something I wanted to use for baking anymore.  Some other ideas are a…picture frame, vase or wall!

To Make It:

1. Get your parents permission!

2.  Cover your workspace so you don’t drip on the floor.  For indoor projects during the winter, I use an old flat sheet.

3.  Paint the area that you want to be able to chalk up in the future.  The paint goes on very thin, so do 3 or 4 coats.  Give each coat 5 minutes to dry before painting the next one.

4.  Let it dry overnight, and in the morning, start writing messages with chalk!  It will wipe off easily with a damp paper towel.

As shown above, I’ve used my tray to serve sushi!  This was right before the last Giants game – so excited that they made it to the Super Bowl!  It’s going to be an exciting game on Sunday!

Last week, I went on an awesome trip to Westchester, NY, where I met a lot of ladies who will be spending their summer at Camp Canadensis!  My first stop was in Rye Brook, NY, where I got to hang out with Lisa and her girls.  Lisa grew up at Camp Canadensis, and will be returning to camp for her first summer on our staff team.  She will be the Office Manager this summer, so at some point you might get to chat with her on the phone!

Dylan is a current 1st grader, and will be a Lower Junior Girl.  She didn’t get to come up and visit camp this summer, so even though she doesn’t know what it looks like, she can’t wait!  Dylan loves to dance, and her favorite is hip hop.  She also likes to dress up, and she was wearing a special outfit for me, including a skirt!  She loves the days when she doesn’t have gym class, because it means she can wear Uggs instead of sneakers.  However, she is excited for all the camp activities…even the sports!  She is most excited for swimming, and she was very happy to hear about the new pool we are building.  She is going to be celebrating her birthday at camp this summer, and she was happy to hear that she could enjoy pizza party with her bunk on the back deck for dinner!

Madison is a current 4th grader, and will be a Lower Inter Girl.  I first met her during Tour & More weekend last year – she was actually my sidekick for an hour, we went around camp and she took photos for the website, and did a great job!  She is also a big dancer.  She is really excited about the art program and ceramics – she showed me some of the projects she had made, including a super cute cupcake.    She loved going on the banana boat around the lake this summer, and she can’t wait to do more lake activities this summer, including the summit.  She loves matzah ball soup, and she’s excited that we have it for dinner on Friday night.  I can’t wait to see the girls again at New Camper Bowling on March 25th!

My next stop that evening was in Scarsdale, NY, with two sisters who are new to camp this year!  They are going to be coming to Canadensis with their Philadelphia based cousins Luke & Sam.  Morgan is a current 5th grader, and will be an Upper Inter Girl.  She has some prior camp experience, so she knows all about color war and the goofy things we do at camp.  Haley is a current 2nd grader, and will be a Lower Junior Girl.  She is very excited to go to overnight camp, and do all of the activities!

I met up with them on a night after they got home from ice skating practice.  They are on Team Image, which is a synchronized ice skating program – and they practice a few nights a week!  They have very cool uniforms that have their name on it – and they both really love skating.  They are really excited for the lake activities this summer, and they are glad that we don’t have any age restriction on the motorized water sports – all age groups get to go tubing and water skiing if they want to!  They are also really excited for the evening activities – specifically “crazy night” and “minute to win it”.

Morgan has been in a few plays before – she has played a “Grandma”, and she also has played the role of Sharpay in High School Musical.  She might try out for the Canadensis camp show, and she suggested that we consider doing Peter Pan.  Haley stays really busy, and on nights when she doesn’t have ice skating, she likes to have playdates with friends.  The girls recently got back from a vacation to Hawaii – how cool is that?

We hung out with their dog Rosie, and they asked a lot of questions about Color War breakout – I told them how we keep it a big surprise!  I also told them about how things work at camp – including the 8AM wake-up time (they were happy about that) and the mandatory 3 letters home each week (we check to make sure it’s happening!).  They asked about camp food, so I went through a bunch of camp meals like tacos, cheese-steaks, bbq, pizza, pasta bar, grilled chicken, etc – and they gave almost everything a thumbs up!  They do NOT like quinoa though (one of my personal favorites), so I told them they should avoid Miriam’s delicious quinoa salad with crasins on the salad bar, and they’ll be just fine!

My last stop of the night was in Larchmont, NY.  Stella is a current 4th grader, and will be a Lower Inter Girl for her first summer at camp.  Her cousin Zoe is also coming with her, and she knows a TON about camp already because her mom, Laura, was a camper when she was growing up.  I met Stella this summer when she came up to spend the night with Tour & More, and it’s been fun to see her throughout the year at Canteen on the Fly, and now at her home visit!  We gave out white shirts to all the campers that came to visit Canteen on the Fly, and checkout the awesome way that Stella styled hers…as you can see in the photo above, she colored her shirt in, and even drew some of her favorite camp activities.  She drew the banana boat on the sleeve, because getting to do that on the lake was one of her best Tour & More memories!  When her mom was at camp years ago, the lake wasn’t as exciting as it is today – the main thing she remember is the ski-doodle – which was a “merry go-round” that helped you learn to waterski!

Stella is a really fun and sporty girl who loves anything neon!  Her favorite sports are soccer, basketball and hockey – but not tennis.  She is definitely willing to try and do anything at camp, so maybe she’ll come home with even more favorite sports.  She really can’t wait to go horseback riding, and she is very excited to put together an “MTV Night” dance with her bunk – it’s an evening activity that we do every year.  Stella has an awesome memory, so she remembered seeing “Graffiti Night” in the camp video, and she’s also excited to get to decorate her t-shirt and glow in the dark!

She does a lot of after school activities, including hip hop dance and Hebrew school.  She’s the first kid I’ve ever met that actually like going to Hebrew School!!  She gets to walk there with friends, and she has a cell phone she can use to stay in touch with her family.  She is already thinking about the activities she wants to do in the future, and she plans to be on the high school track team.  She is a great big sister to her brother and baby sister, and since her father is originally from Italy, the family gets to travel there very often!  They will be going to visit when she gets home from camp, and she has so many cousins over there to play and practice her Italian with.  She gave me a great tour of her bedroom, and showed me her “Nerds” candy blanket (even thought it’s not her favorite candy).  Stella must be very sweet because her mom said the mosquitoes love her…we are going to have to make sure we apply the bug spray a lot this summer – we don’t want bites slowing her down on the soccer field!

Have you ever seen these cool bracelets and bags made of out candy wrappers or magazine paper? I’ve always wondered how to make them, and I recently got a chance to learn.  It all started when……the postcards that we ordered arrived in the office, but they were too big!  We use them to write thank you notes, and it wouldn’t fit inside the envelope!  We needed to cut off  about a half an inch –  BeckyJ did a great job cutting off 1,000 postcards tops, and then she had all these cool Blue & Gold strips left over.  I told her to trash them, but Eric Forti & JCal intervened and suggested that I do a craft project with them.  I thought it was time to finally learn how to make one of these chains, so I found a great tutorial here.

I cut the long strips in half to make a blue side and a gold side, and then I alternated colors as I went.  It took some time to get the hang of it, but once you have this easy skill down, the process goes quickly!  When I knew the bracelet was long enough, I used a piece to attach it, and voila…You can easily make these after Visiting Day with candy wrappers for your bunkmates – but remember, it’s made out of paper, so you should definitely take it off before jumping in the lake!!

I got to visit a bunch of Pennsylvania girls in one week!  My first first visit was with Mia, a current 3rd grader who will be a Junior Girl at camp for her first summer.  Mia and I have a lot in common – we both live in Philadelphia, we both have little sisters, and we have the same birthday!!  I first got to meet Mia this summer when she came up to take a tour, but I know a ton more about this awesome new camper now.

First and foremost, Mia is a swimmer!  She is in the pool 4 or 5 times a week practicing her strokes, and getting even faster in the water.  She knows how to do all the strokes, and she loves swimming in the pool, lake, ocean…or whatever you’ve got!  She’s about to get even better soon because she’ll have a new snorkel, which is a great tool that will let her work on stokes without having to come up for air!  She goes to Friends Select School, and their mascot is the Falcon.  Mia also goes to dance classes every week, and Sunday school on the weekends.  She likes being up on stage, and has played a bunch of roles, including Mouse #3 in a school show, and Munchkin #5 in the Wiz.  She suggested that we do Hairspray at camp this summer…wouldn’t that be fun?She and her little sister Maddie gave me tours of their rooms.  One of my favorite parts of their rooms is that they both have doorbells to ring when you want to come in!  Maddie has bunk beds, and tons of stuffed animals and “lovies”.  Mia has a very tall bed, with a “cove” underneath for hanging out, and she showed me her very neat desk.  We looked through a special photo book her mom made with photos of family and friends, and it will be the perfect thing to take to camp and show friends.  Mia has started thinking about her camp bed, and will definitely plan to have a Selena Gomez poster hanging up, with peace signs everywhere, and her favorite colors of purple and blue.  She loves blue so much, that she even wants to be on the blue team for Color War!  As I was leaving, the girls changed in to super cute furry pajamas that not only covered your feet, but covers hands and has a hood – it will be a really fun item to have at camp for sleeping/dress-up/and more!

The next night, Brian and I went to visit with Brandon & Brittney in Newtown, PA.  Check out Brian’s blog for all the details about Brandon…but keep reading to hear more about his oldest sister!  Brittney is a current 2nd grader, and will be a Lower Junior Girl at camp for her first summer.  If she could plan her perfect summer, she would want to be on the Gold Team (her favorite color), she’d want to be in Girls Bunk 3, she’d want to sleep until 1PM and she’d want to play soccer everyday!  I got to meet her and her siblings at camp this summer when they came up for a tour.  They happened to be at camp on the first full day of Color War, and as we were rolling around the grounds on the golf cart, we saw a lot of Canadensis campers searching for the “Hidden Indian Head”.  This is a Canadensis tradition where teams follow clues and search for a hidden version of our mascot.  Brittney and Brandon got really excited watching the action, and they can’t wait to search for it this year!

Brittney is a “sporty” girl, she does after school activities including soccer and gymnastics.  She told me that her best gymnastics trick is doing a backwards spin on the uneven bars.  She loved the trampoline at her old day camp, and she’s excited about our trampoline track & foam pit in gymnastics.  She is also really looking forward to climbing the wall, playing tennis, and she plans to spend most of her elective periods enjoying the lake activities and toys.  She likes just about everything, but she is not planning to be in the camp show – just like me, we are a little shy in front of the crowd!

We looked through the Canadensis photo album together, and she did a great job reading the descriptions on each page.  She is a good student, and her favorite subject is math.  She had great questions about how she’ll find her bunk mates (she will find out on the bus to camp, and then she will look for the counselors holding her bunk numbers poster) and she wanted to know if there were any kids with her exact name at camp.  She is a complete original, but she said that she might go by the nickname “Brittster”, because a lot of her friends call her that.

The night after that, I hung out with Avery & Reid in Bryn Mawr, PA.  Avery is a current 2nd grader, and will be a Lower Junior Girl for her first summer at camp.  I first met her at Tour & More Weekend this summer, and it’s going to be so fun to have her at camp for the full summer!  When she got home from the trial weekend, she told her mom “Why wouldn’t I want to go for the full summer??  Camp is all about fun, and it’s a party every night!” – isn’t that one of the best quotes you’ve ever heard?!  The first thing you need to know about her is that she is a well-rounded girl that likes everything…but her Arts & Crafts work is extremely impressive!  She gave me a tour of some of her ceramics projects and painting, and I can’t wait to see what she creates at camp this summer!  /she also really like sports – some of her favorites are soccer, tennis, and she’s even started to play field hockey!

Avery’s favorite colors are yellow and green, and she already has a yellow squishy pillow that has “Canadensis” airbrushed on it for her camp bed this summer.  She has a very organized room, and her favorite area is the desk that she has set up with a a cute photo of her dog, and trophies – and boy does she have a lot of soccer trophies!  Avery and I share the hobby of knitting, and it’s a very popular club at her school!  We talked a lot about camp, and she had great questions about clean up jobs, and how we celebrate birthdays at camp because her is in July!  I told her that birthday girls have a few surprises during the day, but the whole camp sings to them, they get to make an extra phone call home, and they can have a pizza party with the bunk for dinner.  They also get to be on the Canadensis Today Show, and parents can send up a package with gifts.

This is a photo of me, Avery, and her adorable dog Piper.  She usually goes by the nickname “Ave”, but she might also want to be called Cookie…but even though she really likes cookies, ice cream is definitely her favorite dessert!  She also likes cake, but not icing…it’s too sweet for her, so if I were you, I were one of Avery’s bunkmates,  I’d try to eat the icing she’s leaving on the plate!  Her brother Reid is a current 4th grader, who will be a Lower Inter Boy for his second summer at Canadensis.  Reid has told Avery a lot of important stuff about camp, but the number one thing she is looking forward to is the waffles, ice cream and berries that we serve for breakfast on the 4th of July!  Reid stays super busy during the year, mostly playing hockey!  He plays roller hockey and ice hockey, and he’s in the rink a few nights every week.  He told me that his favorite school subject is P.E., and he also is excited to be back at camp so he can play with his friends on The Summit (in the lake), get involved with the baseball leagues, and play more CHL (Canadensis Hockey League) games.  He also can’t wait to be with bunkmates, and see some of his great counselors from last year…including Adam “Sausage” Shrager…how he got that nickname is a story for another day!

Some recent home visits got me on the road, and I met two great new campers from Livingston, NJ.  Ashley is a current 4th grader, who will be a Lower Inter at camp this summer.  The first thing you need to know about this girl is that she is well rounded and willing to try all the activities at camp!  She couldn’t decide which activity would be her favorite, but she really likes soccer and arts and crafts.  Her day camp had a lake with some inflatable toys, so she will easily be able to jump into the activities at our bigger lake!  If she had to pick what she is most looking forward to now, it would probably be cooking…that was her favorite activity to choose at her day camp, and she’s excited for the recipes we are going to whip up this summer!

Ashley also likes to be on stage, and she’s been in the shows Grease, Camp Rock and Annie. She will also be doing lacrosse for the second time this year, and I’m so impressed because I didn’t start playing that sport until I was in my late 20’s at camp!  She gave me a tour of her room, and it was clear that her favorite colors are pink and purple.  She helped decorate her room, and she picked out the cute bed spread!  She’s going to have to start searching for her camp bedding soon!  She had a lot of art projects that she had made in her room, including a lot of ceramics.  She is a really “neat” girl, and I even “inspected” her closet for cleanliness, and she got a very high score because things were all in their place!

Ashley is a great big sister to Amanda & Sloane – and I’m so excited to welcome her to Camp Canadensis!

Rachel is a current 6th grader, who will be a Freshman Girl at camp this summer.  In addition to attending day camp for a few years, she also has some overnight camp experience – but she’s excited for her first summer at Canadensis, and can’t wait for some BIG fun!  Rachel is comfortable being up on stage – she’s even played the part of Wendy in Peter Pan. She is considering auditioning for the camp shows, but she knows it is a big commitment, and it means she will be pulled out from some bunk activities, so she is still weighing her options.

She’s lucky to be starting camp as a Freshman – she’s going to be able to take advantage of all of the perks…

• She’ll get to go on the overnight trip to Hershey Park  – FYI to all the other Freshman girls…Rachel has been to the park many times with her family, so stick with her if you want to hit all the attractions!
• She get’s 2 elective choice periods everyday – younger campers start with one a day.
• She’s in the oldest division of Lower Camp.
• And…she’ll also get to do extra evening trips out of camp.

Rachel does a lot of activities – she especially loves to play basketball and tennis.  She’s also really into arts & crafts, and she’s excited to try out our 6 different studios this summer (glass fusion/A&C/ceramics/photography/fabric arts/woodworking).  But, without a doubt, Rachel is coming to Canadensis so she can spend time on our amazing lake!  She can’t wait to go tubing, banana boating and water skiing!  Rachel wasn’t sure if she’d want to go on the COALS (Canadensis Outdoor Adventure Living Skills) Overnight, but I hope I convinced her that it is one of the most amazing experiences to look forward to at camp!  She has a big sister and a little brother, and she will definitely be an awesome addition to the Canadensis family!

Camp Canadensis will be running transportation from Maryland this summer, in addition to running buses from the Philadelphia Suburbs, Westchester NY, North Jersey, South Jersey and Long Island!  We are so excited to offer this service to our current Maryland campers and prospective families.  More details will be coming soon, but if you are thinking about Camp Canadensis for your children, please plan to attend our Maryland event on Wednesday, March 7th in the evening.  Please email info@canadensis.com or call 484-674-1941 for more information!

This super quick craft project occurred to me one night – I wanted to make a bulletin board that I could put in my closet and hang necklaces from.  The problem was that it was late at night, and there wasn’t a bulletin board in the house.  I decided to try and make it out of cardboard wrapped with fabric – so I gathered my supplies, and 20 minutes later, the new bulletin board was hanging up!  (Sorry for the grainy photos, they were taken on my iPad!)

I grabbed:

• Two large cardboard boxes – a single layer won’t be thick enough.
• A durable fabric – you don’t want it to be delicate because you’ll start to see pinholes.
• An old frame – mine is from Ikea, and I painted the raw wood silver.  You do not need the plastic/glass.
• Scissors/Box Cutter – ASK YOU PARENTS to help cut the cardboard!
• Mod Podge – you can use any kind of glue you want, but I have a tub of Mod Podge, so I use it for everything!
• Paint Brush – use a junky one because it will get covered with glue.
• Push pins – these are the “hooks” you can hang jewelry from.
  

After I had cut the cardboard to the right size for my frame, I used the paint brush to spread the glue around.  I pressed the fabric into the glue to create a good bond, and then I wrapped both layers of the cardboard.  The back side is shown above, you do not need to wrap the full back in fabric because no one will see it.  I set the whole thing aside to dry for a 5 minutes.

When it was dry, I put the fabric wrapped cardboard back in the frame.  I used the backing on the frame to hang it, but you do not need the glass/plastic that came with the frame…but be sure to save it for another craft project!…and here’s the final product!  Simple and easy!  Can’t you imagine doing this project with a Camp Canadensis t-shirt and hanging your favorite camp photos on it??  I might have to try that next!