The countdown is on! Less than 100 days until we are all back together in the beautiful Adirondacks!

A few weeks back, I was on an interview with one of our phenomenal new staff members for the summer, and they asked me, “Matt, what are you most looking forward to this summer?” Unfortunately, while this is a question that comes up quite a bit when talking to people who have not been to camp before, I found myself going through a long list, unable to land on one specific element of camp.

There is always so much to look forward to every summer, and every summer is a little different than the last, so to commemorate this month’s 100 day countdown, I am going to count you down the top 100 things I am most looking forward to about CEL Summer 2019 (in no particular order).

100. Boys’ Camp!

99. Echomania 2019  – this might be my legitimate #1 if this list was ranked in order!

98. Grilled Cheese Day!

97. Morning Activities!

96. Chipwhiches!

95. Boys Camp Special Day!

94. Basketball with Glenn!

93. World Cup Soccer Day!

92. Meeting all the new staff!

91. Apache Relay!

90. CHALLENGE NIGHT!

89. Elective sign-ups with our AWESOME program team!

88. The Swim Experience with Terry!

87. Visiting Day!

86.  Polar bear swims!

85. TREK overnight

84. Sunday brunch!!

83. The Color Run

82. The lovely nurses and doctors at the Health Center!

81. Morning Line-up!

80. Dodgeball!

79. Taco Day!!

78. Tribal!

77. Movie under the stars! D2 this year?

76. Sitting on the sundeck and looking at camp

75. Candy party after visiting day

74. Chicken Patty Day

73. Canada day

72. Going paddleboarding!

71. Walking down to the Hudson River

70. Pick-up basketball

69. Singing the tooth losing song

68.Making S’mores around the shmerimiter of the campfire

67. Pizza Lunch!

66. Random dance parties

65.  Celebrating the 4th of July

64. Magic Cards at Free Play (This is the summer, I am going to learn!)

63. Playing in the pool during GS

62.  Cooooooooook Ouuuutt

61. Making something beautiful at ART!

60. Jason’s Jungle – Jumping off the leap of faith!

59. Bioquest!!

58. Playing on the new toys in the lake

57. The MVHQ!

56. Our first buddy check at the pool!

55. HoeDown!

54. Ice Pops at Snack!

53. Fireworks on the 4th of July!

52. Playing the Mostest

51. Our amazing kitchen staff!

50. Those mornings when you come down to the dining room and Chocolate Chip Pancakes are waiting for you!

49. Playing hockey in the Thunderdome

48.  Laurie announcing snacks after FNL

47. Spaghetti and Meatballs!

46. NCAA Day!

45. The MIGHTY Mt. Hackensack!

44. Friday Night Live

43. Writing my first fuzzy

42. Boys Camp Chants!

41. Staff Recreation activities!

40. Campfires — if I had to pick, the second one of the summer is so much fun when everyone knows the words to all the songs and we get to reflect on the summer!

39. All the fun conversations that take place during the Summer

38. Checking in on all the junior boy groups everyone morning!

37. Working with Conor Vandedries on Boys’ Camp!

36. Helping someone when they feel homesick.

35. Perfecting my cartwheel at gymnastics

34. Ice cream parties!

33. STEM and making goo!

32. Dutch auction!

31. Local Warrensburg maple syrup!

30. TRIBAL Break!!  Does anyone want to guess how it will happen?

29. Meat Store of the North in Warrensburg

28. SILENT DISCO!!

27. CHICKEN WINGS!!

26. Tony saying, “good evening campers” at evening lineup!

25. Flashlight sing

24. TREK!

23. Rainy-days when you are relaxing in the bunk and making up new games to pass the time!

22. Sky Village!

21. Seeing Finn (my dog) make new friends and play in the tennis courts

20. Off Track Betting – we may need to bring back Hoopie-Doops!

19. Group Sing!

18. Master Orientation!

17. The salad Bar!!

16. The day the staff arrive and we get to welcome them to our summer home!

15. Mudsliding!

14. COOKIES AND CHOCOLATE MILK!

13. Working with staff to solve problems or build special activities.

12. Evening Canteen at the A&R!!

10. Special Days!

9. Dressing up for our many theme days!

8. Longevity awards!

7. Educational cookies!!

6. Every time we sing “Friends, Friends, Friends” and the Alma Mater!!

5. The first moment when all the buses roll in for the summer!

4. Mornings at the Lake when the mist is still in the air!

3. Being Nice

2. Trying Hard

1. Those moments when you look around camp, it is a beautiful day, everyone is having fun, and you can take a step back and remember how special a place like camp is in the world today.