February 2009
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February 23, 2009

Time for the Drama Show!

My sons used to be campers at CK-NJ and they were both introduced at camp to interests that have developed into their careers.  Jon is an actor and, after graduating from the Tisch School of the Arts, he is spending a year as an acting apprentice at the Actors Theatre of Louisville: (http://www.actorstheatre.org/apprentice.htm) .

I'm excited to leave tomorrow morning for a short trip down to Louisville to see a couple of plays and rehearsals.  It feels like a whole bunch of camp drama nights in a row!  I love live theatre and it will be especially fun to see stuff that my son is in.

If you're an old timer at camp, see if you can identify Jon in the pic below (with his fellow acting apprentices).  He looks a bit different than when he played one of the Star Bellied Sneetches at camp!

I'll be back in Madison by Thursday evening to help Jeremy finish up the next issue of the "Sundial", get ready for weekend tours and a whole bunch more . . . because summer isn't far away!

Tom

February 15, 2009

Changing of the Guard

Jeremy's week of Canadian snowboarding comes to an end today (assuming he decides to come back!) and I leave early in the morning for a meeting of American Camp Association (ACA) delegates in Orlando.  So we have a sort of changing of the guard taking place.

It was a busy week in the office, made a bit busier for me by Jeremy's absence.  Except for Cheryl T. coming in a couple of times to help out with some office mailings, it was kind of quiet.  Last weekend we attended our final camp fair in New Jersey for the year, at the Delbarton School.  Paula joined me for that fair and, as always, she brought her full-force of camp energy and enthusiasm.  While we chatted up camp with families at the fair, Stu had a full day of tours up in Blairstown.  As Jeremy wrote, the Week 9 and Weekend Adventure materials were completed and proofread (with some extra help from summer camp office manager Sharon!) and posted on the website.  Don't worry, we'll be mailing them out also, but as usual you'll always read camp info first on the website.  Speaking of mailings, all the pieces for what we call the "first parent packet" are finally done and (you guessed it) posted on the website.  We've had the Riso cranking away here in CK-NJ Land, printing out all the health forms, clothing lists and other information that we'll be mailing out to enrolled camp families soon.

A highlight of the week was my trip up to Blair to meet with the foodservice director, Sue.  We talked about camp menus and all the details of meals and snacks for the coming summer.  Since this is our first summer at Blair, I brought the official Frito pie recipe and presented it to Sue.  She had never heard of it (imagine!), but will definitely incorporate it into our menus.  And we talked about barbecues, ice cream, vegetarian entrees, salad bar, allergies, scheduling and serving and lots more.  Sue's had 19 years experience serving school and camp populations and she's excited to work with CK-NJ this summer.

Then our buddy, Dave, one of the main guys at Blair, told me that the school has acquired an additional 125 acres of land out behind the golf course and woods as a buffer.  The property was a Girl Scout camp many years ago and has a lake, Lake Genevieve.  We're looking forward to doing some fishing there, as well as having campfires by the lakeshore and maybe even some sleep-outs.  When the snows melt a bit more, we'll go exploring and let you know more about our plans.  In the meantime, I've included a photo of the lake that I took yesterday when I was doing tours at camp.  It's a pretty gray winter day, but you begin to get the idea.

Speaking of the golf course, we're looking forward to including that in our program, too, but I'll save that news for another blog.

I'll be back in the office mid-afternoon Wednesday.  Check in on Jeremy, if you like, so he won't get too lonely.  Oh, and a big Happy Birthday on Monday to Vanessa.!

Tom

February 6, 2009

Banff, here I come!

Okay... So in about one hour I will be heading home to go pack up for a week long vacation at Banff National Park in Canada!  Woot!  Vanessa and I will be meeting a friend from Calgary up there and doing a heck of a lot of snowboarding.  Everyone says the mountains are beautiful up there and the hot springs are not to be missed.  I am very eager to experience it all and promise to come back and bore you (or make you jealous) with lots of pictures! 

Before I leave, I did want to let you know that I just handed Tom the promotional materials for the Week 9 Adventure Road Trip and this summer's Weekend Adventures.  As soon as he proofreads them, they will appear on the CK-NJ page of our website!  Keep an eye out for that and sign up!  Ryan and I are both really excited about Week 9.  We really want lots of campers to sign up and take part in this amazing program!

See you in a week,

Jeremy

February 2009
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