ParentSpace Blog

It is nine in the morning and campers are eagerly awaiting the buses that will take them on the major trip of the summer. The buses back in and everyone excitedly boards the six giant coach buses. Attendance is taken and the buses pull out.

The first stop is Paramount theater, in in Ausbury Park New Jersey, to see the talented Cirque Ziva. This theater is located along a pier. So, while campers wait for the doors to open they are busy mini golfing, surrey riding, or exploring the shops along the pier. Bekkie drives a surrey, easily navigating around the pedestrians. While Sari pedals quickly to help move the bike along. Eventually the doors open and everyone files into the theater. Everyone is pleasantly surprised to discover that Pepsi is handing out free drinks to anyone from Camp Simcha! Campers and Staff find their seats, lights are dimmed, the curtain is raised and the show begins! Cirque Ziva is a group of acrobats whose skills are unbelievable. Among the many acts is a lady who balances a glass lantern on the sole of her foot while twisting her body into different shapes and a man who holds himself in a one-handed hand stand on top of stacked chairs that almost touch the ceiling! When the show comes to a close the entire audience gives the performers a standing ovation.

Everyone leaves the theater and walks across the pier to the convention center for lunch. Waiting on stage is none other then Shalsheles. They begin to play and everyone cheers. Everyone is jumping and dancing to the music. Dana and Arianna are dancing together from on top of their counselors shoulders. A massive conga line begins to form and people are giving each other high-fives as they pass. Sari, Gali, and Noam come on stage and sing beautiful solos. Then, to end the amazing concert, Shalsheles sings a slow song and everyone forms one giant circle. At the end of the song they begin to sing ‘Waving Flags’ and everyone joins in. The concert comes to a close and it is time to board the buses again.

The buses pull into Cocoa Keys Water Kingdom, an indoor water park. There are inner tube slides, a swimming pool, and a massive water jungle gym. There is a pool with five round floating platforms and rope handle bars on top. The goal is to make it across without falling into the water. Anna made it all the way to the end but  her counselor fell in three times before giving up.

After a day of fun it is time to head back to camp. Thank you to everyone who made this day possible!

In a jaw dropping spectacle Eric, Magician Extraordinaire, preformed stunts and tricks that left campers and staff speechless. First, his assistant went inside a box which he split into four smaller boxes, took them apart, then reassembled the boxes and she was still inside! Then, Samantha wrote her name on her counselors twenty dollar bill and it reappeared inside a sealed lemon. Shiran floated five feet in the air and Bekkie helped handcuff and lock Eric inside a box that he successfully escaped from. Everyone stared in disbelief as he caught a paintball in his mouth! Thank you to Eric and the entire Extreme Magic of Eric crew for a spectacular show!

Eric the magician is here and is revealing some of his secrets. Lani is called up to help demonstrate a card trick and Shayna helps teach a rubber band trick. The campers are true magicians. Everyone is excited to watch Eric preform his bigger acts tonight at night activity!

At lunch, all divisions competed in a crayon competition. The goal was to gather as many crayons as possible and then to put them into sets of eight. The division with the most sets would be declared the winner. Campers hurried to gather and assemble their crayons. The Chumee-Chums spelled ‘Chumee-Chums Rox!’ out of their crayon sets. All the divisions did an excellent job!

Last night, Camp Simcha was thrilled to welcome Steve Max and his 99 year old grandmother to camp. Every year he comes and plays the craziest largest game of Simon Says. His tricky strategies leave even the brightest people confused. Counselors and campers were head to head in an intense battle. Menucha was representing the campers and won five to zero. Sari and Bekkie tied in their own competition. Then, Steve called out to Michal, a staff member who can balance things on her face. They each took a folding chair and at the same second balanced the chairs on their faces. After about a minute Steve’s chair fell and he had to declare Michal the balancing champion. At the end of the night everyone said goodbye to Steve and sang ‘happy birthday’ to his grandmother who will soon be 100 years “young”. Thank you Steve Max!

In an unprecedented event, Camp Simcha has broken the Guiness World Record for the longest gold pediatric cancer awareness ribbon. Amber Masso chairwoman of the American childhood cancer association, the town representative of Glen Spey and two officials were present to witness the event. Campers and staff flooded onto the soccer field hand in hand. Everyone stood three in a row walking into formation – a giant cancer awareness ribbon. All of the participants were wearing their camp shirt, a gold hat, gold glove and a bracelet supporting pediatric cancer awareness. Once everyone was in position a Chai Lifeline mascot ran around handing each person a piece of the ribbon. Everyone raised the ribbon as high as they could. Music started to play and the cheering began. “We are golden!” everyone shouted in unison. On the count of ten, everyone placed the ribbon on the ground and threw their hats in the air.  Golden gloved hands were raised in a wave that traveled the length of the ribbon. Then, It was time to step back and allow the officials to measure the ribbon. Congratulations To Camp Simcha for setting a new world record!

In honor of today’s theme, all of the divisions went head to head in a lego building competition. The Chumee-Chums were hard at work building a giant robot while the Rockers created a detailed replica of the Camp Simcha grounds. The Zlatees and the Sparklers both built cancer awareness ribbons. Everyone’s creations were remarkable.

Tonight campers enjoyed sitting around a massive campfire. There were marshmallows to roast and girls enjoyed turning them into delicious s’mores. Girls were singing while  Aviva Honikman accompanied them on the guitar. Their voices blended together in a beautiful harmony that echoed through camp.

Campers and Staff are eagerly lined up in the dining room waiting for the cue to start heading towards the field where everyone will stand in the shape of the cancer awareness ribbon. The signal is given and everyone begins to walk in rows towards the grass where the shape is marked on the ground. The goal of this is to make the world’s largest gold children’s cancer awareness ribbon. Tomorrow officials from the state and from the Guinness Book of World Records are coming to measure and document the event!

This afternoon campers had the opportunity to shine on the Camp Simcha stage. Girls got up in groups or on their own to preform. When they were finished they recieved an “Oscar” and a balloon shaped like a Sesame Street character. There were lots of singers and dancers. Grace and Sarah did a gymnatics routine and Esty pretended to be Mr. Peanut – “the strongest man in the world”. Rivka showed us a mind boggling card trick and even called Shayna from the audiance to help her! Manny and Reagan told knock knock jokes and bunks seven and eight played pass the ball around except instead of a ball they used kisses (we pass the kiss around…). Shayna showed off her fencing skills and Jordana told some jokes (What do you call a room with no doors or a roof? A Mushroom!). There were many amazing preformances -everyone was a true shining star!