Fishing on Sylvan lake in 1991

Fishing on Sylvan Lake with Andrew, Danny and Michael Krupnick

And finally I got on the Camp Board of Directors

Ilise and I had the privilege to go to Europe to hire Kinder Ring staff at camp job fairs in London and Prague in the late 90's

I graduated to Kinder Ring parent

 Andrew and Danny as young campers in the early 90's

 Andrew with me, my parents and Bea Bomus, my second mom at camp when she was the camp nurse

Visiting Day at Camp - Danny always was the joker!

Over the years the Langes have spent over 35 years at Kinder Ring - This summer will make 36!

My parents as Kinder Ring parents and grandparents

My folks at camp in 1965

My parents as Kinder Ring grandparents in 2001

As a camper in 1963 and 1965

My first summer at Kinder Ring - Leon Silverstrom and Steve Drazin were my counselors

My third summer - the two coolest counselors at camp - Eric Holtzman and Artie Siegel

1963

The most exiting day of the year for me as a young boy living in Bayside Queens was the first day of summer camp. We'd pack up the car and my mom and dad would transport me to a magical place. The drive up to camp was always eventful and filled with anticipation. It took what seemed like hours, the 90 miles from Queens to the country seemed like a cross country trip to an 11 year old. And when we'd get there, turning off the Taconic Parkway onto Beekman Road, my heart would be pounding with excitement. The first thing that always grabbed me was the smell - the country just smelled different than Queens did. Fresh country air was not something a Queens kid took for granted! When we'd drive through the big stone gates, it was like no other feeling in the world. The sign that greeted us had been hanging there for over 35 years by the time I started going to camp. It read simply, "Camp Kinder Ring, your home away from home". And it was just that - my home away from home for two months out of every year. What happened between September and June didn't really exist, that was just school. What really mattered were the months of July and August where every day felt like a week and every week felt like a year. Camp, where time stood still and nothing you did at home counted. This was the place to be someone different, with different friends in a different place where you could lead a different life. By age 11 I realized that I had two types of friends - camp friends and everyone else. Like night and day, these two worlds never collided. The summer of 1963 was like no other for me. My counselors, Steve and Leon, were to become memorable characters to me forever. My bunkmates, a dozen boys who like me were living "in the city" and who were lucky enough to get away for the summer to our special place, became players in my "camp world". And when camp ended at the end of August, 1963 I knew that life for me would never be the same. I had found camp, Camp Kinder Ring to be exact, and my life would forever be influenced by that.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION