Happy almost Visiting Day! Or shall we name it a new national holiday, “Visiting Day Eve”? Wow, how did this time of the summer sneak up on us so fast? We’ve been preparing for this very special day and we anticipate that it will be fantastic for all. Please peruse yesterday’s blog for more details about tomorrow’s festivities.

Unfortunately, the weather gods have not been working in our favor these past few days. We woke up to misty rain with dreary skies. The light rain stopped around breakfast time but the dark, heavy clouds stayed with us for most of the day, along with on and off misty rain. We did have some blue sky peak through the clouds here and there in the afternoon hours. For those of you joining us here at camp tomorrow, be sure to check the Starrucca, PA weather forecast and dress appropriately in case we have any rain. Even if we’re lucky and we stay dry here at camp, the grass may still be wet and the paths/roads may be a bit slick so sneakers will probably be your best bet.

In ILC sports today: A few tournaments were rained out but our 4^th & 5^th grade girls were still able to go out of camp to play basketball. 8^th & 9^th grade girls also played softball this afternoon here at home. Our ILC Open is winding down on the tennis courts with just a few rounds left. I’ll announce the big winners once the challenges are complete.

I have a cute quote to share with you from a couple of evenings ago at the canteen. Dustin, our head counselor, plays movies every night on the flat screen tv in the canteen for campers to watch before their curfew. These movies tend to attract a lot of kids, especially the younger ones, as many movies are animated. A few nights ago Dustin put on Back to the Future, a classic from our generation. A little boy walked up to Dustin and asked, “Is this based on a true story?” Dustin said it took all of his will to not elaborate an entire story about time travel, the DeLorean, and Marty McFly. Instead he responded, “No buddy, it’s not a true story.”

Tonight’s evening activity is the amazing, fantastic, superb hypnotist, Brad Henderson! Our campers and staff will witness Brad hypnotize about 15 of our counselors on the theater stage. This is another one of our campers’ favorite evening activities. They get to watch their counselors embarrass themselves while doing hysterically funny things in front of the camp.  Tonight is also ETB, Early To Bed. Once our counselors are done making fools out of themselves on stage (hardy haha!), everyone will go back to their bunks to get a good night’s rest for tomorrow’s festivities.

Our special feature of the day is photos of girls group 4 from last night’s evening activity, Messy Twister! It ended up being less twister and more messy but I have to tell you, these girls had an absolute blast! As a matter of fact, rather than running back to their bunks to shower, they went straight to canteen to show off to everyone else in camp looking like this. Now this is what camp is all about! Having fun being a child and living in the moment. You can see even more Messy Twister photos on CampMinder today.

Until tomorrow, when we will see many of your smiling faces here at Island Lake, ILCUTHERE!

Hi ho, hi ho, back to majors and minors today we go! Only 2 more days until Visiting Day! Pretty wild how quickly it snuck up on us, huh? All camp parents should have now received an email from my account regarding this Saturday’s festivities. There will be more info about Visiting Day further below in this blog.

Today was a busy day for many of our Island Lakers. Several of our avid pioneers took a trip to Prompton State Park in Honesdale, PA for a climbing trip. Unfortunately, it got cut short due to rain. We’re going there again next session so we’ll hope for better weather then.

Our gymnastics campers went out of camp for a big competition this morning. We also participated in a swim meet at another camp today. 6^th & 7^th grade boys played basketball this morning out at another camp.

Our ILC weather was a big mish mosh today. We actually woke up to warm temperatures this morning (YAY!). Throughout the day we had sunshine, we had clouds, and unfortunately we had rain. Although lots of different weather patterns crossed our path today, at least we didn’t have snow! (I’m looking on the bright side here!)

Saturday is approaching fast and with that comes our one and only annual Island Lake Visiting Day! (Cheers in the background,…woohoo,…yay!) We know you’re excited to come up to camp to see your children and we’re excited to have you join us. We will have lots of activities and exhibits going on all day along with a huge lunch buffet. If you prefer, you can take your children out of camp for the day.

I’m sure you’re planning to bring lots of junk food, baked goods, and sushi to shower your children with affection so please keep in mind that we discard all of the food 2 days later. Do not bring so much that your children have to throw away lots of great homemade brownies, cookies, bagged chips, chocolate, grandma’s secret recipes, etc. We truly hate to waste food, so don’t shlep too much up here.

Please refrain from bringing bottled water and drinks, too. We have amazing well water here at camp that tastes as good as bottled water. Bottled drinks will also be discarded so save yourself the hassle of carrying these heavy items into camp.

Visiting Day hours are from 9:30am-3:30pm. If you leave camp for the day, please bring your children back on time for our other annual super duper, huge, extravagant Water Fight! Parents are fair game if you’re still here for the water fight so just remember; quick and speedy goodbyes are easier on your children. We expect that some campers will be in tears so our staff will be around to help them through what’s usually just a short moment of sadness. The water fight is a great distraction to get children through their difficult goodbyes. Please work with us and know your children are in great hands here at camp.

And now back to our regular scheduled program. Tonight’s evening activity is GROUPS! Here’s a breakdown of events: BOYS: Group 1- Pioneering Games (run by our pioneering department head along with girls group 1); Group 2- Dodgeball; Group 3- Casino Night (Don’t worry, it’s just our fancy way of saying card games. There’s no gambling or money involved!); Group 4- ILC Movie Night (Extravagant way of saying they’re watching a movie in the theater tonight). GIRLS: Group 1- Pioneering Games; Group 2- Ugly Fashion Show; Group 3- Minute 2 Win It; Group 4- Messy Twister (A favorite evening activity amongst our oldest girls. They play twister on a giant sized twister board with paint. Messy and fun!)

Today’s feature is MOUNTAIN BIKING! Enjoy and until tomorrow, Visiting Day Eve, ILCUTHERE!

Today was Lazy Day so our campers all went out for the day. Although we had cloudy skies for most of the day, the rain stayed away while our kids were on camp. The temps reached the mid 70’s but it was warmer at the destinations of all of our Lazy Day trips. Here at camp it rained in the late afternoon before kids returned and then the sun came out.

Groups 1&2 (boys & girls) went to Sky Zone, a trampoline park just outside of Scranton, PA. The feedback was, “It was really fun!” I also heard, “I wish this was every Lazy Day!”, “We bounced off the walls”, “I jumped high in the ‘sky zone’”, and “Well, we did some jumping.” (Deep thoughts by children).

Boys and girls group 3 went to Montage Mountain Water Park where they had a fantastic day outdoors. The feedback was, “The ski lift was so pretty. Amazing view!” They also said “The funnel ride was fun too. It’s even more fun if you close your eyes!” I also heard “T’was lit!” and “I’m tired and I can’t walk up the hill to my bunk.” So hey, I guess they had a great time and we did our job by tiring them out!

Group 4 boys & girls went to Ithaca for the day. Due to rain on their drive, they didn’t get to go swim in the gorges. Instead they went to Ithaca Commons, a shopping area where they ate some good food. Don’t worry parents; we didn’t give them enough money to eat and shop till they dropped. What I heard from some kids was, “We got really good food and waffles!” and “We made cool t-shirts!”

Lots of Lazy Day photos will be posted on CampMinder tomorrow. Please forgive us for not having pictures posted today. I promise we’ll get them up as soon as possible tomorrow morning.

Tonight for dinner we had a “cook-in” because the picnic tables and the grill were too wet from our afternoon showers. Evening activity will be GROUPS! Here’s a list of what everyone is doing. BOYS: Group 1- Dodgeball; Group 2- Capture the Flag; Group 3- Kong Pong; Group 4- Gaga. The boys will be very active this evening. Maybe we’ll even tire them out! On the GIRLS side: Group 1- Pool Party; Group 2- Little Sis/Big Sis (with girls group 4); Group 3- Sidewalk Chalking (they’ll decorate the blacktop here at camp); Group 4- Big Sis/Little Sis (with the group 2 girls).

Until tomorrow when our majors & minors will resume once again, ILCUTHERE!

Another day in the books here at ILC! Although cloudy in the first half of the day, we were happy that the rain stayed far away and activities resumed per usual. The sun peeked from the clouds here and there during the afternoon hours but otherwise it was a cloudy day in Starrucca, PA.

Tomorrow is already our 3^rd Lazy Day of the summer. Where does the time go? We’re going to send our campers on a few different adventures. Boys and girls groups 1&2 will go to Sky Zone. Boys and girls group 3 will go to Montage Mountain Waterpark. Boys and girls group 4 will head up to Ithaca for a fun day of site seeing. They’ll check out the gorges (waterfalls), I’m sure they’ll go shopping for “Ithaca is Gorges” t-shirts, and they’ll relax around the town. Please remember that our camp photographer will not be posting photos tomorrow but he’ll try to get pics up as soon as possible Thursday morning.

We hosted our annual 8^th & 9^th grade boys volleyball tournament here at camp today. Other camps came here to play in an elimination tournament of which we did very well. Our 8^th & 9^th grade girls soccer team went out of camp to play a match, as well. We shut out the other camp (Woohoo!) so we’re moving on to the next round.  And as usual, our ILC Open continued to run strong on our tennis courts during all of the minor periods today.

So as to not sound like we’re only all about sports, our theater campers are busy rehearsing and preparing for their upcoming performances of The Lion King and Pippin. Pippin is going to be performed in the circus building as we combine the two departments for this show. I can’t wait to see it! Our dancers are practicing for their end of the session show next week. Our rock band kids are jamming out in order to fine-tune their skills for their show at the end of the session, as well. Our magicians are practicing for their show with card tricks, coin tricks, illusion, balloon animals, and more.

A few days ago our skatepark department held a competition amongst our rollerbladers and skateboarders of all levels. The kids who placed received certificates of their accomplishments.

In Bunk Cup news, there have been some recent challenges. G14 challenged B6 to newcomb and the girls won. They also challenged G13 to gaga and beat them. B6 & B7 will be playing baseball today to win some Bunk Cup points. B2 and G2 will battle one another in a dance off (which I personally would like to see!). Lastly, G11 has challenged G13 to a game of gaga. Bunk Cup is in full swing!

Tonight’s evening activity is a camp wide Spelling Bee in the theater! There will be 2 representatives per group, 2 on the boys side as well as the girls side. They will battle it out to spell words correctly. The winner of each round will have the opportunity to choose a counselor to then pie in the face. There will also be a counselor round and the winner gets to pie a group leader in the face. Should be fun!

Abracadabra! Today’s special feature is MAGIC! Enjoy and until tomorrow when we get to sleep in for Lazy Day, ILCUTHERE!

Today was another fun day in Starrucca, PA! As we say every morning in our wake-up call, “The birds are singing, the sun is shining, the grass is growing,…” Your children had yet another busy day of majors and minors here at ILC. Per usual, the temps started off cool but quickly warmed up to the low 70’s by 1^st major and mid 70’s by lunchtime. We had lots of clouds in and out throughout the day but the weather stayed dry.

We had another busy day in sports. 8^th & 9^th grade girls, as well as 10^th & 11^th grade girls, left straight from breakfast to play in a tennis tournament out of camp today. Our 6^th & 7^th grade girls played a home game of soccer this morning. The 6^th &7^th grade girls’ basketball team then played here at camp this afternoon. 8^th & 9^th grade boys played in a basketball tournament at another camp this afternoon, as well. Our in camp ILC Open continued at tennis today for boys and girls of all age groups.

Today’s quote: After my Sidewalk Chalking With Wendy minor this afternoon, while all of our campers were heading to their bunks for snack break, a first time young camper runs toward me yelling, “Wendy! Wendy!” I said hi and asked him what’s up and he simply asked me, “Can I stay next session?” Well, could you ask for a better question from a child here at summer camp? That means he’s loving life and his experience here at ILC. For all of you who want to know what happened next, I told his mom and she said, “I knew it! I just told his father he was going to ask.” Unfortunately, he can’t stay due to other summer plans but they’re already planning for next summer.

Evening activity tonight is everyone’s favorite, most anticipated secretive activity of the summer. No, it’s not Color War! Here’s a hint,…it takes place down at the waterfront. All parents of returning campers or parents who are alumni here should know exactly what I’m talking about. Those of you new to ILC will for sure hear about this activity when your child returns home. Oh ok, I’ll tell you. Evening activity is Revival Night!!! I can tell you now since we’re breaking Revival directly from dinner. We’re going to have evening activity and then rest hour instead of vice versa. After rest hour we’ll go to canteen. This will really surprise the kids, as they will never expect Revival to start at the end of dinner announcements.

Today’s special feature is GYMNASTICS! The kids practiced their floor skills, the beams, and the bars. Enjoy the pics and until tomorrow, ILCUTHERE!

Happy Pajamas Day! We hosted our first official theme day today and lots of our campers sported their pj’s and onesies. At the bottom of today’s blog are several photos I took at lunch to showcase our campers in their bedtime best.

Yesterday’s Rookie Day was FANTASTIC! We had approximately 30 kids who experienced a day in the life of an Island Laker for the very first time. Even through the brief rain showers they still had a blast. A special thank you to our group leaders and CIT’s who worked very hard with these kids to make their day so memorable.

Beautiful blue skies filled the 18462 all day long today. We woke up with the usual cool temps in the low 60’s but it slowly warmed up to the mid 70’s. It was such a perfect day for kids to wear their pajamas and play camp.

We have a new reining champion of ILC Idol everyone! Jessica T. from girls bunk 23 took home the championship last night. Her competition was tight, as 2^nd place went to Sydney F. and Lulu M. from girls bunk 5. These are some talented kids, I tell you. The camp was fully entertained by all of our contestants.

In sports news, our 4^th & 5^th grade boys played a soccer intercamp game this afternoon. Our 8^th & 9^th grade boys played a basketball intercamp game in the afternoon, as well. Our ILC Tennis Open continued with boys of all different ages as well as our 9^th & 10^th grade girls.

Quote of the day: This is actually a quote from yesterday during Rookie Day. I walked nearby a rookie who was walking with some other kids and shouted out to me, “Can you tell my mom that I don’t miss her?” I asked her to repeat it because I thought she said she DID miss her. Her 2^nd time she emphasized the “DON’T!” Now please don’t take offense to this all you moms out there but how great is that? A child was having so much fun at camp that she didn’t have time to miss her mom! I guess we’re doing something right!

Tonight’s evening activity is GROUPS! Here’s a breakdown of what everyone is doing: GIRLS: Group 1- Spa night (it’s a beauty night as they do one another’s nails, hair, etc.); Group 2- Campfire (make s’mores and enjoy the fire with boys group 2); Groups 3&4- watch the camp movie that was created by our very own staff and has become a classic here at Island Lake, Beaverhead. BOYS: Group 1- Pool Party (go swimming in the pool while listening to pop tunes over the speakers); Group 2- Campfire (with girls group 2); Groups 3&4- Beaverhead, the movie.

Today’s special feature is PAJAMA DAY! Below are photos of our campers looking all cute in their pajamy-jams and in their onesies at lunchtime. My apologies for there being more photos of girls than boys but they’re just the ones to wear pj’s all day long. Enjoy the pics and until tomorrow, ILCUTHERE!

Happy Rookie Day! Today we had a handful of future Island Lakers come to camp and receive the royal ILC treatment by experiencing several activities and dining with us for lunch. These children made friends with other rookies, in addition to our current campers. Some rookies are younger siblings of our campers and some rookies are the first in their family to get a taste of what Island Lake has to offer. They dabbled in several activities such as the giant swing at pioneering, skatepark, cooking, the flying trapeze, sports monsters, pickle ball, and more. Check out the photos at the bottom of the blog to see our rookies in action.

Today’s weather was a mish mosh of everything. As usual, the temps were cool first thing in the morning but the sun came out and warmed it up to the 70’s. We were then hit with some rain at the end of 2^nd major. The rain quickly cleared and the sun found its way to the 18462 skies once again. But wait, there’s more! Another rain shower came through during 3^rd major. Harrumph! But no worries, by 3^rd minor the clouds parted and blue skies shined through.

In ILC sports, our 4^th & 5^th grade boys played basketball this morning here at camp against a nearby camp. 6^th & 7^th grade boys played in a singles and doubles tennis tournament out of camp. We hosted 2 different tennis tournaments here at home as well: our 4^th & 5^th grade girls as well as our 6^th & 7^th grade girls. The ILC Open continued today in tennis for our 9^th grade and older girls.

Tonight’s evening activity is the ILC Idol finals! All of the winners from the preliminary rounds earlier in the week will compete. They will perform in the theater for the entire camp and a winner will be casted amongst us. Will it be another young girl? An older boy? A duo team? We’ll have to wait and see!

Today’s special feature is ROOKIE DAY! Below are pics of our little rookies playing camp for the day. Enjoy and until tomorrow when I’ll feature your campers in another department here at camp, ILCUTHERE!

Hey Island Lake families! It’s hard to believe that we’re already 2 weeks into the summer. Time sure flies when we’re having fun! I hope you’re receiving letters from your children that are all positive and filled with rainbows and unicorns. (I would insert rainbow and unicorn emojis here if I could!)

This morning we woke up to some rain but it was gone by the time everyone left the dining room after breakfast. The clouds hung around for a while with temps in the low to mid 60’s until 1^st minor when it warmed up to the 70’s and the sun made its debut. This afternoon was partly sunny in the upper 70’s. Around 3^rd major (4ish) the skies got darker and as the major ended the rain came pouring down. Luckily it didn’t last too long.

Here at camp we were very busy. A group of campers departed this morning for an overnight river trip down the Delaware. Our canoe and kayak campers spend the day going down the Delaware River and then camp out for the night at nearby camping grounds. I’m looking forward to receiving feedback tomorrow from these kids regarding how fun this trip was.

In the world of sports, our 8^th & 9^th grade boys played in a lacrosse game here at camp this morning. Our 4^th & 5^th grade girls played soccer on our home field this afternoon. Our 6^th & 7^th grade girls’ lacrosse team played here at camp this afternoon, as well. In tennis news, we started our ILC Open with our 9^th grade and older girls. ILC Open is an in-camp tennis tournament amongst each of the age groups with winners announced at the end of the session. We’re keeping your children busy and as active as possible here at camp this summer!

In Bunk Cup news, some bunks have started challenging one another to friendly competitions. Department heads and group leaders have been giving out bunk cup points for a variety of different activities. Our campers are still excited to be in this friendly camp-wide competition.

I have to tell you about a cute conversation that I had with a little girl in bunk 1 this morning:

LG (Little Girl): My brother is my twin

Me: No way! I don’t believe it. I thought he was older. (I knew they were twins but I was just joking around with her although she didn’t know that.)

LG: We ARE twins and I’m actually older than him by 3 minutes!

Me: I don’t believe it! That’s not possible!

LG: We have video of us being born on youtube! You can go online and see it!

Me: Nooooooooo thank you. I believe you! I believe you!

Oh the conversations we have with children on a daily basis. I love camp!

Tonight’s evening activity is COUNSELOR HUNT! All of our counselors hide around camp (only in public areas of course) and our campers have to run around and try to find them. Once caught, the kids find out if the counselors they captured are worth positive or negative points. The bunk that captures the most counselors with the highest score of positive points at the end of the activity is the winner. They will win bragging rights and LTB (Late To Bed).

Special feature today is COOKING! In the majors they made marinara sauce with pasta. In the minors they made rocky road fudge. (I may or may not have stolen a marshmallow while there taking photos.)

Tomorrow is our big Rookie Day for summer 2017. We will have 30 young kids trying out camp for the day to experience life as an Island Laker. We’re so excited to introduce ILC to future campers! Until then, ILCUTHERE!

We’re baaaaaack!  !  Today we’re back to our majors and minors after spending an amazing Lazy Day at Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom yesterday.  Our campers had such a fantastic day at Dorney, both on rides of all sizes and in the water park.  It was the perfect day, weather-wise, for a trip to an amusement/water park.  We took the kids in coach buses so it was an easy trip to/from Allentown, PA.  Hopefully you’ll receive wonderful feedback from your children in the form of letters, telling you all about this fun-filled day out of camp.

We let the camp sleep in an extra hour since we returned from Dorney a few minutes after 10 o’clock last night.  We rearranged the schedule while still keeping all activity periods 1 hour long.  

We woke up this morning to mostly sunny skies and temps in the mid 60’s.  By afternoon the temps were up to the mid 70’s and it was mostly cloudy.  No precipitation here so we’re good. (wink wink)

We had lots of sporting events take place on this fine Thursday of July.  Our avid golfers went out of camp to play 9 holes this morning.  Our 6^th & 7^th grade baseball boys played a game here on our home turf.  Our 6^th and 7^th grade girls basketball players also played in a game here at home this morning.  Lastly, this afternoon our 4^th & 5^th grade boys went out of camp to play in a baseball game.

Tonight’s evening activity is GROUPS!  Here’s a breakdown of what each group did:  BOYS:  Group 1- Pioneering Game with “Grampa” (Kris, the director of Pioneering) called Human Battleship;  Group 2- Gaga (with girls group 2 up in the hockey rink for a massive game of fun!);  Group 3- Kickball;  Group 4- Campfire (with girls group 4).  And on the GIRLS side:  Group 1- Big Sister/Little Sister (they’ll be receiving big sisters amongst girls group 3 and then they’ll all play together);  Group 2- Gaga (massive game with boys group 2);  Group 3- Big Sister/Little Sister (with girls group 1);  Group 4- Campfire (with boys group 4).

Quote of today comes from a little boy:  “For next week’s Lazy Day can we go to 6 Flags?”  Sorry buddy but we’re amusement parked out for awhile!

Today’s special feature is an array of photos from yesterday’s big trip to Dorney Park. Enjoy and until we do this all over again tomorrow, ILCUTHERE!

Happy 4^th of July! I hope you’re all enjoying your holiday as much as we are here at Island Lake. Our campers have really gotten into the patriotic holiday spirit as they are all decked out in their red, white, and blue clothing and accessories. They look amazing! You’ll have the opportunity to see for yourselves in today’s daily photos, as well as below in this blog.

To add to all the glory that this holiday brings, the weather today was absolutely beautiful! We had mostly sunny skies with temps up to the mid 70’s.   Tonight we will be in the upper 60’s to low 70’s for our fireworks extravaganza. We make the 4^th of July very special for our campers and staff here at Island Lake. I’ll list for you all that this day entails. Let’s start from the beginning,…

At breakfast this morning we started our 4^th of July with Mike Stoltz’s annual speech about how the U.S. beat the Brits to become our own nation but we are now all very good friends. Our British staff stood at the front of the dining room to sing their national anthem. The rest of us then sang the Star Spangled Banner followed by the chant, “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!”   For those of you not familiar with who Mike Stoltz is, he’s my dad. Although now retired, he and my mom, Bev, founded Island Lake back in 1986 and are now regular visitors here at camp every summer. (An extra little history lesson for ya!)

Next highlight of the day- MUSIC LUNCH! I played the part of “DJ Wendy” as I spun tunes in the dining room,…ok, truth be told I just hit the play button for each song on my ipod. In any case, the kids had an amazing time singing and dancing to the pop music. Everyone joined in on the fun and didn’t want to leave for their next activity. You can view photos of our music lunch here in this blog. There will be lots of additional Music Lunch pictures in our daily summer photos today, as well.

Next highlight- COOKOUT for dinner tonight! Burgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers, watermelon, cupcakes, and more were devoured at dinner. Our campers enjoy dining outdoors for our cookouts.

Next highlight- CANTEEN will follow rest hour and then as the sun sets, we’ll put on a ROCK CONCERT on girls campus for all of our campers and counselors to enjoy. We’ll also send off some SKY LANTERNS into the air, which always makes the campers “Oooooohh” and “Aaaaaaahh”.

Next highlight- our huge FIREWORK extravaganza! We pride ourselves in having a fantastic firework show. Our neighbors on the lake even come outdoors to enjoy watching because it’s so entertaining. Our campers all sit together on the hill to enjoy this traditional Island Lake event. We’re looking forward to another great show.

Today’s feature,…patriotic campers at MUSIC LUNCH! Our 8^th & 9^th grade boys tennis team went out of camp for a match today. Sports don’t stop for the holidays!

I hope you’re all having a wonderful 4^th of July. As a reminder, tomorrow is our Lazy Day trip to Dorney Park. For that reason, there will not be a blog posted here. Until the following day when we resume our regular camp schedule, ILC U THERE!