One thing, two thing, red thing, blue thing
After Breakfast get your belongings
Open workshops to retrieve them all
Wrap them well, big and small
Motorcycles here to give you rides
Then swim and lake and water slides
Come to lunch and be on time
This is getting hard to rhyme!
Off to see the doctors in the gym
As they play volleyball and get slim.
Pack your bags, don’t forget a thing,
Tag them, put them out and give us a ring.
Pack your clothes, your shoes and jewelry too
Your shirts and skirts and pj’s, by FIVE, bless you.
See you at the banquet, promptly at six
For a wide array of Ruvain’s finest tricks.
On to the social hall where you will see
The greatest Camp Simcha video in history.
A few thank you’s and tears we will all share,
We can’t wait to see you in Camp Simcha next year!
It Takes Two…
You’re not seeing double. Today is twin day in CSS! At lunch, our real twins were called up to the stage for a presentation. Esti and Malki, our parent trap twins, did a dance. Mollie and Samara (triplets), and Frannie and Rebecca (not really twins, but dressed so you would think that they were…) played sister-sister to see who knew their “twin” better. Questions included “what is your twin’s favorite food in canteen?” and “what is your twin’s favorite song?”
Right before Shabbat, the Simcha Spa opened once again. Jess got her nails painted purple because it’s her favorite color. Elana got her hair half up, and Bethany got an up-do. Other campers got their makeup done or massages. Then, our beautiful campers took some pre-Shabbat pictures in preparation for another beautiful Shabbat at Camp Simcha Special!
Thank you for our new infirmary!
Once upon a time…
Once upon a time there was a camp where all princesses could go to have the very best summer that they could imagine. This camp was located in Glen Spey, NY and its initials were CSS. Some say that CSS stood Cool Stupendous Sanctuary, and others say that it stood for Camp Simcha Special.
On July 8, 2010, all the princesses at CSS dressed up in their tiaras and ball gowns for a magical day. In the first activity of the day, the youngest princesses got to play a game called princess power. Winners won a variety of prizes including princess puzzles, scrunchies, stickers, and jewelry.
After lunch, princesses from Shana and Sarah’s divisions left for a trip to the bowling alley. Though bowling is not exactly a royal-like activity, the princesses enjoyed the experience nonetheless.
At dinner, Shloime Dachs came to sing at CSS’s grand ball. The princesses danced and sang until they were exhausted, at which point it was time for the three princesses of CSS: Princess Emily, Princess Nechama, and Princess Rivky to perform. Emily wrote a speech saying that though CSS is undoubtably the best camp for princesses in the world, if she were to be elected princess of CSS, she would have a transport limousine for each bunk and breakfast in bed. Nechama composed a beautiful poem detailing why she should be elected princess of CSS. Finally, Rivky sang a song with a chorus of: “vote Rivky D!” All princesses were winners, and were crowned princesses of CSS!
After CSS’s grand ball, the Silbers joined the CSS royalty for the ribbon cutting ceremony of CSS’s brand new infirmary. CSS’s new infirmary was rumored to be a large, technically advanced, and welcoming facility complete with the most top of the line medical equipment. The younger princesses especially liked how the rooms were decorated to look like a farm, though some could not understand why there were stuffed animal heads on the walls. On behalf of all the princesses of CSS, we would like to publicly thank the Silbers for our infirmary. THANK YOU!!!!
The princesses were treated to yet another activity when some fellow princesses put on a play called “Finally Ever After.” The play centered around the storyline of some famous princesses including Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Jasmine, and Ariel. The CSS princesses that performed were Evelin, Gavriela, Leah, Chani, Frannie, Chumie, Miriam, Rebecca, Ahuva, Rina, Shterna, Rachel, Malka, Rebecca, Ziva, Liat, Rachel, and Alexis. The play was phenomenal!
The princesses capped off their night with a fireworks show in the field at CSS. After a long night, the princesses headed off to their royal bunkhouses to get some sleep in preparation for another exciting day at the one and only camp for princesses in Glen Spey…
Imagine if you Lived in a Haunted House
Good morning Camp Simcha Special! I’m really glad that it’s morning because if it was night, I’d be pretty scared in the dining room. There are zombies, skeletons, ghosts, and cobwebs. Most campers agree that it is “pretty gross,” but I’d like to focus on the “pretty” and say that though it looks scary over here, it does looks “pretty awesome.”
At lunch today, we had a screaming competition between Samara and Mara to see who could do the best spooky house shriek. There were no winners because everyone was just too excited that our hearing was still intact. We also called up a couple of campers who got blindfolded and had to guess what they were feeling inside of a bowl. Rivky got ketchup and Chaya got cottage cheese. A little later in the day we got to see some division heads and counselors in their zombie best perform their rendition of thriller!
For night activity, we had a one man circus by Michael Dubov. We were really impressed with his juggling skills and Rachel W. only had to pick up the balls that he dropped a couple of times. Then, Rachel L. was called up to help with a card trick. When Michael pulled her card out of his mouth, Rachel was impressed, but she decided not to take it back. Then, Chumie and Krak were called up and Michael tried to guess what word they were thinking of. We were astounded when he guessed that Krak’s word was newspaper! For the finale, Mr. Dubov juggled machetes on a tightrope. After a most entertaining show, our campers headed to their bunkhouses to rest up for whatever CSS will bring us tomorrow. Have a great night!
Under the Sea…
(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
Superstars in Simcha
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…
Imaging if you lived in the Olden Days
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!
Shabbat Shalom
Our very first Shabbat in camp Simcha Special is already behind us and it was quite amazing! On Friday night we headed to the dining room for a delicious dinner. Just in case we didn’t have enough food by the meal, we had a dessert table right after with cake, cookies, and candy.
After lunch, our campers performed a play for our afternoon entertainment. Then, we played Bingo in the canteen. Winners got to choose from a range of prizes including stuffed animals, barbie dolls, and board games.
Our dinner entertainment was a choir, where our campers regaled us with their beautiful voices as they performed solos in front of the entire camp.
We were all very sad to see Shabbat go but you wouldn’t believe that if you saw the scene in CSS when it was over! Campers & counselors danced away to blaring music; I guess when there’s no music in CSS even for one day we all feel the need to blast it as soon as we can! After exhausting ourselves with singing & dancing we had yet another meal before we went to sleep. Looking forward to another awesome, incredible, exciting, fantastic week in Camp Simcha Special!
Superheros in Simcha!
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!
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