Campus Kids New Jersey Weblog - Find out what's going on at the Weekday Sleep-Away Camp!

There's no escaping the dramatic difference between today and tomorrow. In the span of just a few hours we pause to think back over an entire year and we plan all that we want to do during the fresh new year.

It has been a fun and busy December. Of course, our camp reunion was the highlight. It was hard to get an accurate count (other than knowing we ate 56 pizzas), but it seemed like we had more people than ever. And for once it didn't snow on reunion day. If you haven't seen the pics, here they are. We really appreciate all the staff who were able to come because we know how hard it is at this time of year for our college-age staff especially to travel here for the reunion: Ryan, Ali B., Doug, Meg, Lauren B., Abi B., Donald, Dave G., Lauren H., Dave H., Todd, Jess L., Alexa, Matt L., Mike M., Rose, Brooke, Andy M., Jibran, Mandy, Dave M., Lizzy, Rachel, Mike P., Ali R., Sara, Adam S., Vanessa, Karly, Royce, Matt W., Mike W., Stevey and Steph (along with Stu, Teri, Jeremy and me, of course).

Some people start their camp countdowns for next summer at the reunion. I'm not a big countdown fan (I don't like to rush things!), but I will say here that there are only 179 days until the buses pull up alongside the bowl at Blair Academy and we begin our 20th summer. Yikes! 20 summers? It does seem that this is true. Our first summer was in 1991 with between 35 and 75 campers (depending on the week) and about 16 staff members. We'll be having some fun in 2010 posting photos from our first 19 unforgettable summers -- on this website and our Facebook page (the reunion gallery is already started on FB).

We're lucky that we get to have visitors at the CK-NJ office, so we can catch up with their news and talk about camp (never a boring topic). Our visitors this month included:
** Cheryl -- Mucho Caliente! counselor in 2009
** Charles -- one of our old timers (sorry, Charles, it happens) who was a counselor many years and our aquatics director. In the photo, that's Charles talking with Jeremy about camp -- and definitely NOT about the Giants. (Sorry, again, Charles.)
** Teri's parents! Char and Chuck came for lunch!!
** Abi -- Team D staff assistant the last two summers
** Mary Ellen -- the executive director of the ACA-NJ Section
** Stevey -- done with his first college semester.
** Matt L. -- Czech Mates counselor in 2009
** Lauren B. -- English Muffins counselor in 2009
** Sara S. -- getting ready to come back to camp next summer!
** Danny S. -- also just finished with his first college semester
** Adam B. -- another new college freshman enjoying his first semester break
** and next week we get a visit from three former campers who were in the same bunk group together: Paula, Sasha and Toni

Of course, there was some holiday excitement around the office, but Teri was the champ of excitement, as you can see from this photo. Notice her gift from husband Jim: a Charlie Brown-style Christmas tree.

As January begins, we're looking forward to our three-day planning retreat with our Leadership Team. I'm sure we'll have lots of stories to tell you about that later on. And we have a busy month with camp fairs, camp tours, hiring of counselors and a few thousand other things to get ready for summer . . . because, remember, there are only 179 days until camp starts!!!

I hope you have been enjoying the holiday seasons and, especially, having fun spending time with family and friends. We are grateful to have so many good camp friends -- our campers, their parents, our staff, all of our alumni. Camp is a special bond among us and we look forward to a New Year when we can create many more friends and memories.

Happy New Year!
Tom

Well, I'm certainly overdue in my blogging duties, so it's time to catch up! December has been busy in the CK world, both in our office and out among the whole CK family, both good news and sad. I'll start this catch-up with some great news. A few weeks ago we attended the wedding of Stu's daughter Jody! Jody Lisbe and Pete Ferranto were married on November 28 in Hawthorne. Jeremy, Vanessa, Sharon, Elliot and I represented the CK-NJ contingent. It was fun to be part of this joyous celebration and to see all the parts of Stu's world come together in one happy party. Relatives from all sides of the family, friends from Stu's 'hood in the Bronx, friends from William Paterson University, Campus Kids -- we all were there! Since Stu uncharacteristically was unable to carry his camera around, I snapped a few pics to share with you.

Readers of this blog will be excited to know that we finally met grandson Charlie in person! He brought his parents, Mike and Paula, all the way from Los Angeles, as well as his uncle Greg and his girlfriend Samantha. Of course, the picture I'm sharing with you here is of the cute kid, not the adoring adults. Charlie managed to get the ring all the way up to the end of the aisle without dropping it. He definitely was legit.

Here is a pic of Stu and Jody coming down the spiral staircase to begin their walk up the aisle. Below are Jody and Pete processing after the "I Do's", and Stu's dance with Jody. You might be disappointed to know that Stu did not engage in any booty shaking during the wedding or the reception. I think that wearing the tux was too inhibiting for him. In any case, he was smooth on the dance floor.

It must be noted that the food at this wedding was amazing and we kept taking notes of ideas for our camp dining room. Afterwards, however, we realized that chocolate fountains and seafood buffets were probably not going to become a reality at camp, but it was fun to eat and dream.

Congratulations to Jody and Pete and to their families, and particularly to Stu! Long, healthy and happy life!

Tom

Catching up with camp news -- Part II

I mentioned above that some of our recent news was sad. Let me share that with you here.

Alison Liederman, a long time camper at CK-NJ from its very first summer, and also a staff assistant, died recently in Arizona. She was 28. Alison's mother, Suzanne, was one of our assistant directors during CK-NJ's first decade. Her daughters Alison and Jackie attended camp during those same years, growing up with us from a young age. They were part of the "pioneer generation" at Campus Kids-NJ. Suzanne helped us create Campus Kids and truly did some of everything during her years with us.

In this photo, Alison is at the far right with her fellow staff assistants: Linda, Doug, Larry, Gina and Dave (later of counselor and head counselor fame).

Alison was always energetic, enthusiastic and mischievous. She had the type of energy that camp was made for and it was a pleasure watching her grow up over all those years. She made good friends, many of whom we have heard from over the past several weeks. Even though we haven't seen Alison in quite a while, we miss her and we extend our condolences to Suzanne, Jackie and to Russell. We are so sorry and share your grief.

Suzanne now lives in Arizona and we would be happy to provide her address if you want to contact her. Being a modern woman, you can also find Suzanne on Facebook.

Tom

Catching up with camp news -- Part III

We also received sad news last week of the untimely death of Jonah Johnson, 17 years old, a CK-NJ camper from 2005 - 2008. Jonah still lived in N.J., so we heard from many people in the CK-NJ community and his friends in Hillsborough and the schools he attended. We all remember Jonah's sense of humor, high energy and the easy way he accepted new friends. He was not only the life of the party, but also a person who took everyone under his wing and made their lives a little (actually a lot) funnier and brighter.

We like this photo of Jonah (second from right) even though he seems a bit too serious compared to his usual smiling demeanor. But he looks like a solid person here, and as the many tributes to Jonah on Facebook have expressed, he was a loyal companion and strong support for his many, many friends.

We extend our condolences to Jonah's family, including his mother Donnetta. We can only imagine your pain as we try to share the burden of your grief.

Tom

A good friend of mine had a chair in college. It wasn’t an ordinary chair. In fact, it was probably the weirdest chair I’ve ever seen. It was black, and basically looked like a mixture between some medieval torture device and a massage table. There was no back to the chair, just two pads on either end of crisscrossing legs, all mounted on top of four small wheels.

Is this chair hard to imagine? Not for me! Because, if you haven’t realized it yet, a duplicate of the chair exists and it is pictured in this very blog! Once you see it, you know it’s strange. But once you sit in it (or rather kneel in it) you will never be the same.

So now I have this chair, all my own. It’s even a bit updated from the one my friend had; this one features memory foam cushions and hardwood supports. It came in the mail a few weeks ago, and I’ve been kneeling in it every day, happily typing away and answering phone calls enjoying the chair and all of its ergonomic benefits. Strangely, Jeremy and Tom seem to avoid this handsome chair. Maybe they’re creeped out by it. Maybe they think it is bizarre and unnecessary. When I asked Tom about getting it, he asked “Are you sure that you will want to sit in this chair every day?” OF COURSE! It is the best chair ever!

Like all office chairs with wheels on it, there are a few things you can’t do with it. (1) Do not attempt to stand on the chair. How might anyone go about that? And for what purpose? Of course no one would ever do that, you silly warning label! (2) Do not have more than one person sitting on the chair at once. Well, if two people were even to attempt to sit on the chair at once, one would be on the other's lap, and it would look and probably feel more like one of those organized group lap-sits that you do in a circle. Not very comfortable… slightly awkward… someone’s probably going to get hurt. As for now, I’m happy to have this chair all to myself. But some day, I expect to come into the office to find Tom or Jeremy in my chair and say, “oh, sorry… it’s just soooooo comfortable!” and soon we’ll all be sitting in ergonomic kneeling chairs!

Teri

I just logged in for a quick post today. First, I wanted to thank everyone who made it out to the reunion this weekend. Not only was it a FABULOUS time, but we think it was the highest attendance we've ever had at a reunion! We took a lot of pictures and put them up on the website. If you haven't seen them, they can be viewed here. If you couldn't make it the reunion and want to send a message to your camp friends, please post the message on the Campus Kids - New Jersey Facebook fan page or send it to sundial@campuskids.com so we can publish it in the next issue of our newsletter.

It's starting to feel a bit like winter and I hope you've all been staying nice and warm. I can't wait until the day we wake up to blanket of snow covering the yard. I've been thinking that it's time to wax the snowboards and to update you on a couple of things.

First off, Vanessa and I have continued to work away on our new house and are finally able to show you two somewhat finished rooms! We finished the living room/dining room and our bedroom. The furniture arrived yesterday which made everything feel complete and we had a very restful night. Here are some before and after pics:

Before:	After:


As far as the Campus Kids office goes, we've been quite busy getting ready for the reunion. The secret give-away we ordered arrived in the mail yesterday and we're pretty psyched about how they came out. You'll just have to wait and see. We wish everyone could make it to the reunion. I can't wait to see everyone and get a good dose of camp people in the middle of the year. We'll be ice skating around the rink and stuffing our faces with pizza! It's sure to be a good time. If you can't make it, I'm sorry! We're going to miss you! The good news is that you'll be able to see all the pics we put up on the website next week. Also, if you can't make it, the Campus Kids New Jersey Facebook fan page is a great place to leave a message for your camp friends. If you haven't "added" Campus Kids New Jersey to your profile, you can do so by clicking on the link to the right!	Campus Kids New Jersey on Facebook
Finally, as most of you already know, Teri joined our year round team this fall. All I can say is, "WOW!" She's added a lot of excitement and enthusiasm to our days in the office. Also, her organizational skills are a force to be reckoned with. Not only has she totally rearranged her area of the office, but she's even got Tom to organize his piles of papers and notes and books! In this pic, they are going through documents that have accumulated over the last few weeks and determining what they have to keep and what can be shredded. It's pretty funny to watch. Hee hee hee... See you on Saturday, Jeremy