Birthday Celebration Continues...

The Birthday festivities continued tonight by dinner where we celebrated all the girls in camp who are of Bat Mitzvah age. Following dinner, there was music and dancing and even a pinata, which all the campers enjoyed taking a swing at! After a brief fire drill that followed dinner, we headed to the social hall for tonight's night activity- a magic show performed by magician, Jeff Carson! Carson had everyone mesmerized by his magic tricks involving the use of ropes, bubbles, hankercheifs, cards, mirrors, hangers and balls. Many of our campers, including Becky and Arianna and staff members were called up from the audience to volunteer and assist on stage as everyone cheered them on! Today's celebrations truly were a blast and a wonderful time was had by all! Looking forward to "Superbowl Sunday" (or Monday, I should say) tomorrow!

**The winners of the cake decorating contest: Tied for 1st Place- The Wedding Cake and the Israeli Heart Cake!!

Calling All Birthday Girls!

Today Camp Simcha's celebrated theme was...Birthday Parties! After breakfast along with our regular activities, our day began with a very special treat....none other than our favorite Simcha (motorcycle) Riders! Excitement was in the air as campers enjoyed their motorcyle rides around camp and reportedly joined in dancing with the motorcylclists afterward! A great time was had by all as we look forward to this activity every year!

During lunch, we welcomed our latest arrival to camp, Rachel R.! Following, we had a birthday party celebration that began with a Pass-the-Present game. Among the numerous presents that campers won, Eliana got a jump rope, Bassie R. received a yoyo, and Ryan’s gift was a Go Fish game. We then moved on to freeze dancing and Musical Chairs- at one point, campers had to drink a cup of water before they sat down!

After Musical Chairs, the campers worked on a chesed project: creating bead bracelets and coloring jewelry boxes for children of OHEL and Friendship Circle. Finally, cake decorating rounded off the birthday party. Each bunk received a sheet cake and had the opportunity to decorate their cake with frosting, sprinkles, chocolate chips, marshmallows, chocolate syrup, and an assortment of other yummy candies. Each cake was to be judged afterward based on it's presentation- the winner still to be announced! After the celebrations, campers went off to their various activities- Ropes Course, Jamming, Calendar Making, Papercuts, Swoosh and Leather, among many.

Now off to dinner and then night activity, which is sure to be a blast! We'll be back soon with more updates!

The Finishing Touches

In workshop news on this graduation day, campers completed the projects they have worked on this summer. They are coming home with gifts for family and friends and mementos for themselves. Handmade headbands; hair clips; scrapbooks; calendars; photography projects, with pictures of themselves and more abstract art; mosaic jewelry boxes; small leathers goods like belts, cell phone holders, albums; pottery including mugs, bowls, spoon rests; wooden napkin holders and key racks; party favors and more items too numerous too list. Campers are wrapping these up in paper and memories and storing them in their suitcases and later their hearts and minds. Certainly, these projects represent to them far more than the items themselves. Each piece is a piece of a summer held dearly to their hearts.

Party of a Lifetime

Hi, everyone, this is guest blogger Chavie reporting to you from the most beautiful party yet: a double bat mitzvah for two of our special campers, Alexis and Kylie. The pair missed having a bat mitzvah at home, but they were thrilled to celebrate among their Simcha Special friends. As Kylie said in her inspiring speech,

"In Simcha Special, it doesn't matter if you're different on the outside or the inside. Everyone is accepted, everyone loves you, and everyone is special."

Alexis said that she and Kylie felt fully prepared to take on adulthood, and she shared with us some of the good deeds that the girls have done already.

The party was magnificently arranged, with gold table linens and a mouth-watering birthday cake. Our favorite musician, Aviva, filled the room with her lively keyboarding as the girls and their counselors danced the night away. Then, the Van family singers entertained us, our head counselors Rivky and Zahava sang a moving song, and bunkmates read acrostic poems in tribute to the bat mitzvah girls.

It has been an evening full of friendship and happiness, dancing and music, and beautiful, beaming smiles all around.

Simcha Magic Watch it on Stage!

Now you see it, now you don't.

Smiles of amusement played on our faces as we watched Jeff Carson's magic show. He performed magic tricks with ropes, bubbles, handkerchiefs, cubes, mirrors, hangers, and balls.

A piece of rope has two ends, no more, no less. How long is that piece of rope? Carson showed us that they were all the same length, but then one was short and one was long. We're still scratching out heads on that one.

Wait a minute - this guy went to college and all he learned were a couple of magic tricks? Actually, he learned to juggle too.

We thought we had established that we had 10 dollar bills. But apparently, this number had an error of plus or minus five. The "Bob Little Eleven Dollar Trick" had us laughing and cheering for Peessy and Liat. Bracha D. played poker against the magician but he had too many tricks up his sleeve. Rina, assisted by Sara, won a half dollar after opening many purses and bozes.

CSS is the Icing on the Cake

In a related news story out of Simcha's world-class bakery, campers participated in a cake decorating contest. Each two bunks decorated their own sheet cake. Among the winning designs were "I Love Camp Simcha Special," "Tamiflu Treats," "Fireworks" and "Checkerboard"

Of course, the best part was getting to eat them after.

Sara S. and Pia L. had this joint statement:

"We had a whipped cream fight that was a blast and had fun hosing off afterward."

Simcha Creates Frienships, One Bead at a Time

Good afternoon, I'm Leah and this is WCSS. I join you today from the dining room, where CSS is on a decorating streak. Campers are decorating and assembling jewelry boxes in which they will package handmade jewelry. These presents will be donated to the girls of OHEL and Friendship Circle. I am also participating in this activity. Though low-tech, it's great fun. I'm enjoying designing the pattern on the box, coloring with the shiny markers on the glossy surface of the box and keeping company with campers Rochel Blimi, Gully and Malka S. at my table. It's especially gratifying for campers to continue the chain of giving.

Hobby Quest

This is Leah from WCSS joining you from the baseball field where we are building helicopters and airplanes that actually fly. These small fliers are going to make a great addition to our collections at home.

Party Favor: Birthday Pins

It's blinking birthday pins for today's party favor. Campers are amassing quite a collection of blinking objects. I imagine the whole Camp Simcha literally glowing in the dark. But then again, isn't CSS a beacon for so many of us already?

Simcha Ages Gracefully

We start off our birthday bash with party games namely pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, hot potato and pass-the-present. In our version of pass-the-present, each girl opened a layer of wrapping paper and received a small gift.

Happy Birthday Simcha Special and Mazal to all of the Bat Mitzvah girls!