David Ehrenthal is from Scotch Plains, NJ, and will be returning to Canadensis for his 8th summer! When he’s at camp, David’s favorite activities are cooking and ropes; when he’s at home, David enjoys playing tennis, hanging out with friends, after school clubs, and flying. His love of flight will serve him well, as his dream job is to travel the world as a journalist. One funny fact about David is that his initials are “D-I-E” – he doesn’t think his parents noticed that when choosing his name! One of his favorite camp memories is being afraid to go mountain biking in his junior summer at camp – Eric Forti got on a mountain bike with the bunk and rode with them… and after the ride he opened the canteen for ice cream sandwiches! Throughout his years at Canadensis, David has learned that the friendships you create over 7 weeks can never be taken away, and that your camp friends are always going to be there for you. He wants all of our new campers to know that they shouldn’t be nervous – camp friends will become your best friends for life! David will be coming to camp for his CIT summer with hundreds of episodes of Full House on his iPod, along with a goal to stand up on waterskiis. David buried a time capsule somewhere on camp in 2007, with the intention to dig it up CIT summer, and he won’t be leaving in August without it… time capsule location remains undisclosed…

Alyssa and Emily are ready for camp!

Alyssa Kruman is from Armonk, NY and has been a Canadensis camper for 8 years! When she’s at home in the off-season she enjoys hanging out with her friends, taking care of her 2 snakes, and baking, which comes as no surprise – her favorite camp activity is cooking! One of her favorite camp memories is the time she spent planning prom last summer – prom is a huge senior camp dance thrown by the Super Seniors and they put a lot of time and effort into making the night a success! Alyssa never leaves for camp without her Nintendo DS, and her dream job is to be a Camp Counselor. Going to camp has taught Alyssa  that camp friends are the best friends and they will always be there for you. She wants all of our new campers to know that they shouldn’t waste any time at camp arguing with each other, because your 7 weeks together go by too quickly! Alyssa is planning to go on every ride in Disney on her CIT trip to Walt Disney World this summer, and when she leaves Canadensis in August she will head out of the 18325 having had the best summer of her life!

In between the constant snow storms we’ve been getting in the Philly area, I was able to spend some time with Jordan, who is currently in 2nd grade, and will be a Lower Junior Girl at camp for her first time this summer!  I met Jordan when she came up to take a tour of Canadensis last summer, and I knew that she would be a fun and spirited addition to camp right away!  After the tour, she even sent me a sweet “thank you” note, and I saved it on my bulletin board.  It probably means that she’ll be great at writing letters home, which is a good thing because her parents and little sisters will be wanting to hear about all the fun she’s having!

Jordan has been putting all this snow to good use – she likes sledding in the park across from her house, she built and decorated a snowman in her back yard, and she’s a good skier!  She goes on ski trips in Telluride, and is going to start doing black diamond trails soon!   She enjoys doing a lot of different activities, including hip-hop dance classes (they are doing a dance to the song Royals) and she plans on being a member of the Canadensis competition dance team this summer!  She also takes piano lessons and goes to gymnastics class…she is working on her back handspring!  Jordan goes to the Shipley school, and has done some cool arts and crafts projects that we displayed around the house.

We talked about the camp trips she’ll get to go on, and she already knows that when the Lower Juniors go to the movies, she’s going to get mint chocolate chip ice cream!  We also talked about all the different elective options she’ll get to choose from.  She picked out tons of different things she can’t wait to try…including windsurfing, photography, yoga, archery and fishing!  Jordan has gone fishing a bunch of times before and she’s very lucky – every time she dips her pole in the water, she catches something!  She usually goes fishing on family trips to Florida, and once she caught a hammerhead shark!  She’s gone snorkeling in Florida too and has seen really cool things under the water like stingrays, but she tries to stay away from the jellyfish!  Without a doubt, Jordan is up for anything this summer…even basketball has been really fun in school gym, so I have no doubt she’ll love playing everything at camp!

Another new camper from the Philly area is Ella, a current 5th grader who will be an Upper Inter girl at camp this summer!  She goes to Penn Valley Elementary, but she lived in Atlanta, Georgia for a few years and she has Canadian citizenshipAnother!  A lot of her family still lives in Montreal (where her parents were born).  It means she gets to root for both Team USA and Team Canada in the Olympic Games…how cool is that?

Another awesome fact about Ella is that she attends camps and classes at the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts.  She has been going for a while and her favorite is working on aerials, like the ropes & trapeze.  But her favorite is the silks, and I got to see a video of her doing a flip up in the air…and she told me it was easy!   Other activities she enjoys doing after school include singing at a local guitar shop, going to Hebrew school and cheering for her favorite team at Flyers games!  She loves the Flyers and goes to a lot of games with her family…but she doesn’t really love Hebrew school as much.  However, her family just spent time in Israel with their temple and it was an awesome trip!  Ella’s older sister got Bat Mitzvahed while they were there, and they ate a lot of hummus!  Another recent family trip was to Hawaii, and she was the best in her family at getting up on the surfboard!

Ella is the photographer of her family and keeps a bunch of photos under her bed in her newly redecorated blue room.  At home, she picked out an awesome blue chevron bedspread, but thinks she’ll get a pink one for camp.  Her room is HUGE, plenty of room to host sleepovers for the entire bunk of new friends she’ll be making at Canadensis! Ella is a sweet girl and will be a great bunk mate!  I’ve already recruited her to help me walk Annie this summer because she has two dogs at home, Leo & Mickey (full name is Mikayla).  And, speaking of Mickey…

 …I just spent a few days in Disney World!  Above are some photos from my trip – Dave and I made it to the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Downtown Disney in two jammed pack days!  I think my favorite park was Animal Kingdom, I’d never been before.  Cara gets to take our amazing CITs on a 5-day trip to Disney World each summer, so she gave me fantastic suggestions for what to do at each park, and she told me I’d get extra credit if I went in the front row on Tower of Terror – and here’s the proof that I did it!  I love rides!  It was a huge drop and there was nothing to grab on to!  I loved every ride I did – some of the best were Everest, Rocking Roller Coaster, Toy Story Mania, Dinosaur and Space Mountain.

The reason we went to Orlando was to attend the American Camp Association National Conference.  It’s several days of speakers, sessions and vendors that all relate to the camp industry.  It’s pretty awesome to walk into a bookstore and see more than 100 books about summer camp!  In the vendor hall, you can find all sorts of awesome products for camp, including the shirt above.  If you’ve gotten an email from me recently, you might have noticed I often use “Think Camp!” at the end of it, so I thought this shirt was pretty great!  (FYI, my mentor Aaron Selkow, from URJ Camp Harlam developed “Think Camp!” and I have borrowed the awesome sign off from him!).  It was a great conference, and it got me extra excited for the ACA NY/NJ conference in Atlantic City next month!

One last funny story…I’ve been working and blogging from home today, and guess who happened to stop by…Sam Ginsburg!!  He spent 13 summers at Canadensis, and in his past few years has been an extended member of the Operations team at camp.  He was in my neighborhood checking on some of his properties, and it was such an awesome surprise to see him!

Hello Canadensis!

I write this blog post after another snow storm hit our area last night.  Woke up with a mix of snow, ice and freezing rain!  And, all I have to say about this Winter is…I’m Done!  A few blogs back, I wrote that we should consider opening up Camp Canadensis Pacific in the Winter in Hawaii.  That thought has crossed my mind several times over the past few weeks.  And, when I go to the Camp Canadensis website, it still says that there is more than 140 days until camp.  Ugh!  Can anyone make Summer come quicker?!

Anyway, thoughts of summer certainly kept us warm a few weeks ago at our Annual Winter Reunion on Sunday, January 26.  This year, we gathered at the Funplex in East Hanover, NJ for a few hours of games, rides and fun!  We were happy to see so many camp families brave the elements (it was really cold on that Sunday) to make their way to see everyone.  We had over 350 campers and staff in attendance.  Special thanks to all of the counselors and staff who took time out of their busy schedules to be with us to celebrate this occasion.   The counselors always make events like these extra special.  For pictures and videos of the Reunion, including a special Canadensis 411, go to our Facebook page by clicking here.  Pictures can also be found in the “My Account” section of the camp website.  Here are some Reunion pics to share right now with you…

Some of the Girls from 2013’s Bunk 20 got to see counselor Dani Corradetti at the Reunion.

Luca and Cole from Summer 2013’s Bunk 2 were excited to be at the Reunion.

Lindsay and Amanda win an armful of tickets from all of the games.

Jeremy and Ben get ready to ride!

Some of the Girls from Summer 2013’s Bunk 12 just hanging out.

Here are just some of our Summer 2014 CITs!

Speaking of reunions, we are happy to share with our Alumni of camp that our 75th Anniversary Summer Reunion will be held on June 15, 2015.  Mark your calendars now and be sure to make your way back to Canadensis, PA to help us celebrate camp’s Diamond Anniversary.

Mark your calendars now!

The camp office is starting to get really busy this time of year.  If you haven’t kept up with everything, we have now begun many of our staff travels to hire new staff for Summer 2014.  Some destination pictures have also been posted on our Facebook page.  A lot of the planning for the summer has begun to take place as well.  Pam and I met with other Pike County camps last week to begin to put together our schedule of intercamp games.  We are also looking into a number of different one day clinics where we bring in outside instructors to teach specific skills.  As always, we received a lot of great feedback from the surveys you completed after the summer was over.  We use this information to know what activities you would like to see return in 2014.

With the Super Bowl played last Sunday in New Jersey, I am wondering if any of our camp families were fortunate enough to attend the game?  If so, I’d love to see pictures.  I also want to use this time to congratulate Boys Head Counselor and his Seattle Seahawks on such a dominating win!  The Seahawks were just too much to handle this Sunday and even though he is 3000 miles away right now, I can still somehow hear Marshall saying, “Yeah, Seattle!”

I can only imagine that we will see Boys Head Counselor Marshall Weinstein in a shirt like this in Summer 2014?

Whereas Marshall will be able to tell us that his team is the reigning NFL Super Bowl champion all summer long, I have to do my “talking” while I can.  If you haven’t noticed, this week, my alma mater, the Syracuse Orange are the #1 team in college basketball after an amazing overtime win this past weekend versus Duke (which happens to by Girls Senior Head Counselor Shari Tavroff’s favorite team).  The Carrier Dome (Syracuse’s home court) set an indoor college basketball record with 35,446 fans in attendance.  As is tradition in our household, if Syracuse ever reaches the top spot in the rankings, my wife Jaime says she’ll paint her toenails orange.  She has an appointment on Saturday!  Here was the picture of the toes the last time we hit #1…

Last time Syracuse was number one in basketball, Jaime painted her toenails orange. She even got Otto (Syracuse’s mascot), too! My wife is awesome!

A few weeks ago, Jaime and I, along with some of our friends, got to see the the musical tour of the show Million Dollar Quartet.  This was special for a few reasons.  Most importantly, it is the show that my brother Michael works on as a stage manager.  Since Michael tours around the world, I don’t get to see him that often.  So, it was nice to catch up.  Second, it was special because Michael took us on a backstage tour before the show, letting us see how all the magic is done.  It also included a sound check by the performers, which was so cool because the show is loosely based around the night in 1956 when rock stars Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins all got together to record.  So, the sound check was much like a concert.  The show, by the way, was awesome.  Here is a picture of us on stage before the show…

Me and Jaime and friends on the set of the Million Dollar Quartet tour.

A lot of great home visits to tell you about in this blog as well…

In Syosset, NY, I met up with Ethan Goodman, who is currently in the 4th grade and will be in our Lower Inter Boys division in his first summer at Canadensis.  Ethan has a wide range of interests and activities that he is involved with throughout the year.  To start, he plays the trombone and the piano.  He will actually be playing the piano at an upcoming NYSSMA competition.  His musical skills continue on as he is also in the school chorus, where he recently performed a Winter concert.  Ethan is also on a swim team called the Dolphins where he has also won a number of ribbons this season.  On top of that, he takes gymnastics classes, likes video games and loves to read.  When asked about his favorite series of books, Ethan told me he enjoys Harry Potter the best.  This summer, Ethan is looking forward to making new friends along with all of the activities such as the zipline and ropes course, waterskiing, camping, the Canadensis Today Show, Hondas and mountain biking.  Here is a picture…

Me with Lower Inter Boy Ethan Goodman.

In Weston, CT, I got to spend some time with Sam and Zac Kurian, both who will be joining us at camp for their first summers.  Sam will be in our Upper Junior Boys division while Zac will be part of our Lower Junior Boys division in 2014.  Currently in 3rd grade, Sam is busy with parkour classes and tennis lessons.  In addition, he also plays ice hockey in the Darien Hockey League on a team called the Blue Blades, which is currently playing for the league championship.  When at home, Sam enjoys video games, with Civilization and Skylanders right now being his favorites.  When he comes to camp, Sam is excited to play dodgeball, gaga, hockey, football and baseball as well as go on the watermat in the lake.  As for Zac, who is in 2nd grade, he is busy with parkour classes and tennis lessons, too.  But, Zac also takes karate lessons and is currently a yellow belt.  Zac enjoys video games at home, too.  His favorites are Minecraft and Skylanders Swap Force.  At Canadensis this summer, Zac is looking forward to activities like banana boating, art, woodworking and rocketry.  Here is a pic..

Me with Lower Junior Boy Zac Kurian (left) and Upper Junior Boy Sam Kurian (right).

In Orange, CT, I saw Jason Marino, who is coming to camp for his first year as part of our Lower Inter Boys division.  Now in 4th grade, Jason loves baseball.  In the Spring, he will once again start playing in the Orange Little League, where he usually plays pitcher and 3rd base.  While the snow is still on the ground, Jason trains inside to keep his skills sharp at an indoor facility called The Grind.  Jason is also a big fan of the New York Yankees.  On many weekends, you can find Jason skiing at Mt. Snow.  When at home, he enjoys building Legos, playing Minecraft, reading the Conspiracy 365 books and watching movies.  Jason recently watched the classic Back to the Future trilogy and loved it.  Finally, Jason is a big New York Giants fan and enjoys listening to Maroon 5.  At camp this summer, he is excited for the Hondas and quads, playing in the CBL, waterskiing and glass fusion.  Here is a photo…

Me with Lower Inter Boy Jason Marino.

In Penn Valley, PA, I enjoyed getting to know Matthew Moskow, who is currently in the 2nd grade.  For Matthew, if there is a sports season, he will be playing something.  Currently, he plays in the PVJSA Basketball League on his Drexel team.  In the Spring, he will play baseball.  In the Fall, he played soccer.  Matthew also made sure to remind me that he is a big Philadelphia Eagles fan and even told me that he got to attend his first two games at the stadium this year.  Matthew also likes to go to sleepovers at friends’ houses, likes to play the Madden 25 video game and likes to read the Big Nate book series.  As a Lower Junior in his first summer at camp in 2014, Matthew is excited to make new friends, play a lot of sports, go waterskiing and participate in Color War, especially the Apache Relay.  Here is a picture…

Me with Lower Junior Boy Matthew Moskow.

In Roslyn Heights, NY, I was hanging out with Gabriella Fischer, who is currently in the 3rd grade and will be an Upper Junior Girl in her first summer at Canadensis.  Gabriella loves to perform.  Just recently, she starred as Ms. Hannigan in the Roslyn Theater Company performance of “Annie.”  Gabriella takes dance classes.  In the Spring, she will take part in the dance company’s recital.  While at her house, she shared with me her Yummy collection.  For those that don’t know what a Yummy is (I didn’t), you can click here.  Gabriella also really enjoys have sleep overs with friends.  She let me know that her upcoming birthday party is going to have a baking theme.  Finally, Gabriella let me know that camp is going to be a perfect place for her because she is someone that just likes to be silly and funny.  When I asked her what she is looking forward to at camp, she said, “Pretty much everything!”  She is particularly looking forward to going in the lake, the zipline and free play.  Here is a pic…

Me with Upper Junior Girl Gabriella Fischer.

In Syosset, NY, I was with 3rd grade boy Jake Weiss, who will be an Upper Junior in his first summer at Canadensis.  Jake has a variety of interests.  To start, he likes to act.  Some of his recent roles were playing Danny in “Grease,” Phil in “Hercules,” and Mike Tee Vee in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”  Jake loves music and plays guitar and violin in addition to singing.  He likes to swim.  In the Fall, Jake played in a soccer league.  When at home, he really enjoys playing X-Box, building Legos and having Connect 4 and Life Tournaments with his family.  When Jake gets to camp in June, he can’t wait to try activities like archery, waterskiing, the climbing wall, zipline and performing in the camp show.   Here is a photo…

Me with Upper Junior Boy Jake Weiss.

In Newtown, PA, I was having a great time with the Cramer brothers, Ben and Drew.  Ben is back for his third summer at camp as part of the Upper Inter Boys division and will now be joined at camp with his brother Drew, who will be in the Upper Junior Boys division for his first year.  Now in 5th grade, Ben plays in three different basketball leagues.  In the Spring, he will once again be playing travel baseball.  On top of that, he takes tennis lessons.  When at home, he enjoys playing on the i-Pad.   Ben wanted to give a shout out to the Boys of Bunk 6 from Summer 2013 and wanted to remind them of their bunk motto, which was “Bunk 6 gets chicks!”  When I asked Ben what he is excited about for next summer, he enthusiastically replied, “Everything!”  As for Drew, who is in the 3rd grade, he is a huge fan of WWE Wrestling.  His favorite wrestlers are the Big Boss Man and Randy Orton.  Recently, Drew attended a few live shows that came to the Philadelphia area.  Drew is also a wrestler, too, and is a member of the Council Rock Wrestling team, where he recently took 3rd place in a tournament.  Drew also plays basketball on his team the Wolfpack and plays flag football.  When at home, he enjoys X-Box and Minecraft.  This summer, he is ready for activities like canteen and the wrestling elective.  Here is a picture…

Me with Upper Inter Boy Ben Cramer (middle) and Upper Junior Boy Drew Cramer (right).

We love to get e-mails from campers and staff for our blog posts.  Here are some pictures I received over the past few weeks…

Before our Reunion, some of the girls from Summer 2013’s Bunk 5 had a sleepover at Zoe Gellert’s house. Pictured here from left to right are Lily Frezel, Haley Brettschneider, Zoe Gellert, Avery Wollock, Haley Segal and Marissa Brucker.

Former camper and recent staff member Greg Ricken shared with us a surprise gift he received recently in which all of his past camp t-shirts were turned into a blanket! So cool!

Well, that’s all of the blogging for now.  Supposedly, it is supposed to snow again this weekend!  Can Summer get here any quicker?

Have a great day!

-Brian

Meet Jadyn, a current 3rd grader who will be a Junior Girl and cannot wait for her first summer at camp!  She did the Tour & More Play Day last year and got a taste of all the fun we have at Camp Canadensis, and she is ready for all 7 weeks!  She always introduces herself as Jadyn, but her friends and family like to call her “J”, “JJ” or on the soccer field her team calls her “Jadels”.  She is on the soccer field A LOT!  She plays in the Livingston Soccer Club league for the Lady Legacy team.  Their colors are green and white, and she has indoor practices during the winter so they can be ready for games in the spring and fall.

Meet Ella, a current 4th grader who will be a Lower Inter Girl, and is coming to camp for the first time this summer!  The first thing you need to know about Ella is that she loves gymnastics!  When she’s not enjoying tons of activities with her bunk this summer, she’ll be “flipping” out in our gymnastics pavilion.  Her favorite event is the uneven bars, and she’s not at all afraid when she has to jump from one to the next (see the photo below!).

She’s an adventurous girl – she has been rock climbing and zip lining and is excited to do it again at Canadensis!  She loves swimming, and recently had the chance to go swimming with sea lions on a trip to Mexico.  Sea lions are sooooo cute, and so is her dog Parker (a dalmatian) but two of her favorite animals are pigs and elephants (maybe because it has her name in it?  “Ella”-phant?).  She also loves arts and crafts, she has done stained glass before and made a nightlight, so I’m sure she’ll love the glass fusion elective!  Ella thought that all the food we serve in the dining hall sounded great, but she was most excited for the guacamole served during tacos, nachos and fajita meals…she said she can eat a whole bowl, and I’m with her on that!

Ella started going to day camp when she was only two years old, and this summer she’ll get to celebrate her 10th birthday at camp with her bunk!  She’s super silly and loves having sleepovers so 7-weeks at camp will be like a never ending party with her friends…but when Ella is tired, she’ll go right to sleep!  She’s spirited and loves to cheer (especially when her parents and running half marathons!) and I can’t wait to see her again at New Camper Bouncing in April!  We are hosting it at Rebounderz in Edison, NJ and Ella’s been there for parties and told me it is awesome!!

A few days after meeting Ella, I went to the United Kingdom with Camp Leaders.  I had mini-reunions with our fabulous returning staff members, and I had the opportunity to sit down new applicants that want to work with the amazing Canadensis campers this summer!  The photo above is a collage of returning staff photos in the middle column, and some of our newly hired staff in the left and right columns.  Here’s a little bit about the returning staff that came to meet me at the fair, and what they’ve been up to…

Issie Olley – G2 & Gymnastics, loves getting messages from her campers, and can’t wait to be back with our youngest kids!  She’s also bringing her friend Kasey to our gymnastics program this summer!

Ellen Egan – G17 & Fabric Arts, has been studying textiles and misses her campers SO much!  She loves hearing from them and seeing photos!

Sam Kaye – B6 & Swimming, he’s been in touch with so many of his camp friends and is thinking camp all the time!

Sam Cutler – B13 & Golf, you also saw him on the soccer field last summer and he been spreading the word about camp to his friends!

Jonty Freeman – B6 & Lake Staff, came to surprise everyone at the fair!  But one of the biggest surprises was his long hair…he said it won’t be cut before he returns to camp!

David O’Rourke – B14 & Hondas, has been working full time at a hotel, but camp is always on his mind!  He misses the Freshman Hill and the hondas shack!

Shane Dell – B12 & Ropes, has already spent 3 years coming to Canadensis, and moving up with his division!  He’s been working in a hospital and is planning a trip Down Under!

Tom Rowley – B2, he’s been busy at university and spreading the word about camp to his friends.  He cannot wait to be back at Canadensis!

Beth Freer – G3 & Gymnastics, will be returning to camp for her third summer and is so excited to be a Group Leader!!

Hello Canadensis…

Happy New Year!  I don’t know when the latest date you should stop saying “Happy New Year,” so I’m still wishing everyone a Happy New Year!  Ha Ha!  By the way, when is an appropriate time to stop wishing others a Happy New Year?

I’m sure everyone is happy to welcome in 2014.  For those coming to camp in 2014, the best part of entering a new year is that we can now say that camp is THIS year and not NEXT year.  Our office is back and busy at work.  We have now “hit the road,” starting a lot of our new staff hiring.  Eric is in Australia.  Matt is in Eastern Europe.  And, Pam is in England.  We know that they will bring back great stories of all the new wonderful staff they’ve hired.  Be sure to check out our Facebook page for instant updates.

Before we got back into the swing of things, we all had some nice time over the holidays to spend with our friends and families.  Jaime and I got some rest and relaxation in, but also kept up with some annual traditions.  Each year, Jaime and I build a gingerbread structure in honor of the holidays.  This year it was a carousel.  Here is a picture of our handy work…

Me and Jaime built this gingerbread carousel over the holiday break. In front of the fireplace, it looks very festive!

We also spent our Christmas Day going to the movies as another annual tradition.  This year, we saw two really good ones (American Hustle and Saving Mr. Banks).  I really thought “Saving Mr. Banks” was terrific!  In fact, I thought it was the best movie I had seen this year.  If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend it as a must see.

One final tradition for me and Jaime was going to Madison Square Garden to see the annual Phish concerts.  Most years, they play four nights there.  This year, we hit up three of the shows.  New Year’s Eve marked the final show for their 30th Anniversary Year as a band.  Pretty cool.  Over the course of a few nights, we ran into Aaron Stutz, who helped run Evening Activities in Summer 2013 and former camper and counselor Adam Scharfberg.  Here is a picture of the New Year’s Eve show from the stage with more than 100,000 balloons coming down from the rafters…

Phish on New Year’s Eve

While on his break from college, I met up with 2012-2013 Freshman Boys Group Leader Max Hecht for breakfast at a diner in Long Island.  Here is a snapshot…

Me and Max Hecht.

We also had a fun time last weekend babysitting our nephews Harry (2 years old) and Dylan (6 years old).  The weekend included an amazing trip to the Liberty Science Center, which had some cool new exhibits.  Here are some photos…

Me, Harry and Dylan learning how to use machines that dredge sediment on the Hudson River.

Dylan and Harry pull me out of a “Bob the Builder” exhibit. I guess they wanted a try, too!

At the Gridiron Glory exhibit from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I tried on a pair of shoulder pads.  Do I look tough?

Here are some great pictures we’ve received over the past few weeks that we wanted to share with you…

Eric Forti ran into the Miller Family while he was in Aruba. Eric and sister Ilana were playing cards with their Canadensis deck! How cool is that?!

Ilana Miller with her Canadensis cards.

Brooke and Aidan Bednoff rock out their new Canadensis sunglasses while on vacation.

Max and Alyssa Kruman suprisingly ran into Paige Kahn while both were on family trips to Israel.

Upper Inter Girls Joey Dallow and Jillian Wexler coincidentally ran into each other at an ice rink in New Jersey.

Joe “Smasher” Lea set me this photo of him and Amanda Miller, who came to London to visit Joe over the holiday break. Here they are in front of the London Bridge.

Some great home visits to report in this blog…

In Syosset, NY, I saw Alexa and Jack Lagnado.  Jack is back for his 4th summer at Canadensis and will be in the Freshman Boys division.  He is excited that his sister will be joining us at camp for her first summer as part of our Lower Junior Girls division.  Currently in the 6th grade, Jack has been playing on a travel basketball team.  In the Spring, he will be playing intramural baseball.  This past fall, he also played flag football on his team the Seahawks.  Jack is also a big fantasy sports fan and he was excited to tell me that his fantasy football team made it to the championship game this year.  When he gets to camp this summer, he is looking forward to being on Freshman Hill and his trip to Cooperstown, Color War and basketball.  As for Alexa, who is in 2nd grade, she participates on a gymnastics team for the Hot Shots gym.  She also plays indoor and outdoor travel soccer.  Alex likes to perform on stage, draw, craft on her rainbow loom and is even currently writing a blog of her own with some of her friends.  In her first year at camp, she can’t wait to try gymnastics, cooking, climbing wall, soccer, being in the camp show and making new friends.  Here is a pic…

Me with Lower Junior Girl Alexa Lagnado and Freshman Boy Jack Lagnado.

In Montclair, NJ, I got to hang out with Dayton Friedberg, who is currently in the 4th grade and will be a Lower Inter Girl in her first summer at Canadensis.  Dayton likes music and even plays the guitar.  Right now, she is playing basketball.  In the Spring, she will be playing softball.  Dayton likes to bake and has even taken a cake decorating class at the Sugar Flower Cake Shop.  Dayton is really excited to go to camp this summer.  When she arrives in June, she is really looking forward to trying things like waterskiing, mountain biking and all of the evening activities.  Here is a photo…

Me with Lower Inter Girl Dayton Friedberg.

In Bellmore, NY, I spent some time with Alyssa and Jenna Feig.  Alyssa, now in 3rd grade, is back for Summer #2 as part of the Upper Junior Girls division while Jenna, currently in 1st grade, joins us for her first summer in the Lower Junior Girls division.  Upon arriving at their house, the girls filled me in on an amazing family trip they took over the holiday break to California and Mexico, where they both had the opportunity to swim with the dolphins!  As even seen in my last blog, Alyssa coincidentally was on the same flight to California with one of her bunkmates from last summer, Samara Green.  Alyssa told me all about how she is still involved in dance and doing both jazz and tap this year.  In the Spring, she will be performing in a show.  She is also looking forward to the Reunion in a few weeks.  At camp, she is excited for cooking and fabric arts.  Jenna let me know that she also takes dance classes, but in hip hop and jazz.  Jenna is part of a Daisy troupe (which is the Girls Scouts name for that age group), which does activities like zumba and yoga.  Jenns also enjoys doing arts and crafts and reading Junie B. Jones books.  At camp, she is ready to try the banana boat, the water slides at the pool and making s’mores.  Here is a picture…

Me with Upper Junior Girl Alyssa Feig (left) and Jenna Feig (center). I am holding up a picture made by Jenna.

Also in Bellmore, NY, I got to meet Morgan Galdamez, who is in the 3rd grade and will be joining us at camp for her first summer as part of our Upper Junior Girls division.  Morgan is definitely a girl that likes to do a little bit of everything and is certainly busy all year long.  She enjoys gymnastics, where her favorite thing to do is back bends on the bar.  She plays piano and will be performing at a recital in the Spring.  She also plays the violin and recorder.  She takes ballet and tap classes.  She plays soccer.  She likes to sing.  And, her favorite color is hot pink.  This summer at camp, she is really looking forward to all of the evening activities, gymnastics, cooking and making new friends.  Here is a photo…

Me with Upper Junior Girl Morgan Galdamez.

In Melville, NY, I saw the Krasin sisters, Marlee and Ava.  Marlee will now be a Lower Senior Girl in 2014 as she returns for her 5th Honor Jacket Summer.  She also can’t wait to have her sister Ava at camp for her first summer, who will be in our Lower Junior Girls division.  Now in 7th grade, Marlee takes hip hop and tap classes.  She is also competing in match play tennis matches.  She can’t wait for the camp reunion next week.  At camp this year, she is really excited for Senior Choice, canteen every night and her trip to Lake Placid.  As for Ava, currently in the 2nd grade, she takes gymnastics and tennis lessons.  She was also on a basketball team that went undefeated this season.  In the Fall, she plays soccer.  In the Spring, she plays softball.  When she comes to Canadensis, she is ready to try the climbing wall, Color War and the trip to Dorney Park.  Here is a pic…

Me with Lower Senior Girl Marlee Krasin (left) and Lower Junior Girl Ava Krasin (right).

In Villanova, PA, I really enjoyed seeing Brooke and Aidan Bednoff.  Brooke is back for her second summer while Aidan joins us for his first summer.  Brooke, who is currently in 5th grade and will be an Upper Inter Girl in 2014, has been very involved with many dance classes including hip hop, jazz, lyrical and ballet.  In the Spring, she will have several dance competitions.  Her team also includes other Canadensis campers.  Brooke has seen many of her Bunk 8 camp friends from last summer since camp ended and wanted to say “taco” to them (apparently, that is an inside joke).  Brooke is super ready for the camp reunion.  When she returns to camp, she is looking forward to cooking, dance, waterskiing and the banana boat.  Aidan is currently in the 3rd grade and will be an Upper Junior Boy this summer.  He is currently in the PVJSA Basketball League, playing on the Rutgers team.  In the Spring, he will be playing baseball, although he also trains for baseball in the Winter months.  He also plays soccer and golf.  Aidan is a big fan of WWE wrestling and his favorite wrestler is CM Punk.  Just last week, he even got to attend a WWE live event.  When Aidan gets to camp, he is really ready to try the quads, zipline and waterskiing.  He is also excited for Color War and the fact that he doesn’t have to match his clothes.  Here is a snapshot…

Me with Upper Inter Girl Brooke Bednoff and Upper Junior Boy Aidan Bednoff.

Some final notes for this blog.  I got a really cool e-mail from a camp dad, Dan Beyda, whose daughters Ali and Katie go to camp.  Apparently, Dan is going to be a contestant on the upcoming season of “Worst Cooks in America” on the Food Network.  Click here to see a preview of the season.  As the contestants are walking, Dan is the one in the back row wearing a light blue collared show.  The series begins Monday, February 17.  We will all be watching!  Good luck, Dan!

Father of two of our Canadensis campers, Dan Beyda, will be a contestant on the “Worst Cooks in America.” He is pictured here with the entire cast along with chefs Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay.  He is in the back row all the way to the left.

Finally, I thought this was cool.  Here is 128,000 dominoes on a trip around the world!  Enjoy by clicking here.

All the blogging for now…

Camp Reunion on Sunday, January 26 at The Funplex in East Hanover, NJ.  Can’t wait to see all of our campers and staff from Summer 2013!

Have a great day!

-Brian

Working full time for Camp Canadensis means that every season has a completely different feeling, and the kinds of things we are working on vary widely!  To generalize, in the Spring we are fine tuning the details for an amazing summer, in the Summer we work day and night to make camp magical for every child, in the Fall we get to reflect and begin planning how to top the prior summer, and in the Winter we travel!  That means now is the time of year when all of us in the winter office take to the roads and sky to meet as many of our campers and staff members as possible in person.  Eric has been traveling in Australia and New Zealand, Matt has been traveling in Eastern Europe, and later today I’ll be heading to the United Kingdom to interview staff applicants.  In February, Brian, Cara and I will be on more than 15 college campuses – we truly believe that nothing replaces the face to face interaction and vibes you are able to get with in-person interviews.  Camp is way too personal to hire staff only by phone!

In addition to meeting our staff, we will be traveling to meet our families!  All the way back to our founder, Bill Saltzman, visiting campers in their homes before their first summer at camp has been a hallmark of the Canadensis experience.  We love the opportunity to focus on one child at a time, get to know their interests and to form a relationship with the entire family.  This winter, Brian, Eric and myself will travel thousands of miles to meet with our new 2014 campers, and when we do we will “introduce” them to you on our blogs – so keep checking back!  If you have a child coming to camp for the first time, call us to schedule your home visit, or we will be giving you a call to get a date on the calendar soon!

Today, I wanted to introduce you to Sydney, she is currently in 5th grade and will be an Upper Inter Girl at camp this summer!  She lives in Bala Cynwyd, PA, is a veteran of our Tour & More Weekend overnight program, and she is a triple alumni!  In the photo above, she is with her mom, Tracy Chalfin, and grandmother, Connie Creed – both are alumni of Canadensis!  Sydney will be turning 11 at camp this summer and her mom was reminiscing about how much fun camp birthdays were!  Apparently, birthday girls used to get a delicious frozen chocolate cake…and although we keep a lot of traditions at camp, the cake Sydney will be getting this summer will be fresh baked, and vanilla!  In addition, Sydney will get to pick a special birthday activity for her bunk, she’ll be serenaded by the entire camp at Morning Line Up, and have several other extra special treats during the day.

When I was over during winter break, she and I talked a lot about crafts, and she showed me some of her recent projects.  She had done a cool “melted crayon” art project (like this) and showed me a skirt and slippers she had recently sewn at the Handworks Studio!  She attends Penn Charter School and the ceramics and art projects that she’s made in class were really awesome!  She enjoys a lot of different activities, including ice skating and rhythmic gymnastics.  She was about to go to a gymnastics exhibition and her uniform was super cool with flames all over it…it sparkled and looked like you could cook s’mores off of it!

In addition to be super flexible on the gymnastics mat, she has a ton of camp spirit!  One of her friends taught her songs and cheers that are sung in the dining hall, and she can’t wait to do the cup song with her friends while waiting for a meal this summer!  Over winter break, she got to spend some time with her family in NYC, and she was really looking forward to a visit to Dylan’s Candy Bar, so I’m sure Sydney will love the canteen (where we keep the candy!) at camp!  Can’t wait to see her enjoying everything this summer!