Keeping with the theme of the summer “Great Simcha Escapes,” our two oldest divisions, Goldie’s Gagas and Sarah’s Sparklers escaped to the city! After breakfast, our campers loaded the buses for an exciting, fun filled day featuring a trip to Madame Tussad’s Wax Museum and an exciting Chai Lifeline event in Central Park.
In the museum, our campers got to “meet” and take pictures with famous icons, celebrities, politicians and sports figures. Some of our campers even entered the red-roped White House room and sat behind President Obama’s desk and took pictures with him! A favorite wax model in the museum was Franklin D. Roosevelt, a famous figure in history who our campers could relate to. Singers, sports players, even one that was 7 feet tall amused our campers. As we walked around we kept looking twice to see if the person was real or not! Dr. Shlomo Zakheim even took part in the fun, fooling guests in the museum into thinking he was a wax model! Katie was so excited to take pictures with Justin Bieber… (Katie, Katie, Katie ooh). Yenti, our well known camp singer extraordinaire stood just inches away from singing sensation Stevie Wonder. Bethanie, one of our brave campers, entered the haunted hallway, complete with leaping hands and loud noises. Boy, were we scared!
After the museum, we loaded the buses and vans, witnessing some pretty interesting sights on the streets of New York! We made our way to Central Park where our campers were treated to an amusement park themed event sponsored by LH Financial, “Solomon’s Dream.” Campers received wristbands and tee-shirts to commemorate the day. Inside the park, there was loads of food including freshly popped popcorn, piping hot pretzels, snow cones, ice cold sodas and an out of this world buffet… almost enough food to rival a typical lunch in Camp Simcha… but not close enough.
Mini roller-coasters, high flying swings, spinning boats and a lazy boat ride thrilled our campers. There was a DJ playing our favorite songs, a bubble blower, blowing basketball-sized bubbles, jugglers and other acts entertained us as we laughed and had a blast!
As the sun started to set we boarded the buses back to camp, tired but filled with so much joy at our special day in New York. Special thanks to Shaindy Lowenthal for all her hard work coordinating the trip, LH Financial for sponsoring the beautiful event and everyone who enhanced our time in New York. It was truly an incredible day that we will never forget.