Jesse update

Hey everyone!
Great news!!!! Jesse is NOT being deployed. We found out yesterday. We must be a powerful group when we all think positive thoughts for one of our Circle F family members. It's a good day today!! Love to all of you...Diana

Circle F family updates!

WOW..lots of action for some of our multiple year campers!!!

I was watching the Today show on Monday about 7:30, they were doing a segment on the cruise ship in the Greek Islands that sank. How shocked do you think I was to see one of our longtime campers giving a comment! Claire C. was on her senior spring break with her school. She is home safe. Thank goodness!!

Jesse G. is going to be deployed to Iraq on Tuesday, May 1st. Let's all keep him in our thoughts and prayers! We love you, Jesse!

Not long until camp starts. I am so excited about seeing all of you!
Love,
Diana

Ideas for evening programs

Hey everyone,

We are looking for your input on evening programs. If you have any ideas for dance themes, new events for Double Dare or just a brand spankin' new evening program, we would love to hear from you. Looking forward to all of your fantastic ideas.

See you soon,

Diana and Roger

Summer Update

Hey guys,

Hope that you are all doing well. We are really busy here in the office. Roger arrived almost 2 weeks ago and he is doing great. Two days after he, his wife Emily and their dog Foxy pulled into camp we had our first Open House. There were close to 30 families that came to take a look at camp before deciding to sign up for a session. Chelsea and Lisa (Chisa to some of you) also led some of the tours around the ranch. We all thought it went really well and look forward to doing it again next year.

Also wanted to let you know of some other counselors that have said they are coming back: Paisley, Brian and Matt B. should all be back at the wall, Shannon will be in arts & crafts and Alex K. has decided to leave dance/tumbling/cheer behind for general sports. Diana, Roger and I have also had the chance to interview some brand new counselors. We met up with Ashley G. last Monday and she is going to be working at the barn in English riding.

Hope you are having a Wonderful Wednesday!

Jay

BRRRRRR!!!!

Hi Everyone,
Hope you all stayed warm over the weekend. I worked at the ranch and you can't believe how cold it was there. On Sunday morning the groups went horseback riding and the horses were very frisky. It was cold and windy and they were ready to go! I had on a t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, fleece lined jacket, gloves and a hat and was still cold with the wind. It made me miss the summer, wearing shorts and flip-flops.
Roger is arriving this week! More on that in the next blog.
Miss you all so much and can't wait to see you!
Love,
Diana

Registrations

Hi Circle F family,
Registrations are arriving daily. So many that I am getting very excited about summer. It looks like it is going to be fantastic. So far, there are a lot of new campers as well as many returners. The early registration discount ends on Wednesday, January 31, so if yours isn't in the mail...hurry!!! Anyway, being so busy has me in need of a vacation. So...I am taking the week of January 29th off(it's my birthday...no I'm not telling you which one..lol). In the words of one of our counselors...WHEEEEEEEEEE! If you know which counselor post it in a comment. Jay will be in the office and covering the group at the ranch next weekend. I will be excited to return and see how many more of you are returning for summer. You are the reason I continue to stay at Circle F year after year. Love all of you! Diana

Happy New Year!

Hey everybody,

Hope that you got to spend the holidays with your friends and family. Diana got to spend time with family and her son Adam came home for New Year's weekend. I went home to Tampa and got to visit with my dad and a bunch of friends from high school.

We have been receiving registrations for camp, which is exciting. We've also been talking to counselors about coming back. So far we know that Reiss, Mia, Jamie F., Chelsea R., Carla and Sarah are going to be back this summer. Chelsea S. is graduating from UF in May and is going to come back as the girl's head counselor. We should know more about other counselors soon.

Hopefully you got a postcard from us in the mail with the above picture. Remember if you sign up for camp before the end of January you will receive 5% off tuition.

Hope that your new year has been fantastic so far!

Jay

Lunch with the ranch staff

Hi Circle F family,
Jay and I went to the ranch yesterday to take Cindy, Sherri, Denielle and Alan out for a holiday lunch. We had a great time together. We don't get to hang out very often and just talk. The ranch keeps us busy when we are there. I hope that you have a wonderful holiday and spend it with the ones you love and who love you!! That is what it is all about. Love from your camp mom, Diana

Jesse Update

Hey Everyone!
Can you believe Jesse? He got to go home for Thanksgiving and his mom emailed us this picture of him and his cousin. Jesse with no hair... that is a new concept. He looks so mature...that sure sounds like a mom comment, doesn't it? It is hard to believe that he left camp this summer and went to Michigan for Boot Camp a few days later.

Jesse is going to Bahrain which is a tiny island in the Persian Gulf between Iran and Saudi Arabia. I'm sure he will charm everyone with his amazing personality. Everyone loves Jesse! Let's all keep him in our thoughts. We can't wait to see him again at camp soon.
Much love,
Your camp mom, Diana

Meet Roger

Hey everyone,

We are really excited that Roger Hanafin will be coming to camp as our new Assistant Director in February! He and his wife Emily will be making the move to Florida from Colorado in the middle of February. Right now they are spending time in Central America visiting Guatemala and other countries in that area.

When he was a kid, Roger attended Camp Stevens near San Diego. He eventually became a counselor and then an administrator. He and Emily met at camp and they even got married there.

Before we hired Roger we wanted to get to know him a little better. So we flew him out to Orlando for a weekend in October. When I picked him up from the airport, I learned that this was actually the first time he'd ever been in Florida. After he got settled at his hotel, I took him to dinner with Gil and Paisley so that he could meet some counselors. The next day we went to the ranch to facilitate a group of dads and their daughters. That weekend ended up being our biggest weekend of the year with 364 people there. There were tents set up all over camp!

Roger got to meet a ton more people when he got to the ranch, including the rock wall staff. That's us in the above picture. From left to right, that's Roger, me, Lisa and Beau right behind Bo the dog. You'll recognize Matt B., Arthur, Joe, Brian and Diana in the back. We had a great time on our break hanging out on the front porch of the office getting to know Roger and enjoying some Pizzano's.

Roger is looking forward to meeting all of you this summer. And I know you guys will look forward to meeting him, especially if you are coming to 2nd session because Roger's birthday is during that session. IN THE LAKE! IN THE LAKE!

I am going to miss you guys like crazy next summer. The good news is that I plan on being there for banquets, rodeos and other days throughout the summer. And camp mom to all, Diana, will be there all summer along with Roger. Diana and I agree that Roger will be a great guy to have at camp and we are lucky to have him as a part of the Circle F family.

Hope to hear from you soon,
Jay

Brochures are on the way!

Hi guys,

Diana and I were both at the ranch for another Family Weekend. Matt B., Jamie, Gil, Brian, Shannon and Reiss came as counselors this time around. On Saturday morning, Reiss, Gil and Matt B. stayed busy running paintball while Jamie, Brian and Shannon took care of stuffing and sealing brochures to send to all of the campers from the last three years. Here are some pictures from that adventure:

Brian, Jamie and Shannon getting the brochures ready on the front porch.

Ready to go! We put all of the brochures in the trunk of Diana's car to bring them back to Orlando.

Jamie and Brian taking a nap after working hard all morning.

We will be putting the brochures in the mail today and tomorrow, so keep an eye on your mailbox. Be sure to check out the first two pages for something new. If you can't wait to sign up for camp until then, you can download the registration form on the website.

Hope that you had a fantastic weekend.

Jay

Thanksgiving Family Weekend

Hey everyone,

Hope that you had a great Thanksgiving last week! Every year we have a Family Weekend right after Thanksgiving and it's always one of our favorite weekends of the year. A lot of the families that are there come every year so it's cool to see the same people year after year.

This Thanksgiving Weekend, a bunch of summer campers came with their family and friends: Tierney, Hannah, Estee, Ben, Ashley, and Alex. It was so great to see all of them. You can see them in these pictures along with Diana, Gil, Jamie and Mike. Fernando, Alex K., Sarah and Reiss were at the weekend, too, so it was a lot of fun to have them around.

On Saturday night of the Family Weekends we always take the families on a hayride and counselors sing camp songs with them during the ride. When I was driving the hayride I realized how those camps songs are burned into my memory. I don't think I had heard any camp songs since Labor Day, but as soon as I heard the first line of "The Littlest Worm" or "The Canoe Song," it felt like it was just yesterday that we were singing those songs in the dining room. Sounds crazy, but if you're a camp person then you know what I mean.

When I was taking the wagon back to the barn Sarah and Alex K. jumped out and tried to scare me, but I had a feeling something was up so it didn't quite work. Beau and Heath gave me a good scare at another Family Weekend one time, but that's a story for another blog. :-)

Anyway, if you haven't been to a Family Weekend you should definitely try to come to one. Hope you all are doing great.

Jay

Hi Camp family!!

Hey everyone!
Look at me..writing a blog. It wasn't that long ago that I didn't even know what one was! I hope all of you are well and take part in our blog. It will be great to hear from you. I have been busy with Jay in the office getting the new brochure ready, organizing weekends, and always preparing for camp. I am going to the ranch today to facilitate a group weekend of dads and daughters. The rockwall will be open and Beau, Matt B., Brian, Arthur, Tristan and Joe are working. The group also does horseback riding so I will see Cindy and Sherri, too. It will be fun. Bo the dog will be there, of course. He really misses all of you. It's boring at my house...lol. Well, have a fantastic weekend. I always think about all of you.
Miss and love you,
Diana

Welcome!

We welcome you to Circle F, we're mighty glad you're here!

Welcome to the new Circle F Blog, "All Day Long!" If you've been to summer camp with us, you will recognize the first line of this entry as the beginning of the Circle F Welcome Song. It seemed fitting that we start things out here the same way.

Our goal for this blog is to keep the members of our camp family updated on what is going on at camp throughout the year. And since Circle F wouldn't be what it is without everyone who makes up that family, we also want to know what you are up to. So be sure to leave a comment for us before you leave!

If you are new to Circle F, you might be wondering why we've titled our blog "All Day Long!" That phrase is part of one of our most popular camp traditions that takes place every morning. You also have to understand that there is no such thing as a "just okay" day at summer camp. In fact, every day has its own name:

Marvelous Monday

Terrific Tuesday

Wonderful Wednesday

Tremendous Thursday

Fantastic Friday

Sensational Saturday

Su-u-per Sunday

At the end of breakfast we always have announcements and just after declaring our camper and counselor of the day, someone shouts, "What's today?!" Diana, our director, responds "It's Marvelous Monday!" (or whatever day it is) and the crowd yells back, "How long?!" She answers, "All day long!" and everyone replies, "We hope so!"

And so we hope that you enjoy getting to know Circle F better and we look forward to seeing you soon.