Hello Onondaga Families! Onondaga Day was a big surprise for everyone. We started right from breakfast when we ate bagels and cereal right in the village. Our first stop of the day was to First Arena, a professional ice hockey rink in Elmira. We loved having the whole rink to ourselves to skate around! Some of us fell a few times but we had a blast. After eating a picnic lunch at a park nearby, we headed to Draper’s Super Bee Apiary. To most of us, this was the best part of the day! We learned so much about the honeybee. Did you know that the queen bee lives up to five years, while the worker bee only lives for six weeks? That is because she eats a certain type of “royal” jelly while the other bees have a different diet. We also learned that the queen bee can hatch up to 1 million bees in her lifetime! After having a tour of the apiary, the campers got to make beeswax candles and pick out different flavor honey sticks to take home.
After stopping for ice cream, we headed back to camp for a pj-style dinner and watched the movie Matilda. But the night didn’t end there! All of Onondaga went to mass-monkey Cayuga!! We made sure to yell our cheers loud enough to wake up the whole camp! Everyone had such a fun time -it was definitely a day to remember!
Thanks for reading,
Emily and the Onondaga Staff
CAYUGA DAY
Cayuga Day this session was a great success! Our day started with a little extra sleep so that we were all well rested and ready for a long but fun filled day. As everyone woke up, staff were busy preparing a tasty breakfast. THe meal started with bagels and board games in the cabin, followed by scrambled eggs cooked right in our own fire circle! We also had an assortment of our favorite cereals and fresh fruit. Once we were all full, we headed to Athletics to learn some fun new Israeli games with our resident expert, Ohad. Soon, it was meal time again so we shared pizza over an all village game of Gaga. At this point our campers were convinced that we were staying at camp for the day. To put their minds at ease, we assured them that the bus was waiting to whisk them away, but, not before the Great Cayuga Relay! Everyone ran from the O-Rec to the pool, took a quick dip, ran to the village to put on dry clothing, and then raced to the office where our bus was waiting for us. Our travels led us to Elmira, NY where our first stop was the National Soaring Museum at Harris Hill. Knowledgeable staff guided our group through all of the fascinating displays (many hanging overhead). The campers were all able to get into the cockpit of a real glider, watch some fun films on soaring, and even took a spin on the very cool flight simulators. Next stop was the movie theater where we caught a matinee showing of Disney’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” By the end of the film, we were all ready for a snack so we stopped at the local Friendly’s for ice cream cones. Being the hungry group of guys that we are, we made tracks to Thorne Park for an evening cookout. After enjoying grilled hot dogs and hamburgers everyone played on the playground, played catch, and enjoyed relaxing together with friends and staff. The bus brought us back to camp but our night wasn’t quite over. Upon arrival back in the village we were Mass Monkeyed by the girls of Onondaga. Not to be outdone, we made our own trip to Onondaga to show off our cheering skills. We were so loud that we could be heard from the farthest corners of camp! Finally, we made our way back to Cayuga where everyone quickly fell asleep with big smiles on their faces.
SENECA DAY
Seneca went to Ithaca for village day this August! In spite of gloomy weather, we woke up and made the ordinary extraordinary. We started at the Sciencenter with time in the museum and galaxy mini golf. There were some incredible exhibits and we got lots of great pictures. Afterwards we headed over to Stewart Park for lunch. For dessert, a stop at the infamous Purity Ice Cream Parlor was necessary before we caught a showing of Ramona and Beezus at the Cinema. Our day ended with pizza and shopping on the Ithaca Commons and a sing a long bus ride back to camp. You know you love Seneca.
Xoxo
Seneca Staff & Andrea
MOHAWK DAY
Hello Mohawk Families and Friends,
Campers found out it was Mohawk Day the night before, when they were awoken by the lovely ladies of Seneca for a late night mass monkey. Mohawk got an early start yesterday morning, with delicious breakfast burritos in the dining hall. After boarding the buses, we went to Syracuse, New York to see the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology. Campers loved the 3 floors of interactive exhibits. Highlights from the Museum included the toothpick city, the fun zone, an interactive basketball game simulator, and of course the IMAX movie Aliens of the Deep. Following the Museum, Mohawk traveled to a park near Manley Field House to eat lunch and hang out. Then came the biggest surprise of the day: While walking by the Carmelo Anthony Basketball Center, Syracuse Basketball stars Scoop Jardine and Kris Joseph walked out to meet the men of Mohawk and do introductions. Scoop and Kris led the boys on a tour of the facility, including the state of the art gym, weight room, training room, film room, academic lab, the Hall of Fame, and finally Jim Beoheim’s personal office. When the boys walked into the locker room, they were surprised to see 6 ft. 9 Arinze Onuaku sitting down after a rehab session at the facility. Campers walked around the locker room, even at one point holding a pair of highly regarded Fab Melo’s size 18 sneakers. After snapping plenty of pictures, it was time to go, and after one last picture with Scoop Jardine in the parking lot, the village boarded the bus and left the center. Campers were allowed to walk around for a bit in the Armory Square area, and then were taken back to the park where they enjoyed pizza and relaxed before the final activity. The day was capped off with an amazing baseball game between the Columbus Clippers and the Syracuse Chiefs at Alliance Park. All in all, it was a truly groundbreaking Mohawk day. Special thanks to Max Krieger and Ari Neulander for making the tour of the Carmelo Anthony Center possible. I think we are all Syracuse Orange fans after yesterday.
Sincerely,
Jason Feldman
Mohawk Unit Head
