Today was a great day full of regular activities but most everyone opted out of their schedule to practice for Girls Sing and Boys Lip Sync which are both coming up soon. All across camp you saw divisions of campers working together and practicing their moves.  There is deep camp tradition with Girls Sing and Boys Lip Sync and the campers know what is on the line. Watching them practice is as good as watching the real show. Today at center camp, our Super Boys (9^th graders) were practicing their routine and having a ball as they laughed harder than they danced but what caught my attention were the freshman boys just sitting and watching in awe. This is where it happens, where our youngest kids begin to see what life is like as a older camper. It’s as if our youngest campers have been handed the baton, to see that it’s cool to dance in center camp in front of everyone. When you see the look our young campers faces as they watch the older kids, you could see the spark of magic in their eyes as they know one day, that will be them.

It was a great day of games in and out of camp. We are proud of our athletes for always playing with great sportsmanship and the love of the game.

Girls 2^nd/3^rd/4^th Soccer – CAW 1 vs. Tioga 0

Girls 7^th Grade Basketball – CAW 26 vs. Starlight 16

Girls 7^th Grade Soccer – CAW 6 vs. Lohikan 0

Girls 8^th Grade Softball – CAW 21 vs. Lohikan 0

Boys 7^th Grade Basketball – CAW 37 vs. Equinunk 39

Tonight was all about our Chenny Idol Finale. The top 5 finalists put on quite a show. The competition was fierce as each vocalist deserved to be up there and they sang their heart out. Each contestant knew they were vying for the big prize; a gold star in School of Rock that will forever memorialize the mark they left at Chenny and a stretch party limo for them and their entourage (bunk) as they head out to dinner and a night they will never forget. The audience was singing along with each performance and voting was tough but in the end there was one winner and this years Chenny Idol is JULIA BROMLEY. She sang beautifully and with such meaning. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house as she so emotionally conveyed her feelings with every note. It was a spectacular magical night in which we all witnessed something very special.

 

Chenny out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a brunch wake up today and we all truly enjoyed the extra sleep. After loving our lazy morning, it was off to the Carnival for one amazing fun day. There was dunk tanks, carnival games, water slides, human foosball, inflatable obstacle courses, snow cones, cotton candy and so much more. The highlight at today’s carnival was without a doubt the Gaming Truck we brought in. Twenty-six kids at a time escaped the heat and played inside this state of the art truck loaded with X box 360 video games. Definitely the coolest attraction of the day and the kids took full advantage of it.  Just an old fashioned fun day with sticky faces from all that cotton candy.

We were able to get a few games in between the carnival fun.

Girls 3^rd/4^th/5^th Grade Softball –CAW 12 vs. Weequahic 2

Girls 8^th Grade Tennis – CAW 0 vs. Tyler Hill 5

Boys 6^th Grade Basketball – CAW 25 vs. Tyler Hill 21

We continued the fun into tonight’s evening activity with Wild and Wacky Races. We threw rubber chickens into pots, got pied in the face, played name that tune and giant word scrambler and of course some of us got slimmed. Can you imagine in one day we played at a carnival then spent the night getting pied in the face.

What an awesome day we had. It’s days like this that makes us never want to grow up. Why would we? The days of homework, tests, college applications, crazy after school schedules, Hebrew school and the daily stress we feel for 10 months, just don’t exist here. Here we spend the day eating snow cones and trying hit the bulls eye to dunk our favorites counselors. The biggest stress of the day was trying decide which prize we wanted after cashing in all our tickets we got at the carnival.. Today was a gift in giant proportions. #feelinggrateful

Chenny Out

 

 

We all love being at camp but leaving on our excursions is over the top fun and today definitely delivered.

Our Cherokee Campers (Freshman, Juniors and Middies) spent their day at Leahy’s Fun Zone and played arcade games, went go-karting, had a ball in the batting cages and loved the incredible mini-golf course. Then just when the campers thought it couldn’t get much better than that, it was off to the bowling alley. After bowling and having a blast it was back to camp for dinner. We packed so much into today for our Cherokee campers and they loved every minute of it.

Mohikan Campers (Inters & Collegiates) spent today cooling off at Camel Beach. It was water ride after water ride and we had some very happy Mohikan campers today. The sun was hot but we were cool.  As the sun set, it was dinner at the park then back to camp.  What could better than that? Not much.

Navajo Campers (Seniors, Supers & GC’s) spent their day at Cooperstown. Not only did they visit the Baseball Hall of Fame but they made it more exciting with a preplanned all Chenny scavenger hunt in the museum. It was an absolutely amazing day spent with absolutely amazing people.  They got to explore the cute town in Cooperstown, ate and shopped. Trips like these are awesome but doing them with your friends makes the remarkable.

A privilege to be a Wanderer is that they get to decide where they go on Tuesdays so they all agreed and started their day at Bingham’s for breakfast then it was off the The Crossings and Windsors for dinner. And to top off the night, they went to the movies. There was little down time today and why should there be? Our Wanderers want to take advantage of every minute as they are at the mid-way mark to their very last summer as a camper.

We didn’t post yesterday’s scores to the tons of games our Chenny athletes played.  So the following results were from yesterday.

Girls 6^th Grade Soccer – CAW 0 vs. Morasha 2

Girls 8^th Grade Softball – CAW 17 vs. Shoshanim

Boys 3^rd/4^th Basketball – CAW 18 vs. Starlight 27

Boys 6^th 7^th Grade Tennis- CAW vs. Tyeler Hill – CAW Lost 6^th & 7^th Grade doubles but won 6^th and 7^th Grade singles

Boys 7^th Grade Soccer – CAW 4 vs. Lavi 1

Boys 9^th Grade Tennis – CAW 3 vs. Westmont 2

Boys 10^th/11^th Grade Volleyball – Single Day Tourney at Island Lake. Chenny lost in the finals to Indian Head by 2 points. We played phenomenally and had a great time.

Boys 10^th/11^th Grade Soccer – CAW 4 vs. Indian Head 8

As we all enjoyed our day and were separated by where we all went, in the end we all came back together and are safely back in our summer home. As much fun as today was, we all are looking forward to our day tomorrow with a brunch wake-up followed by CARNIVAL!!!!!! Each day is better than next here.

It’s lights out and all campers are sleeping soundly. There is nothing better than a camp full of safe and sound sleeping campers that just spent a whole day enjoying themselves.

Chenny Out

 

 

 

 

It was a hot one today so most of our activities were focused around getting wet and in the water. The pool and lake were the place to be today and campers loved every minute of it. When the heat rises, nothing is better than spending your day in your swimsuit. The Zone was a busy place as well as water balloon fights all day long. It was a just an amazing fun day full of happy wet campers.

If you haven’t gotten into the rainbow loom craze, its here and it’s in full force. We have tons of sets in Arts & Crafts for campers to use and create great bracelets and necklaces. I sat with a group of girls who were making them for their counselors and was inspired by a conversation between the girls. As they were each making a bracelet for the counselors, they were discussing how much they loved and adored them and as one camper so beautifully stated, “I want to make my counselor as happy and she makes me.” This struck a cord and is the essence of that wonderful relationship that occurs between camper and counselor. Where in life can a young person receive an uninterrupted amount of positive attention from an 18-22 year old? This friendship provides such guidance and comfort and is so different from any other relationship. Our counselors are there for your children. They listen to them without judgment, they are present and patient and they can get your kids to make their bed for 7 weeks with ease. A fete that is difficult for us parents but they do it with effortless enthusiasm. So these campers got it, they knew how special their counselors are and those rainbow loom bracelets weren’t just a combination of colored rubber bands but instead they represented a symbol of gratitude for this very special friendship.

We all got dressed up in our coolest Bohemian hipster outfits and rocked out tonight at this evening’s mid summer social. It was East Village meets Brooklyn and we were chillin’. The music was bumpin’ and we danced the night away. It was one awesome night. We Cha Cha Slided then Harlem Shaked and of course we Cotton Eye Joed. The party was awesome and the campers had an absolute blast. Oh what a night, a perfect summer night…

Chenny Out

 

It was right back to the fun after one amazing visiting day. There is a sense of calmness or maybe the word I’m looking for is better defined as comfort but the feeling here we are all experiencing is just the feeling of being home. This is our home for the next 4 weeks and we have all beautifully settled in and created a true safe haven here. There are no pressures or chaos just opportunities to grow and expand ourselves. There is in abundance of support and creative outlets. There is a safety net here and we catch those who fall.

As a Middy boy tried the trapeze for the first time today, you could see his hesitation and nerves but he mustered up all his strength and headed up that ladder. He reached out and trusted the circus counselor who had a hold of his harness as he reached out to grab the bar. With one deep breath, he stepped off the ledge and flew. Like this experience of camp, he trusted someone else to hold him when he was frightened and then after soaring back and forth on that giant trapeze, he let go and that huge net below provided safety as he dropped. That net is all of us here. We are each a piece of the net that catches each other. It so easy to see how in the past 3 weeks we have all unplugged, connected to each other and have provided that human connection that makes us better people.

Our athletes had a fun day of games today as one camper perfectly said it all after losing her soccer game, “I’ve never had so much fun loosing a game.”

Girls 7^th Grade LAX – CAW 8 vs. Indian Head 6

Girls 8^th Grade Soccer – CAW 11 vs. Island Lake 0

Girls 9^th Grade Tennis – CAW 3 vs. Lavi 2

Girls 10^th 11^th Grade Soccer – CAW 2 vs. Wayne 6

Boys 4^th/5^th/6^th Grade LAX – CAW 4 vs Wayne 6 * Wayne forfeited this game due to tournament rules they violated – CAW moves on to quarter finals

Boys 9^th Grade Baseball – CAW 15 vs. Lohikan 0

Boys 10^th/11^th Grade Basketball – CAW 55 vs. Morasha 70

Boys 10^th /11^th Grade Soccer – CAW 4 vs. Indian Head 9

It was Chenny Idol Fever tonight as our Top 5 finalists were announced. Congratulations to our amazing vocalists her at Chenny.  You are one step closer to being named Chenny Idol 2013

 

Julia Bromley

Daniel Gur

Ally Heller

Max Rovner & Matt Leviss

Carly Wills, Cami Oresky, Alexis Ash, Maci Rubenstein & Amanda Behrens

We spent tonight watching our annual Powder Puff Game; GC’s vs. Wanderers. It was an awesome night under the stars relaxing watching our most spirited powder puff game ever. The game was fun, intense and entertaining and ended in a tie. Just another amazing day at our favorite place we call home.

Chenny Out

We have all seen the viral video of families running to get their campers as the whistle blows on visiting day.. What that video missed to show, was the intense emotion as you embraced your child after being without them for the past three weeks. The joy, actually it was pure elation you had as you held them close again. It is such a privilege to watch you embrace your children and the sweetness of that moment never gets old. The tears, the smiles from the heart and the “oh my god, you’ve grown” are truly magical from our vantage point. Not a dry eye as we watched your son leap into your arms or your daughter hug you so tight she didn’t want to let go. You have given your children their wings and for the last three weeks they have flown, actually soared.

These past three weeks, they have overcome homesickness, worked out issues with friends, found their voice, discovered their independence and proved to themselves they are stronger than they thought. That is why you sent to them to us and we hope today you had a brief glimpse to the wonderful life they have created here at Chen-A-Wanda.

We hope you enjoyed your day and truly appreciate all of your support. We are having the best time here with your kids and hope you left today seeing just how special this place is and how much we all love doing what we do. It is a joy getting up to bugles and playing with your children all day long. We have four more weeks of pure bliss here and we aren’t going to waste a moment of it. Continue enjoying the pictures and videos of what is to come because one thing is for sure we will be having a ball up here and loving every minute.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making today so special and being a part of our Chenny Family.

Chenny Out

 

You can’t escape the excitement of what is happening tomorrow. Everyone is getting to see his or her families and the feeling is tangible. We are all so excited for what tomorrow will bring.

Even with the anticipation of tomorrow, we were able to play some great games.

Girls 3^rd/4^th Grade Soccer – CAW 6 vs. Tioga 0

Girls 7^th Grade Tennis – CAW 2 vs. Weequahic 3

Girls 10^th/ 11^th Grade LAX – CAW 2 vs. Wayne 18

Boys 3^rd/4^th/5^th Grade Tennis – CAW 4 vs. Westmont 1

Boys 6^th Grade Soccer – CAW 9 vs. Seneca Lake 0

We had a friendly basketball tournament for our 3^rd/4th grade boys as Westmont came to play.

CAW White 34 vs. Westmont Blue 4

CAW Red 20 vs. Westmont White 18

CAW Gold 14 vs, Westmont Red 2

We honored our Campers of the Week and we are so thrilled to give these campers their very well deserved dog tags. They wear them with pride and they should. They are great campers with tremendous character.

Freshman – Zoe Wood & Jake Konigsberg

Junior – Sydney Wood & Eli Kroskin

Middues – Maddy Marcus & Drew Brassloff

Inters – Kaley Morabito & Asher Slotkin

Collegiates – Jordan Brunner & Adin Bridsky

Seniors – Sydney Salk & David Smolowitz

Supers – Melissa Frank & Josh Antell

GC’s – Morgan Perlman & Jason Teich

Wanderers – Sam Pollack & Jason Levine

Tonight we were thoroughly entertained by our Top 13 Chenny Idols. They were spectacular and put on such a great show. The only thing that topped our performances was the amount of energy the audience provided. It was a packed Shields Hall and everyone was singing along and took tonight to a whole new level. The spirit of Chen-A-Wanda was alive and kicking tonight. All our performers truly felt like superstars. They owned that stage and felt the love. Isn’t that what it is all about? Feelin’ the love. Wish everyday in the real world made us feel the love like this but so grateful we get to experience it all summer long.

We can’t wait to see you all tomorrow morning.

Chenny out

 

 

 

 

Getting Ready For You

 

You can’t escape the excitement of what is happening tomorrow. Everyone is getting to see his or her families and the feeling is tangible. We are all so excited for what tomorrow will bring.

Even with the anticipation of tomorrow, we were able to play some great games.

Girls 3^rd/4^th Grade Soccer – CAW 6 vs. Tioga 0

Girls 7^th Grade Tennis – CAW 2 vs. Weequahic 3

Girls 10^th/ 11^th Grade LAX – CAW 2 vs. Wayne 18

Boys 3^rd/4^th/5^th Grade Tennis – CAW 4 vs. Westmont 1

Boys 6^th Grade Soccer – CAW 9 vs. Seneca Lake 0

We had a friendly basketball tournament for our 3^rd/4th grade boys as Westmont came to play.

CAW White 34 vs. Westmont Blue 4

CAW Red 20 vs. Westmont White 18

CAW Gold 14 vs, Westmont Red 2

We honored our Campers of the Week and we are so thrilled to give these campers their very well deserved dog tags. They wear them with pride and they should. They are great campers with tremendous character.

Freshman – Zoe Wood & Jake Konigsberg

Junior – Sydney Wood & Eli Kroskin

Middues – Maddy Marcus & Drew Brassloff

Inters – Kaley Morabito & Asher Slotkin

Collegiates – Jordan Brunner & Adin Bridsky

Seniors – Sydney Salk & David Smolowitz

Supers – Melissa Frank & Josh Antell

GC’s – Morgan Perlman & Jason Teich

Wanderers – Sam Pollack & Jason Levine

Tonight we were thoroughly entertained by our Top 13 Chenny Idols. They were spectacular and put on such a great show. The only thing that topped our performances was the amount of energy the audience provided. It was a packed Shields Hall and everyone was singing along and took tonight to a whole new level. The spirit of Chen-A-Wanda was alive and kicking tonight. All our performers truly felt like superstars. They owned that stage and felt the love. Isn’t that what it is all about? Feelin’ the love. Tonight was a great way to head into one amazing day tomorrow.

We can’t wait to see you.

Chenny out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s days like this that remind us why we’re here. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky and Fiddle Lake was glistening and looked like there were diamonds shimmering on the water. It was just an absolute perfect day here at CAW. Campers were out and about enjoying themselves. Where do kids get to play outside all day long? No television, no computers, no cell phones to occupy your children. Just wide-open fields so your kids can play.  When you send them to camp, you have provided them a summer to just play. A truly essential experience that kids these days get so little of.

It was a busy day of games for our CAW athletes. Watching them play is such a great experience and wonderful sight to see. They play for the love of the game and that shines through.

Girls 7^th & 8^th Grade Gymnastics – Single Day competition at Wayne for Girls – CAW came in 7^th Place Overall

Girls 5^th Grade Basketball – CAW 24 vs. Poyntelle 2

Boys 6^th Grade Tennis – CAW 2 vs. Wayne 3

Boys 7^th Grade LAX – CAW 3 vs. Wayne 9

CAW hosted a 5^th Grade Boys Basketball Tourney.

CAW White 25 vs. Tyler Hill 28

CAW White 18 vs. Westmont 30

CAW Gold 31 vs. Tyler Hill 20

CAW Gold 19 vs. CAW White 13

CAW Gold 24 vs. Westmont 8

CAW Red 31 vs. Westmont 21

CAW Red 35 vs. Tyler Hill 9

CAW Red 30 vs. CAW White 20

CAW Red 22 vs. CAW Gold 6

CAW Red won todays tourney. All the boys had a great time and got to play all afternoon.

All of our Freshman and Junior Boys went to Camp Westmont this evening to play in a friendly soccer tournament they hosted. We had an absolute ball with a total of 4 games being played and CAW won 2 and Westmont won 2. Our CIT Boys joined them tonight and cheered them on. Faces were painted, signs were made and our oldest campers spent the evening cheering on our youngest campers. It was quite a special sight to see these friendships developing between these campers. One CIT said cheering on the Freshman and Juniors reminded him how quick this experience goes and how he wishes it was him on that field just starting his CAW journey. In a blink of an eye.

It was Round Robin tonight and boy did everyone have a great time. Our Freshman girls were having cupcake wars in the Cookhouse while our Junior Girls loved playing night time kickball under the stars. Inter & Collegiate girls enjoyed movie night in the Chen-A-Plex while Senior Girls enjoyed a spa party while Super Girls had a campfire and S’mored it up. GC girls spent their night playing board games and our Girl Wanderers dressed up as nerds and had a blast playing BBG. Middie Boys spent their night playing Wiffle Ball palooza while the Inters & Collegiates were in Shields Hall enjoying their Gaga tournament. Seniors & Supers  had a blast playing Flag Football.  Our GC’s boys loved playing Kan Jam.

Like I started this blog is how I will end because it’s days like this that remind us why we’re here. Life is simply Great here at Camp Chen-A-Wanda.

 

 

 

The entire camp headed out to the Scranton RailRiders (Yankees AAA).  We all spent the morning in our regular fun activities but everyone was so excited about heading out to the ballpark. We got a few games in before we all headed out this afternoon.

Girls 5^th Grade Soccer – CAW 5 vs. Tioga 6

Girls 9^th Grade Soccer – CAW 3 vs. Cayuga 2

Boys 5^th Grade Basketball – CAW 50 vs. Tioga 10

Boys 3^rd/4^th Grade Baseball – CAW 5 vs. Tyler Hill

Boys 5^th/6^th Grade Roller Hockey – CAW 5 vs. Equinunk 10

Boys 6^th Grade Softball – CAW 0 vs. Westmont 1

Boys 9^th Grade LAX – CAW 13 vs. Poyntelle 3

Boys 10^th/11^th Grade Seneca Lake – CAW 8 vs.Seneca Lake 0

The evening was all about baseball and we had a ball.  The entire camp filled the stands in PNC stadium where we watched Derek Jeter play with the RailRidres. The night started out amazing as we cheered on Associate Director Brian Leahy as he and Freshamn camper Max Wasserman threw out the first pitch. Am awesome sight to see and for Max and Brian, a night they will never forget. We cheered for our favorite players, we sang songs in the stands, we did the wave and we all had a great summer night at the ballpark. The night was ideal. What could be better than hanging out with your friends, eating ice cream and watching the game?  The spirit was high and the energy was just so much fun tonight. Another standout night spent with great friends.

It was a Camp Chen-A-Wanda takeover at the stadium. Little kids, big kids and staff all proudly wearing their Chen-A-Wanda shirts, which define us as one giant family and as we departed the stadium tonight, the other fans and staff complimented on how well behaved, polite and respectful our kids were. We were proud of them and as we all rolled back into camp, once again we were home.

Chenny out

 

 

 

It was Cherokee (Freshman, Juniors and Middies) camp takeover today at camp and our youngest campers loved every minute of having camp all to themselves. They spent the day sliding down our 150ft slip and slide, doing wet wacky relays, and playing dodge ball followed by wiffle ball tournament. They ruled the roost here at camp and after a huge pizza party it was time to unwind and watch a movie in Shields Hall.  They had an absolute ball today.

Mohikan camp (Inters & Collegiates) had an amazing day at Great Wolf Lodge. They spent the entire day in the coolest indoor water park.  After they dried off it was right into the arcade to play games and win prizes. Then it was off to an amazing dinner.  As the campers rolled back into camp, they jumped of the buses saying this was the BEST trip they’ve ever been on. It was homerun of a day and you didn’t see a Mohikan camper without a huge smile on their face. A trip that won’t be forgotten and many will most likely ask you to take them back when they return home. It was just that fun.

It was a chill day for Navajo camp (Seniors, Supers and GC’s) as they spent their day at the State Park lying in the sun, having a catch with their buddies or taking a dip in the lake. They had a bbq at the lake and enjoyed dinner just as the sun set. They dried off, changed clothes and headed for a nighttime movie. These big kids rolled back into camp at 9:45pm and had an amazing time. Days like these, we wish we could stop time and freeze so they would last forever.

Our Wanderers had their own special treat today as they ate breakfast at Binghams and for those of you who are familiar know that they ate very well. Nothing quite like the French toast at Binghams. Then it was off to the movies followed by a day shopping at the mall. They spent a great day hanging out with one another, working up an appetite so it was off to have dinner in Scranton. Our oldest campers just love being with each other and getting to do big kid stuff together is what they have looked forward to since they were Middies.. So even the simplest trip to the mall is insanely fun because they all get to do this together.

As each bus rolled back into camp, you see the look of exhilaration on each campers face of how much fun they all had today. There is no denying that. But there is nothing quite like the feeling of rolling back into home and tonight we are all back home.

Chenny out