Happy New Year Everyone!!  I hope your 2016 is already off to an incredible start.  My first home visit of the year was with Jamie, from Dresher, PA.  Jamie is a funny, cool and energetic new camper, who is currently in 4th grade and will be a Lower Inter Boy at camp this summer!  He’s really excited about all the activities at camp, he likes almost everything under the sun.  He’s particularly excited to spend his days at camp doing archery, golf and tennis – and will likely pick those as electives.  He’s also going to join our Rock Band program, which is awesome because he’s a keyboard player that goes to School of Rock afterschool.  He’s inspired by Billy Joel, loves “The Simpsons”, can’t get enough chicken tenders, enjoys reading the “Harry Potter” book series, and we both love penguins!  After doing the Tour & More Weekend program, we are so excited to have him at camp for the full summer.

Camp runs in Jamie’s family!  His brother Jason (at camp, he is known as “JP”) is in the middle in the picture above.  He’s currently in 7th grade and will be spending his 4th summer with us at camp!  This year he will be a Lower Senior, and he’s looking forward to it!  Their father is a Canadensis Alumni, and Jon also goes by the nickname “JP” – the whole family goes crazy for Canadensis traditions, including the Cornman on Open House and Visiting Day!
Right before the new year, I had a chance to hang out with Julia in Commack, NY!  She is currently in 4th grade and will be a new Lower Inter Girl at camp this summer.  She describes herself as spunky, adventurous and friendly – and I agree because it was a lot of fun getting to know her!  She loves being a big sister, and likes a ton of different activities including a lot of sports – she’s playing basketball this season.  You’ll definitively be seeing her up on stage at camp this summer, she’s involved with drama productions all year, and one of her favorite parts was being the lead character in “Oliver”.  She also loves penguins, the book “Wonder”, the color purple, and Italian food.  When she has free time, you might find her watching “Liv and Maddie” or listeing to Taylor Swift, pop music or even some classical tunes!  She roots for the Islanders and loves starbursts, skittles or anything chewy!  Check out the camp spirit she already has for Canadensis – I loved seeing her in her camp scarf, and she even has some camp stickers up around her room.

In Dix Hills, NY, I got to catch up with Sydney before her first summer at camp.  I first met her when she did the Tour & More Weekend last year, but she knows a ton about Canadensis from her close cousins Jack & Molly!  Syd (that’s her nickname!) is currently in 2nd grade, and will be a Lower Junior Girl at camp this summer.  She’s totally sweet, lovable and happy!  After school, she likes to do arts and crafts, read, build legos and ice skate (some mornings, she ice skates before school – so impressive!!).  She’s obsessed with hamburgers (yum!), loves corn and will probably get sour patch kids when she visits the canteen.  Her favorite color is pink, her favorite animal is a pig, and she cheers for the NY Giants.  When she’s not at a figure skating competition on the weekend, you might find her watching “Austin and Ally” or watching one of her favorite movies “Cheaper By The Dozen”.  I can’t wait to welcome her to Canadensis this summer!

Before returning to work, I did get a chance to travel and have some rest and relaxation!  Dave and I spent our honeymoon in Saint Lucia, and before we leave the beach we took the photo above with our relationship slogan “PAVE 4 EVA” – (PAVE is a combo of Pam & Dave…I’m sure you get it!).  

It was beautiful there!  Our hotel had a stunning view of the Piton Mountains, and our room only had three walls so we were very close to nature!  We had birds flying in and out of our rooms, and we got to enjoy listening to the rain fall overnight.  As pretty as it was, I’d take the views of Lake Lenape from the top of the Camp Canadensis Amphitheater any day!

I also had a chance to celebrate my amazing Grandma Lil’s 90th Birthday with some of my favorite cousins.  Everyone you see in the photo above went to sleepaway camp, so it probably doesn’t surprise you that we had special shirts made up for the occasion!  The front says “Grandma’s Girls” and there was a special back too!  Doesn’t she look incredible? She’s an amazing woman, she’s kind, generous, smart, gives valued advice and opinions and never ever misses an opportunity to send a greeting card for your birthday or another holiday.  I’m lucky to have grown up just a few blocks away from her, and no matter when I’d drop by she always had a snack and some good stories for me.  She’s seen literally every movie and TV show and give the best recommendations on what to watch!  She’s supported me 100% in life, even when my passion was to become a camp director and it means we don’t get to see each other at all for months at a time!  She’s also taught me the true value of friendship, she’s had so many wonderful and longtime friends in her life (someof whom she plays mah jongg with!) and it’s in part because she’s a great listener, and goes out of her way to be there for people.  I just can’t say enough great things about her!

I’m sad to be missing her bigger 90th celebration this weekend, but I’ll be traveling for work.  My next blog post won’t be for a few weeks, and by that time I will have traveled to Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom (with a layover in Shanghai!) to hire some incredible counselors to join our team at Canadensis this summer.  We take hiring very seriously, and want to bring the very best staff aboard, which is why the face to face hiring is so important to us!  I’ll be posting photos of the journey, and #CanadensisReunions on Instagram along the way, you can follow us there with username @CampCanadensis!

Meet Alexa!  She’s an artistic, happy and sweet new camper coming to use from North Jersey.  She’s a current 3rd grader and will be an Upper Junior Girl this summer.  She loves to ride her bike and is looking forward to glass fusions, photography and ceramics at camp…and of course the lake!!  Some of her favorite things include cucumber rolls, the color purple, pandas, the NJ Devils, Taylor Swif, art, tootsie rolls, and the “Ivy and Bean” book series.  She’s an amazing big sister, and will be an awesome bunkmate this summer!

Meet Chloe!  Carli and I loved spending time with this 4th grader from Lafayette Hill, PA and she’ll be heading to camp for the first time this summer and will be a Lower Inter Girl.  She’s a creative, sweet, and very friendly girl, and loves to be called by her nickname Coco!  She also likes to play piano and loves art, especially painting.  We loved seeing all of her cool artwork hung up on her walls! At camp, she’s looking forward to doing a lot of activities in the art shack, being a part of our rock band, and spending time with her twin sister Maya.  Some of her favorite things include pasta, Twix, the movie Minions, listening to Imagine Dragons, and reading her favorite book The Last Of The Really Great Whangdoodles.  Chloe loves the colors blue and green and is so excited to decorate her bed at camp with a lot of blue, green, and stuffed animals!

Her twin sister Maya (in the blue shirt above!) will be spending her second summer at camp and will also be a Lower Inter Girl.  She’s been in touch with her camp friends, and had such an awesome summer…especially at the lake!

Meet Gabby!  She’s a silly, crazy and smart girl who is interested in fashion, and lives in North Jersey.  She’s in 3rd grade, and will be spending her first summer at camp as an Upper Junior Girl.  She loves her family, playing with dolls and having dance parties.  At camp this summer, she’s looking forward to doing fabric art, drama, softball, playing tennis, going to the batting cage and of course going swimming!  Some of her favorites include cooking in the blender (she loves avocados like me, and tons of other foods like hamburgers, hotdogs, mozzerella sticks, sushi, cupcakes…), she roots for the Giants, Yankees and Islanders, her favorite TV show is Liv & Maddie, but she also loves the Goldbergs.

Gabby’s big brother Alex will be spending his 3rd summer at camp (wow, time flies!!) and will be an Upper Inter Boy.  He’s in the middle of basketball season right now, and has been loving going to Giants tailgates this year with his dad (they’ve joined Brian’s crew!!).  He also just hosted an amazing reunion with some of his camp buddies, let’s just say they were up kinda late…

Meet Mia!  She’s a fun, crazy and funny 4th grader from Livingston, NJ who is heading to camp for her first summer as a Lower Inter Girl.  She goes by many nicknames, including Meis and Mimi.  She absolutely loves dancing, and playing with her rabbit Coco.  At camp this summer, she’s looking forward to zumba, photography, and ceramics wheel.  Some of her favorite things include mac & cheese, sheep (love that answer for favorite animal!), the “Dork Diaries” book series, Selena Gomez, singing, playing softball (her team is called the Thunder), the color red, and Grumpy Cat.  She also doesn’t really love candy…she will gravitate towards chips at the canteen!

Meet Ruby!  She’s a 2nd grader from Livingston, NJ and she’ll be heading to camp for the first time this summer and will be a Lower Junior Girl.  She’s a creative girl who comes up with the best ideas, and likes to spend a lot of time upside down.  She’s also a very slow eater, and likes to laugh a lot!  When she gets home from school, she likes to get her homework out of the way and head to the basement to practice tumbling and her cheerleading moves.  At camp, she’s looking forward to continuing to cheer, doing gymnastics, art and ceramics.  Some of her favorite things include noodle kugel, chocolate, cheetahs, cooking (she likes to make cookies and brownies) and poetry.  She also likes the movie “Spaceballs” and the song “Party in the USA”!

Ruby’s big brother Steven is currently in 3rd grade, and will be am Upper Junior Boy this year.  It’ll be his second summer at camp, and he’s an awesome big bro who will be looking out for Ruby.  He was one of our MACHO Award Recipients last year (it stands for My Actions Can Help Others) and we watched the video of him getting this amazing award recognizing the fact that he makes the Camp Canadensis community a better place for everyone!

We celebrated the 4th night of Chanukkah together, and lit the candles – it was SO nice!  They both got amazing books that night.  Stevens was all about art and Ruby’s was full of inspiring National Geographic photos!

 Meet Sammy!  She’s a cuttent 5th grader who will be coming to Canadensis for the first time this summer, and she’ll be an Upper Inter Girl.  This active, caring and energetic girl lives in Lower Gwynedd, PA.  She’s pretty serious about dance, and totally loves it!  So, of course she’s looking forward to dancing at camp, but she’s also looking forward to getting creative in the art shack and ceramics.  Some of her most favorite things are bagels, challah (we have both at camp!), the color blue (like she’s wearing above), dogs, The Goldbergs TV show, soccer, listening to Meghan Trainor music, kit-kats, and both the old and new Annie movies.  She loves singing, dancing and doing art…and enjoys reading the “Harry Potter” book series.

Sydney is Sammy’s little sister, and she’s in 3rd grade.  This will be her 2nd year at camp and she’ll be an Upper Junior girl.  We flipped through an amazing book of photos from her first summer at camp.  She had an amazing time soaking up all the camp fun, and she cannot wait to see how we top it in summer 2016!

Meet Talia!  She lives in Lower Gwynedd, PA and is currently in 3rd grade.  This will be her first summer at camp, and she will be an Upper Junior Girl.  She’s unique, artistic and fashionable and goes by many nicknames…including T, Tal and TT.  After school, she loves to play on her iPad and chill, but at camp she cannot wait to dance, go to the art shack and play tennis.  She’s looking forward to doing waterslides and glass fusion as electives.  Some of her favorite things include pizza, dogs, the Phillies, Taylor Swift, chocolate and artistic pursuits.  She loves the show “Liv & Maddie” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and the “Victoria Foresters” Books (The Girl Who Could Fly), and all things hot pink!

Big sister Madi is in 4th grade, and will be back at camp for her 2nd summer as a Lower Inter.  Her first summer at camp was out of this world, and about two months after the summer she celebrated her 10th birthday with her bunkmate born on the same day, and all of their camp friends.  It was so much fun hearing about the bunk sleepover!  Now she’s looking forward to the camp reunion!

As I type this blog, I’m already starting to look ahead to the many trips I’ll be taking in the weeks ahead.  Although my typical trips bring me to the tri-state area to meet awesome new campers, soon In January, I’ll be heading abroad to Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and I cannot wait to see our past staff members, and have the opportunity to interview and bring incredible new staff members to Canadensis this summer.  In February, I’ll be in Western Pennsylvania and down in Maryland meeting staff applicants on college campuses, and in March we’ll be heading to training conferences in Atlanta and Atlantic City.

If we’ve emailed lately to setup a home visit for your new camper, talk about the packing list, or just catch up about camp, you probably noticed that my last name has changed!  I’ve gone from Pam Levi to Pam Malter, because I’ve recently been lucky enough to marry our absolutely incredible Senior Boys Head Counselor, Dave Malter!  My husband (still makes me smile to say it!) and I feel so grateful to our family and friends, and we feel like the luckiest people on Earth to have found each other, and to have been able to celebrate.

We loved having so many of our Canadensis family members at our nuptials.  We all gathered in New Hope, PA and although we’ve only seen a few photos so far, I wanted to share some of the special moments captured by our photographer Emily Wren.

Dave and I were so honored to be married by our dear friend Aaron Selkow.  He planned the most beautiful, meaningful and personalized ceremony.  Not surprisingly, he’s comfortable in front of a crowd because he’s the director at Camp Harlam!  (Shhh…Dave and I were actually married by a rabbi a few weeks before our “wedding date” at Dave’s grandmothers assisted living facility…but not many people knew that we were already wed!)

Did you know that I’ve been obsessed with RVs since I was a kid?  It’s always been my dream to have one, and we rented a VW camper van as our getaway car!

It was perfect!

We worked on our first dance a bunch before the wedding…but I got out there and totally had stage freight!  I’m so impressed with our kids who can get up in be in the camp show and dance competitions because I totally spun out of control during our dance.  But, our amazing photographer managed to get one good shot!

We had a kid bridal party!  5 flower girls, 1 ring bearer and 1 glass bearer helped make our celebration extra adorable!  If you didn’t already know that we LOVE kids, the fact that we had 30+ children at our wedding should tell you a little something about importance they have in our lives!

I love to get crafty – and putting the invitation together was a lot of fun!  In the top right of the photo above you will see the unbelievably special ring box that our wood working director Jay made for us!

Our wedding took place on a Sunday morning, so our programs were a Sunday Morning Newspaper!  Complete with a crossword puzzle and an ad for the best camp ever!

Instead of typical place cards, we thought giving out mugs would be more in line with our Sunday Brunch nuptials.   We had so much fun in the past few months searching for special mug for each of our guests.

Who doesn’t love to snuggle?  We got lucky with a beautiful winter day (it’s been SO warm lately!) but just incase we wanted to invite our guests outdoors so we had blankets at the ready!

There were so many fun details…I apologize ahead of time if I share even more photos once we get back pictures with our Canadensis wedding guests and amazing counselors who volunteered their time to watch our kid wedding guests!  This last photo shows some of the games we had out on tables during cocktail hour, our cake (with cannoli filling!) and our RSVP cards that were madlibs were so much fun to read!

It’s been a wonderful fall so far here at Camp Canadensis world headquarters!  Recently we went on a winter staff retreat to bond and brainstorm how to make summer 2016 the best one yet – and we’ve got some amazing plans in the works!  We’ve interviewing a large amount of returning staff members (yesss….we love our returning staff!!) and also been hitting college campuses to find great new counselors to join our summer team.

One of the hallmarks of the Camp Canadensis experience is that we meet all of our new campers before their first summer.  These “home visits” can be arranged anytime from October-May, and it’s not just a chance for our full time staff to get to hang with some awesome campers…it’s how we help kids feel comfortable making the transition to sleepaway camp, allowing them to feel comfortable with an adult who will be available to them all summer.  We also get to know their personality and that helps us each June when we create bunks of campers that will become “BEST CAMP FRIENDS FOREVER!”.   We’ve also been busy meeting some of our new campers ready to join the action at Camp Canadensis when summer 2016 kicks off on June 25th…and here’s a few for you to meet!

Ryan is a new camper heading to us from the Upper East Side of NYC!  He’s going to be a new Lower Inter Boy this summer, and here’s what you should know about this awesome new camper:

Name: Ryan Agulnick

Nick Name: Rye

Grade in School: 4th

Three Words That Describe Me: Fun, Athletic, Kind

After School, I like To…Go to the park and play football, tag (virus) and soccer. At home I like to play iPad

Some of my Favorites…   

Food: Chicken fingers and pizza

Color: Green

Animal: Zebra

TV Show: Sunday football, Survivor, and Amazing Race

Sport Team: Seattle Seahawks and Washington Wizards

Music: Pop

Hobby: Collect football cards

Candy: Skittles

Book: The Worst Class Trip Ever

Movie: Home Alone

Oliver is a new camper from Greenwich Village, NYC.  He will be a Lower Junior Boy, and even though this will be his first summer at camp he comes from a long line of Canadensis Alumni!  His mother attended Camp Canadensis, and his grandparents actually met at Camp Canadensis too!!  Here’s what you need to know about this fun new camper:

Name: Oliver Hougland

Nick Name: Oliver

Grade in School: 2nd Grade

Three Words that Describe Me: Sporty, Funny, Friendly

My Top Elective Choices Will be: Archery, Honda Bikes, Wrestling, Baseball, Soccer, Swimming, Boating, Tennis, Volleyball, Gaga Ball

Some Of My Favorites…

Food- sushi

Color- Green

Animal- Crocodile

TV Show- Lab Rats

Sports Team- Bengals

Music- Hits One

Hobby- Flag football

Candy- Snickers

Book- States & Capitals

Movie- Guardians of the Galaxy

Carli and I got to spend an evening in Blue Bell, PA getting to meet Lexi!  She’s going to be starting camp this year in the Upper Inter Girls Division.  Here’s what you should know about this sweet new camper:

Name: Lexi Cannan

Nick Name: Lex

Grade in School: 5^th Grade

Three Words That Describe Me: Artistic, Athletic, Funny

After School, I like To…Dance, Soccer, Lacrosse, Homework, and Read Books

These Are My Top Camp Canadensis Electives: Lacrosse, Soccer, Dance, Painting, Ceramics, and Canadensis Today Show

Some of my Favorites…

Food: Bagel and Lox

Color: Pink and Purple

Animal: Kitten

TV Show: The Goldbergs

Sport Team: Soccer and Lacrosse

Music: Taylor Swift

Hobby: Dance and Soccer

Candy: M&M’s and Twix

Book: Dork Diaries

Movie: Blended

Over in Bryn Mawr, PA, I got to spend a night getting to know Jack!  He’s been at camp a bunch of times to visit his older siblings Carly & Billy, and this year he spent the night sleeping over at Canadensis during our Tour & More Weekend!  He’ll be a Lower Junior Boy this summer, and here’s what you need to know about this excited new camper:

Name: Jack Koutcher

Grade in School: 2nd

Three Words That Describe Me: Fun, Silly, and … (two’s enough)

After School, I like To…Build legos

These Are My Top Camp Canadensis Electives: Hockey, Ga Ga, Glass Fusion

Some of my Favorites…   

Food: Mac

Color: Blue

Animal: Monkey

TV Show: LBX

Sport Team: Hockey

Music: X’s and O’s

Hobby: Legos

Candy: Nerds

Book: Scooby

Movie: Star Wars

Jack’s older sister Carly will be spending her 8th summer at camp, and she’s going to be a CIT this summer!! She sees her camp friends all year long, but cannot wait for summer 2016!

Check out the amazing Canadensis themed pumpkins that Jack worked on with his father for the Camp Canadensis Pumpkin Decorating Contest this year. They were so cool!!

Another new camper who loved Tour & More Weekend so much that he decided to spend the entire summer with us this year is Daniel!  He lives in Horsham, PA and will be an Upper Junior Boy this summer.  Here’s what you need to know about this sporty new camper:

Name: Daniel Gass

Nick Name: Dan, Danny, Twinkle Toes

Grade in School: 3^rd Grade

Three Words That Describe Me: Athletic, Fast, Kind

After School, I like To…Go outside and play with friends

These Are My Top Camp Canadensis Electives: Football, Ga Ga, and Woodworking

Some of my Favorites…

Food: Corn

Color: Blue

Animal: Lion

TV Show: Lab Rats

Sport Team: Seattle Seahawks (then Jets)

Music: Blake Shelton

Hobby: Reading

Candy: Lollipops and Swedish Fish

Book: Percy Jackson and Lightning Bolt

Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy

After a day of meeting some awesome counselor applicants at West Chester University, Carli and I headed over to hang with Adam.  He lives in West Chester, PA and has an older brother Michael who started camp last year (not to mention cousins Lauren & Justin who have been at camp for many summers!).  He will be a Lower Inter Boy this year, and here’s what you need to know about this multi-talented new camper:

Name: Adam Schaeffer

Nick Name: Shaeff and Shaeffer

Grade in School: 4th

Three Words That Describe Me: Awesome, happy, and nice

After School, I like To…Play soccer and run

These Are My Top Camp Canadensis Electives: Glass Fusion, art and parkour

Some of my Favorites…

Food: Chocolate cake

Color: Red

Animal: Cow, Dog

TV Show: Drake and Tosh

Sport Team: Soccer

Music: AC-DC

Candy: Whatever!

Book: The Lemonade Crime

It’s less than 50 days until Dave Malter (Senior Boys Head Counselor) and I tie the knot!  We had such an amazing summer up at Canadensis in 2015, and before we headed back home to Philly, we started crossing items off our wedding “to do” list.  When we planned the wedding for November, we knew it eliminated the option of getting married up at camp (like my co-director Brian & Jaime did in 2013), but Camp Canadensis is so important to us as a couple, we needed it to have a special place in our wedding celebration.

So, the answer was to do our engagement shoot up at camp a few weeks after all the kids went home.  Our amazing photographer, Emily Wren, went around to different locations with us in the golf cart.  She was awesome about Annie “photobombing” us, and even got in Lake Lenape to capture the perfect shot!

We are still a little bit sad about not holding our actual wedding at camp, our happy place.  But, when November 29th comes, we will be celebrating with lots of Canadensis friends, trying to remember the choreography that Girls Bunk 15 taught us, and we might even have a significant amount of blue & gold in the decorations!

Here are some photos from our engagement shoot:

Meet Izzy!  She’s currently in 2nd grade and will be a Lower Junior Girl at camp this summer.  She lives in Scarsdale, NY.

-Her parents met at Michigan, and she’s got a lot of spirit…Go Big Blue!

-She loves to do gymnastics, and showed me some cartwheels during my visit.

-Izzy is not at all nervous to perform in front of a crowd!  She goes to Star Kids and has done performances in Wicked, Beauty and the Beast and much more.

-She’s also an athlete, and loves soccer, basketball and softball!

-She’s looking forward to the cooking program at camp because she loves all kids of food, especially baking dessert!  (And, she’s pretty excited for Canteen visits and had a lot of candy related questions!)

-She has two older cousins at Canadensis, and Jake and Sydney have been telling her all about the great stuff at Canadensis.  She’s pumped for cornman, and zumba and art and so much more!

-Izzy also likes to read and borrow books from friends, so if you have any good reads at camp, please let her know!

Meet Sasha!  She’s currently in 2nd grade and will be a Lower Junior Girl at camp this summer.  She lives in Woodbury, NY!

-Her teacher at school sends her daughters to Camp Canadensis, so she’s been hearing lots of insider tips all year…not to mention she has two cousins that are also Canadensis campers!!

-Her older cousin Bailey will be spending her 4th summer at camp, and has really helped her get prepared!

-Sasha has two younger siblings – a sister named Bianca and a brother named Damien.

-She takes jazz and tap class during the year, and also takes art classes!

-She really loves the arts, and will be picking artsy things for her electives, including glass fusion!

-She gave me a tour of her room, and I loved seeing her many softball and tennis trophies.  Her room was super neat, she’s definitely going to help her bunk win the honor bunk prizes!

-Sasha loves a lot of vegetables…but not cucumbers, and she doesn’t like fruit!  When we have our afternoon Fruit on the Fly snack everyday, she’ll be taking the pretzel rod option!

Meet Maya!  She’s currently in 3rd grade, and will be an Upper Junior Girl at camp this summer.  She lives in New York, NY!

-Maya gave me a tour of her room which had a lot of zebra and cheetah prints, and her favorite colors which are magenta and turquoise, and we talked about all the activities she loves…including rollerblading and lip syncing.

-This was her first year at the Anderson school in NYC.

-She loves to read, and had finished most of the Harry Potter books.

-She has a summer birthday, and cannot wait to celebrate at camp!

-Maya likes to play sports, and is excited for tennis and basketball at camp.  Also waterskiing, gymnastics, glass fusion and cheerleading!

-She has been working on her bike riding skills, so she’ll be ready to hit the trails at Camp Canadensis!

-She plays piano, and is very musical.  We listened to some tunes on her water speakers, and talked about the shows she likes, including Wicked!

Big sister Chloe is coming back to camp for her 2nd summer, and she will be an Upper Inter.  She has awesome stickers and posters around her room, including a bunch from camp!  She is super smart and has been seeing her camp friends as often as possible this summer.  She’s also looking forward to things like Staff MTV Night on the first night of camp, and basketball!

Meet Julia!  She is currently in 3rd grade and will be an Upper Junior Girl this summer!  She lives in Gladwyne, PA.

-She is a big sister, and is so excited for her first summer at camp!

-Last year, she dressed up as an Angel for Halloween, and told me all her tricks to getting the good candy.  She absolutely loves chocolate!

-She showed me a bunch of trophies she got from all different kinds of sports, and soccer is her favorite.  She even plays soccer in the spring.

-A few times a week, she wakes up early for school to do clubs, like the math club, knitting club or yoga club!

-Julia has a huge room and it will be perfect for sleepovers with camp friends after the summer!

-We had tacos together, and she loves Mexican food (which we have a few times a week!)…but she doesn’t like any broccoli!

-She’s totally pumped to try waterskiing, and might want to be in the camp show too!

Meet Lily!  She’s currently in 4th grade and will be a Lower Inter Girl this summer.  She lives in Dix Hills, NY.

-She goes to gymnastics after school and can do all sorts of cool tricks, including a back handspring and on the trampoline she can do flips as well!

-She has older siblings who’ve been at camp for years, and on Visiting Days, you couldn’t get her out of the gymnastics room!

-This winter she played on a basketball team, and she learned a lot of skills and how to play legit games.  Her team was the “Magic”.

-Her favorite colors are turquoise and blue.

-Lily can be a little quiet at first, and then can be loud and crazy!

-She loves a lot of art stuff, and is excited to try glass fusion.  She also thinks ceramics sounds cool!

Both her siblings love Canadensis too…big brother Tyler was wearing his Canadensis “5 Year Jacket” when I was over!  Big sister Alexa is going to be getting her 5 year jacket this summer, and will be an Upper Senior!  They were both a huge help on the home visit, and filled Lily in on all the camp highlights!

Meet Julia!  She’s about to finish 3rd grade, and will be an Upper Junior at camp this summer.  She lives in New York, NY!

-Julia will love every single activity at camp…except maybe gymnastics.  She’s super fun and loves it all!

-She has gone skiing during the winter, and is excited to try waterskiing at camp this summer…and the zip line too!

-During the year, she plays soccer and can be put in every position.

-She loves all different kids of food, pretty much every item on our menu got the thumbs up!

-Julia likes to read, and her favorites are Diary of a Whimpy Kid and when I was over she was reading Flora and Ulysses.

-Her favorite sport to watch is football, her family is a season ticket holder for the Giants!  She is so spirited, I’m sure she gets super crazy at the games!

-She likes to watch cooking shows on TV.  For her birthday this year, she had a Gaga party, and got her mom out at the last minute…she’s a gaga champion!

-Julia love Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga…and bagels!

Meet Maya!  She is currently in 3rd grade, and will be an Upper Junior this summer at camp.  She lives in Lafayette Hill, PA!

-Last year, Maya came up to camp for Tour & More Weekend, she had so much fun and is ready for the full summer!

-Her favorite TV show is “Every Witch Way”…I had never heard of it before, but must check it out before camp!

-She loves collecting things, and when she gave me a tour of her room, she showed me her marble and crystal collection.

-Maya loves amusement parks and waterslides.  And, she’s in the process of learning to play guitar.

-If she wakes up early at camp, she’s got a plan.  She is planning to write letters, and hopes to send 100 every week!

-She plays on a softball team, and he coach is awesome (it’s her dad!).  She plays on a soccer team in the fall.

-She really likes newcomb, photography, archery and gymnastics.

-Maya is great at drawing and doodling, and arts and crafts.  She had a lot of stuff in her house she’s made in ceramics.

Meet Ella!  She is currently in 3rd grade and will be an Upper Junior Girl this summer.  She lives in West Orange, NJ!

-She’s in a Hip Hop dance class, and is doing a dance to the song “Bubblegum Boy”!  She had a dance party birthday party with all her friends this year, and they sang karoke!

-She loves One Direction and Taylor Swift.  Her favorite TV show is Liv & Maddie…especially because Liv is so fashionable.

-When I was visiting, her room was about to get a makeover, and she was so excited to have it painted purple and dark turquoise because those are some of her favorite colors.

-She loves puppies, and when she spent the night at camp last summer for Tour & More, she remembers when my dog Annie came to visit the bunk.

-Ella’s day camp went to the lake every Monday, so she’s done a lot of cool water activities.  When she was at Canadensis last summer, she fell off the banana boat, and can’t wait to get another try to hold on!

-For Halloween she dressed up as a “Pink Woman” this year.

-She’s ready for camp, and has tons of fun pillows for her bed and great posters to hang on the wall!

Meet Dylan!  She’s currently in 3rd grade, and will be an Upper Junior Girl at camp this summer!  She lives in New York, NY.

-Dylan goes to the Manhattan New School, and loves pickles…she told me about a new restaurant in NYC!

-She gets the hiccups all the time (just like me!) and sometimes her dad will sneak up and scare her (and Brian does the same thing to me!)

-Her favorite sport is gymnastics, and she goes two times a week.  She was flipping and doing backbends while I was over, and it was so easy for her to do a split!

-I got a tour of her room, and she had a lot of awards from soccer and swimming.  She also really likes to play basketball.

-When I was visiting, she was reading the Ramona books.  Her favorite color combination is blue and light green, and she had a lot of art projects in her room.

-We talked about some of the cool family vacations she has gone on, including a trip to Mexico where she got to swim with the dolphins!

-For her electives, Dylan will probably pick tennis and gymnastics.  Both her parents went to camp and loved it, so it’s a sure thing that Dylan will love it too!  (She’s already requesting “Baked by Melissa” cupcakes on Visiting Day!)

Meet Claire and Ben!  They are both finishing 2nd grade, and will be Lower Juniors at camp this summer!  They live in Plymouth Meeting, PA.

CLAIRE:

-She’s very crafty, when I arrived at their house she had made me a sweet card.  She loves doing art projects!

-She collects snowglobes and showed me them in her awesome room.

-Claire plans to try out for the Camp Show this summer.

-Her most favorite activity is gymnastics – she loves being on the floor element!

-Her favorite color is neoon green, and her favorite foods are ice cream and cookies!

-Claire did the Tour & More Weekend last year, and in looking ahead to spending the full summer at camp, she’s excited to try some of the medium paced rides at Dorney Park.

-Mostly, Claire cannot wait to make new friends at camp, and to have friendly competition with her twin brother at Evening Activities!

BEN:

-He really likes books, and soccer.

-Ben is really excited to celebrate his birthday at camp this summer, and we talked all about the special ways we celebrate at camp!

-He think’s he’ll love the batting cage elective.

-And, he loves baseball so much, he will want to participate in the Canadensis Baseball League (CBL).

-He is twins with Claire, but they also have an older brother!  And, his Dad went to Canadensis growing up and is an Alumni of camp!

Henry is going to be spending his 4th summer at camp!  He is going to be an Upper Inter Boy this summer.  He had his TAC’s (Tagger at Canadensis for doing good deeds!) in his room, and I loved seeing it.  We talked all about the sports he’s been playing (soccer, basketball, etc!) and how excited he is to be in Middle Camp this summer!

(Here’s a selfie Claire and I took, and she turned into a collage!)

Meet Casey!  She’s currently in 4th grade, and will be a Lower Inter Girl this summer!  She lives in Westfield, NJ.

-Casey did the Tour & More program twice, and she’s been at camp fir visiting day, so she knows all about our amazing camp food like the Cornman and David’s cookies!

-This girl loooooves to dance!  She is in the process of creating more dances, and taking more classes.

-Casey does every dance style you can think of…lyrical, ballet, tap, hip-hop etc!  We had a little dance party.  She makes up routines on the spot and is going to be a huge help to her bunk during MTV Night!

-She plays every single sport, and especially likes basketball, softball and soccer.

-She is also good at gymnastics.  She showed me her tricks!

-Her dog is named “Teddy” and is so sweet!  She also had some “pet deer” who like to visit her backyard!

-She’s also a great artist, and showed me her fashion design sketches with lots of details including shoes!

-Her basement was under construction when I was over, but when it’s finished it’s going to be a great place to have a party for all of her camp friends!

-She wants everyone to know that she is not at all “vanilla” – she is a totally fun and ridiculous “chocolate” explosion!

Ryan is her big brother, and he will be spending his 3rd summer at camp.  This year he will be a Freshman boy .  He is soooo excited for camp, he screamed from the other room when he heard me and Casey talking about stuff!  We talked about all sorts of stuff, including how delicious the donuts are on Thursday mornings at camp!

This brother/sister team is coming to camp for the first time this summer!  Zoe is finishing 2nd grade and will be a Lower Junior Girl.  Ben is finishing 4th grade and will be a Lower Inter Boy.  They live in Livingston, NJ.

ZOE:

-She is going to be celebrating her birthday at camp, but when she gets off the bus next month she’ll still be 7 years old!

-She loves gymnastics and dance!

-The hat she’s wearing in the photo above is her “disco/shopping” hat!  It’s cool and I hope she brings it to camp!

-She hopes to have a bottom bunk so she can turn her camp bed into a fort!

-After school, Zoe loves to roller blade and ride her bik.

-Zoe has about 5,000 boooks!

-She is super excited for activities like art, sewing and cooking!

BEN:

-He is most excited to do the sports at camp.  Basketball is probably his favorite.

-But, he also likes Tennis and Baseball a lot!

-In September, he got a puppy!  It’s a boxer named Missy and he lvoes her!

-On beach trips with his family, Ben loves to surf…so cool!

-He also enjoys riding his skateboard.

-We talked about a lot of different food questions at camp, and he’s going to be trying Fruit on the Fly!

Meet Kate!  She is finishing 2nd grade and will be a Lower Junior Girl at camp this summer!  She lives in Syosset, NY.

-When I was visiting, Kate had just joined a gymnastics competition team, and she was tumbling with joy the whole time I was there!

-She was doing cartwheels, splits and handstands.  She was working on her back handspring and loves the bars.

-We talked about her past theater performances – she was a mermaid in Peter Pan, and suggests we do Frozen at camp one summer!

-She plays piano, and recently performed at NYSMA for the first time.  But, she’s also an athlete who is good at sports too.  We talked a bunch about her swim team, she can do all the strokes including butterfly!

-She loves art also, and is excited to tie-dye at camp this summer!

-She loves Katy Perry (because they have the same name!)

-She had so many Canadensis things in her room…a clock, water bottle, teddy bear…her normal bedtime is around 8PM, so she’s excited to stay up later at camp!

-Kate loves all foods, except maybe pineapple!

Her big brother Ethan will be at camp for his 2nd summer, and will be an Upper Inter Boy.  He was one of the stars of our play last year, and suggests we do Mary Poppins.  He also did NYSMA this year for singing, piano and trombone too!  He wants to be even more serious about his swimming this year, and is excited to get back to camp…he thinks the food is great!

Meet Jonah!  He’s currently in 3rd grade, and will be an Upper Junior Boy this summer!  He’s from Philadelphia, PA.

-He sometimes goes by the nickname “JL” for his initials.

-He’s looking forward to a lot of different activities at camp, especially painting, mountain  biking, glass fusion, gaga, tetherball and activities in the lake!

-Jonah showed me a porcupine he made in Kindergartend, and it was really great!

-We flipped through a book of camp photos, and when we got to the sports page he liked every single activity!  He especially likes golf.

-Last summer at his day camp, he won the silver medal for a dodgeball game called “pins”.  It sounded like a lot of fun!

-We talked about MTV night and and the big all camp activities, and he was pumped for Dorney Park!

-He was dressed for his hockey game later 🙂

His big sister Annabelle will be at camp for her 3rd summer, and will be an Upper Inter Girl!  She helped me out a ton during the home visit, and explained all the fun details about camp to Jonah.  She’s been staying busy during the school year with performances and dance classes!  Not pictured is oldest brother Eli, who is a serious student…but also loves changes to take a break and see camp friends, his bunk even went on a ski trip together this year!

Meet Jamie!  She is in 3rd grade and will be an Upper Junior Girl this summer.  She lives in Livingston, NJ!

-Jamie loves dogs, and wanted to know if she could spend time helping me out and walking my dog Annie this summer…I told her YES!

-She loves cornman, and wanted to know how many times she’d get to have it this summer (the answer is 3 – open house, carnival and visiting day!)

-I got a tour of her room, and got to see all her fun beanie boos.  Her favorite one was named Fluffy.

-She is a serious soccer player, and was on the 3rd grade championship team called the “Storm”.

-She loves arts and crafts, and cannot wait to try glass fusion this summer.  She knows how to do pottery and showed me lots of her ceramics projects from day camp, and the award she won for helping another camper on the overnight.

-She spent a night at camp last summer in the Tour & More Weekend, and she got to do the banana boat in the lake!

-She also had a pretty funny story ab out where she showered during her overnight weekend…haha!

Her big brother Mason will be back at camp for his 2nd summer, and will be an Upper Inter Boy.  He has been loving seeing his camp friends during the winter, and is letting his hair grow and grow!  He’s excited to be in Middle Camp this summer and get some extra freedom during Free Play and a bowling trip!

Mason and Jamie have Canadensis Cousins too…and it was awesome to see them on the home visit!  David is going to be a CIT (Counselor in Training) and that is the highlight of the Camp Canadensis camper experience!  Rebecca is going to be spending her 3rd summer on staff, this year she will be a Drama Specialist, and is trying to get Jamie pumped up for the camp show!

Meet Dylan!  She is in 2nd grade and will be a Lower Junior Girl at camp this summer!  She lives in Washington Crossing, PA!

-Her favorite colors are hot pink, neon green and blue!

-She plays on a soccer team called the “Patriots” and they wear red and it’s her favorite sport.  She plays goalie!

-But…she’s not a great goalie when she’s defending against her two big brothers in the backyard…they are serious athletes!!

-She also does gymnastics once a week and is working on her back handspring and back flip.  She showed off some cartwheels and roundoffs for me, right in the living room!

-For her electives at camp this summer, she plans on doing glass fusion, woodworking and waterslides.

-At her day camp, she loved played Newcomb, and doing the climbing wall and high ropes – I’m sure she’ll love it at Canadensis too!

-Dylan likes all different kinds of foods, especially bagels, lox, pasta and nachos…all things we have regularly at camp!

-In addition to having two brothers, she has two dogs named Izzy and Cosmo (she got to name Izzy!)

Chase is spending his 3rd summer at Canadensis, and is going to be an Upper Inter at camp this summer.  His basketball team was very successful this winter, and he won a trophy almost as big as his little sister!  He plays sports year round, including soccer!  Logan is going to be spending his 4th summer at camp, and will be a Lower Senior.  He’s excited to be on Senior Side for the first time, and celebrated his Bar Mitzvah this past year.  It’s been great to see all his camp friends at the different parties.

Alana is current 5th grader, and a new Upper Inter Girl!

Meet Alana: She lives in Armonk, NY and is a current 5th grader who will be joining us at Camp Canadensis for her first year as an Upper Inter Girl!  I had such a great time getting to know her, she’s so sweet and was whirling and twirling during our home visit, so she will no doubt be busting a move at Morning Line Up every day this summer!  Here’s what you should know about this great new camper:

Alex is a current 4th grader, and a new Lower Inter Girl!

Meet Alex: She lives in Irvington, NY and is a current 4th grader who will be joining us at Canadensis for her first summer as a Lower Inter Girl!  She loves to follow in her father’s footsteps…that’s part of the reason why she loves to play soccer and is learning to play trumpet.  Her father went to Camp Canadensis too, and now it’s her turn!  Here’s what you should know about this well rounded new camper:

Lila is a current 2nd grader, and a new Lower Junior Girl!

Meet Lila: She lives in Newtown, PA and is currently in 2nd grade, which means she’ll be a Lower Junior Girl for her first summer at camp!  She is joining her big sister Misha at Canadensis this summer, but last year she actually got to spend the night at Canadensis during the Tour & More Weekend!  Here’s what you should know about this fun new camper:

Jordyn is a current 2nd Grader, and a new Lower Junior Girl!

Meet Jordy: She lives in Newtown, PA and is a current 2nd grader.  She will be a Lower Junior at camp this summer, and cannot wait for her first year!  She is going to be 7 years old when camp starts, and will be celebrating her 8th birthday at camp.  She’s already super excited to have the whole camp sing to her!  Here’s what you should know about this sweet new camper:

Jordyn is new to Canadensis, and her brother Andrew is currently in 3rd grade, and is returning as an Upper Junior Boy!

Speaking of her big brother, he’s coming back to camp for his second summer!  Andrew is a current 3rd grader, and will be an Upper Junior Boy.  He was a huge help during this home visit because he remembers EVERYTHING from last summer!!  Here’s some good update from Andrew since camp:

Jordyn is a current 2nd grader, and a new Lower Junior Girl!

Meet Jordyn:  She’s from Maple Glen, PA and is a current 2nd grader, and will be a Lower Junior Girl at camp this summer.  All you need to do is check out that giant smile (that’s missing a few teeth!) to know she is ready for camp.  She told me she would start today if she could!  Here’s what you need to know about this super active new camper:

Elias is a current 3rd grader, and a new Upper Junior Boy!

Meet Elias: He lives in Maple Glen, PA and is a currently 3rd grader.  He will be an Upper Junior Boy at camp this summer and will be joining his older brother for the summer at Canadensis.  Elias also has a younger brother, and he’s lucky to get to be both a big and little bro at the same time!  I really appreciate that his family included me in lighting Hanukkah candles together, and I had fun getting to know Elias better.  Here’s what you should know about this happy new camper:

Elias is joining his older brother at Canadensis, Griffin is a current 6th grader, and will be a Freshman Boy this summer!

Here’s a photo of me with Elias and both his brothers.  It was awesome catching up with Griffin during the home visit and hearing all about what he’s been doing since camp.  He’s a current 6th grader, and will be moving up to Freshman Hill this summer.  Here’s a few updates from Griff:

-He’s playing basketball and training for baseball right now.

-He’s been filling his brother in on all the things he should know before his first summer.  When I came over, they were starting to watch the Yearbook DVD!

-He’s really excited about the perks of being a Freshman. Things like double electives, getting to opt out of the overnight, choosing cooking as an elective, and going on the overnight trip to Cooperstown.  (Even though he’s going to go twice in the same summer since he has a baseball tournament there!).

Check out that gigantic cookie!  Having fun with the Plant Family!

I love seeing our campers!  A few weeks ago, I got to hang out with Jordan, a current 6th grader who will be a Freshman Girl at camp this summer, and will be getting her 5 year jacket!  She was in town visiting several camp friends, and I got to spend some time with her and her parents!

Jordan (left) was visiting friends in Philadelphia, and I met up with her and Rachel (middle) right before Rachel went to Nutcracker practice!

One of her sleepovers was with her bunkmate Rachel, and we all got to spend a little time together in Philadelphia before Rachel went to ballet practice.  But, not just any ballet practice…Rachel had to practice with the Pennsylvania Ballet for the production of the Nutcracker, where she was starring as Marie…the lead!  It such a dream come true, and a major role!  It takes tons of practice and rehearsal, plus dedication.  She has a lot of performances to do at the Academy of Music, which seats more than 2,500 people!

At the show with Jordan and Jordyn

A few weeks later, the curtain went up on The Nutcracker, and I went with some of Rachel’s camp friends to support her!  Here I am with Jordan, and Jordyn (who is also going to be a Freshman Girl this summer, but is in a different bunk in the division).  We were all SO impressed. Rachel was incredible on stage – just phenomenal!!!   All her hard work is paying off, and if you are in Philly this holiday season, it’s not too late to get tickets to see her on stage!

We love seeing holiday cards from our camp families!

We love when our camp families include us on the mailing list, and send us their holiday cards.  We get so excited to open the envelopes and pass them around so everyone can see!  We also love when we spot camp photos or camp gear that makes it onto the holiday card, but this year was the first time we were a “trivia” answer on a holiday card!  This super creative personalized family word search comes from Aidan (Lower Inter Boy) and Brooke (Freshman Girl) and their fun loving family!  The question for 11 Across said: “Brooke and Aidan go to this overnight camp”, and the answer of course is CANADENSIS!

And since this will be my last blog of 2014, I wanted to share one last thing I’m very excited about!  Amy Spielberger has been a Canadensis Mom for several years, her children Ruby and Drew will both be back at camp this summer.  This year mom is coming with them, and joining us on the Programming Team at camp!  She’s grown up at sleepaway camp, met her husband at camp, and has served as a JCC Day Camp Director.  Her hard working and detail oriented approach to camp will be a huge asset to our program this year.  Our Program Director Lauren Schwed and I can’t wait to have her on our team!

We had an amazing time seeing our campers and camp families at our Canteen on the Fly gatherings in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania over the last few weeks!  I wanted to recap with a photo essay documenting some of the highlights!

Ella, Dayton and Alexa (all Upper Inter Girls coming back to camp for their second summer) had a great idea to take a “selfie” outside of the Livingston, NJ Canteen on the Fly! Check out the selfies I took with campers below:

In Ambler, PA, I took a photo with sisters Misha and Lila on the left, and Sydney is on the right.

In Westchester, NY, I loved how Michael colored his shirt with Canadensis Blue & Gold on the left, and it was awesome getting to meet Alex on the right, I loved her super colorful design!

On the left is Izzy (a new Lower Junior girl) and on the right are Sami and Jamie (new Upper Junior girls).

On the left is Lauren, Lauren and Sophia (all decked out in Color War Spirit on the Mainline, PA) and on the right is Madi.

What’s been really fun to see at these Canteen on the Fly events are our “frequent flyers”…campers, CIT and staff who travel with us from one location to another…or meet us at Canteen on the Fly at different locations on different days.  It truly takes the camp spirit to another level, and it means so much to us when people are willing to travel to see their camp friends!  In the photo above, you’ll see 2014 CIT Lauren at the Mainline, PA location, and below she’s at the Livingston, NJ COTF party!

It was a partial G4 reunion at Swede’s Yogurt! Ella, Dari, Amanda, Jadyn and Samara reunited with their 2014 CITs Lauren and Alix!

Scott, Matty, Zach, Marshall, Jacob, Sam, Jake and Matt with “Daddy Dave” at the Long Island, NY Canteen on the Fly.

2014 CIT Marshall was another frequent flyer!  We got to catch up with him above in New York, and below in New Jersey!

Max, Dave, Eric, Matt and Marshall in Livingston, NJ.

Also joining us at most Canteen on the Fly locations were our youngest Canadensis “Campers”…Carli Forti and Emerson Krug!  Our Lower Girls Head Counselor, Melissa Unger got the perfect photo with these two popular ladies!!

Here are some other awesome moments Cara captured at our 5 different Canteen on the Fly Events!

And, one last photo I wanted to share…”Transformation Tuesday” style.  These two photos were taken a year apart at the same location.  Hannah is now going to be a Freshman camper, spending her second summer at camp – and I love both her t-shirt designs!!