Countdown to New Family Weekend!

New Family Weekend is just one week away! The comfort and excitement of our new campers and their families is a top priority, so PFC opens its “doors” just three weeks before opening day! It’s our official start-of-summer!

To truly experience camp life in all its glory, each new camper family gets a cabin to stay in overnight. It’s really a perfect way to see the facilities, experience the activities and get a taste of bunk life. This weekend is also a perfect opportunity to meet new friends, their families and our awesome camp leaders.

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There is nothing like these first sounds of summer: children’s laughter echoing throughout camp, balls bouncing on the courts, crickets chirping at night and even the sound of the cabin doors opening and closing. It’s a right of passage for all PFC campers to smell a campfire and taste a s’more. And there is nothing that brings the day to an end like breathing in fresh mountain air, gazing up at millions of stars in the sky, singing “taps and friends” arm-in-arm with incredible children and adults, all with the same goal in mind: becoming acclimated and excited for the best summer ever.

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I attended New Family Weekend last year with my son, my second PFC camper. Having this inside perspective and first-hand experience of what camp is truly like was incredibly valuable for me as a parent. The weekend gave my son (and me!) that extra bit of confidence and comfort, and he made his best friend of the summer that weekend (I made a few new friends as well)!

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Created so that each new camper’s first night at camp, is not actually his or her “first night at camp,” this weekend is truly such fun and so very special. Wishing you a great first camp adventure!

Hillary Slovin
Camp Mom

Things to ponder this holiday weekend…!

Who will the Counselors be in bunk Daisy?

Why are the boys in Bunk Banana always so wild and crazy?

Who will the fastest ‘man’ & ‘woman’ in camp be on College Day?

What new additions will Barbara add to the camp menu?

What will this years 85th Color Days themes be?

Who will win the 2015 5K Camper Scamper?

What will be the summer song of PFC 2015?

What riddle should Lisa tell at the first line-up?

What will be the schools in this years College Day competition?

What will the camp shows be?

Who will win the ‘much anticipated, often imitated, but certainly never duplicated’ Junior Skeeter Swift?

Will Craig Wallace’s hair still be blonde?

Will I finish a whole bottle of shampoo?

Are there really blueberries on Blueberry Island?

Will the ice cream truck break down?

Will ‘Dusty’ still be there?

Will I find a salamander?

Will I be in a Color Days skit?

Who goes up on the 10-Year Tree this summer?

Does the sky really begin at Pine Forest?

Do the stars shine brighter there?

Are we there yet?

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What’s new in 2015!?

Here’s something to talk about this Memorial Day weekend. What’s new and awesome at PFC this summer!

– Most bunks will have new sinks, new vanities and…fans!

– Pool makeover – Expect some colorful umbrellas, beach chairs and landscaping at both the girls’ & boys’ pool. Ya Mon!

– New stage at Netsy Playhouse!

– Boys’ camp game deck for our knock-hockey fanatics! Score!

– Sports Broadcasting Clinic! Who’s the next Howard Cosell? or better yet, Zach Gelb!?

– New movie theater seating in Greeley Theater!

– An additional LAUNDRY RUN! WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?! #GAMECHANGER!

– New paving & landscaping around camp! A facelift, if you will…!

– Kelli Moshen is back! Hip-Hop Boot Camp!

– Night at the Ballpark (RailRiders AAA Baseball) for all upper campers!

– Surf Bikes at the lake! THEY’RE BACK! Bigger and better.

– Another wood-burning pizza oven! That makes two! We love Pizza.

– TOP Baseball. No extra charge. Available to all players interested. Gonna be a home-run!

– All-camp Survivor Day!

– Special Krav Maga Clinic!

These are just some of the things we’re working on in the Pine Forest Camp Laboratories…

Sounds of Summer

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Hi, From Camp!

There are lots of sounds that make me happy- great music, the songs of birds in the morning, the crackle of a campfire at night. But there’s one sound that we hear only once each year and it fills us with joy, excitement and anticipation.

Last week, Barbara and I went up to Greeley (the temperature was down into the 30s at night!) to open the doors for our first guests of the season. Not our regular PFC campers just yet! It was the Spence School from NYC, whose students and teachers arrived for a few days of team building and discovery at Pine Forest.

When we walked into the dining room for the first meal of the season (PFC Chef Dave Lang’s special BBQ chicken), we heard it. The sounds of children back at camp. Oh, what a happy sound! Laughter, cheers, applause. That’s what we look forward to and work towards all year long. They may not be our “true campers” who arrive on June 27th, but after a long winter, Pine Forest has come alive with the sound of children having fun. And that’s the best sound of all.

Come Meet Us This Summer!

Explorers

Choosing the right camp for your child is not an easy task.  That’s why Pine Forest offers several options to help ease the transition to sleepaway camp, by actually allowing your child to experience a taste of Pine Forest first-hand.

There are a few great ways to get to know us.

Our Explorer Weekend is the ultimate experience for future Pine Forest campers.  The weekend is designed to provide all the fun and excitement that our campers love, while giving future campers an opportunity to start making connections that will help in their transition to a longer stay at camp.  Explorer campers will experience a full camp schedule including boating at the lake, climbing our adventure course, creating a special project in arts and crafts, games with our athletic director, participating in evening programs, making s’mores at a campfire, and then sleeping in a real cabin – WOW!!

A Play Day has all the wonderful aspects of our Explorer Weekend without the sleepover.

The last way a future Pine Forest camper can experience camp is on a tour. On a tour, you will spend time with our directors and have an opportunity to meet campers and staff and, most importantly, feel the excitement and warmth of Pine Forest Camp.

Enrollment in our programs are limited, so check out your summer calendar and come meet us this summer in Greeley, PA!

Unsure if camp is right for your child? Check out this Parents Magazine blog post written by a Pine Forest parent!

Camp 101.

Things that every camper should and will learn this summer:

Sure it’s all about fun and friendship, becoming independent and  learning to live together, but every camper will also return home with these skills. Every Pine Forest camper will come home knowing  how to:

–          Do the J-stroke

–          Start a campfire

–          Identify the North Star

–          Make a hospital corner

–          Build a raft

–          Say Hello in Mandarin (we have a few campers coming from China!)

–          Make a s’more

–          Shoot a lay-up

–          Use a compass

–          Swim the backstroke

–          Belay a rock climber

–          Throw a pot

–          Tie dye a T-shirt

–          Hit a backhand

–          Set a table

–          Field a ground ball

–          Raise the Flag

–          Read a trail map