I have a new favorite Philadelphian, and her name is Milly Belle!  Here she is just 1 day old, snuggling with her dad.  She’s an amazing little girl, and she has two wonderful parents!  Her mom is one of my closest friends, and former Camp Canadensis counselor, Ali Margulies Garber.  While Ali was pregnant this summer, she came up for a 4th of July visit at camp, so Milly’s already sorta been to Canadensis, and has even enjoyed some cornman!!

All of them are doing great, and this new family of three have a lot of love coming their way!  One of the ways I show my love is through crafting, check out some of the crafties made specially for Milly!Her dad has a favorite sweatshirt (doesn’t everyone??  I hope your favorite sweatshirt is a Canadensis one!), you can see a little bit of it in the picture above.  It’s from a family owned grocery store in Margate, NJ (in case the name sounds familiar).  Since he often wears the sweatshirt when relaxing, I wanted Milly to have her own version to wear on lazy Sundays…

I picked up a plain red onesie, and made a stencil with adhesive backed paper.  I used non-toxic fabric paint, and voila…check out the finished product!They’ve requested larger sizes for Milly as she grows, and I’m excited to make more for this adorable girl!!

This is a crocheted blanket with her initials – for those of you who took the crochet elective at camp, it started off as a “granny square”, and I just kept making it bigger and bigger!

A flip welcome card…

And even a card for their dog…

I can’t wait until the day Milly and I can break out the coloring books and markers, and start crafting together!

This is a story of second chances…

I was lucky enough to receive a Silhouette electronic cutting printer for my birthday last year, but I set it up one time at camp, it wasn’t working and I just about gave up on it.  UNTIL…Cara got a Cricut, learned how to use these amazing little machines, and gave me a lesson (camp friends are the best!).  Now, I can’t get enough and I’ve been crafting up a storm!

Check out just some of the things I’ve created this week above!

1.  Mini giftboxes with cupcake or bow toppers

2.  Birthday cards and envelopes

3.  Note cards

4.  Paper shapes (I can’t wait to do this elephant bigger and frame it for a kid’s room!)

Wouldn’t it be more exciting to write home this summer on super fun stationery?  Would you enjoy learning how to make your own creations at camp?  Below are some more crafties I did in the past two weeks…(I’ve also made Chanukah cards, baby cards, and more…but I  need to keep it under wraps until I have the chance to give them away!). 1.  A pop up birthday card for Grandma Esther

2.  The envelope for Simone’s 1st Birthday Party

3.  A campy note card

4.  An engagement card for my friend Amy5.  A flip card with a Camp Canadensis heart!

6.  A stereo card for Dave (he was getting a card every day when I first started using the machine, especially since he’s the one who got it for me!)

7.  The thank you card I sent to Muhlenberg College after my hiring trip there

8.  A note to my good friend, Julie, in San Fran

Now you can see how personal you can make each card!  I’m so glad I gave the Silhouette a second chance after letting it collect dust in the box for 6 months.  I’m enjoying learning new tricks, and creating special cards…the best part is giving them away to the people you care about!

Hello Canadensis…

So, I’ve been up to camp twice in the past week and it inspired me to blog to my Cyberspace Camp Family.  Being up at camp, even when it’s 40-degrees outside, is always a good time.  On the day after Thanksgiving, Jaime and I headed up to the Poconos as we are in the midst of our wedding plans and had to meet with our caterer to sort out the details of our big day, which is going to be May 11 up at camp.  Then, earlier this week, me, Eric and Neil headed up to talk about some facility projects we have in store for Summer 2013.  Right now, one of our big projects are updates on two bunks on girls side.  Another project in the works is creating a bigger area for our Senior Canteen.  Check out some pictures…

After Hurricane Sandy, we have received many inquires as to how camp held up.  Well, we are fortunate to say that we didn’t suffer any significant damage at all.  Camp braved the elements quite well.  In fact, camp looks great!  Our winter staff of Bob, Jimmy, Val and Jeremy have been working hard to maintain what we think is one of the most beautiful camping facilities.  We always appreciate the hard work that goes into the upkeep of the property.

And, even without the campers and staff, it is as if you are always there when I go up.  After seven summers at Canadensis, I can truly say that I can “hear the voices” of all of you when I’m up there.  No, I’m not going delusional (Ha Ha!).  It’s just that when I am up there, even in the dead of winter, I can picture CBL games on the Skin Diamond or tie dying going on in the Art Shack or a waterskier cruising around Lake Lenape.  And, as I picture these images in mind, I smile…a lot!  I guess it’s not too early to already start the countdown to Summer 2013!

Over the past month, it was great to see so many of our campers at the four different Canteen on the Fly locations in Pennsylvania, Westchester County and Northern New Jersey.  Anytime we get to see you is just awesome as we love to hear just how much you love camp.  We especially want to thank some of our staff that camp out to make the event extra special, including Robin Forti, Melissa Torban, Pete Tarnoff, Will Wekesa and Matt Manglona.  The campers were really happy to see you.  Our Long Island Canteen on the Fly, which was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy, will be made up in 2013.  Of course, we hope that we see many of you at our next gathering, which will be the Annual Camp Reunion on Saturday, January 5.

Things are really starting to pick up already in our plans for Summer 2013.  We have heard from a ton of staff that are planning to return next year.  In the upcoming weeks, we will start hitting college campuses and flying abroad to meet so many new staff that are looking to work at camp in 2013.  The process of assembling at talented team of 200+ staff to work at camp certainly is a challenge, but one will anxiously look forward to each year.  At the same time, we have started to plan our summer calendar, talking into consideration all of the wonderful feedback we received from the online summer survey filled out by campers and the exit interviews we conducted with staff.  As always, if you see or hear about anything good that would work at camp next summer, please let us know.

In the upcoming weeks, we will be sending out to our camp families the much anticipated copy of the 2012 Video Yearbook.  We will also be unveiling the Virtual Camp Tour on our website, which should be a cool enhancement to www.canadensis.com.  The camp tour has been a project that started last summer when we had a company come in and take 360-degree photographs of camp’s facilities.  The project is now in its final stages.  So far, it looks awesome!

Last week, I stumbled across this really funny commercial that I just had to share with all of you.  It is for a product called Campfire Cologne.  This is an actual thing.  That’s right!  For all of you that are just dying to walk around smelling like a campfire, this product is for you!  Check out the commercial (too funny)…

As is usually the case, some fun home visits to tell you about…

In Lower Gwynedd, PA, I got to hang out with Lower Senior Max Rapoport.  Max is now in the 7th grade and he has been busy with sports, playing football in the fall and basketball in the winter.  This year, his weekend calendar has been full with Bar and Bat Mitzvahs of camp and home friends.  Max will be back at Canadensis in 2013 for his fifth year honor jacket summer and can’t wait to finally be on Senior side.  Here is a pic…

In Tenafly, NJ, I got to see Freshman Boy Dylan Carruba, who will be back for Summer #4.  Now in the 6th grade, Dylan played on his fall baseball team, the Tenafly Tigers, where he played both pitcher and 1B.  Pretty soon, he will start wrestling season.  Over the past few weeks, he has seen several camp friends such as Jake Berlin, Harrison Keim, Max Kruman and Max Steele.  In Summer 2013, Dylan told me that he can’t wait to be up on “The Hill.”   He also let me know that after this football season, he is switching his NFL allegiances to the New York Football Giants (smart choice, Dylan).  Each year, we compete in a Nok Hockey game, where this year was the first time he beat me by a score of 21-18.  Here is a photo…

In Livingston, NJ, I spent some time with Jacob and Dylan Dennis.  Jacob is back for his 3rd summer and will be in our Upper Inter Boys division while Dylan joins us for her first summer as part of our Lower Juniors as she is in 2nd grade.  Now in 5th grade, Jacob just finished up his fall season for his traveling soccer team, the Livingston Lava, where he led the team in assists.  He was happy to report that his fall basketball team also were the season’s championship team.  Jacob has plans to see several of his camp friends very soon.  Dylan is currently taking a fashion course.  She is extremely creative, loves arts and crafts and has even been known to make homemade birthday presents for friends and family.  This summer, she is looking forward to the lake activities, like canoeing, fishing and the water trampoline.  She is also excited that she will get to share her brother’s birthday with him while at camp this summer.  Here is a picture…

It’s always great to receive photos from campers and staff, letting us know what they are up to.  As always, if you send them to me, I post them here on the blog.  Here are some camp get-togethers and news from our campers that I got this time around…

Well, that’s all of the blogging for now.  I will be back soon with more camp news and fun stuff!  By the way, if you are interested in being a guest blogger, put something together and I’ll post it here for everyone to read.

Have a great day!

-Brian

Whether we want to admit it or not, it seems like winter is officially here! I spent the day up at camp yesterday and boy was it cold. Camp was covered in snow (about 3 inches) and looked absolutely beautiful. The lake was actually frozen as well, although not solid enough to walk in (in my expert opinion). Alot of work is going on this winter and while I can’t say all of the projects, I can say that the Senior Canteen is getting quite a facelift. Well not the actual building, but the area surrounding it. Wait until you see all of the fun things that will now be available while the Seniors are enjoying candy and soda. Our maintenance team is going through each of the bunks and doing our usual routine maintenance and there are some larger scale cabin projects as well, which we will happily announce in the coming months!

Rewind a few weekends and it felt like spring at our annual Canteen on the Fly events. While it was upsetting to have to cancel our Long Island location due to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy (and no Sandy Rice-Fritsch, Girls Head Counselor we won’t hold this one against you!), our other locations had record turnouts. It was fun to see so many campers and their families and we appreciate all of you coming out and enjoying some ice cream. What did you think of the new locations? We loved them and hope you did too. Carli Forti was there as well and Cara took this amazing picture of her in her absolutely favorite onesie!

Speaking of Hurricane Sandy, I truly hope that all of our camp families have fully recovered from such a major storm. Our hearts go out especially to our families on Long Island where I understand the south shore was absolutely devastated. I have spoken to a few families and it’s hard for me to imagine how much damage there truly is there. If we can be of any assistance at all, please contact us in the winter office. Luckily for us in the Philly suburbs, we had minor damages and power outages which were more of an inconvenience than anything else. Robin, me, and Carli stayed in a hotel for one night near our winter office during the outage and ran into the Paul Family, an alumni of camp who is sending their son for the first summer! It was great to catch up with them there.

In terms of other things going on, all is well here in Philadelphia! Carli is now almost 7 months old, which is absolutely impossible for me to believe and I look back at pics on this blog and facebook and see how small she really was when she was born! Next summer, she will be crawling around camp and maybe walking, so watch out campers…she may join in one of your activities! Please take good care of her when you see her. These days she is loving her jumparoo, which is a contraption that she can jump in, has toys all around her, and has bungee attached so it bounces up and down with music playing. She cracks up and giggles so loudly in this thing, it’s awesome! She is excited for Chanukah (she hasn’t exactly told me, but I am guessing she is) and is going to be getting some great presents! The question is if Robin and I should buy her 8 gifts or one special gift? Thoughts? How about summer at Canadensis? Is that enough of a gift:)

I hope everyone is doing great in school and wrapping up the fall sports seasons. Winter has hit the Poconos…has it hit where you live yet?!

We hope to see many of our Westchester and Northern New Jersey families this Sunday at Canteen on the Fly!  We love Long Island…and we will be rescheduling our Canteen o the Fly for later in 2013!!

We had a blast last week in PA seeing campers and introducing new friends, check out some photos below! (I’ve brought back the frames!  Thanks to Cara and Matt for all the photos!)

With 2nd year, Lower Inter Anna!

Friends + Ice Cream…what’s better?  Jenna, Brooke, Kylie, Alexa and AlexaHaving a “cow” of fun with Avery, Haley, David and Group Leader, Pete Tarnoff!

Giving out t-shirts to campers like 4th year, Upper Inter, Tes!There were so many great colored in tees, this one by new Lower Inter, Sierra was amazing!!Some of the New CIT’s of 2013 with their fearless leader!  Mindy, Lauren, E-beth, Alix & Cara

More awesome designed tees, with new Junior camper Samara, and her brother!

Cara and I got to do a fun project today at work!  We used fabric markers to color in a brand new Camp Canadensis t-shirt, and the best part is that we hope you’ll get to do this project too at our Canteen on the Fly events in your area later this month!! All campers and counselors who attend the event get free ice cream and a t-shirt!  We wanted you to have an example of what the shirt can look like colored in…I went for a blue and gold theme, and Cara went for fun neon motif.  Here’s what they looked like halfway through…We’ll keep the final results as a surprise for when we see you at Canteen on the Fly!  I like my finished product, but Cara’s shirt is absolutely amazing (Eric and Matt agree!)…it’ll inspire you to make your own stunning and personalized shirt!  If you want to practice before testing it out on the t-shirt, you can print out this blank design:We hope you have our Canteen On The Fly events marked on your calendar…we’ll send out updated information about it soon!

Hello Canadensis…

We here at camp wanted to reach out to our camp family and make sure that you are all doing well after the events of the storm we experienced earlier this week.  If there is anything we might be able to do to help, please let us know. We understand that many of our camp families are without power.  We just wanted to let you know that our thoughts are with our Canadensis Families and Staff.  We wish a speedy recovery to anyone affected by the storm.

In areas that are still celebrating Halloween, we wish you a safe and Happy Halloween!  Here is some cool Halloween stuff I found for you to enjoy.

Some really cool Halloween pumpkin carvings…

Halloween Light Show – Gangnam Style…

Haunted Halloween Light Show…

Crazy Halloween Prank…

Have a great day!

-Brian

I got to spend some time up at camp last weekend…and Camp Canadensis is beautiful no matter the season!  I’m sure a lot of you have never seen camp at this time of year, so I snapped a few photos to share with you.

First of all, Barrett Township (a group of 5 villages that includes Canadensis) is transformed during the month of October into “Scarecrowville”.  The town signs are all transformed, and Aunt Terri told me that even the post offices change their stamping machines to say Scarecrowville! 

(Mountainhome is a town right next to Canadensis)

Most of the homes and business in town were decorated – including a personal favorite…Callies Candy Kitchen!!!  Callies makes the most amazing sweet treats – it’s a great place to stop for last minute visiting day candy, or to visit after a tour of camp.  Our campers have the chance to win a trip to Callies during the summer if they keep their bunk the cleanest all summer!

Annie had a great time up at camp – it was a perfect day!  She missed all of you down by the lake…One of my last stops up in the Poconos was at a farm stand to pick out my pumpkin!  My neighborhood has a pumpkin carving contest each year, so I wanted to make sure I found a great canvas to work on.  I will be carving over the weekend (can’t wait for the pumpkin seeds!) and I’ll post photos of the finished product!Finally…last week while the Canadensis Crew was answering phones at the NPR Pledge Drive in Philadelphia, I got to meet Terri Gross from “Fresh Air“!  It’s a radio program that has been on NPR for more than 25 years and is broadcast nationally.  I listen to Terri’s show everyday on my drive home from work, and she’s the most incredible interviewer.  She’s talked to nearly every celebrity, and she explores great topics daily…she’s the radio version of Oprah!  Listening to her daily has really helped me get comfortable with interviewing people…which is something I do quite a lot in the winter office…we do have around 220 staff members to hire each year!  She is a role model of mine, and she was so gracious with her time.

Have you ever met a celebrity that you look up to, or your favorite celeb??  Email us photos so we can share it on Facebook!

Hello Canadensis!

Once again, I am writing to you at the end of the work week and today I am feeling very nostalgic.  I think it is partly due to this new television show I have been watching on the Travel Channel called “Toy Hunter.”  The show follows a renowned toy dealer named Jordan who searches across the country for rare toys and collectibles from past decades.  In many cases, the items that Jordan finds are the same treasures from my childhood that I played with until no end from Star Wars and superhero action figures to games like Speak and Spell to the lunch boxes and thermoses I brought to school.  As I watch, I continually find myself saying, “I had that!”  So funny!  For more about the show “Toy Hunter,” click here.  And, here is one episode of this show.  I hope you like it.

On the subject of toys, here was one of my favorites when I was growing up…

My nostalgic feeling also comes from the fact that over the last few weeks, I have spent a lot of time with camp friends from when I was a camper at camp.  Still, to this day, many of my closest friends are those that I went to camp with.  As I think about it, it is mind boggling to realize that these relationships have been part of my life for over 30 years!  This always brings me back to my feeling about the magic of camp is that there is nothing quite like your camp friends!  Interestingly enough, this summer, a camp friend of mine e-mailed me a few photos from “back in the day.”  So, I finally figured that I would share these pics with my Canadensis camp family, completely realizing that I am setting myself up for a good laugh.

With this nostalgic feeling going around in my head, the music I have been listening to over the past few weeks can be dated back to my youth of the late 70’s and early 80’s.  When I was a kid, I can remember playing my records and spending hours just reading the album jackets while listening.  During this time, the cassette tape also started to become very popular.  Every Sunday morning, I used to make my breakfast and bring it to my room so that I could tape Casey Kasem’s Top 40 Countdown on the radio, which ultimately became the mix tapes that I would bring to camp!  The other day, I actually went into my closet to relocate these tapes (that’s right, I still have them…coincidentally, they are stored in an Adidas sneaker box).  As I sorted through the various mix tapes, a big smile came to my face.  These songs, although some of them are definitely considered super cheesy, were a staple of my childhood!  Here are a few songs to show you exactly what I mean.

Much like the current pop hit “Gangnam Style” by PSY where no one really knows the words, unless you speak Korean, in 1985, we had Falco’s hit “Rock Me Amadeus,” in which I still have no idea what these words are because I don’t speak German.  Hard to believe now that this was such a radio hit back then.

In 1982, you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing the J. Geils band and their hit “Freeze Frame.”

In 1984, “Ghostbusters” was one of the biggest movies of the year.  And, the movie’s theme song was all over the radio and even spent several weeks as the #1 song in country.  As for the song’s singer, Ray Parker Jr., I don’t think I ever heard another song from him again.

OK.  So there is my walk down memory lane.  For me, some great memories!  And, hopefully for some of the older readers of this blog, a good nostalgic feeling as well.  Onto other camp stuff…

I found 2012 CIT Becca Altschul online the other day.  She and her friends have entered themselves in the VH1 Music contest where they had to submit their version of the Ingrid Michaelson song “Blood Brothers.”  You can find their version of the song and vote for them by clicking here.  Please show them your support and to help support the VH1 Save the Music Awareness program!  Voting ends November 1.  The winner will get Ingrid Michaelson to play at their school.  Very cool!  Good luck, Becca!

Got a great picture sent to me from 2012 Super Senior Lauren Gadol, who had her camp friends over as part of her Sweet 16 Celebration!  Here is a picture from the post celebration festivities as all of the camp friends slept over…

Also, this blog gets to report on some of the campers I have seen in the past few weeks.  For starters, I got to hang out with Drew Spielberger from Dobbs Ferry, NY.  Drew is now in third grade and is already excited for Summer 2013, which will be his second summer at camp.  He is currently playing left midfield on his travel soccer team, the Jaguars.  Very soon, he will also be playing his third year of travel basketball.  After camp, Drew told me that he and his family had a great trip the beach in Delaware!  He wanted to give a shout out to his 2012 Bunk 2 boys and his counselors Ethan, Tom and Sam and can’t wait to see them at the reunion.  Here is a picture…

In South Orange, NJ, I saw Ethan and Robbie Goldman.  Summer 2013 will mark Ethan’s third summer at camp as an Upper Inter while he’ll be joined by brother Robbie for his first summer in the Lower Junior Boys division.  Now in 5th grade, Ethan is involved with a lot of rock climbing at a local climbing gym, where he will be competing in upcoming bouldering competitions.  He is also playing soccer and the piano.  Ethan also showed me a robotics competition and challenge that he and his friends have entered, called the First Lego League.  You can check it out by clicking here.  Ethan is excited to see his camp friends throughout the winter and is excited for the reunion in January.  He wanted to say hello to his bunk mates from Summer 2012’s Bunk 8.  Robbie, who is in the 2nd grade, has been involved in Muay Thai Kickboxing.  When at home he likes to cook.  In fact, when cooking, it is common for Robbie to get the fruits and vegetables from his very own garden that he and his dad take care of.  Robbie also plays drums and is involved in the junior version of the robotics league.  In the spring, Ethan will be playing short stop for his baseball team.  When he gets to camp next year, Robbie is looking forward to all of the activities to do on Lake Lenape as well as the opportunity to once again spend the summers with his big brother.  Here is a picture…

Had to tell you about this!  I discovered a great new website that camp families are sure to make use of.  As we encourage camp friends to see each other throughout the year, parents often try to find drop off and pick up points between different locations.  After all, we certainly recognize that bunk mates could live quite some distance away from each other.  Well, there is now a website called meetways.com.  MeetWays was established to help people easily find a halfway point between two locations. So, if you’re thinking about meeting-up with a far away camp friend, MeetWays can help you find the perfect middle point.  To go to the website, click here.  Or simply go to www.meetways.com.

Finally, with Halloween upon us, I wanted to leave you with a few camp inspired Halloween costumes I found online.  If you have yet to find a costume this year, maybe you can go as…

Have a great day!  Have a great weekend!  Have Happy and Safe Halloween!

-Brian

I wanted to post some of our winter calendar in the hopes that we’ll be seeing you soon!

Friday, October 19th we will be volunteering answering phones for the NPR Pledge Drive, if you listen to NPR and would like to donate, give us a call between 10am-3PM at 1-888-345-9499 and a Camp Canadensis rep would love to chat with you!

Saturday, October 20th and Sunday, November 11th are chances for new families to book a tour of camp.  You must call ahead to reserve a spot, but if you are considering camp for 2013, come up and take a look!

We are hitting the road and coming to your town for Canteen on the Fly!  This annual program brings together new campers, returning campers, staff, alumni, prospective families…and anyone that wants to enjoy some ice cream and camp fun!  Saturday, November 10th we’ll be in the Philly Suburbs!  Monday, November 12 we’ll be seeing our Long Island campers while school is out for Veterans Day.  Our final leg of the tour will be on Sunday, November 18th in West Chester & Northern New Jersey.

Shortly after ringing in the New Year, we hope that all the 2012 campers and staff will plan to join us for the camp reunion!  Saturday, January 5th from 10:30-12:30 at Funtime America in Cliffwood, NJ.  Lunch is included.

There is even more to look forward to this winter…

-As always, myself, Brian and Eric will be doing home visits all throughout the winter getting to know our new campers.

-We’ll be letting you know about local community service events.

–New Camper bowling in April is a chance to start making camp connections for current K-4th graders.

–Staff hiring trips in Australia, Michigan, Ohio, Arizona, Pennsylvania, United Kingdom, Eastern Europe and more new destinations for 2013 is how we recruit an outstanding staff, and it leads to fun mini reunions for our staff in those areas.

Hope to see you soon!