This blog is written by Evan Sporer, a CIT Boy.

The trip began early on July 30th, with all the Chiefs and CITS making their way to the buses with their bags, pillows, and tired faces. (After all, it was 6AM).  After a quick cold cereal breakfast, we boarded the buses.  A bus for first-year Chiefs and a bus for second-year Chiefs and CITS, and our journey to Boston began. The bus ride went very smooth, with a quick stop in Conneticut for a bite to eat, and before we knew it, we were in Boston witnessing decades past in Salem.

We were given a walking tour by two very knowledgable guides, and after a trip to the Salem Witch museum which included an educational show, and a trip to the gift shop, we were back on the bus headed to Chicago Bar and Grill Pizzeria for dinner (Sometime on that bus ride, we were informed that Ivan Rodriguez was traded to the Yankes; minor stir).

We ate a pizza dinner, while watching a Red Sox game on a big-screen television, and we were finally on our way to the hotel. The hotel, a Sheraton, had a waterpark which we enjoyed our first night, and was probably the nicest hotel I’ve stayed at during my three years of Camp Lakota trips. The first night at the hotel, we were allowed to order-in food, to the delight of most of the trip goers, and all were able to go to sleep on a full stomach.

The second day, we were allowed to sleep until 8PM, and after a buffet breakfast, we were off to Quincy Markets for a quick shopping excursion. Quincy Markets is a small area which includes both outdoor and indoor shopping, (although indoors is primarily the foodcourt) and included some camper favorite stores such as Urban Outfitters, Abercrombie and Fitch, and American Eagle. (And for the girls, Victoria’s Secret) After 4 hours of shopping, we got back on the bus and traveled to our next destination; the Boston Duck Tour.  The Duck Tour starts out in a bus, but in little time you are on the sea as the bus can also serve as a boat. After a nice float across a bay in Boston, another knowledgable tour guide passing on what they know, and a few laughs, we were off to see Shear Madness; an interactive murder mystery in which the audience actually votes on who committed the murder. After we shared some laughs, and a Camp Lakota shirt made a cameo via one of the actors outfit changes, it was time to get back on the bus and head for the Hardrock Cafe in Boston. We had a fixed menu on which you could order a burger, a chicken or pork sandwhich, or a salad. It was a tastey meal, and once everyone had chowed down it was time to return to the hotel for some much needed sleep after a full days activities.

We awoke our final morning, went to the dining hall for our final breakfast, dropped our bags in the loby, a got to say our final goodbyes to the Sheraton. From there, we put our luggage under the bus, and were off to our final destination before Wurtsburo, Six Flags. Many of the campers gathered their courage up and rode rides such as Superman, Batman and Cat Woman. Even myself who does not enjoy rides found fun in the park via impossible amusement park games and some decent food. Many came back to the bus holding souveneir stuffed animals and basketballs, and finally it was time to return home. I would like to personally thank all chaperones who accomponied us on the trip and were very accomodating throughout. I would also like to thank Jason Cohen, camp activites director, who organized the trip. As always, thanks for reading, and please log back on for our next session.

Hi to all of our Rookie parents out their in the real world.  If you want a little taste of whats been going on today.  Check out my forum post under Rookie Weekend information 2008.  Its the latest post on there unless someone else has already left a comment.  I will try to get someone to blog about rookie weekend tomorrow morning.

Wurtz

Camp has been so busy this past week that I haven’t had a free 5 minutes to blog!  We’ll start off with our annual superstars competition this past tuesday.  Campers spent the day competing in various sports skills events, ranging from free throws and soccer skills to jumprope and frisbee throw!  At the end of the day, all of the points were added up and the top 8 in each division competed in a obstacle course finale.  The winner of each division would be crowned the title of “2008 Lakota Superstar” and will be receiving a t-shirt during the reunion in January.  The winners were (in order from braves to chiefs) Alex Quadrozzi, Brian Dubinsky, Mallory Russo, Zach Ames, Shana Ranauto, Jordan Reid, Sydney Oshinsky, Brian Kasdan, Rachel Alfassy, Jason Dubinsky, Jessica Jachemczyk, and Max Linden.  Thanks to all of the CITs for running the days events!

The fun doesn’t stop there.  The next day was our trip day!  Braves, Hawks and Scouts went to the Bronx Zoo and had a blast!  Some of the favorite exhibits were the Madagascar exhibit and the birds of prey (with the most popular one being the bald eagle).  The campers were also excited to see the gorillas and the reptile house.  Trackers and Warriors had a two part trip.  First we went to Medieval Times for a feast and show.  For the first time all summer everyone was allowed to eat a full meal with their hands!  Our section was rooting for the blue knight, who lost in the joust but in the end we were all winners.  Our very own Emily Nitzberg was honored by our knight and given the Queen of Love and Beauty sash.  After the show we headed 15 minutes down the road to Powerhouse Studios in Paramus.  We came in and had to walk through a hallway with spinning walls and stars all over.  Then we were directed into the game show room for the main event - the Bullseye game show.  The group was divided into two teams and the goal of the game was to get the most bullseyes by answering questions and winning challenges.  These included trivia questions in many subjects, a music game, human scrabble, and many more events.  After the game, we were invited to the other room which had an arcade with free play, soft drinks, and a ton of cool scenery!  There was an exact replica of the De Lorean from Back to the Future, 6 foot oscar awards, dinosaurs from Jurassic Park, an Indiana Jones wall that shoots air when you walk past it, and other fun objects from movies.  The Chiefs and CIT’s are still on their trip to Boston and the surrounding area and having a blast from what I hear.  When they get back I’ll have one of them write all about the trip, and try to gather some of their own pictures together to post on the photo site.

Just when the campers thought you couldn’t cram any more excitement into one day, they were surprised to find out we had a huge event planned for them back here at night!  As lots of you saw in the photo gallery we had a show by Geoff the bubble juggler.  He made bubbles of all different shapes and sizes including something that nobody thought could be done, a square bubble!  The campers were mesmerized by his show, and aside from all of the cool tricks he also brought a positive message with him.  Instead of the magic words abra cadabra, he used “anything is possible” and had the audience repeat that several times throughout the show.  He also explained his journey of how he became the “bubble juggler” and showed us all how he could make his famous square bubble while everyone else said it was impossible.  He brought up several campers on the stage to help him out with his show.  At the end everyone was surprised to find out we had a special treat - every camper had the chance to be put in a huge bubble!  We posted a whole folder of the pictures from that on the gallery.

Just to give everyone an idea of what is coming up here at camp, tonight we have wildlife wendy and her exotic birds doing a show for the campers.  She came yesterday and has been walking around the camp giving the kids a chance to see some of the birds and even feed a baby one!  Everyone is excited for that show tonight.  Of course the rookies are arriving as we speak so they will be excited once they find out what we have in store for them.  The fun continues tomorrow night with a Luau at the lake!  Festivities include a tiki pole ring toss, hula hoop contest, finding buried treasure, exotic drinks (non-alcoholic of course), hula dancing, and other fun activities.  Sunday my DJ company, Mystical Entertainers (here comes the plug - available for bar/bat mitzvahs and sweet 16s), will be running our 2nd Disco of the summer, which is always a big hit.  Monday we have our annual college Hall theme night.  This year’s theme is music through the decades and the kids will get a taste of many different genres of music by walking from room to room in the building.  Tuesday night the upper half of camp will be going bowling and the younger half will be doing activities in camp.  As you can see we haven’t slowed down one bit here at camp, and are all keeping busy with one exciting event after another.  Stay tuned for the Chief CIT trip blog which will be coming in the next few days.  Hope everyone is having a fun summer, I know we all are!

Thought you might all enjoy this.   Thanks to Sabrina for finding this and sending it in.  Better copy of it is in the forum, in case you cannot read it here.  Thanks  Wurtz

It happens everywhere

So I know it’s been a few days since we have posted anything on the blog, and I apologize for that but just realize it’s because everyone has been very busy making this a great successful summer.

After Visiting Day we had olympics which Robin already wrote about below so I will just say congratulations again to the GREEN team.

Our first half campers left the next day and on Thursday we welcomed in our new second half campers.

Friday night we had magician/mentalist David Levitan (all the way from Oceanside) perform for the entire camp.  It was one of the first times I have seen the entire social hall paying attention to a campwide activity.  Some of the Long Island crew already knew who he was and spread the word that it would be an interesting and exciting show.

Saturday night was a special night at Camp Lakota.  It was our annual Mr. Lakota Contest.  All I can say is it was a fun night for all involved.  Many campers participated and helped out the guy counselors.  Congratulations to Ben Ball who won this year’s title of Mr. Lakota and whose name will live on for immortality in the Camp Lakota Dining Hall.

Tonight is the play Annie which will be presented by our Warrior, Chief and CIT campers.  I am sure we can get someone to blog about that tomorrow.

We have played many intercamp games over the last week and way more then ever before scheduled for the rest of the Summer.  Do we win……maybe not all the time, but we know the kids love the games and playing other camps.  Congrats to our Male Counselor Basketball team for winning a close 3 point game against Camp Nashopa under the lights on Friday.  All of the Trackers, Warriors, Chiefs, CITS and even a group of counselors stayed around to cheer them on.  I have to personally say I love the new scoreboard on the main court.  Its fun to play with too :).

Events upcoming this week:

• Boys and Girls Superstars 2008
• Group Trips to Medivial Times, Bronx Zoo and other exciting destinations
• Chiefs and CIT trip to Boston and surrounding area
• Rookie Weekend

Thats all for now.  I will get some other campers and counselors to blog this week.

Wurtz

To all parents:

You may be aware that a number of our campers have been treated for infected bug bites. This treatment involved lancing the infected bite and prescribing a course of antibiotics. All of the children are doing well and we are happy to report that no new cases have arisen.
Please know that we are acutely aware of your concerns. To this end, we will keep you updated.

Sincerely,

Carol Hager, Director
Alan Rosenfeld, Assistant Director

additional update - At this point most if not all of the parents of affected campers have been notified by the camp.

Hey everyone,

This blog is being written by Robin Greenberg.

For the past two days the Olympic captains have been working hard at leading their teams to victory.  Both boys and girls competed in a variety of sports including a Swim Meet and a Track Meet.  Monday’s night activity was a Lakota tradition and a camper favorite.  It was the Human Anagrams.  This event is an activity where each team is given a clue to a camp related question and the campers have letters and must spell out the answer.

The cultimating event was Field Night.  The four teams competed in a Tug ‘O War and an Obstacle Course.  At the end of the night, Red Team came in 4th, Yellow in 3rd, Blue in 2nd, and Green in 1st.  The winning captains were myself, Lexi Grossman, Brian Beck, and Ari Brenner.  Our team recieved yummy ice cream sundaes and we took many pictures.  It was a fun few days for all.

-Robin Greenberg

Well once again thanks to all the parents who helped make Visiting Day a huge success.

Once all the parents and friends left the camp grounds I called the captains of the olympic teams up to get the ball rolling on starting the 2008 college olympics.

The team names and captains for this year are:

Central State Chippewas (YELLOW)

Madison Armston, Tori Bezoza, Brian Lagrua and Jessie Toder

Evergreen State Geoducks (GREEN)

Robin Greenberg, Lexie Grossman, Brian Beck, Ari Brenner

Louisiana Lafayette Rajin Cajun’s (RED)

Jamie Passet, Emily Scoular, Michael Farber, Jeremy Kaye

Utah State Aggies (BLUE)

Dylan Joskowitz, Chloe Zung, Omri Saadi and Sam Weinberg

The captains were excited to get their shirts and folders with the list of events. All around camp you saw painted faces, bodies, hair in different colors. One counselor Breezy could easily be mistaken for Mystique from the X-Men as she was painted totally in Blue. It was awesome to see all of the older kids helping the younger ones spray paint their hair, get clothes in the right colors and paint their faces. I honestly believe there is probably nothing left in Middletown in the colors of blue, red, yellow or green. It is all at Camp Lakota.

As has become our tradition Unique Entertainment opened up the Olympic Event Sunday Night. Unique is a game show where the four teams compete by answering audio questions, video questions and other bonus questions. There are physical challenges and entire camp sing alongs. This is always one of the most popular events of the year. In fact the Unique guys told me this is one of their favorite places to play the activity because the campers and counselors are so involved and go crazy during the activity.

Because of the heat and humidity of the last few days the decision was made to have the activity on the Basketball court instead of the social hall. The captains were not thrilled with this decision at first but once they saw it was still loud and exciting outside everyone got into it.

About halfway through the event, the clouds started rolling in. We quickly moved a canopy to protect all of the electronic equipment and then we prayed the rain would pass over………..

well lets just say that did not happen. We had our own little Woodstock on the basketball court. The rain started as a drizzle but the game continued. Once the rain got a little heavier we sent the youngest kids back to their bunks.

The older kids were all screaming “LET US PLAY” “LET US PLAY”. I felt like the umpire of a baseball game. The decision was as long as there was no lightning we would PLAY ON. A few more rounds and the rain got heavier. The body and face paint was dripping off of faces everywhere. The campers did not care, they were having the time of their lives. We finished the night with a group of sing alongs highlighted by the Camp Lakota Favorite “BUTTERCUP”. Yes nothing riles up the Lakotan’s like a good Buttercup sing along.

Standing in the rain (while the other judges were huddled under the canopy) I mentioned to someone that this was like our own little Woodstock. It was an awesome night that everyone will remember probably forever. So at first everyone complained that we moved the event from outside the social hall, but in the end, 20 years from now they will all be talking about the Visiting Day night in the Rain.

I will ask someone else to blog about the first day of Olympics tomorrow morning.

Signing off.

email me with any questions or comments. wurtzy@camplakota.com

To all parents:

As we near visiting day weekend we just wanted to take a few minutes to write about use of the forum. We want to thank everyone who has been using the forum and for most of the positive feedback we have received on it. Sometimes though we are not sure that all of you realize what it takes to run a business like this. It is basically 45 weeks of preparation for a 7 week season.

We are running a mini city. We have over 300 campers and 150 staff on the grounds. Imagine cooking for that many people, keeping everyone as happy as possible and of course most importantly safe for the Summer. It is a big business and of course unfortunately you cannot always make everyone happy. If you have any issues with the camp, the forum is not the place to discuss them. Please contact us at lakotadirector@aol.com or call us directly and leave a message for us at the office.

If anyone has any pressing issues please come by and see us a tthe office on Visiting Day.

We are all happy that you are all enjoying the bog, forum and amazing picture galleries, all brought to you at no extra charge this year.

If we are unable to get to your forum questions, or update the blog and even yes sometimes there is a delay in the posting of pictures, please remember this one thing. We are first doing our most important job which is watching over your children who you have entrusted to us for the Summer.

Once again we want to thank you all for your positive feedback and look forward to seeing you on visiting day.

Carol Hager - Director - Camp Lakota
Alan Rosenfeld - Assistant Director - Camp Lakota

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the delay in posting intercamp news and results.  We have been very active in many different sports and activities.  I am very proud of all the campers efforts and sportsmanship they have showed in these various games and within camp.

Some of our recent intercamp games included:

Tennis Tournament at Chipinaw which included stellar play from Aiden  Russo.

Swim Meet at Nashopa-  Boys took 2nd place and Girls took third place.  The members of the team included Ethan Kudler, Aaron Zucker, Noah Levinsky, Brian Kasdan, Harris Marshall, Zach Nadler, Jordan Reid, Jack Dreyfus, Leah Kaplan, Jessica Pollack, Hannah Young, Sydney Dreyfus, Jenna Herzberg, Dara Levinsky, Abbegale Young, Chloe Coster and Nikki Kramer.

Our 11th Grade and under Basketball team took 2nd place in the Summit Cup. Our 10th grade and under Soccer team also took 2nd place in the Summit Soccer Cup.

Thank you all for your continued support. I really enjoy seeing all of your children’s smiles covered in ices at the end of our intercamp games.

-Mike Levy