Dear Campers, Parents, Staff, Alums & Friends,
So….this is the “off-season.” It’s different, that’s for sure. We’re enjoying our first opportunity in about 20 years to stay up at camp and soak in the fall season if/when it arrives. We’ll get to remain up here through this month and into early October! For a few days there, it seemed 
we would skip right into winter! We had days that maxed out in the low 50s along with some cold nights. Funny….it was actually kind of nice having dinner by the crackling fire in the fireplace. But it was way too soon for that. For the last several days, it has been full-on summer weather. We’ve been in the mid-80s during the days and high 50s at night. The lake is still warm, and we’ve been able to enjoy a little canoeing and lots of gazing at the glassy water. The fires out west have been horrible, but they’ve provided us with some smoky moonrises. Imagine a dark orange moon rising large over the lake. It is eerie and beautiful at the same time.
A different class of wildlife moved back into camp shortly after the campers departed. It’s been common to look out onto the athletic fields and see a dozen deer lounging around. The dogs don’t even give chase anymore! We’ve also had a few sightings of a momma bar and at least two little cub bars out along the camp driveway. And a few days ago, the snapping turtle super highway from the lake up towards Arts & Crafts was operating again. There’s only one lane, and – you guessed it – it’s the slow lane. Again…the dogs took an initial interest, and then they just got bored and walked away.
Our contingent up here has shrunk pretty quickly. For a while there were several of us, and then it was down to JAKE REUTER, DUSTIN COHEN, ZACK COOKE, KAREN MCKELVEY, ANITA ROBSON, BILL MILLER, GREG FUS, Leslie and I. We kept a ski boat in the water for a few days and enjoyed some laid back boat afternoons. Then it was time to bring it in and get it ready for winter. So now all the ski boats are stored in the Arena (along with the sailboats and most of the canoes). And as for people up here, it’s just Greg, Bill, Leslie & I. But we’ve been busy! In the past few weeks we’ve fixed up the boat hoists, repaired all of the ski bindings that needed some attention, finished up getting the waterfront ready for winter, fed the grass on the fields a nice healthy helping of fertilizer to help it get through the long winter, and much more. And we’ve met with some contractors to start the ball rolling on some of our major projects for next summer. It’ll be a few more weeks before we have all the details hammered out, but you should keep an eye on the next newsletter for some big news about improvements to the camp facilities. It’s pretty darn exciting!!
 We’re so excited, in fact, that we can’t wait to get going for 2016. We know most of you just started school, and some of you haven’t started yet. Still, there’s good enthusiasm out there, and we’re very happy to welcome back the following campers who have re-enrolled for the upcoming summer…already! ADAM STEWART of Buffalo Grove, IL; DAVID BERK of Tucson, AZ; ILAN REISS of Pacific Pallisades, CA; ALEX PECK, JORDAN PLOCKER, and JEREMY STROUSE of Deerfield, IL; JACKSON PAWLAN of Atlanta, GA; DILLON BERLIN, DANIEL FRIEDLAND, OWEN MONIESON, and DANIEL SOLOT of Glencoe, IL; DEVON BIERMAN, HENCY COEN, AKIL DICKERSON, OWEN FRENCH, GRANT GARLAND, JUSTIN GOLDENBERG, BRETT MILLER, ADAM POGER, BEN & SAM SIWAK, and CHRISTIAN SIEVE of St. Louis, MO; MAX BORON, SAM HENSON, ANDREW KERPEL, JACK KRISER, LEO SCLAMBERG, and ALEXANDER ZLOTNIK of Highland Park, IL; JAIMARI COTTRELL and MATTHEW and ZACH KALLMEYER, of Cleveland, OH; NOAH FOSTER and SAM SALZER of Northbrook, IL; CAM & GAVIN GORDON, MICHAEL GORDON, and JACOB VINER of Nashville, TN; JACKSON TURNER of Denver, CO; MARK DAVID of Herndon, VA; and GABE SCHULTZ of Franklin, WI. And we have a few first-year campers to welcome aboard already, including COLE BERNSTEIN, HENRY COHEN, and DYLAN PORT of Highland Park, IL; and BRADY ADELMAN of Northbrook, IL. Glad to have you with us, guys! Re-enrollment for returning campers is really easy. Just click on our application page, then login in to your Keylog account. From there you just complete the application form online and submit it. Simple! We are off to a great start already, so we encourage you to send in your application at your first opportunity. If you have any questions about camp for next summer, please call or email us. Thanks. |
YO PARENTS: As though you don’t already do so much, we need to ask you for two favors. 1) Please tell your camper(s) that the newsletter is ready for them to read. 2) We just wanna know what your kids are up to this “off-season.” That’s all. They won’t tell us, and it’s not because they’re not willing to share. Today’s campers are pretty connected on social media, and they figure everyone already knows whatever it is they want to tell ‘em. And while that works pretty well, the truth is not everyone is connected with everyone else on those sites, so we like to be the social media outlet for camp during the non-summer months. And for that to work, we need your help. Please tell us about events big or small. School projects, clubs, teams, etc. Lots of kids go on cool trips with their families at vacation time. That’s high quality newsletter content! Share it with us!! We get a little desperate for info sometimes, so whatever you can send our way will be very much appreciated. Thanks!
As a reminder, the camp Memory Books most of you ordered will be mailed to you directly from the photographer, Mobile Photo, in early November. Since the photographer is based in Chicago, he will actually come to our Chicago reunion on November 7th and distribute the Memory Books there. If you’re unable to attend the reunion (what?!), don’t worry….he’ll mail it to you right afterwards.
Speaking of reunions, we’ve already got several of them arranged. We want to see all of you…campers, staff, moms, dads, siblings, cousins, neighbors, friends, alumni…you name it, you’re welcome to join us! For a little guilt trip, we’d like you to consider how far we travel to come and see everyone. We know you lead very busy lives (kids and adults), so that’s why we’re giving you so much advanced notice about our reunion dates. We’ll also mail you an invite several weeks before the big day. Please, please, please take a few hours out of your schedule to join in the fun, rekindle that camp spirit, and spend some time with us. RYAN COHEN is working hard on the 2015 Reunion Video as we speak, and if past performance is the best predictor, you know it’s gonna be amazing!! Here’s what we have so far:
| CITY | DATE | TIME |
| Nashville | Saturday, October 31st (Boo!) | 2:00 – 4:00 PM |
| Chicago | Saturday, November 7th | 12:00 – 4:00 PM |
| St. Louis | Sunday, November 15th | 2:00 – 4:00 PM |
| Houston | Saturday, December 5th | 2:00 – 4:00 PM |
| Dallas | Saturday, December 12th | 2:00 – 4:00 PM |
We will add many more reunions to our calendar in the coming weeks, and we’ll be sure to keep you informed. WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU ALL!!
GOT FRIENDS? Well, of course you do! We try not to pester you, but our current campers are the #1 source of new campers for camp. Since we’re ramping up our travel schedule, and plan to get to 12-15 cities this year, if you know of a family (or more!) that may be interested in learning more about us, please let us know. It’s easy to do, and so vital to the health of camp. You can call or email us, or you can submit a form online by clicking here, and then clicking the “Prospective Campers” link.
 ARI & BEN KADEN went on a cool trip to Utah and got to put some of their camp trip experience to work hiking The Narrows in Zion Nat’l. Park. SAM & BEN SIWAK got to hang out with JORDAN TAYLOR in St. Louis just before Jordan returned to Duke for his sophomore year. In Herndon, VA, MARK DAVID has started high school and football season. |
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JAKE REUTER is cooling off after a busy summer, enjoying the snow and the mountains in Argentina! Yes, our man, Jake, followed the snow to South America. It was all he could do to resist wearing his ski boots around camp. He’ll be there for a few more weeks, then return to the States to get back to camp work. KATHY LEVERTON has been traveling since camp ended, and was recently up in Alaska! On her travels she managed to meet up with DANNY LEVY and “old-timers” HEATHER WRIGHT and JOSH MCGRATH in Seattle. ANITA ROBSON has also been touring the northeast of the US, and RICHARD STRINGER has been out west, hitting up Tucson, AZ and Las Vegas! KAREN MCKELVEY has been on a footloose road trip, first heading east into Michigan, then turning around when the weather was lousy, and heading west up into Minnesota. She’s going to motor around the upper Midwest for a while, and ultimately will find herself back in the Arizona desert.
BRAVO TO OUR SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAY BOYS & GIRLS! SINCE WE CAN’T SING TO ‘EM IN PERSON, PLEASE MAKE AN EFFORT TO WISH YOU CAMP FRIENDS A HAPPY BIRTHDAY BY TEXTING, EMAILING, FACEBOOKING, or EVEN (*gasp!!) CALLING THEM! Jake Feiger - 9/2/1997, Aidan Doyal - 9/3/1997, Christian Sieve - 9/3/2004, Greg Fus - 9/4/1955, Joey Flom - 9/6/2001, Jeremy Cohn - 9/7/2003, Rick Jones - 9/9/1957, Ethan Rothstein - 9/10/2001, Graham Elliot - 9/11/2001, Laura Franco - 9/11/1989, Jesse Stolberg - 9/11/2001, Scott Wolf - 9/11/1991, Cody Kendall - 9/12/2002, Anna Wilke - 9/13/1993, David Tamsky - 9/15/1999, David Artzi - 9/17/1993, Dustin Cohen - 9/17/1993, Jordan Fishel - 9/17/1997, Cooper Likosar - 9/17/2003, Cole Bernstein - 9/19/2006, Jesse Mc Cauley - 9/19/1999, Ari Singer - 9/19/1999, Andrew Cramin - 9/22/1999, Jacob Viner - 9/22/2003, Zev Burton - 9/23/1999, Spencer Vernier - 9/24/2002, Parker Fleischman-Ament - 9/25/2002, Elliot Rubin - 9/25/2005, Charlie Tepper - 9/25/2001, Sam Kline - 9/26/2005, Aidan Mease - 9/26/2004, Aviry Christy - 9/27/1992, Emma Smith - 9/27/1993, Rodrigo Cruz - 9/29/2004, Miles Gottesman - 9/29/2000, Ben Siwak - 9/29/2004, Sammy Cohen - 9/30/1996, Owen Shaffer - 9/30/2003.
So that’s it for this first edition of the new volume of monthly “Timberlife!” newsletters. We hope you enjoyed it. Please keep us posted on what’s going on in your life, and we will write you again next month! Have a nice October, everyone!!
Benches up,
