(Sung to the tune “Under the Sea” from Disney’s The Little Mermaid)

The seaweed is always greener
By Simcha Special, it’s true
You dream about going up there
But this blog will just have to do
Today the whole world around us
Looked just like an ocean floor
Imagine you’re under the sea; that’s where you’ll find us
What more could we have hoped for?

Under the sea
Under the sea
Darling it’s better
Down where it’s wetter
Take it from me
On today’s hottest summer day
With tons of water we kept the heat away
While we devotin’
Full time to floatin’
Under the sea

Scuba divers came to make our campers happy
‘Cuz they got to do scuba in our pool
Water fights and sprinklers also made us happy
And there were mist tents to keep us cool
We had some activities out on the lake
Sarah B. loved the motor boat
And some Sushi our campers did make
And in the pool we did float

Under the sea
Under the sea
Our counselors got dressed
In their underwater best
Like Nemo and Dory
We had quite a lot of sponge bobs running around
Our dining room had seaweed on the ground
We got no troubles
We even had bubbles
Under the sea
Under the sea
Since life is sweet here
We got the beat here
Naturally
Everyone in Simcha Special shout Hooray
We always got the urge ‘n’ start to play
We got the spirit
You got to hear it
Under the sea

For night activity tonight
The Sky Riders came
They did a professional trampoline show
But our Meira put them to shame
When she got on the trampoline and had a go
She did some flips too
(But they were still awesomely cool)
(Yeah)
The ray he can play
The lings on the strings
The trout rockin’ out
The blackfish she sings
The smelt and the sprat
They know where it’s at
An’ oh that blowfish blow

Under the sea
Under the sea
Our counselors got dressed
In their underwater best
Like Nemo and Dory
We had quite a lot of sponge bobs running around
Our dining room had seaweed on the ground
We got no troubles
We even had bubbles
Under the sea
Under the sea
Since life is sweet here
We got the beat here
Naturally
Everyone in Simcha Special shout Hooray
We always got the urge ‘n’ start to play
We got the spirit
You got to hear it
Under the sea

Get out your autograph books; this place is swarming with superstars! We have Hannah Montana, Justin Bieber, and even Madonna lookalikes walking around camp. The paparazzi is blinding as their flashes click in front of our eyes. Campers are (as always) getting red carpet treatment. Welcome to Simchallywood!

Today marked the first day of intensive workshops, in which our two oldest divisions got to choose from a range of activities that they would like to master. For the rest of this week, our campers will concentrate on those skills so that they could become professionals by the time they leave camp. The workshops include drums, keyboard, first aid, embroidery, ceramics, and drama. Emily chose embroidery because it is a skill that she never tried before. She really enjoys it and is working on making a towel. I just saw it and it is GORGEOUS! Ziva chose drama because she is a talented actress and singer. She was given the role of Snow White. Can’t wait to see the play this Thursday!

After lunch, we had a show by Improv in the social hall. Girls got called up from the audience to help competing actors in an improv acting competition! Lea got interviewed and told the camp that she is a professional dancer. Libby pretended to be a bumblebee tuna. After the show, our actresses began to prepare for the talent show.

Our highlight for the day was the annual Simcha’s got Talent in the social hall!  And let me just tell you that Simcha has most definitely got Talent! There were way too many amazing acts to get into, but here were a couple: Katie played guitar while Rachel sang, Gavriela and Stephanie sang solos, Franny, Rebecca, and Sarah sang a trio, Mara showed us an amazing charcoal painting, Samara showed us how to scream really loud and then sang us a solo, Ahuva and Shaindy did some gymnastics, and Ashira walked for us. There were so so many others but writing doesn’t do it justice. You have to see this stuff to believe it. So I will stop here…

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. The date today is July 4, 1773. Yes, you read that right-1773. Today in CSS we went back in time. We had colonial waitresses serving us an outdoor breakfast. Campers and counselors were dressed in bonnets and long dresses. We even had an old fashioned fair complete with pie making, spinning wheels, and soap making! But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll tell you about that in a minute…

Our week started off once again with a ballet class for our early risers. Breakfast today was quite a treat! Our waitresses dressed up in their 18th century garb and served us porridge. After breakfast, we had some fun workshops including one in which campers baked American flag cakes to celebrate America’s 234th birthday! After pottery, mosaics, swim, leather, ropes course, boating, baking and scrap-booking, it was time for lunch.

Following lunch, Miriam, Rachel, Gabriella, Molly, Sari and Chaya Brocha took turns singing America’s national anthem. After the professional singing from our campers, we had some other professionals sing for us: Eli and Yaakov Mordechai Gerstner! As usual, staff and campers rocked, jumped, twisted, and spun to the music making our second concert at CSS another huge success!

After our concert we travelled back in time yet again to experience a colonial fair. Campers were able to choose from a variety of booths including candle-making, candy apple-baking, basket weaving, wood carving, pail engraving, pie making, sewing, and soap making! Some campers even got to learn how to pump water by hand which is a skill that everyone in the 21st century really should know.

In addition to the fair, we had a petting zoo come to our basketball field! We had horseback riding and a monkey show. We were also able to look at (and touch, for those of us who wanted to…) turtles, rabbits and snakes. Rachel held the rabbits and Elana ran around with the snake.

After dinner, campers and counselors were able to dress up in old fashioned outfits and our professional photographers took pictures of them set against a vintage background. Then, we headed to the gym for our night activity. Tonight’s night activity was a competition in which we pitted the head staff against each other! Reuven and Michael Vatch had to diaper stuffed bears and make Jelly ‘n Fluff sandwiches. Our nurses had to carry eggs across the gym. The nurses at CSS are so precise, accurate, and talented that they had to do it three times until any of them got out! The DH’s had to put makeup on each other blindfolded. They were quite a sight to see! After the competition, we had a lantern tour around CSS while our guide told us stories about the olden days. And now we’re back to the 21st century and awaiting tomorrow and the future fun we’ll have in CSS. I’ll keep you updated tomorrow… Have a great night!

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s superman, spiderman, batman, hatzolah man (?)! Imagine if you were a superhero. We don’t have to imagine much because everyone in CSS is a hero in her own right, but we got to dress up like superheroes which was totally fun.

At lunch today, our campers showed off their superpowers. Bailu lifted a noodle with her super strength. Malky did a split. Shterna did a pretzel. Other campers played the piano and sang songs.

After lunch, David Garrity performed a magic show called “Magic of Illusionist” in the social hall. Melanie cut a white string that somehow never became even. Rivky and Samantha drew on a kerchief and their drawing miraculously appeared in an apple core. Libby performed a trick with a ring, and Bethany did a magic trick with a coloring book. David Garrity’s superpowers perplexed us all and we had a great show!

Right before Shabbat, the Simcha Spa opened and our campers were able to get their hair, nails, or makeup done. (or all three!) Now all our gorgeously made up campers and counselors are eagerly awaiting the Shabbat meal tonight. Have a good Shabbat!

Imagine if you lived in the wild west. There would be cowboys and indians. Sheriffs and shotguns. Horses and bonfires. In CSS we had all that and more. Even the horses!

When we entered the dining room this morning, we thought we were on the set of a western. We had a saloon, a bank, a jail, and even a wanted sign. There was western music blaring, ranging from the conventional “cotton eyed joe” to the more modern “hoedown throwdown.”  Campers and counselors danced away in their cowboy hats and boots.

In sweet shop, we made horses & buggies using sandwich cookies, pretzels, honey, and twizzlers. By swimming, Bethany, Alexis, and Lea passed the deep water test- congratulations! After our morning activities, some divisions went horseback riding!

After lunch, Simi sang the hoedown throwdown and Blimie taught the whole camp the “Yavo” dance. Then, campers took turns trying to throw a lasso around a stuffed horse. Sterna almost got it! Then, the camp sang happy birthday to Molly and Samara. For Molly’s birthday, her bunk had a party complete with candy, a pinata, and a showing of Free Willy. Samara’s party was held in the sweet shop where her bunk got to have all the candy that they wanted! Happy birthday from the whole CSS family!

For night activity tonight we had square dancing! Our CSS dancers as usual rocked the dance floor. After, we had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows, hotdogs, and s’mores. Aviva brought her guitar and we all sang ’round the campfire into the night…

So I was partially right about the chocolate night activity. Right after dinner, Willy Wonka called up the three girls who found golden tickets today for a bubble-gum blowing competition! Shira blew the biggest bubble and won a set of Disney Princess dolls. After, the division heads were called up for another competition, this one involving CHOCOLATE! A camper from each division was called up to hold a plate of whipped cream and chocolate chips. The DH that got the most chocolate chips out of the whipped cream (with her mouth) by the time the music stopped won a prize for her whole division. I think that Chumie won but no one really knows because after about three minutes it all ended in a food fight! I don’t want to get into details because it can get kind of gross, but let me just tell you that there was chocolate EVERYWHERE. The perfect end to chocolate day!

After our Willy Wonka games, we headed to the social hall where twin acrobats all the way from France performed an amazing show with some outrageous stunts! Jennifer said that it was a great show, but she was afraid that the acrobats would fall off their stilts. Turns out they didn’t fall but they did wow us with some cool tricks on a unicycle, juggling with fire, and flipping over each other in balloon stuffed costumes. (I know it sounds a little strange but trust me, it was really cool.)

After the show, campers used their money that they collected from millionaire day to bid in a Camp Simcha Special auction! Prizes ranged from a Hanna Montana charity box to a slumber party in the video room. And that is all for today…have a great night!

It is a widely known fact that Camp Simcha Special has awesome food. So what happens when you imagine Camp Simcha Special is made of chocolate?! There are fondue fountains in the dining room! Campers are making chocolate lollypops and houses! (don’t worry they’re miniature houses) We have giant hershey bars decorating the dining room! It’s insane!

Ballet yesterday was a success so our morning started once again with our early risers stretching, plie-ing, arabesque-ing, and releve-ing. Sweet shop today was quite a treat because we got to do chocolate molding. Rivky made a rose and Renee made a bear. We also had a special activity where campers got to mold their own creations out of graham crackers, buttercream, and candy. Some girls made houses, some made bunk beds, and some even made their counselors. We can’t say that the counselor creations were very flattering but they definitely tasted good.

The highlight of our afternoon was at lunchtime when we celebrated Pessy’s Bat Mitzvah! Huge Mazel Tov to Pessy and her whole family from all of Camp Simcha Special! A chocolate themed Bat Mitzvah is definitely very cool. We hope that you enjoyed!

Almost time for dinner and then a special activity in the social hall. I’ll let you know what it is later tonight, but I bet it’s going to have to do with chocolate.

Well, I do. I’m sure you want to too. Today, everyone at Camp Simcha Special became millionaires. With the dining room draped in dollar signs and gold coins, CSS barely had to imagine: we quite literally had all the money in the world.

The day started bright and early with a ballet class for our younger division, followed by heart to heart. The morning was filled with many exciting workshops including leather, where Franscesca made an “F” keychain, and boating, where Henny went on a pontoon boat. She said it was “a lot of fun!”

After lunch we had an exciting game of Simon Says with Steve Max. We discovered that campers are better listeners than counselors (big surprise!) The winning counselor was Ronit P, whose camper, Leah, was extremely excited. Mr. Max told us that Camp Simcha is the liveliest most awesome camp that he goes to but yea, we knew that already.

Our next activity was learning groups in order to commemorate the destruction of the walls of Jerusalem which happened on this very day many years ago. Some bunks had a penny hunt that alluded to the good deed of charity. Another group heard about the historical significance of this day in a speech by Rabbi Brazil.

At the end of the day, we had a night activity with a bunch of game shows that enabled our campers to become millionaires! The first game was Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Campers were asked questions about CSS such as “how much does soda cost: $100, $5, or $0?” Our trivia mavens, Ahuva, Rachel, and Rina made it to the final round. After, we played Wheel of Fortune, and Miriam solved the puzzle: Disney World! Congratulations to all our campers who are now millionaires. We hope you share the wealth. Or at least the simcha…which we know that you will!