I am “burning the midnight oil” sitting in my office at camp. Matt Unger is in the Operations Office as well. It’s dark out (the area lights aren’t all on yet) and there are no basketballs banging into my office wall. I also don’t hear the CIT’s making phone calls home, the health center isn’t calling my desk to remind campers of bedtime meds, and the Upper Seniors aren’t outside walking back from the Senior Canteen! Can you tell I am feeling nostalgic and miss all of you? Head Chef David arrived at camp today and we just spent several hours talking about _____ (CAMP of course)! Additional kitchen staff arrive tomorrow and our first wave of precamp staff arrive Wednesday! Wow, where did the time go?

Camp itself looks great! We have been very busy with all of our winter projects and can’t wait to show them off to all of you. The paving project has been completed and the roads have never looked better! Might sound a little silly, but it’s definitely noticeable in front of the HQ and Dining Hall areas. Bob is putting the finishing touches on new landscaping to the right of the dining hall, leading down towards the amphitheater. Jimmy is finishing up the cabins in girls camp and they look awesome. Down by the lake, I just ordered 2 trucks full of sand! At the pool, the waterslides are in the process of being installed. Both blue and yellow tubes are up and we are just waiting for the stairs to get attached. Really, really impressive. A lot of our athletic courts and fields have been getting a facelift and we can’t wait for you to see it!

This weekend Carli turns 1! Can you believe it? Last summer she was carried all around camp…this summer she will be crawling through camp! It’s impossible to “baby proof” the amphitheatre steps, so we are going to rely on all of you to help Carli up and down the stairs this summer. Robin and I are so excited to reintroduce her to all of her brothers and sisters up here at camp.

Carli says hi!

Hope everyone is doing well and counting the days until camp…I know I am!

On a recent sunny day, Eric and I got to visit a great new family in Dresher, PA with two siblings heading to Camp Canadensis for the first time this summer!  We had so much to learn about this awesome brother/sister duo, it took two of us!  Here’s what you need to know about these new campers:

Landon is a current 3rd grader, who will be an Upper Junior Boy this summer.  He’s a big fan of the Philly sports teams, so expect to hear him cheering loudly at Morning Line Up if the Phillies are winning!  He not only likes to watch sports, but he likes to play them too.  He’s on a travel baseball team, plays hockey, and pretty much likes every sport there is!  He knows how to roller blade, so maybe he’ll join our CHL Roller Hockey league this summer!  We talked a bit about food, and he was excited to know we serve lox & bagels every Sunday morning.  We can’t wait for him to try our Canadensis hamburgers, and let us know if they are even better than his favorite one from Texas Roadhouse!  He’s already thinking about which sweet treats he’ll want from the canteen, and he can’t wait for Hershey’s bars!  He plans to write lots of letters home, and to friends at other camps – and he will definitely be excited for the inter-camp games this summer!  His favorite color is blue, so hopefully he is on the blue team when Color War breaks this year!

Rayla is a current 1st grader, and she will be a Lower Junior Girl this summer.  She’s full of energy and ready for the nonstop action at camp!  While we were over she showed off her gymnastics skills with tumbles and splits – we’ll make sure she keeps practicing in our gymnastics facility this summer.  She is really silly, and fun!  She sang us a pig song, and did a dance she learned from her Kindergarten play…maybe she’ll try out for our camp show this summer?   She’s very comfortable on stage, and even did a gymnastics performance in her school talent show.  She loves yogurt and was happy to hear we have it on our breakfast bar every morning – and she loves cookies & cream ice cream so she’ll try to be the cleanest bunk this summer and win ice cream parties!  She is really excited for the new waterslides at camp (they are being put up right now, and they are HUGE!).  Before we left, she showed off her t-shirt folding skills, and did a great job!

I also spent some time with Jordyn, a current 4th grader who will be a Lower Inter Girl, returning to camp for summer #2!  She lives in Lafayette Hill, PA and she’s about the happiest person you will ever meet!  Here’s what Jordyn’s been up to this year:

She’s been super busy on the weekends.  In just one weekend she played in a soccer game, a softball game, went to a swim party, AND a party at Benihana -she also went to Hebrew School a few dozen other things!  She is a super picky eater, but tried and liked new things at camp last year, like strawberries and grapes.  She is also one of our Gluten Free campers, and if you were lucky enough to stop by her bunk of Visiting Day last summer, you would have been able to enjoy the amazingly yummy GF cookie cake her mom made, it was huge!  She showed me how to play a new game called “stack the states”, which was super cool because I love geography!  (Really…I really love US geography!)

Name: Steven Shoemaker

Years at Camp: 4

 Hobbies When You’re at Home: Knitting, Reading, and playing Go Fish!

 Secret Talent: It’s a Mystery!

 Favorite Camp Activity: Hiking!

 Funny Camp Memory: Too many to say but I guess Upper Senior summer when I “ accidentally” pushed Geo and Jesse in the lake!

 Advice for a First Time Camper: Be yourself that’s all there it to it!

 Something You Learned at Camp:  How to sing Canacapella!

 I never leave for camp without my… Binky!?

 If I could have any job in the world it would be… Ha, me getting a job, good one!

 My favorite place I’ve traveled is… Israel.

 One thing my campers will learn about me is… I will always make them laugh!

Name: Matthew Siegel
Years at Camp: 4
Hobbies When You’re at Home: Camp and hanging with friends
Secret Talent: I can fly
Favorite Camp Activity: Everything
Advice for a First Time Camper: Try all activities at camp
Something You Learned at Camp: How to sleep without air conditioning
I never leave for camp without my… Phone
If I could have any job in the world it would be… Soccer player
My favorite place I’ve traveled is… Haiti
One thing my campers will learn about me is…  I like to play sports
One fun fact about me is… I dragged my brother to sleep away camp with me when I was 8 and my brother was 12

Hello Canadensis!

I hope this April blog finds everyone in great spirits!  Things here are at camp are just amazing!  We are definitely getting into the Summer spirit!  As I sit here on a Friday afternoon, I got the real urge to do some blogging!  I’m so pumped for the summer!

This weekend, we will have our New Camper Bowling Event for campers currently in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade.  It’s always great when you get to see our campers and this event is always a nice way for them to meet one another before they spend a summer at camp together.  We will be sure to post pictures to show everyone next week.

On April 1, we opened up our Tour Book for any future family that would like to visit Camp Canadensis.  Over the past few weeks, we have heard from so many families that were referred by existing families.  As always, we like to thank them for telling others about Canadensis.  If you know of any family that would be interested in touring, please have them call our Winter office to set up a visit.  The schedule starts to fill up really quickly.  We will once again be having our Tour and More Weekend on July 13-14 for any future campers that would like to experience a weekend at camp.  Spots for this opportunity go really quickly.  In addition to the Tour and More Weekend, we are introducing the Tour and More Play Day on Sunday, July 28.  This is for future campers that would just like to stay at camp for the day.  For more information about the Tour and More Weekend or the Tour and More Play Day (including a registration form), click here.

Earlier this week, the excitement for camp really built up as me, Eric and Pam locked ourselves away in a secluded and top secret location to begin working on our 6-Day Master Schedule.  Only kidding about it being top secret.  However, this process is one that requires a lot of attention and no distractions.  Sorting out all of the bunk/division activities and the electives for 400+ plus campers truly is a huge task.  The whole process usually takes anywhere from 3-4 full days as we try to develop a daily schedule that has a wide range of activities and ensures that our campers get a little bit of everything after each week of the summer is completed.  We take into consideration a wide range of criteria when it comes to determining frequencies of activities, proper staff coverage and instruction to age and gender appropriateness of activities.  At the same time, we look at the feedback that we get from campers, parents and staff from the previous summer.  We will continue this scheduling adventure next week at an all new top secret location.  Ha Ha!

On top of all this, we have been busy planning all of the other stuff for the upcoming summer, too, including evening activities and special event days, Pike County Inter-Camp tournaments and games, overnights, off camp trips and of course…COLOR WAR!  Matt and Eric have also been up to camp several times over the past few weeks to check up on camp projects.  Now that the weather is getting nicer, our maintenance team can start to get outside again and complete all the projects on our list.  The water slides at the Blue Pool have started to be built, courts are getting resurfaced and painted and bunks are getting upgraded.

We are happy to announce that one special event to return to Canadensis after a summer away will be Adam Issadore and his Path To Rhythm Drumming Program.  Adam has been at Canadensis before and he is so great with our campers, creating bonding activities through percussion.  For more about Adam and his program, click here.

We hope our camp families are preparing for the summer, too.  Camp Forms are due in just a few weeks.  So, if you haven’t started on them yet, please get them to us ASAP.

Congratulations to Natalie Pearlman of Parkland, FL for winning our Annual NCAA Basketball Tournament Pool.  Natalie is a new camper in 3rd and will be part of our Upper Junior Girls division in Summer 2013.  She will receive her prize while at camp this summer.  Way to go, Natalie!

Speaking of the NCAA Tournament, I got these pictures sent to me by Jason “J.Cal” Calabretta, who attended the Syracuse-Marquette Elite 8 Game a few weeks ago.  J.Cal was at the game with Rebecca Waxman and Matt Kissler.  Here are the pics…

J.Cal and Rebecca Waxman take a picture before the game. Look at J.Cal, posing as a Syracuse fan! Rebecca attends SU.

By the look of it, they had great seats!

As for my Syracuse Orange, they made one great run in this year’s tournament!  I never thought they would make the Final Four, but they played really well and I will now have bragging rights over all those staff that go to Indiana University.  Ha Ha!  Congratulations to Louisville on their championship run but I’m fairly sure we don’t have any staff that attend there.  The final game vs. Michigan was one for the ages…a truly hard fought battle that reminded me just why I love this tournament so much!  At least I got a great new shirt out of it…

My new Syracuse shirt!

Last week, my love of music was very much satiated as my all time favorite band, The Black Crowes, came off of it’s 3-year hiatus to play four shows in our area.  Of course, I am completely crazy and just had to attend all four nights.  Very exhausting, but very much well worth it.  Jaime had a great time with our friends and even ran into a few camp parents at each of the shows.  Good to see all of those we ran into.  Here’s a clip of the Crowes at one of the shows we went to, playing one of their greatest hits, Wiser Time…

With all of this, there is still time to see so many of our campers.  Here are some more home visits to tell you about…

In Wayne, NJ, I caught up with the Tombacks, Brett and Sammie, both who will be back at camp for their second summer.  Now in 4th grade, Brett is starting his third season on his travel baseball team, the Wayne Warriors.  He also let me know that he recently finished up his basketball season on the Wayne Wolfpack, a team that posted a 42-8 record and made it all the way to the championship game.  Brett wanted to give a shout out to his bunkmates from Summer 2012’s Bunk 4.  This summer, as a Lower Inter, he is really excited for CBL and CFL sports leagues.  As for Sammie, now in 2nd grade, she was in the play, “The Little Mermaid,” where she was a lagoon animal.  She is also really busy with jazz, acro and hip hop dance at her Stagelight Dance studio, where she is rehearsing for a recital in the Spring.  Sammie also filled me in on a new craft that she has been doing called Rainbow Loom (see picture below), where you can make all different kinds of bracelets.  She even made me a blue and gold one!  When she is a Lower Junior this summer, she is ready to go waterskiing (this time on the rope).  She also wanted to say hello to all of her camp friends from Summer 2012’s Bunk 2.  Here is a picture…

Me with Lower Junior Girl Sammie Tomback and Lower Inter Boy Brett Tomback.

Here is the Rainbow Loom that Sammie showed me. She even made me a bracelet. For more information, you can go to www.rainbowloom.com. It is a lot of fun!

In Scarsdale, NY, I got together with the Kaller Family, who will now have three campers at Canadensis this summer; Jordana (Lower Senior; 4th Summer), Ben (Upper Inter; 3rd Summer) and Noah (Upper Junior; 1st Summer).  Jordana is starting lacrosse season this time of year and playing tennis.  This year, she has seen a lot of her camp friends, attending a number of bar and bat mitzvahs.  She is also busy planning her own big day.  When she gets to camp, she is excited for the Hondas, Color War, cooking and just being in the Senior division.  Ben is playing tennis in both private and small group lessons.  He also has enjoyed playing with the new family dog, Barkley.  Coincidentally, Ben was also seeing some of his bunkmates the very next day.  Ben can’t wait for all of his mountain biking opportunities at camp this summer.  Noah has been very active with a number of different sports as he plays football in the Fall, basketball in the Winter and baseball in the Spring.  He is also a very big fan of WWE wrestling.  This summer, Noah told me that he is really looking forward to having great counselors at camp.  Here is a pic…

Me with Lower Senior Girl Jordana Kaller, Upper Junior Boy Noah Kaller and Upper Inter Boy Ben Kaller (and the family dog, Barkley).

In Tenafly, NJ, I got to hang out with the Waldmans.  Ally Waldman is returning for her 4th Summer as a Freshman girl and will now be joined by her brother Jason Waldman, who is in the 3rd grade and will be an Upper Junior.  Now in 6th grade, Ally has been active with tennis, soccer and skiing.  Of course, there is always time for her camp friends as she is always on the computer, connecting with her camp friends.  She is really excited for her Freshman year at camp.  Jason told me that this was his first year of playing tackle football, where he played DE and TE, for his team, the Tenafly Tigers.  In the Winter months, he was also on a basketball team.  Jason is also an awesome skier.  When at home, he likes to build legos and play video games.  His favorite game at the moment is “Lego Lord of the Rings.”  For his first summer at camp, he can’t wait for the quads, all the lake activities and gaga.  While there, I also got to see oldest sister, Samantha, who is now in the 7th grade.  While she won’t be back at camp this summer, she wanted to give a huge shout out to all of her camp sisters.  Here is a picture…

Me with Upper Junior Boy Jason Waldman, Freshman Girl Ally Waldman and oldest sister Samantha Waldman.

In New York City, I spent some time with Damian Stellings, who is currently in the 3rd grade and will be an Upper Junior this Summer.  Damian does a little bit of everything!  He plays soccer, tennis and baseball.  He is also a big time chess player and showed me a huge trophy for winning the elementary section of a recent chess tournament.  Damian is enrolled in an actors workshop and recently starred in a production of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”  On top of all that, he takes a computer class each week.  When he gets to camp, he is looking forward to soccer, tennis lessons, rocketry, gaga and glass fusion.  Here is a photo…

Me with Upper Junior Boy Damian Stellings.

In Livingston, NJ, I met up with Mitchell Konstandt, who is currently in the 2nd grade and will be in our Lower Junior division at camp.  Mitchell plays travel soccer on his team the Livingston Lightning.  In the Winter, his indoor soccer team actually had an undefeated season.  Right now, he is also playing in a full gear lacrosse league, where he was drafted onto the Syracuse team.  In addition to all of this, Mitchell loves participating in lego robotics and is on a Mindstorm team.  He goes rock climbing, too.  He is a big fan of the New York Giants.  And, he showed me two full bags of paper airplanes that he made.  We flew a few of them together.  At camp, Mitchell can’t wait for fishing, rocketry, woodworking, the quads and the water slides.  Here is a pic…

Me with Lower Junior Boy Mitchell Konstandt.

I met up with Keim Family as we shared a meal in my hometown of Montclair, NJ (although they are from Livingston, NJ).  Both Harrison (6th grade; Freshman Boy; 3rd summer) and Ben (3rd grade; Upper Junior Boy; 2nd summer) will be back at camp.  They told me that they recently got back from a trip in Mexico, which they both said was amazing.  Harrison and Ben have been busy all year long with sports.  They both play soccer, basketball and baseball.  With camp getting closer and closer, they are very excited about coming back to Canadensis.  Here is a picture…

Me with Freshman Boy Harrison Keim and Upper Junior Boy Ben Keim.

Got some other great photos that were sent to me that I’d like to share with you, too…

The Lefkowitz and Minion Families got together for a day in Central Park in NYC. From left to right: Devin Lefkowitz, Ryan Lefkowitz, Josh Minion, Cody Lefkowitz, Dan Minion and Zach Minion.

Upper Junior Boy Jack Cohen sports his Camp Canadensis shirt while on vacation in Las Vegas.

Freshman Girl Gaby Hirsch’s grandpa also sports his favorite T-Shirt!

And, even my own grandma wears her favorite camp sweatshirt!

Former camper and counselor Adam Scharfberg got to meet one of his favorite celebrities…Phish singer and guitarist Trey Anastasio.

I got this You Tube video sent to me a few weeks ago and I thought it was a really funny statement on how technology has begun to influence our lives, but how we still need old fashioned paper at times.  It is a commercial that is featured in France, but it definitely makes it’s point regardless of where you live.  I thought it was hilarious.  Check it out!

Well, that’s all of the blogging for now.  Until the next time…HAVE A GREAT DAY!

-Brian

Check out the adorable photo above…it’s from the Tour & More in the summer 2011.  That was the first time Kylie got to spend a night at camp, and she cannot wait to join us for the full summer in 2013!  Kylie is now a current 3rd grader, and will be a Junior Girl at camp this summer.  She lives in Plymouth Meeting, PA and here’s what you need to know about this awesome new camper…

• She has tons of energy, she was doing cartwheels and splits in the house, but she doesn’t even do gymnastics as an after school activity!
• She does a TON of dancing after school, it’s her favorite thing to do!  She goes to dance class three days a week, and she is on a dance competition team.
• She’s pumped for the inter-camp dance competitions this summer.  We are planning to host one at our camp, and travel to another camp as well!
• She hopes to be on the blue team during Color War…maybe she knows the blue team has won for the past two years?
• For her electives, she will probably choose to do gymnastics, dance and glass fusion…the last will be a mystery!
• She’s going to stay in the dance elective for the entire summer and change the other two.  I’ll see her in the programming office each week and help her swap her schedule!
• Kylie also takes piano lessons and goes to Hebrew School, she’s busy almost every night!
• She’s working on riding her bike before camp, she’ll be ready to hit our trails by June!
• Her favorite food is chocolate!  She likes chocolate covered everything!!  She got to try cooking when she was at camp two years ago, and can’t wait to go back!
• Just like me, she doesn’t like to fly…we talked about how it’s scary, but worth it when you get to sit on the beach in Florida!
• She loves Justin Bieber!
• She got to decorate her room (except the paint color…it’s blue but she’d like it to be aqua!), and she hung up all these cool vinyl stickers.  I can’t wait to see what she does with her camp bunk.
• At Kylie’s house they have “Salad Sunday” where the whole family gets to create their own salad from a big selection of veggies. She’s going to help teach her bunk mates how to eat and enjoy lots of salad bar items!
• She wants to have really nice counselors this summer, and we can guarantee that!

My next stop was across the street…Kylie & Ashton live on the same block!!  Ashton is a current 2nd grader, and will be a Lower Junior Boy at camp this summer.  He got a chance to spend the night at camp and do a ton of activities last summer when he came up for the Tour & More weekend (see the photo above).  He lives in Plymouth Meeting, PA and here’s what you need to know about this great new camper…

• He loves the game  Tchoukball!  Have you ever heard of it??  It’s something he learned to play at school, and it’s a really awesome.  It’s sort of like handball, and you can learn more about it here – maybe we’ll play at camp?!

• He takes a trip to the Outer Banks with his family every year.  He loves to hang out on the beach, dig huge holes and then wait for it to be filled up by the ocean, like a swimming pool.
• He loves to play sports, and he’s very athletic.
• He also likes cheering for the Philadelphia sports teams, so expect to see a smile on his face when the Phillies winning scores are announced at morning line-up this summer!
• One of his favorite sports he learned at day camp was archery.  He even has his own bow now, and knows how to safely use it (ie, not in his driveway!).  He can’t wait to do archery at camp, and will probably choose it as an elective.
• Ashton has an indoor Ping Pong table in the house, he is the ping pong champ of his family!
• He’d done a few campouts before, a few years ago a tradition was started in his backyard.  He camped out, made s’mores with his dad and had lots of friends come over.  Now they do it every year and call it “Occupy Ashton”.
• Truth be told, he’s not excited for MTV night (our bunk vs bunk music video evening activity) because he doesn’t like to sing and dance…but it’s so popular at camp, maybe he’ll like it?!
• He definitely plans to sign up for basketball elective, and spend time on the court during free play.
• He’s always been on the gold team for Color War at his day camp, so he wants to be on the blue team this year!
• He sometimes goes by the name “Ash”, and he does really well in school.

I also got to hang out with Ashton’s older brother Max, who is a current 5th grader and will be an Upper Inter Boy this summer.  It will be his third year at camp, and he’s been seeing a lot of his bunk this year, including recently at a sleepover party.  He specifically wore a Camp Canadensis shirt for his visit…he loves camp!  He also goes by the nickname “Witty”, and he told me we need to plan a good overnight in 2013 for the Upper Inter Boys, unfortunately they’ve had bad weather two years in a row!

Over in Livingston, NJ, I got to spend some time with Amanda, a current 2nd grader who will be a Lower Junior Girl at camp.  She also did the Tour & More Weekend at camp last year (photo above), and .  Here’s what you need to know about this fun new addition to camp…

• Her favorite TV shows are Dance Moms and Cupcake Wars – she can’t wait to have her room redone so she can get a TV in there!
• She goes to dance classes once a week.  If she has enough time, she would like to be on the competition team like her big sister.
• She is super busy with soccer!  She loves that sport, and she had even played a game outside the day before I came over (it had been realllly cold!)!
• I went over to visit on a snowy day in March, and she told me about the storm when they lost power and the whole family slept downstairs in the basement – she said it was sorta fun to camp out down there together!
• Her favorite ice cream flavor is coconut.  She had it once when she went to Mexico on a family vacation.  She hopes they will have it at the Casino Movie theater – it’s a trip that every Canadensis camper goes on, and they have sooooo many ice cream flavors to choose from!
• Her second favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip (they’ll definitely have that!).
• Her soccer team name is the “Lady Leopards”.
• She gets to sleep in a Blue and Gold room every night at home!  The ceiling is painted like the sky, and it helps her fall asleep.
• She’s excited for the overnight camping trip!
• Amanda has never gone on a upside down roller coaster before, but she can’t wait to try it at Dorney Park!
• She got to do cooking as her elective during Tour & More last summer.  This year, she is going to choose gymnastics and maybe tennis as electives.
• She told me she didn’t like vegetables at all…but it turns out she does like carrots and broccoli…and that’s a really good start!
• For Halloween this year, she dressed up as a lady from “Monster High”.  Because of the Sandy Storm, they didn’t get to go house to house, but they went car to car and called in “trunk or treating” – very creative!
• She had a couple of requests for the summer: she wanted to make sure her counselors would all be girls (yes!), that they all be nice (yes!) and she hopes she can have a middle bed so she can have friends on each side.
• Amanda is both is a little sister and a big sister – baby Sloan (not pictured) and her like to do gymnastics together.

Her older sister Ashley is currently in 5th grade and will be an Upper Inter Girl this summer.  It will be her second season at camp and we can’t wait to have her back!  She has been really busy at school…I could barely tear her away from her homework!  She told me a little bit about her dance classes, and about the camp friends she’s been seeing at sleepovers.

February and March were full of trips, but now that it’s April I’m getting to spend some quality time back home in Philly – I love Philly in the Spring!!  I’ve been training the Broad Street 10-mile run on May 5th, it’s the largest 10-mile run in the country, more than 40,000 runners!!  I’ll be wearing a Camp Canadensis shirt, so maybe I’ll find some camp alumni along the way.  The picture below was taken a few weeks ago in Rittenhouse Square, one of the best parks in Philly.  Annie (the dog) and I loved hanging out with camp friends!

2012 Staff Members: Rachel Waxman (Evening Activities), Mel Taube (Photography) and Sam Ginsburg (Operations/Annie’s favorite baby sitter)

One of the highlights of the camp “off season” each year is the American Camp Association Tri-State Conference in nearby Atlantic City.  There are so many wonderful aspects to this large gathering of camp professionals.  We get to attend courses that help make each summer better and better – plus we find great resources in the exhibit hall!  Here are some photos from Tri-State 2013…

Jim Cain is my favorite presenter and Author, Eric won his new book of games by spinning a wheel!

How fun is this lycra tube??  A fun idea for small group games from Jim Cain!

For the first time this year, they offered an early morning 5K run on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.  It was good training for my 10-mile run!  Dave came to cheer me on despite the early start time and freezing temps!

We start planning out the gear and shirts we are going to order for camp each year…we love working with Kenn at Mr Dees Tees, and seeing the new shirt colors and designs!

A trip to London to hire International Staff took me a lot further from home, but it was a wonderful trip!  We travel with Camp America, and we are one of nearly 40 camps that participate in a “job fair”.  In one day, we have the chance to meet nearly 800 staff members – my mission is to find the best ones, and I’m so excited for you to meet them this summer!

Shane Dell and Bethany Freer are returning UK Staff Members, they were amazing help at the job fair, and we can’t wait to have them back at camp in 2013!!Former Group Leader, Lauren Berry is from Australia, but has been living in London for the past two years…it was SO wonderful seeing some of London with her!Even though this was my 5th trip to London, I’ll never get tired of taking “cheesy” London pictures with my friend Julie.

I’m so excited to introduce you to our first camper from Paradise Valley, Arizona!!  Jaden is currently in 4th grade, and she cannot wait for her first year as a Lower Inter Girl this summer! In the picture above we are hanging in her backyard in the middle of March on a sunny AZ day – she gets to wear shorts and tanks all year long!  Here are some important things you need to know about her:

• She loves being up on stage and is a great actress!  She has been in pretty much every show twice, including Suessical the Musical, and Alice in Wonderland.   Even though its hard work, loves it!
• She was in the newspaper when she was 4 years old playing the role of Dinah, the cat in Alice in Wonderland.  She’s also been in Grease, Willy Wonka and more!
• She’s really brave, there is a high dive at her school, and the first time she did it she wasn’t afraid at all!  She’s going to love our zipline this summer.  She also likes roller coasters.
• She’s got blue eyes, which you might get to see under her sunglasses!
• She once won a gaga medal on a cruise.
• Jaden really ikes tennis – and is excited to play at camp!
• She gave me a tour of her house, including her awesome new room makeover!
• She goes to a really good school, and she gets around three hours of home work every night!  She loves the “specials” classes, like art, music and technology.  She learning how to use iMovie – and she is creating a documentary about sea level rise.
• She says she used to be the teachers pet, now she’s known as more of a class clown.
• Blue and gold are also the colors of her school, she has lots of great things she plans to bring to camp for spirit and dress up!
• Everyone should watch out, Jaden knows how to do tae kwon do to protect herself.
• For electives, she is excited to try Canadensis Today & Glass Fusion.
• She loves to go horseback riding, on a horse named Candy.
• Jaden has a candy addiction (to the sweets, not the horse) and she even had some on display in her room – I’m impressed she’s not tempted by it all the time!
• We have a lot of her favorite candies in the canteen, including milky way, sour straws and gummy bears.
• She loves to be clean and organized, she is going to help her bunk win Honor Bunk every week!
• She loves mushrooms, but is not a huge fan of pizza.
• She has two awesome dogs named Joey and Whitney – (Whitney is named after Whitney Houston)
• She loves monkeys
• Jaden is a big sister, she has a younger brother Dylan (currently in Kindergarten)

While in Arizona, I also got to meet with one of the new staff members that will be joining our Health Center team this year!  Karen is so warm, and welcoming.  She is a Grandmother to 11 Grandkids, and there is one more on the way! She has so many hobbies: she spent a lot of last summer fishing with her brother, she is taking a quilting course, and she would like to learn how to crochet.   She also loves to travel, she’s see pretty much every corner of the country!  She’s been to Alaska (which reminded her of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where she grew up), but her favorite state she’s ever visited is Oregon.  We can’t wait to have her join us in Pennsylvania for a great summer at camp!

While on the U of A Campus, I met with some of my AEPhi sisters who were applying to work at Canadensis, and we actually did the interviews at my old sorority house.  Above is a picture of me in college from the sorority composite!

My parents live in Arizona, so we were able to celebrate Passover together, in the desert…haha.  On the left is my sister who came in from Texas, it was great family fun!Even Annie got to come to Arizona, she’s my favorite hiking buddy!  It such a wonderful state, but it’s awfully hot there during the summer…I’m glad that at least 10 AZ residents are leaving the 120 degree heat behind, and will be joining us for a wonderful summer at Camp Canadensis!

I hope everyone has been enjoying my “Meet the CITs” postings, they really are an amazing group of people and you all have NO IDEA how much fun and spirit they are going to bring to camp this summer. You thought camp was fun? You thought we had spirit? To quote the song… You aint seen nothing yet!!!

But, I must take a moment to pause my regularly scheduled blogging to update everyone on all the happenings in and around my office life lately. Last night finally brought bread back into my life as another Passover passed over us, so today is made even better by the lack of matzo in my lunch routine! Our family’s Passover celebration was highlighted by the Macaron tower I created, much to the delight of everyone’s taste buds. Kosher for Passover, Gluten Free, Nut Free – there was a treat for everyone! Even my puppy, Bella, tried to devise a way to climb our chairs and tables to steal a treat… luckily she did not succeed!

Wondering how far she can jump...

That weekend, my mother and I had plans for a double show day in the city! Lucky for us, Sarabeth’s had an alternative to their usually delcious muffins…

Matzo Heaven!

After I posted that picture on Instagram, CIT Mindy sent me a message saying that she was at Sarabeth’s as well! We had been at the Tribeca location, while Mindy and her family were at Central Park South. After we saw our first show downtown we made our way back uptown and finally got to see the Rosenthals… along with surprise guest star, Alex Feigin!

Alex, Cara, Mindy, and Rachel!

It’s always fun to run into your camp friends, even if it’s only for a few minutes! After our evening show we made our way home, although we’ve already got plans to return for some more theatrical fun next weekend! If you’re going to be in the city perhaps we’ll have another camp story to tell!

Gifts Galore!

When I’m not seeing shows or busy working in the office I’ve been having a blast experimenting with all sorts of French Macaron flavors! I must give a HUGE shout-out to Jason Calabretta, who hooked me up with some insane flavors to try. From s’mores to chocolate fudge – my kitchen is practically a bakery! Perhaps this is an iCan night in the making – what do you think?

Leo would like a puppy macaron, please?!