I’ve been on the road meeting tons of new campers for 2013!!  I can’t wait to introduce you to each of them one by one in the next few months!

Amanda B. is a current 3rd grader who will be an Upper Junior Girl at camp this summer!  The photo above was taken while she was at Tour & More Weekend last summer (our trial overnight program for K-3rd grade) and you can tell from her smile she was about to start a great weekend!

…which brings me to her big brother Jeremy, who will be an Upper Inter Boy returning for his 3rd summer at camp.   He’s the opposite of Amanda because he loves Mexican food, but not Chinese food!   I knew he loves Mexican because he had a Taco costume with him his first summer at camp and he found multiple reasons to wear it besides just on Halloween!  It was great to catch up with Jeremy and hear about how his year has been going.  I loved seeing all the camp art projects he had in his room, and we discovered that we both really like geography.  He has a map of the US in his room, but it was actually covered up by a Camp Canadensis poster!!  We also both love New Orleans so we talked about swamp tours and beignets.  It was fun hearing stories about his Bunk 8 camp friends, and relive memories of their “Banana” song and dance performance at All Camp MTV Night.   He has been on the blue team for the past two years, and both teams have gone on to victory, so maybe Amanda will join his perfect record this summer!?The next night, Eric and I went to Churchville, PA to visit another brother/sister pair.  Both of them are starting at Camp Canadensis for the first time in 2013.  They were pumped about the camp t-shirts we brought, and decided to put them on for our photo shoot.  Amanda and Jordan did Tour & More last summer as well, so I’m including their pictures below along with an introduction!Jordan is a current 5th grader, who will be an Upper Inter Boy this summer and he’s really excited for camp…he’s even got his bedding all picked out!  He has so many different interests and that range from performing arts to outdoor adventure!  During our visit, we were treated to performances on both the Alto Saxophone and piano- very impressive!  He’s also on a hip hop dance team, and we can’t wait to see his moves before Morning Line Up everyday.

He is most excited about the climbing wall/high ropes course, the arts center, and cooking. He was really lucky to get to join a bunk at cooking last summer, and he gave us some ideas of new projects and recipes we can try!  For his elective last year, he got to go sailing on the lake, and this year he’s excited to try even more things…including the inflatable water toys.  He’s got a few months to plan out what he wants to do for electives, but I have a feeling that woodworking is going to be a top choice!  In the past few summers, Jordan attended day camp and is excited now to begin the next phase of camping- sleepaway camp!

His sister Amanda is a current 3rd grader, who will be an Upper Junior Girl this summer, and she will definitely be up on stage with Jordan dancing before Morning Line Up each day.  Amanda takes FIVE different dance classes (ballet, jazz, hip hop, lyrical and tap) so I think we can expect to see her dancing during electives, free play…and probably even as she goes from one activity to the next!  We got to see some of her dance to the “Big Bad Wolf” which she performs in competition.  She gave me a tour of the many books and ceramics pieces she painted in her playroom, and I was glad to know that American Girl and Polly Pockets are still big with campers!  She also showed me her awesome pink bedroom, (but told me her favorite colors were purple and lime green -that’s how I picked the colors for her name above) and she’s got a shelf of trophies from dancing, soccer, softball (even with an injury) and also fishing!

Amanda is artistic too!  She made me the Canadensis picture frame above, and now it’s hanging by my desk – thank you!!  She has tons of camp spirit already, she received an airbrushed Camp Canadensis headband and sweatpants gift this winter, and was so excited that she wore it to school the next day.  Amanda is definitely ready to go to camp, and would pack her bags now if she could (and there would be some Hello Kitty gear and a Justin Bieber poster in those bags!!)!Over in Newtown, PA, I got to spend some time with a sister duo that I first met while touring them around Camp Canadensis last year, and I’m so excited for their first summer at camp!Sierra is a current 4th grader, and will be a Lower Inter Girl this summer.  She is multi-talented, and up for anything!  Her dream job one day is to be a fashion designer, and I have no doubt she’ll be picking Fabric Arts as one of her electives so she can start gaining experience.  She is an artist, and loves to draw.  She showed me a perspective homework assignment she was working on where she had to draw a city…it was excellent and it was only a sketch!  I hope she brings some of her artwork to decorate her walls at camp!

Shaina is a current 3rd grader, and will be an Upper Junior Girl this summer.  If she could come on one of my trips with me it would definitely be to London!  Although she also knows how to speak French, she really wants to visit London in part because she loves Moshi Monsters (online pets), and that’s where the international headquarters are!  She is really excited about the outdoors activities at camp, including the COALS Overnight, ropes course and climbing wall.  Shaina also loves gymnastics, foam pits, art and fashion and will probably choose it for her electives.  She’s excited about everything she can try at camp, and enjoys what she does at home.  She even loves Hebrew School…I didn’t make that up!

Allie found a ladybug while doing community service on our college tour!

Name: Allie Ernst

Years at Camp: This will be my 8th summer at camp and hopefully the best one yet.

Hobbies When You’re at Home: I play field hockey, volleyball, and softball for Germantown Academy.

Secret Talent: My secret talent is that I’m good at Mah Jongg. Pam taught me how to play during one of the iCan nights and I fell in love ever since. I think what hooked me was that my first game that i played by myself I beat Pam and got to yell MAHJONGG!

Favorite Camp Activity: If I had to chose one it would be leagues! I love all the different sports that we get to play as teams and WNBA is amazing even just being a mascot!

Funny Camp Memory: My birthday is in July so one of the ongoing jokes in my bunk is that we celebrate my birth-week because it’s such a huge celebration! My mom always gets us birthday shirts so that we all match – my bunk actually started that tradition! My favorite birthday celebration was my lower inter summer. It was the first summer with the amphitheater and so my bunk decided to have pizza and cake on the new deck! When it was time for cake the boys in our division came out to sing to me and we had a cake fight! Of course we had to clean up our mess but it was well worth it because that is my favorite birthday memory EVER!

Advice for a First Time Camper: When my little sister was first coming to camp the one thing she was really scared about was that she would be away from our parents for so long. The only thing that  I would tell her was that when you go to camp you make a whole new family. There is always activities for you to do where you can make new friends and will be having so much fun you won’t even have time to miss your parents! The girls in your bunk become your sisters so quickly that there is no way you won’t be wishing camp is 10 months and school just for 2. Trust me!

Something You Learned at Camp: One thing that I learned from camp from a young age was how to live with other people and to make friends with any and everyone! Being away from home and living with a bunch of girls my age also really helped me to come out of my shell because if we had an activity I was afraid of, like the ropes course, instead of being too scared to do something new I had my sisters there to show me how to have fun doing it!

I never leave for camp without my: DUCK TAPE… This may sound weird but its almost what I’m known for. One summer I brought maybe 20 rolls of duck tape and it was by far the most used thing in our bunk. We hung signs during free play, taped posters to the walls, I made wallets for my bunk before one of our trips, I even learned how to make a purse one rainy day. It is one of my favorite things that I bring to camp because you can do so much with it!

If I could have any job in the world it would be: Aunt Terri! OMG I would love to be her if I could. She has the best job ever because absolutely everyone in camp knows who she is and somehow she knows everyone too! When I see her driving around in her pink golf cart all I want to do is go over and give her a huge hug. I can’t even imagine if every kid at camp felt that towards me.

My favorite place I’ve traveled is: I went to Rome and Greece two years ago with my whole family. The history and culture that I got to experience on that trip was epic!

One thing my campers will learn about me is: I’m not afraid to dress up with you guys and get crazy! I don’t get embarrassed easily so I wont be afraid to be weird with you guys. I’m so excited to meet my girls and get to know them and share my camp experiences with them so that I can make theirs even better than mine was!

One fun fact about me is: I’M IN LOVE WITH CAPTAIN AMERICA! I have so much random Captain America and Steve Rogers junk its insane. My phone case, wallet, key-chain on my backpack, and the mug I drink from at breakfast all has him on it. Some people say I might be slightly obsessed with him…

Name: Lindsay Gelber
Years at Camp: 9
Hobbies When You’re at Home: I love to play tennis and hang out with my friends and family.
Secret Talent: I am a fast runner!
Favorite Camp Activity: EVERYTHING
Funny Camp Memory: Even though every moment at camp is funny, I was running back from the lake when it was raining and I stepped in a huge pile of mud. When I got out of the mud my flip flop was gone. I was looking in the mud for my flip flop and I couldn’t see it! So i went back to the bunk with out it. Three days later I had to go back to the lake and saw my flip flop sitting in the mud. I had to dig through the mud to get my flip flop back! I was covered in mud and not allowed back in my bunk until I cleaned off!
Advice for a First Time Camper: Never take any moment at camp for granted. Enjoy every second you have because it is one of the best places you could be. Try not to fight because camp is all about having fun and not fighting with the friends you’ll have forever! Make the best of every second of the day!
Something You Learned at Camp: At camp I learned to just be myself and be comfortable in my own skin. It’s always important to laugh at yourself and be happy with who you are and not be embarrassed to do anything!
I never leave for camp without… my CIT2013 APPAREL
If I could have any job in the world it would be… a dentist.
My favorite place I’ve traveled is… CAMP OBVIOUSLY!
One thing my campers will learn about me is… I love to have fun and make the best out of every situation and I am very outgoing!
One fun fact about me is… I have really been at camp since I was 5! My dad was the camp doctor for a few weeks when my brother and sister went to camp and I use to go up to camp with my parents!

CIT Tori is ready for camp!

Name: Tori Handler
Years at Camp: 10 years at camp!
Hobbies When You’re at Home: Playing sports and being with my friends.
Secret Talent: I have no secret talent but i wish i could dance!
Favorite Camp Activity: COOKING!!!
Funny Camp Memory: Waking up alone in the bunk because there was a fake break and all I saw was a chipmunk running through the cubby room so I thought my bunk was outside because they were scared.
Advice for a First Time Camper: Be open to making new friends because the friends you make at camp will be your sisters forever, and live every minute to the fullest.
Something You Learned at Camp: How to waterskii and now its one of my favorite things to do!
I never leave for camp without my… my gold color war shirts.
If I could have any job in the world it would be… a manager for someone famous.
My favorite place I’ve traveled is… St.Thomas because i got to do so many fun things.
One thing my campers will learn about me is… how much I love camp and that it’s my home forever .
One fun fact about me is… I was at a froyo place once and made a new best friend who is 4! His name is gavin 🙂

Gavin reads Tori his favorite book!

I’ve got two new campers to introduce you to!  Jade is a current 3rd grader who will be a Junior Girl – and she lives in Closter, NJ.  She greeted me at the door when I arrived, along with her super cute dog named Rocky.  She loved trying all the activities at day camp, and we’ve got way more for her to try this summer!  Some of her favorites are arts & crafts, swimming, basketball and soccer.  Jade also rides go-karts and at camp they called her the “speed devil”!  She feels comfortable being in shows and up on stage, she’s been “Auntie Em” in the Wizard of Oz, and she’s also been in Aladdin.  On my visit, she told me about the upcoming talent show she is planning to be in!

At the talent show, she will definitely be wearing purple – it’s her favorite color!  We toured her beautiful purple bedroom and she showed me her collection of  stuffed animals (some that her sister brought back from the Dorney Park trip!), books and pillows – including an ice cream sandwich pillow (which looked delicious!).  Jade has made a lot of craft projects for herself and family members.  She also loves fashion, and getting her toes painted – so her bunkmates should prepare for lots of manicure parties!

This summer, she wants to learn how to ride a bike and I’ve heard she’s a good chef who will be making some great food in cooking!  She will also help her bunk be the cleanest and win honor bunk awards – according to her parents, she is the neatest of all the siblings!

Her older sister Adina will be a Lower Senior at camp, and it’s her 5th summer at Canadensis (5 year jacket time!!).  Although she’s moving over to Senior side this summer, she’s going to be looking out for Jade all the time!  While I was over, she was wearing her bunkmate Rachel’s Bat Mitzvah sweatshirt, and she’s been seeing a lot of her friends this year.  She’s having a great time, and I loved seeing all the camp photos up in her room!

Isak will be an Upper Senior this summer, and it will also be his 5th year at camp!  This picture shows him in his garage workshop where he gets to do woodworking all year!  I was really impressed with the signs he’s made, and we were just steps away from his dirt bike that he also likes to work on.  He loves dirtbiking so much that it was actually his Bar Mitzvah theme!  Isak definitely stays busy – he’s even putting together videos for his school like JCal does with the today show during the summer!

My next stop was in Tenafly, NJ with Sydney, a current 3rd grader who will be a Junior Girl this summer!  She can’t wait for her first summer at Camp Canadensis!  Her favorite activities are soccer, gymnastics, basketball and softball (in that order!) – and she does most of them as after school activities.  She likes being on a team, and right now she’s on the Tenafly Tigers.  However, she also loves arts and crafts, swimming and adventure – she’s the definition of a well-rounded Canadensis girl!

She had just spent winter break skiing in Colorado, and on one of her first tries waterskiing last summer she was able to stand up.  She will no doubt be skiing circles around the lake this year, and she’s excited about the summit and other water toys too.  Sydney describes herself as a “crazy girl” who loves zip lining, rock climbing, water slides and upside down roller coasters!  Her room was still decorated with streamers from her December birthday, and while we talked I enjoyed seeing the art projects she’d made in her room, especially the bracelets.  Sydney’s favorite color is blue, and she likes “One Direction“, so maybe those preferences will be reflected in her bedding & posters this summer?  We’ll have to wait a few more months to find out…

She might be missing her adorable puppies Sammy and Pixie while she’s away at camp, but she’ll bring pictures of them up – and will be writing tons of letters home.  Remember everyone…more letters usually means more visiting day candy!  Sydney is totally ready for an awesome summer at camp…checkout what she wore to sleep the night after my visit!

While I was in the Garden State, I also visited my friend Abbie who works at BeeBee Designs in Livingston, NJ.  They sell a lot of camp essentials (and the super fun camp stuff) at their store, and I wanted to check it out!  They had tons of games and clothing, and apparently they’ll have 5 times more in store when the official camp season kicks off on February 11th!  My favorite item in the store was the Canadensis airbrushed sweatpants they had on display…check it out!

And finally…we LOVE when Canadensis campers meet up…and we love seeing the photos!  This picture was taken at a recent Bat Mitzvah, and shows Jordyn (4th grade, Lower Inter), Sabrina (7th grade, Lower Senior) and Rachel (7th grade, Lower Senior).  Looks like a fun night!

(BTW…the Bat Mitzvah sweatshirt Adina is wearing above is from this Rachel!)

At Canadensis, we love Blue & Gold.  Those are our camp colors, and we proudly wear them as much as possible all summer!  I wanted to start blogging about some of the awesome blue and gold products I’ve been seeing, and if you spot anything Blue & Gold, please email me pictures to pam@canadensis.com!

These polka dot flowers were in the floral craft section of Michaels, I picked up one for me and one for Cara.  I think mine might end up getting attached to a hair clip so I can wear it at camp!

We love Soffe shorts during the summer, check out these great NEW shorts with the gold elastic band! soffe.com

Next time you are throwing a camp party, search for these blue and gold plastic cups.  I spotted these at the Christmas Tree Stores.

Send me pictures of the Blue & Gold items you’ve spotted!

Hello Canadensis…

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR!  I hope that everyone had a wonderful time with their family and friends during the holiday season.  And, since we have now officially entered 2013, we can start actually saying that camp is THIS YEAR!  Woo Hoo!

Next, I wanted to say how great it was to see so many of our campers and staff at our ANNUAL REUNION at Funtime America.  When totaling up the numbers, it looks like we had 300+ campers and 50 staff in attendance.  We know that many of you have very busy schedules so we really appreciate that you carved out some time for your camp family by joining us at this wonderful event.  Trying to get around the room to see as many people as possible, it was great hearing about what everyone has been up to since we last left camp in August.  At the same time, we hope everyone had a good time playing the games and going on all of the rides and amusements.  If you haven’t checked out the pictures on our Facebook page, click here.  Furthermore, it was so nice to hear that many of the campers in attendance planned other activities around the reunion such as lunches and even sleepovers.  As always, if you have pictures of these get-togethers, be sure to send them to us so we can post them.

As I usually like to do on this blog, I enjoy sharing what I have been up to in my time away from camp.  Back in December, Jaime and I kept up with our annual tradition of visiting one U.S. city every year.  This year, the choice was Atlanta, Georgia for a 5-day getaway.  While there, we visited the World of Coca Cola Museum and got to drink over 60 different coke products from around the world, spent a day at Stone Mountain Georgia for some outdoor activities, attended the Giants-Falcons game with Lower Boys Head Counselor Roy Kaplan (loved seeing Roy; the game I’d rather forget), went to the Georgia Aquarium and did some shopping in cute towns called Little Five Points and Virginia-Highlands.  It was a great trip!  Here are some pics…

Me and Jaime at the World of Coca Cola. That's the couch from the red room on American Idol. No Ryan Seacrest, though. Oh wait! There he is right behind us. Ha Ha!

Here were at the top of Stone Mountain. We took a skyride up the mountain, but then chose to hike three miles down the mountain.

Me and Jaime with Lower Boys Head Counselor Roy Kaplan and his friend Dana before going into the Giants-Falcons game.

In the Georgia Dome for the game. Giants got crushed 34-0. Can't remember a time we got beat so bad! I guess all the games can't be Super Bowl victories.

Me and Jaime at the Georgia Aquarium. What a cool place!

On New Year’s Eve, Jaime and I went to see one of our favorite bands, Phish, to ring in 2013.  It was a blast!  Here is what our night looked like at midnight…

Like most blogs, I use this space to tell you about all of the campers I meet throughout the year. Here are some visits to tell you about.

In River Vale, NJ, I got to hang out with Jeremy Lesserson, who is currently in 6th grade and will be spending his first summer at Canadensis as part of our Freshman division.  In the winter, Jeremy plays in a basketball league and in the spring, he plays in a baseball league.  He also takes tennis lessons and plays the drums.  Jeremy is a big Mets fan, an avid baseball card collector and loves reading Sports Illustrated.  During football season, he enjoys playing fantasy football.  When I was at his house, Jeremy also shared with me that he is involved in fundraisers for his school.  This summer when he gets to camp, he is excited for all of the lake activities, including the water trampoline, the Summit, waterskiing and banana boating.  He also can’t wait for choosing his own electives, swimming in the pools and his trip to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Here is a photo…

Me with Freshman boy Jeremy Lesserson. We are pointing to an autographed photo of the famous David Tyree catch from Super Bowl 42! You know I loved seeing that in the Lesserson home!

In Montville, NJ, I spent some time with Lindsay Axelrad, who is also joining the Canadensis Family for her first summer.  Lindsay is in the 5th grade and will be an Upper Inter in 2013.  Lindsay is a big time soccer player for her team, the Montville Power, where she plays forward and midfield for the team all year round.  In the winter, she also is on a basketball team, the Montville Lady Broncos.  On top of all that, she does hip hop dance, loves to ski in the winter and enjoys cooking.  She also told me that she is starting a newspaper at her school.  This summer, she is really looking forward to the high ropes course and zipline and waterskiing.  Here is a picture…

Me with Upper Inter Girl Lindsay Axelrad.

In Bala Cynwyd, PA, I had a blast with the Rosenau Family, who will now have three kids at camp!  Julia (7th summer; Super Senior Girls) and Emma (4th summer; Freshman Girls) are happy to introduce their brother A.J. to camp for his first summer as part of the Lower Junior Boys.  Now in 2nd grade, A.J. plays striker on a travel soccer all year long for an 8 and Under team.  He also plays basketball during the winter months.  When not busy with those two activities, he also takes a hip hop class and plays the piano.  Now in 6th grade, Emma is playing in a winter basketball league.  In the spring, it will be onto playing both softball and lacrosse.  Emma showed me that she is always keeping in close contact with her camp friends on Instagram.  In fact, she told me that she wanted to give a shout out to the Girls of Bunk 12 from Summer 2012!  Julia, who entered high school this year, has been actively involved in Build On, which is a non-for-profit organization for building schools in third world nations.  She has been doing community service and fundraisers to help this great cause, putting in hundreds of hours of service.  For more about this, and to even make a donation, you can go to Julia’s webpage by clicking here.  In the fall, Julia played soccer on the high school JV team.  In the spring, she is going to try out for the school softball team.  Julia also wanted to give a shout out to her camp sisters of Girls Bunk 20 from Summer 2012 as well as to Jessie Thick and Dani Corradetti.  Here is a pic…

Me with Freshman Girl Emma Rosenau (left), Super Senior Girl Julia Rosenau (center) and Junior Boy A.J. Rosenau (right).

In Warren, NJ, it was great to be with the Cohn girls, Sydney and Darien.  Sydney is back at camp as an Upper Inter for her 3rd summer and is excited that Darien is coming to camp for her 1st summer as a Lower Junior.  Sydney, currently in 5th grade, is taking tennis lessons and starting to play in USTA matches, loves riding her bike and doing art projects.  Sydney told me that she likes nature as well.  She has also been into some of her favorite TV shows, “Toddlers and Tiaras,” “Dance Moms,” and “The X-Factor.”  Just recently, she also hosted a sleepover for all of her camp friends at her house.  In the blog, she told me to make sure to give a shout out to the Girls of Bunk 7 from Summer 2012.  At camp, she loves it all and once again can’t wait for the triple dare, waterskiing, the Summit, sailing, glass fusion, woodworking and soccer.  Darien, who is in 2nd grade, also takes tennis lessons, enjoys riding her bike and doing gymnastics.  She is also involved in hip hop dance and will be performing in a recital in the Spring.  Finally, she also loves nature and animals.  At camp this summer, she is looking forward to kayaking, the Summit, banana boating, swimming, the Art Shack and making new friends.  Here is a photo…

Me with Lower Junior Girl Darien Cohn (left) and Upper Inter Girl Sydney Cohn (right).

In Westfield, NJ, I got to know Ryan Borak a whole lot better.  Now in the 4th grade, Ryan will be part of our Lower Inter Boys division for his first summer at Canadensis.  Ryan is a boy with many varied interests.  He plays the trumpet.  He is entering his second year of wrestling.  He is a big Legos builder.  He loves to read.  His current favorite books are the nerds series by Tom Engelberger.  He loves to play on the Wii and WiiU.  His favorite games these days are Nintendo Land and Skylanders.  Ryan is also a member of his school’s student council, which ran a canned food drive for Thanksgiving.  Ryan also volunteered his time making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for victims of Hurricane Sandy.  When he comes to camp in 2013, Ryan is ready to try the quads and hondas, all of the lake activities, mountain biking, glass fusion and the Canadensis Today Show.  He is also looking forward to making new friends.  Here is a picture…

Me with Lower Inter Boy Ryan Borak.

In Jericho, NY, I got to be with Mandi and Jamie Kurtz and talk about camp.  Mandi, in 4th grade, returns for her 2nd summer in the Lower Inter division while Jamie, in 2nd grade, will be at camp for her 1st summer as a Lower Junior.  Now in 4th grade, Mandi has been busy with her competitive dance team performing hip hop, jazz, lyrical, ballet and tap.  When she returns to camp, she will be excited again to try cooking, the Summit, banana boating, art, dance, gaga, gymnastics and glass fusion.  Jamie, who is in 2nd grade, also dances and is active with jazz, hip hop, tap and ballet.  Jamie also takes piano lessons, does gymnastics and is part of a Girl Scouts troop.  At camp, she ready to do glass fusion, go waterskiing and having fun with all her new camp friends.  Here is a pic…

Me with Lower Inter Girl Mandi Kurtz (left) and Lower Junior Girl Jamie Kurtz (right).

In Merrick, NY, it was great to see Hannah Samuels, who will be at camp for her 1st summer as part of our Lower Inter Girls division.  Hannah, who is in the 4th grade, plays basketball and soccer.  She is also extremely creative and showed me several of her art projects, including a sculpture she made from the bon bell cheese wax packaging.  It was awesome and something I had never seen before!  Hannah is also a big animal lover and showed me her pet lizard Tootsie and her tortoise Tortellini.  Hannah plays the saxophone and enjoys snowboarding in the Winter as well.  In Summer 2013, she is very excited for activities like fishing, glass fusion and Color War.  Here is a pic…

Me with Lower Inter Girl Hannah Samuels.

Got some great pictures of campers e-mailed to me.  And, if you send me pictures, I will post them here…

New camper and Junior Boy Jesse Shogan proudly shows his Canadensis T-Shirt while on vacation in Florida.

Lower Inter Boy Marshall Greenspan shoots a bow and arrow in his Canadensis while in Costa Rica.

Lower Inter Boys Brett Tomback (left) and Justin Green coincidetally saw each other at the Fort Lauderdale airport on their vacations.

Some of the Girls from Bunk 5 in 2012 had a sleepover after the Reunion. They were Jordan Plant, Avery Shaw, Mackenzie Fuerth, Joey Dallow, Julie Pulewitz, Bailey Germain and Ilana Miller.

The girls went swimming on their sleepover as well.

This painting was done by Senior Camper Alexa Binday. How awesome is this?!

Well, that’s all of the blogging for now.  I will be up to camp several times in the next few weeks and my next blogs will have some pictures of camp in the winter and will update new projects we are doing.

Have a great day!

-Brian

Please join me in welcoming Samara to the Camp Canadensis family!  I got to spend some time with her family over winter break, right after she returned from a fun trip to Mexico!  Samara is a current 3rd grader, and will be a Junior Girl – she lives in Princeton, NJ, which is one of my favorite towns to visit if I get a free weekend!

Samara stays busy every day of the week, between ballet and hip hop class, Hebrew School and piano lessons – she can’t find time for all the other activities she enjoys, including soccer!  She gave me a tour of her house, and her room was covered with many art projects she has created.  She had mosaic art and hand loomed tapestries above her bed, a cute paper mache penguin she made in Kindergarten and a mask she had made in Mexico.  She loves crafting, and she is specifically excited about getting to tie-dye at camp! She’s also looking forward to the lake activities, waterskiing – and she’s considering auditioning for the show, or signing up for horseback riding lessons.

She’s a big sister to brother Griffin, who is currently in Kindergarten, and might join us for the Tour & More overnight weekend either this summer, or another summer soon.  Griffin also has a super cool room with a rope ladder that goes up to the ceiling, and it’s good practice for our camp ropes course!  Griffin & mom whipped up one of Samara’s “oreo ball” recipie while we chatted – and then we got to enjoy them while we played games.  Samara taught me Tenzi and I showed her how to play jacks with the new set she had gotten – which came in a Canadensis carrying case!  Everyone should know how to play jacks at camp, and if you don’t know yet…we’ll teach you!  I hope she’ll find time to practice, so we can play this summer!

Links:  Oreo Ball Recipe – Tenzi –  How to play Jacks

Although the break was very relaxing, I wanted to tell you about a few of the adventures I got into…

Now that Rachel Waxman (from Evening Activities) lives in Philadelphia, I get to see her monthly for catch up dinners – and since BeckyJ (2012 Upper Inter Group Leader) was home from college during winter break, I got to see both of them over break!  We had a camp “comfort food” style dinner of mac & cheese, grilled cheese and tomato soup…and then we wandered around town until we found an open cupcake store!

I also had lunch with Julia Eckenrode, who will be returning this year as our Glass Fusion director – it was great to start talking about her project ideas for this summer.  I’ll be getting to see Julia a few times in January because Cara Corradetti and I have signed up to take her glass blowing class…we are SO excited, and we’ll definitely be sharing pictures of our projects on the blog!

Also during the break, Dave and I took a trip to Texas – we spent 3 days in Houston with my sister, and then spent 2 days in Austin exploring town.  It was a great trip, the temperatures were mild and we ate tacos for breakfast, lunch, dinner…and even dessert!  Would you eat a s’mores taco at camp this summer??

Annie came with us too, and we found a restaurant called “Annie’s” – how could I resist the photo-op?

We also found another restaurant called “Texadelphia” which was perfect since my sister lives in Texas, and I live in Philadelphia…we didn’t try the cheesesteak taco though.

Of course, no vacation or break would be complete without crafting!  At the top you can see a box a made for my best friends twins, and a card I made for my friend who just welcomed baby Nora.  I didn’t want to share my Chanukah cards on the blog until I got to give out all my gifts, but check out the designs I crafted using my silhouette – it was fun playing around with the colors.

I also got to make thank you cards for all the great gifts we received – I even tried making the envelopes too (they need some tweaking…) We can’t wait to show you how to make your own stationery at the new elective this summer!!

Hi Everyone – I’m excited to be back on my blog sharing a great story from the weekend with you all!

On Sunday morning a few of the 2013 CIT girls joined me, along with Pam and Dani, to cook dinner for the families staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia. The Ronald McDonald House is one of my favorite philanthropic organizations – if you want to learn more you can visit their website here:

http://www.philarmh.org/who-we-are/history/

We were planning to cook a few casseroles for the House, which they then put into the freezer and take out when they need a meal in a pinch; most large dinners are donated or sponsored. At the last minute the Sunday night dinner donor cancelled – turning Camp Canadensis into the Sunday night dinner crew! We upped the number of casseroles, picked up some more ingredients, and got to work cooking enough dinner to feed 90 people!

I am so proud of the hard work everyone put in to making Sunday a success. I can’t tell you how many times I heard someone reference Jojo’s cooking elective at camp as we put our chef skills to the test! The best part about this service experience is the fun we had while preparing the food – there were lots of giggles and even a few noodles escaping on to the floor. We were all so happy to know we would be making a difference for the families staying at the house last night.

As we continue to look for opportunities to get out and take on service projects with our camp families,  I hope you will let us know about all the great work you’re already doing on your own! We love to hear about all the good deeds our Canadensis families are doing to make this world a better place!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from Sunday’s Guest Chef experience:

It was well past time for me to refresh my Camp Canadensis car bumper magnet!  Take a look at the 2-year old one on the left, and the new one on the right.  They use to be the same color!  Now that my magnet is looking spiffy and new, I feel like my camp spirit is more alive!!

If you need a magnet refresher for any reason, please be in touch with me (pam@canadensis.com) and tell me your address and I’ll get one in the mail for you!

Good reasons to refresh your magnet:

1.  You are a CIT who is learning to drive and wants a magnet of your very own!

2.  It got washed away at the car wash…

3.  It’s faded…

4.  You never got one in the first place!

Also, check out these amazing Canadensis holiday cookies!  It was a delicious “refresh”ment that we got to enjoy at the office today, thanks to our Lower Junior Group Leader, Melissa Torban.  Melissa is going to be spending her 3rd summer at camp, and she is incredibly talented at working with kids both as a teacher during the year, and in her role at camp.  Clearly, she’s also incredibly talented at baking and decorating cookies…she made around 150 unique designs.  And…they are delicious too.  Thanks Melissa!