CHRONICLEDiscover the Spirit!

Movie Premiere“Coleman Country, the Movie” surely was a “Dream Big” production, and the exclusive premiere, held late last month at the Loew’s Raceway Movie Theater, was the Red Carpet event of the season! More than 1,500 campers, parents, and staff turned out to see themselves and their friends on the big screen after posing on the Red Carpet for paparazzi and interviewers who looked just like Coleman Country staff! If you haven’t watched this Western extravaganza yet, make sure to see for yourselves the power and the passion of summers on The Ranch. And, if you’d like us to share with friends our vision of what camp can do for kids, e-mail us at mailbox@ColemanCountry.com and we’ll gladly send them a copy.

Movie Premiere

Vol. XXVIII No. 1 December, 2009

South Africans Send Thanks and LoveThe Coleman Country community opened its hearts

and arms last summer to three counselors and three campers from Soweto, South Africa. We wanted everyone who made them feel so welcome to know how much our visitors appreciated their time with us and how much they took home with them: besides the suitcases of clothing for them and for their families that so many of you so generously contributed, they returned to South Africa with inspiration to overcome their hardships and skills to reach for their goals. We received letters from their guardians that it was an experience of a lifetime – and it was for us, too!

Can’t wait until camp begins? Well, if you currently are in Grades 5, 6, or 7, you don’t have to! Our Boston

Adventure, set for January 30-31, is planned to be the most fun you could ever have in two days!! The marathon weekend, led by Coleman Cross Country Supervisors Dimitri Bernadel, Melanye Stromberg, and “Mama” Linda Vasconi is jam-packed with incredible fun: CoCo Key Water Resort, Shear Madness Dinner Theater, Quincy Market, 5 Wits Tomb, and dinner at Cheers are among the stops on this adventure. That means you’ll be frolicking in a 65,000 square foot indoor water park, entering a 3,000-year-old Egyptian tomb (special effects, of course!) on an archaeological dig for an interactive flashlight adventure, being part of an audience that gets to solve a who-dun-it crime, and eating a NormBurger at the famous Bull and Finch pub that inspired the TV classic, “Cheers.” And all this with fellow campers!

What a great way to get a dose of camp life right in the middle of winter to keep you going until summer!

Details and enrollment form are available on our Web site at ColemanCrossCountry.com. Round trip luxury coach transport from The Ranch and deluxe hotel accommodations are included in the $350 tuition. Make sure to hop on the wagon train right away for this incredible winter camp interlude before the trip closes out, deadline for enrollment is January 5th. Oh, and Coleman Country campers can invite friends who are not enrolled for camp!

FIELD OF DREAMS BECOMES MORE VIVIDIf you were wondering what we could

possibly do next to enhance The Ranch, here it is: the Field of Dreams, our main baseball infield in the center of the campus, will be turf by the next time you come through the barn doors! Not only will the two-tone field be beautiful to look at, but it will be an amazing playing facility – no dirt or dust, no uneven ground… just level, soft turf with a pitcher’s mound; in fact, it will be set up with official little league dimensions. We really mean it when we say, “Dream Big,” and we can’t wait for Pardners to step foot on our Field of Dreams.

BOSTONWINTER WEEKEND 2010

Campf re Stories for Parentsi

www.MarlaColeman.com

Marla blogs about raising resilient, independent, and self-disciplined children. As an education professional for more

than 30 years working with children, parents, and families, she shares insights and opinions gleaned from her experiences, along with those of the child development experts she works with regularly. Marla invites parents to join her conversations; she can be reached at blog@MarlaColeman.com or by posting comments at the end of each blog post.

The stagecoach is filling up fast for our brand new Coleman Cross Country July travel program.

This summer, we take camp on the road for the first four weeks, an amazing option for campers who will be entering 7th or 8th grade next September! The best part is that you can see the country, and still be a 49er in August!

It’s the Coleman super-vision, fun, and top-notch programming that you know so well, with air-conditioned luxury coach buses, high-end hotel accommodations, and bountiful meals. Super-visors Dimitri Bernadel and Melanye Stromberg (beloved 49er staffers), along with “Mama” Linda Vasconi (yes, she’s a grand “mama” with many years of leading teen trips) will kick off the first week to Pennsylvania and Ohio, with stops including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cedar Point Amusement Park, Harry London Chocolate Factory, Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Camelbeach Water Park!

After a weekend home in your own bed, it’s off to Toronto for Week 2: Canada’s Wonderland Amusement Park, Hockey Hall of Fame, Jet boating at Niagara-on-the-Lake, dinner theater, and

Niagara Falls “Maid of the Mist” boat ride are all on the itinerary.

Another catch-up weekend at home, and then it’s off on an 11-day journey of a teenage lifetime! Heading south, we’ll wind our way through Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, the World of Coca Cola

and Underground Atlanta, and pull onto Disney prop-erty, where we will stay at the All-Star Resort as home base for Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and MGM Studios – includ-ing a first ride on Everest in Animal Kingdom before the park opens! And all that

is just the prelude to a 4-day cruise to the Bahamas aboard Royal Caribbean’s “Monarch of the Seas.” On the way back north, there’s even more magic with Hollywood Studios and Disney’s famous Fantas-mic! show. Then it’s off to Myrtle Beach, Carowinds Amusement Park in North Carolina, and Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

And that’s only July! After a few days rest, you’ll be saying, “Nothing could be finer than to be a 49er!”

For a detailed itinerary and enrollment information, visit our Web site at ColemanCrossCountry.com.

Coleman cross country

On the Roadin 2010

P.O. BOX 34Merrick, NY 11566

the Grand Playhouse is undergoing yet another makeover! Our brand new state-of-the-art indoor space was so spectacular last summer that we decided to turn it into a year-round play structure so our Pardners and their teammates could utilize it for practices and games in winter, spring, and fall! During these seasons, a heating system will replace the air-conditioners and a turf field will be installed over our specially fabricated sports flooring to accommodate soccer, lacrosse, and tee-ball practices during the “off-season.” Teams and leagues can

rent the Coleman Country Play space; for specific information, call the office at 620-4300 or e-mail mailbox@ColemanCountry.com.

You read it right: 14,000 square feet of indoor turf right in your own backyard! And here’s the kicker, if you’ll forgive the pun: teams can reserve space and use either the indoor or outdoor turf field on any given day, based on the weather! Coleman Country Play, as the space is being dubbed, will open its doors January, 2010 – yes, next month!

But don’t worry, by the first day of camp, you’ll recognize the GPH in all its Coleman Country splendor!

Grand Playhouse

Believe it or not,

GRANDERGets