As promised, below are photos from the BEST HOEDOWN EVER!  It was amazing!  Our group leaders did such a wonderful job on it and the kids had a blast!

Happy Country Western Day! Tonight is our big Hoedown for evening activity so lots of campers and counselors are sporting their flannel, cowboy boots, braids, freckles, bandanas, and all the fun that goes with the country western theme today. Tonight’s hoedown is going to be blast! We’ll have music, a petting zoo (counselors wearing animal onesies- how cute!), a pitching post (marriage booth), pie eating contest, and a corn hole (bean bag game). Good times for all here at Island Lake!

Today is the first day of majors and minors for our 3^rd session. Our campers are getting right back into their routines with activities once again. For those who are new to the 3^rd session, they are first starting with their activities and it’ll become routine to them before they know it.

The skies were mostly sunny today with temps in the 70’s and very little to no humidity. Our older campers who are going on the teen trip to Canada are getting very excited! In only 4 days we’ll be taking coach buses up to for 4 days of sightseeing, waterfalls, rapids, a labyrinth, a planetarium, and a day in Quebec City, and more. These details only touch upon all of the exciting plans we have for our Montreal and Quebec trip and our teens are itching to go!

Today’s special feature will come later tonight- pictures from the HOEDOWN! I’ll take photos during evening activity and then I’ll upload them here to blog. Please return later tonight to see some great photos of your children having a fantastic time at the hoedown! Until later when I post the photos, ILCUTHERE!

Welcome to 3^rd session at ILC! The first full day of the session begins with sunshine and temps hitting the mid 70’s. It was the perfect weather to run around for our 4-minor day. Today our theater lovers auditioned for the 3^rd session show, Once Upon A Mattress. Those new to this summer also took their deep-water test for swimming in the lake, waterskiing, wakeboarding, and taking out the boats. Kids also got tested for their level in a variety of activities such as tennis, dance, rock shop, and horseback riding. 4-minor day is their chance to try out activities to see what the kids would like to sign up for as their majors.

Later this afternoon after our 4 minors, it was such a beautiful day that we decide to hold a variety of extra activities throughout camp. We opened the swimming pool, the tennis courts, and the gym. In the gym the kids played basketball, 4-square, and a variety of sports monster games.

Once the activities were over our group leaders went around to all of their bunks to sign up our campers for their majors. All of our department heads were in the office to assist in case of activity conflicts during the same major. We assist the campers with their schedule to make sure they can take every activity they’d like and be sure no one is closed out of an activity.

Tonight’s evening activity is Groups! Here’s a list of what the kids will all do: BOYS: Group 1- “Messtival”- games including egg roulette, water bucket challenge, body painting, spaghetti tag, and a few others; Group 2- Gaga; Group 3- Dodgeball; Group 4- Capture the Flag. GIRLS: Group 1- Pool Party; Group 2- Unique (same trivia game we had during color war where there are teams and the kids flip the light switch when they know the answer to the trivia questions. It’s loads of fun, I promise!); Group 3- Outdoor Games on the Ballfield; Group 4- “Messtival” (with boys group 1).

Today’s special feature is a variety of activities! Have a good evening and until tomorrow, ILC U THERE!

Today was our 2^nd changeover day for ILC summer 2016. Where has this summer gone?   We can’t believe we are starting our 3^rd session already! This morning it was difficult to say goodbye to so many amazing campers. We hope they all had a fantastic summer and return home with wonderful memories to hold onto until next summer when we can all be back together here at camp once again.

In the meantime, summer continues as we enter into our 3^rd and final session. We are excited to get to know many of our new campers who have arrived with fresh haircuts, clean white sneakers, and exhilarating grins from ear to ear. Our campers who stayed on from session 2 are pumped up to make new friends and see many from last summer. We know the 3^rd session will be just as incredible as our previous 2 sessions.

We are also busy preparing for our big 3^rd session teen trip to Montreal and Quebec, Canada. Over 60 campers and 5 staff will head to the land of “Eh?” and maple syrup to spend 4 days and 3 nights checking out the cities and surrounding areas. Included in this trip are a visit to La Ronde Amusement Park, the Old Port of Montreal, Lachine Rapids, the SOS Labyrinth, a walk through Old Montreal, Quebec City, Parc Olympic, the Biodome, and much more. This trip is the highlight of the summer for many of our older campers, so we’re all revving to go.

Tonight’s evening activity is “Make Your Own Sundae” (Aka “Make Your Own Mess”) in the canteen. Tomorrow is our 4-minor day. Until then, ILC U THERE!

Happy 80’s Day here at Island Lake! Several of our campers and staff are on point as they dressed to impress and pay tribute the 80’s. What a great decade, huh? Many of us (you, the parents, and I) were kids/teenagers in the 80’s and we had no idea at the time that we would look back on those days and long for them once again, huh?

Ok, back to camp and back to the here and now. I cannot believe that today was the last full day of session 2 here at Island Lake. This entire summer is flying by way too fast. It’s going to be sad to say goodbye to many amazing campers tomorrow morning. I hope they had the greatest experience here at ILC & I hope to see them all at camp next summer once again here at the 18462.

Attention p arents of session 2 campers who are departing tomorrow; you should have all received an email with changeover day information. Please read it thoroughly to make sure you are properly prepared to pick up your children at the bus stops tomorrow.

Since today was the last full day of the 2^nd session, our campers had only majors, no minors. This afternoon they had super clean up and packing time for those campers who are leaving tomorrow. Later in the afternoon we rocked out to our big Rock Concert in the theater. The theme was Evolution, which was music from the 60’s through today, hence the 80’s theme day. Today’s special feature is campers and counselors dressed up for 80’s day! Check out the photos below at the end of this blog.

Lots of activities went on here at ILC today. Our CITs took a trip to our nearby town of Hancock, NY for lunch at the local diner. They always enjoy the time they spend together as a group out of camp. Needless to say, the CITs had a nice lunch at the diner. Our tennis kids finished up the ILC Open today, as well. Listed below are the winners in each age group. A special congrats goes out to the following campers and thank you to all who participated.

6^th – 7^th grade girls- Skyler B./ 6^th – 7^th grade boys- David P./ 8^th – 9^th grade girls- Gabby G./ 8^th – 9^th grade boys- Bastiaan H./ 10^th & up girls- Cameron L./ 10^th & up boys- Alex B.

Tonight’s evening activity is the older campers’ show, Xanadu. No doubt our kids will do a fantabulous job, especially skating around the stage on rollerblades! Tomorrow you will be able to view photos of the show on CampMinder.

Our session 2 campers still have 1 more night to spend with one another. We hope your children who are leaving tomorrow arrive home happy, semi-clean, with only amazing, fantastic, superb, incredible stories to share with you about their summer 2016 here at ILC. Tomorrow we will welcome all of our session 3 campers to Island Lake. Until then, ILC U THERE!

Today was the last day of our 2^nd session majors and minors schedule. Tomorrow we will have only majors, along with super clean up and an afternoon rock concert. Last night’s performance of 101 Dalmations was adorable! Those little ones put on quite a show with really cute costumes and a great set to go along with it (lots of spots and lots of barks!).

Yesterday’s rain continued on and off throughout the night. This morning and this afternoon we had midsty rain but the precipitation was not heavy enough to bring most of our outdoor activities inside. On the tennis courts were affected by the rain. Due to bad weather, yesterday’s river trip got cut short and the kids returned to camp shortly before dinner. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the opportunity to sleep outdoors under the stars but hey, at least they were able to canoe and kayak during the day before the rain shortened their trip.

Today was another busy one here at Island Lake. Our dancers went to a nearby Wayne County camp to participate in a big Dance Competition this morning and it lasted into the afternoon hours. We also sent a busload of children to Cooperstown to enjoy a fun-filled day at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Here at camp we had our end of the session Skateboard Competition up at the skatepark for all of our rad, gnarly skater dudes.

In the sports department, our 8^th & 9^th grade boys basketball team played in a tournament game here at camp this morning and they won. Yeah boys!!! Our 8^th & 9^th grade girls lacrosse team went out of camp this morning to play in an intercamp game but unfortunately they did not win. Our 6^th & 7^th grade girls soccer team played in the Wayne County finals here at camp this afternoon. They won every game up to this point to make it into the finals but they came just short of a win. We’re proud of our girls for making it so far.

Step right up and get excited because tonight’s evening activity is the Circus Show! It’s going to be an exciting fun-filled night with the flying trapeze, high wire, fabric, lyra, mini-trampoline, rolling globe, ground skills, and more! Don’t worry parents; we’ll record the show so you can order it on DVD after the summer.

Today was sibling photo day so can you guess what the special feature is for the day? That’s right, you guessed correct,…SIBLING PHOTOS! Below is just a small array of the photos that we’ll have posted on our website later on.

It’s hard to believe that we have only one more full day left in the 2^nd session. If your child is going home at the end of this session or your child is coming up to camp at the start of our 3^rd session on Tuesday, you should have received an email from me by now with changeover day and bus stop information. I’ll also post more Changeover Day info in tomorrow’s blog. Until then, ILC U THERE!

Happy “Ballin’ Braids Day Challenge”! Today we are braiding the hair of every camper (& counselor) who has hair long enough, boys included! Campers signed up for free swim at the lake during the minors to have some staff braid their hair (if they didn’t already braid it amongst themselves). Below is a video of children getting their hair braided for this special day.

Holy cow, there are only 2 more full days left in the 2^nd session! Where has this summer gone? The saying is definitely true, time flies when you’re having fun! We hope your children are having the most remarkable, amazing, fantastic, extraordinary, spectacular, wonderful, memorable summer with us here at Island Lake. We’re sure they’ll come home and share tons of great stories with you. It’s just hard to believe that their wait for next summer will have to start all over again.

Let’s just focus on the here and now since our ILC summer is going so incredibly well.   Last night’s Dance Show & Magic Show were both a success. Our campers did an amazing job up there on stage. You’d never know that they had less time to practice this session. As opposed to 1^st session, we had 2 Lazy Days, 1 Visiting Day, and 3 days of Color War all packed into 2^nd session, but still found time for rehearsals.

Our canoe & kayaking campers went on an overnight river trip today. They left this morning and they’ll return tomorrow morning. Last night our pioneering campers hiked up to Tent City for an overnight. They built a smoker to cook food on for later dates, they made s’mores, and played music by the campfire. The kids said they had a “really fun time.”

To go along with the busy day we’re having here at camp, the ILC Open begins today. Many campers are participating in this tennis tournament within camp and have matches to play throughout the day until the end of the session. We got hit with some rain this afternoon so our activities, including sports and tennis, were moved indoors. It’s ok though, we still have time to finish the ILC Open over the course of the next couple of days.

Tonight’s evening activity is our younger campers’ performance of “101 Dalmations.” I hear it’s going to be the cutest thing ever so I’m very excited to see our little kiddies perform. We’ll have lots of pictures to show you tomorrow and if your children are in the show, you’ll have an opportunity to order a copy of the video on DVD after the summer.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more Island Lake scoop. Enjoy the video below and until tomorrow, ILCUTHERE!

Hi Island Lake Families! Today we woke up to mostly cloudy skies with temps in the low 70’s. It warmed up nicely to the low 80’s this afternoon with a lot more sun peeking through. We had some threats of rain clouds and right before I was going to post my blog saying it didn’t rain, the rain started. It was brief and only at the end of our 3^rd major. Regardless, we’ve been extremely lucky with the weather this summer, as very few activities have been affected by rain. But ok, enough about the weather,…

Today was MUSIC LUNCH, which is an ILC favorite! I played pop music in the dining room while our campers eat lunch. Most of our kids then went up to the front of the dining room to dance around and have a blast to the music. Since many Color War songs were written to tunes of popular summer songs, the kids enjoyed singing (or shall I say “screaming”) the lyrics to their Color War fight songs and comedy songs instead of the true song lyrics. Gotta love camp, huh? The spirit was truly amazing today at lunch. I ended music lunch with an Island Lake favorite, the “Wobble”, and then they all walked out to “Build Me Up Buttercup.” Today’s special feature is music lunch, so you can get a taste of the ILC fun. Can you guess which photos were taken during the “Wobble”?

Our climbing campers participated in a “Climbing Competition” against another camp today in which they were timed as they climbed to the top of our climbing wall. (How many times did I just say the word, “climb”, in this sentence?) We did fantastic and came in 1^st place. Our winners were Jonathan R., Teddy L., and Devin H. Go Island Lakers!

We also had an archery competition at camp with 3 other camps here to participate. Guess who came in 1^st place? That’s right, your one and only, Island Lake. We were on a roll here today because our 6^th & 7^th grade girls played in a soccer competition out at another camp this afternoon. It was the Wayne County semi-finals and we beat the other camp 7-1! Woohoo! We’re going to the finals! We hope to play before the end of the session and bring home the first place trophy. But we shall see,…I don’t want to jinx us or put the cart before the horse here.

Tonight is the start of our 2^nd session performance week. We’ll kick it all off with our Dance Show and Magic Show tonight. The theme of the dance show is television theme songs. We’ll have lots of photos for you tomorrow in our daily photos on CampMinder. Until then, ILCUTHERE!

Hi ILC Families! Today was Lazy Day so everyone left camp for the day. Groups 1&2 went to Montage Mountain Water Park where they had a fantastic day outdoors. The feedback was, “It was fun! The waterslides were the best!” The also said “We went on the toilet bowl! It’s a slide. It was really fun.” So hey, I guess they had a great time!

Group 3 went to Sky Zone, a trampoline park just outside of Scranton, PA. The feedback was, “It was fun to jump around! Man, I’m tired now.” I also heard, “I got my front flip down!”, “I dunked 12 feet!”, and “Flipping out even before we got there!” (I think those kids were trying to make up cute quotes at that point,…lol!).

Group 4 went to Ithaca for the day and they are now at the Binghamton Mets baseball game. In Ithaca they went to a state park and then Ithaca Commons, a shopping area. Don’t worry parents, we didn’t give them enough money to shop till they dropped. The group leaders all had cameras with them today so hopefully we’ll have lots of photos that will be posted on CampMinder tomorrow.

Tonight we had a cookout where we ate dinner outdoors at the picnic tables. Evening activity will be groups. Here’s a list of what everyone is doing. BOYS: Groups 1&2- Campfire: Group 3- Scavenger Hunt: Group 4- Binghamton Mets game. GIRLS: Groups 1&2- Lip Sync Battle: Group 3- Fashion Extravaganza: Group 4- Binghamton Mets game.

Tomorrow we start up with our regular activities until the end of the session, which is drawing near way too quickly. Session 2 is over on Tuesday, August 2^nd, so be sure to come to your appropriate bus stop if your children are going home that day. The buses should arrive at all of the stops sometime around 11:30am-12:00pm, give or take a half hour. I will provide more details in the next few days. Until then, ILC U THERE!

Hi Island Lake families! It was an amazing 3 days of Color War and the East Coast Grey Team took home the win by only 150 points. Last night’s Sing was exciting for everyone. Great songs, funny skits, and fantastic plaques were enough to make each team proud. The whole camp later sang the camp alma mater while the scores were tallied up and many kids and counselors were in tears (tears of joy, of course). It was a fierce 3 days of friendly competition. Friendships and bonds were strengthened and the love everyone had for one another filled the room with joy.   Although one team had to win Color War, the memories over the course of the 3 days are what will stay with everyone for a long time to come.

Our regular schedule of majors and minors resumed today.   The sun is shining strong and the temperatures are warm in the low 80’s (nothing like the heat you are all experiencing right now). Our intercamp games and tournaments resumed today with our ILC dancers going out of camp for a Dance Competition over at another Wayne County camp. We placed 3^rd out of 23 different dance numbers and received a “Spectacular Technique” certificate for our dancers’ overall wonderful technique. Congratulations to our ILC dancers for doing so well today. Our 8^th & 9^th grade girls also played in a softball game out of camp this afternoon.

Tomorrow is our 2^nd Lazy Day of the session. We are going to take our campers to new activities that should be an absolute blast. Groups 1&2 are going to Montage Mountain Water Park. Group 3 is going to Sky Zone and Group 4 is going to Ithaca and then a Binghamton Mets game. It should be a fun day out of camp for all of our different groups. More details will come in tomorrow’s blog.

Tonight’s evening activity is Groups. Here’s the rundown: BOYS: Group 1- Scavenger Hunt: Group 2- Dodgeball: Group 3- Gaga: Group 4- Beaverhead (a movie made here at camp that has become an ILC classic). GIRLS: Group 1- Campfire: Group 2- Pool Party: Group 3- Movie (title not yet disclosed): Group 4- Beaverhead (with boys group 4).

Today’s special feature is GYMNASTICS! Enjoy and until Lazy Day tomorrow, ILCUTHERE!