Happy New Year!!! I hope everyone had a safe and relaxing winter break, and I REALLY hope everyone found some time to catch up with Camp Friends! As always, I’ll be telling the story of my Winter thus far through pictures…
Dinner Party for Dani's Birthday!
The first big event of Winter Break was the exciting 18th Birthday of Lower Inter Counselor (and my sister!) Dani Corradetti! Because Dani’s birthday falls between Christmas and New Year’s Eve I knew I had to start planning early if I was going to make it an amazing night! I started by calling some camp friends and trying to find a date that worked for most of us. From there I was texting non-stop to try to organize a Birthday Sleepover SURPRISE Party! I think I had Dani completely unknowing until the morning of the party itself. She overheard us ordering dinner for 11 people and knew something was up… this might not have been the first surprise party I’ve attempted to throw her (although last year she was TOTALLY SURPRISED!). Once she knew about the party I told her that I was about to leave to go get Mara from the train. After she jumped and cheered around the house as if Color War was breaking, we ran to my car just in time to drive off to pick up Mara Bernstein. On the way home we took Mara to Virago, a bakery in our town that specializes in Gluten Free baked goods. Mara picked out a delicious cupcake to enjoy later in the evening when it was time for dessert. Seeing Mara pick from all the beautiful cupcake options reminded me of being in Disney with her, and meeting the Chef at Planet Hollywood, one of my top 10 Camp Memories of All Time… but that’s a story for another blog post…
Mara Shows off her Cupcake!
Once we had some baked goods secured, it was time to get back to the house and start to greet the friends who had traveled from all over for the party. No one knew Dani was in on the surprise, so it was like a little mini-surprise each time someone new walked in the door! When we got home Danielle Faden and Becky J were already waiting for us to arrive. They didn’t know Mara was coming in to town- another set of surprises! Shortly after that we were joined by Rebecca Waxman, Jess Cook, Rachel Dender, Jen Romberg, Alexis Vardakas, and Elana Sharir. The house was SO loud as we laughed and told stories… there might have even been a short musical singalong to a medley of song from The Sound of Music, with the Upper Inter counselors reprising their famous MTV night dance. We were then interrupted by my mother returning from our favorite Italian Restaurant, arms full of takeout pans, which we devoured in the dining room, continuing to tell wild camp stories in between bites of pasta and salad.
Ready to Nom Nom Nom!
Once we were stuffed it was time to play our favorite table game- “Most Likely To…”. Most Likely To, or MLT as we say at camp, is a really easy game to play when you need something fun to do. I learned how to play at a Sorority retreat in college, and taught the CITs and Staff in summer 2008. Ever since then, it’s been a staple in our nights in the HQ. Everyone rips up a piece of paper into nice even strips. Then the group picks a number (usually it’s 5, but we went for 10!) and writes that many “MLT”s on the strips of paper. Good examples are “Most Likely To own a camp someday” or “Most Likely To become President” or “Most Likely To jump in lake lenape in their pajamas”. The possibilities are endless.
Working on our MLTs...
Once each strip of paper has an MLT on it, we fold them all up and toss them in a basket, mix them up, and distribute them. Everyone reads the MLTs that they were given, and then decides which person at the table is most likely to do what’s on the paper. Then you fold it back up, and place it in front of the person you chose. This part gets crazy, with everyone putting papers in front of everyone else; you have to be careful not to give away the ones given to you! Once that’s done, each person takes a turn reading the ones they got, and the hilarity ensues!
Becky J reads her MLTs to the group...
After MLT it was time for CAKE… and coffee; Rebecca Waxman is a huge fan of the Keurig coffee maker, we spent most of our days off making individual coffees and lounging around the kitchen. After we couldn’t eat or drink any more we retired back to the den, where we all continued to catch up after being apart for so long!
Camp Friends Snuggled on a Chair!
We spent the rest of the night doing what all of you do at your camp sleepovers – talking about camp! It was so good to be together, and even though we were missing the camp friends who couldn’t make it, or live too far away to make the trip, it was nice to get to be together and pick up right where we left off in August.
After a fun and relaxing winter break, it was time to get back to the winter office… only to pack up and take off for the winter meeting! On Friday night Dani and I met Eric, Robin, Matt, Alyssa, Mike, and Karen for dinner at a Mexican restaurant! Seeing Mike, Alyssa, and Karen after being apart for so long was the best feeling ever… almost as good as the first day of camp!!! We had a yummy dinner, and then Dani and I took Karen back with us so we could get some sleep before the big Winter Meeting! While we were sitting around, Karen took the time Leopold to dress in her favorite hat:
Leo Rocks his Hipster Style...
After Leo modeled a few selections from his hoodie collection, it was time to get some sleep! We woke up bright and early and drove off to the Forti’s house, hoping to miss the impending snow storm. We all piled in to the camp minivan and drove off to Newark.
The winter meeting was a great success! We talked about so many great ideas for Summer 2011 and even got to play a new game, taught by the ever fabulous Pam! We had a great day, and then rushed off to our rooms to get ready to go out for a Hibachi dinner! Everything was delicious… Eric Forti even took this photo express just how full we all felt:
The next morning we all drove off to Jeepers, where we got to spend time playing games and having full with our summer 2010 campers and staff! It was a great day, and I’ll post some more pictures from the reunion soon!
I hope everyone enjoyed a snow day this week, and that you’re getting even more excited for camp now that we’re officially into 2011! Next month Pam and I will head off on our Staff Hiring Road Trip, and soon it will be time for New Camper Bowling, followed by Pre-Camp… camp is basically tomorrow!
