Happy New Year Everyone!! I hope your 2016 is already off to an incredible start. My first home visit of the year was with Jamie, from Dresher, PA. Jamie is a funny, cool and energetic new camper, who is currently in 4th grade and will be a Lower Inter Boy at camp this summer! He’s really excited about all the activities at camp, he likes almost everything under the sun. He’s particularly excited to spend his days at camp doing archery, golf and tennis – and will likely pick those as electives. He’s also going to join our Rock Band program, which is awesome because he’s a keyboard player that goes to School of Rock afterschool. He’s inspired by Billy Joel, loves “The Simpsons”, can’t get enough chicken tenders, enjoys reading the “Harry Potter” book series, and we both love penguins! After doing the Tour & More Weekend program, we are so excited to have him at camp for the full summer.
Camp runs in Jamie’s family! His brother Jason (at camp, he is known as “JP”) is in the middle in the picture above. He’s currently in 7th grade and will be spending his 4th summer with us at camp! This year he will be a Lower Senior, and he’s looking forward to it! Their father is a Canadensis Alumni, and Jon also goes by the nickname “JP” – the whole family goes crazy for Canadensis traditions, including the Cornman on Open House and Visiting Day!
Right before the new year, I had a chance to hang out with Julia in Commack, NY! She is currently in 4th grade and will be a new Lower Inter Girl at camp this summer. She describes herself as spunky, adventurous and friendly – and I agree because it was a lot of fun getting to know her! She loves being a big sister, and likes a ton of different activities including a lot of sports – she’s playing basketball this season. You’ll definitively be seeing her up on stage at camp this summer, she’s involved with drama productions all year, and one of her favorite parts was being the lead character in “Oliver”. She also loves penguins, the book “Wonder”, the color purple, and Italian food. When she has free time, you might find her watching “Liv and Maddie” or listeing to Taylor Swift, pop music or even some classical tunes! She roots for the Islanders and loves starbursts, skittles or anything chewy! Check out the camp spirit she already has for Canadensis – I loved seeing her in her camp scarf, and she even has some camp stickers up around her room.
In Dix Hills, NY, I got to catch up with Sydney before her first summer at camp. I first met her when she did the Tour & More Weekend last year, but she knows a ton about Canadensis from her close cousins Jack & Molly! Syd (that’s her nickname!) is currently in 2nd grade, and will be a Lower Junior Girl at camp this summer. She’s totally sweet, lovable and happy! After school, she likes to do arts and crafts, read, build legos and ice skate (some mornings, she ice skates before school – so impressive!!). She’s obsessed with hamburgers (yum!), loves corn and will probably get sour patch kids when she visits the canteen. Her favorite color is pink, her favorite animal is a pig, and she cheers for the NY Giants. When she’s not at a figure skating competition on the weekend, you might find her watching “Austin and Ally” or watching one of her favorite movies “Cheaper By The Dozen”. I can’t wait to welcome her to Canadensis this summer!
Before returning to work, I did get a chance to travel and have some rest and relaxation! Dave and I spent our honeymoon in Saint Lucia, and before we leave the beach we took the photo above with our relationship slogan “PAVE 4 EVA” – (PAVE is a combo of Pam & Dave…I’m sure you get it!). 
It was beautiful there! Our hotel had a stunning view of the Piton Mountains, and our room only had three walls so we were very close to nature! We had birds flying in and out of our rooms, and we got to enjoy listening to the rain fall overnight. As pretty as it was, I’d take the views of Lake Lenape from the top of the Camp Canadensis Amphitheater any day!
I also had a chance to celebrate my amazing Grandma Lil’s 90th Birthday with some of my favorite cousins. Everyone you see in the photo above went to sleepaway camp, so it probably doesn’t surprise you that we had special shirts made up for the occasion! The front says “Grandma’s Girls” and there was a special back too! Doesn’t she look incredible? She’s an amazing woman, she’s kind, generous, smart, gives valued advice and opinions and never ever misses an opportunity to send a greeting card for your birthday or another holiday. I’m lucky to have grown up just a few blocks away from her, and no matter when I’d drop by she always had a snack and some good stories for me. She’s seen literally every movie and TV show and give the best recommendations on what to watch! She’s supported me 100% in life, even when my passion was to become a camp director and it means we don’t get to see each other at all for months at a time! She’s also taught me the true value of friendship, she’s had so many wonderful and longtime friends in her life (someof whom she plays mah jongg with!) and it’s in part because she’s a great listener, and goes out of her way to be there for people. I just can’t say enough great things about her!
I’m sad to be missing her bigger 90th celebration this weekend, but I’ll be traveling for work. My next blog post won’t be for a few weeks, and by that time I will have traveled to Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom (with a layover in Shanghai!) to hire some incredible counselors to join our team at Canadensis this summer. We take hiring very seriously, and want to bring the very best staff aboard, which is why the face to face hiring is so important to us! I’ll be posting photos of the journey, and #CanadensisReunions on Instagram along the way, you can follow us there with username @CampCanadensis!
