Our annual camp reunion this past Saturday was a huge success! Our Island Lakers were soooo EXCITED to see all of their camp friends. Lots of screams, hugs, and smiles filled Sportime USA in Westchester for 3 hours of fun. Campers flew in from as far as Florida just to spend some memorable time with their fellow ILC’ers. Several counselors took time off from college to come see “their kids.“

After the reunion, many children then went back to their camp friends’ houses for big sleep over parties. We’re glad friendships at Island Lake are so special to all of our campers and staff.

Below are some highlights of all of the fun this past weekend. We’ll post a full photo album of reunion pics on our website very soon, along with featured photos on our social media. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! ILCUTHERE!

We are so EXCITED to see many of our summer 2018 campers at our reunion this upcoming Saturday, November 17th at Sportime USA.  Please see the flyer below for details.  If you need directions, you can find them in any of our post-summer newsletters:  ILC Newsletters  ILCUTHERE!!!

DCIM101MEDIA

Hi Island Lake Families! As the summer winds down we have been reflecting on Island Lake 2018 and we are starting to focus on 2019.  We hope your children had a wonderful experience with us as I know we all did.

Our winter office is no longer in Pleasantville.  Instead, we are all working from home this off season.  The new address for all mail is:
Island Lake Camp
PO Box 228
Chappaqua, NY 10514

Our old phone number, 914-769-6060, is still active and will reach Craig.  In order to reach me, please call my cell at 917-602-3600.  To reach Wendy, her cell is 917-602-3800.  For Dustin please call 405-620-6260 and Trip is available at 917-318-0573.

Our early rates are available through September 15th.  If you have yet to register for 2019 please do so before then so you can get the savings.  You can also pay in full before then with a check to receive additional savings.  If you are not sure of which sessions, you can sign up for what you think your children want and make changes later with no penalties.

We all look forward to seeing as many of our campers as possible at our annual reunion on November 17th.  ILCUTHERE!

Sadly, today is our last full day of camp. Summer 2018 here at Island Lake has been absolutely fantastic! We could not have asked for a better summer filled with happy campers and amazing counselors. Your children will for sure come home with long lasting memories of their experiences at ILC this summer.

Tomorrow the buses should all arrive at their designated bus stops between 11:30am-12:00pm, give or take a half hour. Please be there on time to pick up your children. If you are not sure which bus stop we have in our records, please call us here at camp before 4:30pm when the office will be closing for tonight’s banquet festivities.

Today we let the camp sleep in and we had a late wake up with breakfast at 9:15am. The kids then went back to their bunks to start cleaning up. Lunch followed and then we had our 6^th annual COLOR RUN! Most of our campers and staff participated in this fun event throughout camp today. As they reached certain locations they got sprayed with powdered paint of different colors. Everyone eventually gathered by the lake at the finish line, proud of their accomplishments.   Our campers had been looking forward to this special event for weeks and they had a fantastic time running around camp getting sprayed with different colors, congregating at the end.  At the end of this blog are photos I took at the color run.

Directly after the Color Run we had our final Rock Concert of the summer at the theater. Our rock and roll campers jammed out to their favorite tunes while the rest of the camp watched and sang along. Following rock concert, all of the kids went back to their bunks to pack, sadly. They collected all of their belongings at the different departments at camp- arts & crafts, skatepark, sports, music, etc.

Tonight we have our annual ILC banquet in the dining room. Instead of eating cafeteria style, the kids will all sit with their friends at the table of their choice and the kitchen staff will serve food to their tables. We’ll play music and there will be some dancing, lots of picture taking, and some awards will be presented after dinner.

After the banquet, we will all head down to the theater to watch the summer 2018 Island Lake video yearbook. The yearbook is a compilation of the entire summer here at camp. Post-summer we will share the yearbook with all of our ILC families. Our video department and advanced video campers worked extremely hard to make this summer’s yearbook amazing! It’s a wonderful memento for our Island Lakers to view all year long until they can return to their home away from home here in Starrucca once again next summer.

Upon completion of the video yearbook, we will all move lakeside to the waterfront where each bunk will release a candle onto the lake and make a bunk wish together. Following this we will burn the “2018” sign on the water and we’ll sing our camp alma maters. We will end the waterfront portion of the night with a big firework display. This is all a very somber and bittersweet moment of the night. Tears fill many campers’ eyes (ok fine, possibly mine as well) as we make bunk wishes, sing our camp songs, and watch the 2018 summer sign burn. This sign represents the ILC summer in its entirety as we all say farewell.

Although it will be a bit later than usual, we’ll allow all of our campers to make one last trip to the canteen to eat their hearts out one final time. Based on how late the evening runs, we will decide when everyone’s curfew will be.

And that’s about it for the Island Lake Summer 2018 blogs. It’s been a pleasure writing for all of you every day. I hope you enjoyed reading my blogs as much as I enjoyed writing them for you. Continue to check in throughout the year since I’ll continue to blog every other week or so.

I hope your children all come home to you as “happy campers” tomorrow. Hey, it’ll be a bonus if they’re healthy, sort of clean, and even have all of their personal belongings! Our office here at camp will remain open for a few more weeks so if you need to contact us, just give us a call at the camp number: 570-798-2550 or email us at info@islandlake.com.

It’s been the most amazing, fantastic, wonderful summer, and until next year when we can all be together once again in the 18462, ILCUTHERE!!!

…..the 60’s (blue)!!!!  Thanks to both teams for an amazing 3 days of fun!!!

Final day of camp blog will be posted earlier tomorrow in the mid-afternoon.  ILCUTHERE!

Today is the 3^rd and final day of Color War. It’s been a fierce but friendly 3 days of competition between 50’s and 60’s. Last night’s Lip Sync Battle & Music Videos were truly FANTASTIC! I kid you not, these campers and staff did a stupendous job choosing songs, choreographing them, and then performing them for their peers. The videos were adorable, light-hearted, and fun. Both teams did a superb job with this evening activity so it was extremely difficult for our judges to choose a winner. Ultimately, the winner of the Music Videos went to the grey 50’s and the winner of the Lip Sync Battle went to the blue 60’s.

Yesterday’s decorum points were close but slightly more points went to the grey 50’s. With the hatchet still out there as of breakfast this morning and the totals added up for the day, the team ahead by 271 point is the blue 60’s! During the team meeting time this morning the 60’s team found the hatchet over by the horse barn after receiving their 3^rd and final clue.

Last night we had torrential rainstorms producing rivers flooding throughout our camp. The children stayed indoors while it down poured and were only allowed outside when the rain lightened up. We called curfew a bit early due to some lightening spotted. The rain was so heavy that our dining room flooded. Probably about 50 of our staff members, all non-bunk and support staff, rallied in the dining room around 9pm to sweep, squeegee, and mop the rain that kept pouring in under the doors. Our key maintenance guys were able to stop the water from continuing to flood the dining room and by 10pm the floors were finally drying up. It was an incredible team effort and we couldn’t have gotten through this without such amazing staff members volunteering their free time to help us out. We have so many special people here at ILC, both campers and staff alike.

Today’s weather report is sponsored by poodle skirts and tie dye t-shirts. We’ve had a mix of weather today. We’ve had rain clouds, we’ve had drizzle, we’ve had sun,…we’ve had it all! The temps started in the 60’s this morning and then gradually went up to the upper 70’s by afternoon hours when the skies finally cleared and the sun shined on us once again.

And now back to Color War. This morning we held our last day of sports. Here’s a list of what everyone did:

Group 1: Boys- dodgeball                         Girls- musical chairs

Group 2: Boys- theater challenges           Girls- gaga

Group 3: Boys- chess tournament            Girls- chopped

Group 4: Boys- touch football                   Girls- water basketball

The winner of this morning’s sports was the blue 60’s.

After lunch we had team meetings and then our big Apache Relay. The Apache spans over the course of a few hours and it entails a total of 167 tasks for each team to successfully complete. The kids run from one location to another throughout camp and tag a child in a specific department to do an activity/task. Once complete, they then tag another camper either in the same department or someone to then run to a different department to tag a child and perform another activity/task somewhere around camp.

The Apache is a big camp tradition and it involves all of our departments and then some here at camp! We include a whole lot of fun tasks such as unrolling and then re-rolling a roll of toilet paper before tagging another camper to run to the next department listed on the schedule. Other fun activities in the Apache are kayaking around the floating raft in the lake, filling a cup of water using a teaspoon, saddling a horse, beading a bracelet, typing “Island Lake Rules” in different languages in the video room, self-hit a homerun on the baseball field, run to pioneering with a jalapeno pepper in their mouth (Oy vey!), drop in on the half-pipe in the skatepark, deflate a tire in mountain biking, sing the camp alma mater over the PA system in the office, and much, much, much, much more. Our counselors also have some difficult tasks to perform such as doing 100 push-ups or hitting a baseball over the fence on the ball field. The Apache Relay finally ends with all campers and counselors in the gym sitting on the bleachers watching a camper from each team successfully shoot a half court basketball shot.

The Apache Relay represents a special thrill and excitement of Island Lake summer camp tradition! It’s all about fun during this event here at ILC, and it shows. In the end, the grey 50’s took home the win. I was following the 2^nd team the whole time so I didn’t have a chance to take photos of this event. Please see our CampMinder page for many more photos from all of today’s events.

As soon as Apache was over we had one of our biggest surprises of the session- REVIVAL! The henchmen came out onto the basketball courts and the kids all ran down to the waterfront to enjoy one of their favorite non-Color-War-related ILC festivities. We promised our campers all session that we would do Revival so we had to surprise them when they least expected it. For those of you who don’t know what Revival is, just ask your children when they get home. (wink wink!)

Color War closes tonight with our annual Sing. Each team is judged for their creative entrance into the theater. They then take turns performing a March/Fight song, a Comedy song, a Skit, an Alma Mater song, and then they present their team’s Plaque. The entire night is bittersweet and somber as Color War comes to an end. Everyone hugs, many cry, and while the final scores are tallied we play the camp alma mater so everyone joins together to sing. Since Color War is at the end of the entire summer, it’ll be that much sadder for everyone.

And finally, once the scores are all tallied up, Oliver, who is in charge of Color War, will stand on the theater stage and announce how proud she is of everyone who participated these past 3 days. Then she’ll announce the winner of the Sing and the winner of Color War overall. The winning team will jump up and scream and go crazy with excitement. The other team will be sad for a moment but they’ll quickly get over it by the time they head to canteen. Since this blog is being posted prior to Sing, later tonight I will post the winner for all of you on Facebook and Instragram. Until then, ILC U THERE!

Happy 2^nd day of Color War! Our campers are having the greatest time participating, cheering, dressing up, and the overall camaraderie of these 3 days of friendly competition. Let’s get right to the events and scores. Last night’s Silent Dinner was as fun as it sounds. The kids did a great job staying quiet throughout the entire meal, even as some of our non-bunk staff (yours truly included) tried to terrorize them and make them speak. The winner of the silent dinner was the blue 60’s team.

After the post-dinner team meeting we ended the day with a Five Point Basketball game that each team participated in, group by group. It was a very close call with a tie score in the last minute until the grey 50’s counselors took the lead and ultimately won the game.

At the end of each day, decorum points are handed out to the teams for cheering, dressing up, banners, sportsmanship, etc. The decorum point spread was extremely close with a difference of 2 points, but the win ultimately went to the blue 60’s team. With the decorum points tallied up with all of yesterday’s friendly competitions, as of this morning the leading team with 405 more points was the blue 60’s team.

Today we woke up to temps in the low 70’s with mostly cloudy skies. Hey, it was dry so we held our Swim Meet/Regatta down at the lake and swimming pool in the morning after clean-up and team meetings. A variety of kids from each age group participated in the following on the lake: canoe relay, kayak relay, freestyle relay, medley relay (freestyle, backstroke), kickboard relay, sweat suit relay, greased watermelon, & swim to the island and back. Here’s a list of activities that took place in the swimming pool: penny fetch, water basketball, medley relay, kickboard relay, paddleboard relay, & freestyle relay.

The Regatta entailed each team using camp materials to create 2 boats that can float on the lake with a camper in/on said boat. The teams raced one another in their stylish, yet sleek crafts. The winner was the first team to return. The challenge was to not capsize or sink the boats while racing. Bonus points went to the team with the most stylish design. The winner of the Regatta was the grey 50’s. The overall winner of the Swim Meet and the Regatta together was the blue 60’s.

Another activity that runs throughout Color war is “Find the Hatchet”. The hatchet is hidden somewhere in camp. Our campers (who must be accompanied by a counselor) search high and low throughout ILC looking for the hatchet. Clues are given out, one per day, and are quite difficult to solve. Once the hatchet is found, the clues all make sense and the points are given to the team who finds it. The more days it takes to find the hatchet, the less points the winning team will receive (but hey, it’s still more points that the team who doesn’t find it!). Yesterday’s clue was: No. Today’s clue is: Relax. Any ideas where it could be? You have to really know the layout of our camp to figure this out. Oh, and the hatchet is not inside of a building.

After lunch and a very quick rain shower, we had rest hour, team meetings, snack break, and then our big Battle of the Bands event. Our campers (& staff) played a variety of instruments, sang songs related to their team’s names, and each group had a separate battle against one another.   The whole camp stood up on their seats to sing and clap along with the bands. Everyone was super into it, which was great. There’s been an amazing amount of Color War spirit these past couple of days. The winner of the Battle of the Bands was the grey 50’s.

After the battle we ran sports. The sun came out shining amongst ominous clouds for the sports activities late this afternoon. Here’s a list of what everyone played:

Group 1: Boys- kickball                                                  Girls- gaga

Group 2: Boys- engineering challenge (science)          Girls- charades

Group 3: Boys- sand soccer                                          Girls- water basketball

Group 4: Boys- kong pong & chopped                          Girls- giant foosball

The winner of this afternoon’s sports was the blue 60’s. Going into evening activity the blue 60’s are ahead by 375 points.

Evening activity will be Lip Sync Battle and Music Videos. Each team has spent the past 2 days creating a music video that relates to their team’s theme. We’ll play them in the theater on a big screen for the entire camp to view tonight. The more creative the video, the more points the team will receive.

Lip Sync Battle is inspired by the tv show. Our team representatives will attempt to intimidate their opponents with their sweet dance moves and lip sync’ing abilities. Each team will have 3 dance crews: lower camp (groups 1&2), upper camp (groups 3&4)/CITs, and counselors. Each crew will prepare dances to 2 different songs, complete with props and costumes. The songs must relate to the team’s theme name. The crews will compete head-to-head against their opponents. Judging will be based on choreography, accuracy of lip sync’ing, and how well it relates to the team’s theme. I’ll report the winners to you in tomorrow’s blog.

Here’s the David Lobel link to check out his amazing Sister Act photos. His Color War pics will be coming real soon!

http://davidlobel.smugmug.com/Island-Lake

Below are photos from this morning’s swim meet. Until tomorrow, our final day of this intense, powerful, yet fun-loving Color War, ILCUTHERE!

COLOR WAR COLOR WAR COLOR WAR!!! That’s right, summer 2018 Color War is in full swing here at Island Lake. The teams are 50’s vs. 60’s! 50’s are the grey team and 60’s are the blue team. I’m excited to see how each of these teams make use of their themes to their greatest advantage. Which team do you think your children are on?   Let’s hope to find out via photos over the next 3 days. I’ll blog daily with tons of Color War updates and I’ll post some photos from special events. Speedy will take tons of photos to post on CampMinder, as well. David Lobel is still here so he’ll also take photos to post on his smugmug page. I hope you will love all that you will see as much as our campers will love experiencing it all.

Let’s start the day at the very beginning,…breakfast. The kids all showed up to breakfast surprised to see minor sheets on their tables. A bunch of kids brought their GoPro’s thinking they were going to be able to record a big break in the dining room. Dustin got up to do his morning announcements at the end of breakfast and when he was finished and he dismissed the camp just as he’s done all summer, the kids all boo’d him. It was actually very funny. What did they expect? For him to scream “Color War is here”??? We sent the kids back to their bunks and that’s when it all happened. The bunks were decorated with grey and blue streamers inside. As soon as the kids saw this they started screaming and ran up to the gym where we all congregate for the Color War intros. Some kids didn’t even make it back to their bunks yet but they just followed the madness.

After the intros were complete we sent the kids back to their bunks for a regular cleanup. Instead of cleaning I’m pretty sure the kids and counselors just got dressed up in their team colors with glitter, face paint, and all. Our group leaders are working quickly to organize and label color war t-shirts to give out to the kids later on.

After cleanup each team held their first meeting. Once the team meetings were over we started our first full camp Color War activity, Sports. We changed up our Color War sports quite a bit last summer and it was very successful so we’re doing many of the same once again this summer. Here’s a list specifying what they all did:

Group 1: Boys- fishing                Girls- crazy games

Group 2: Boys- gaga                  Girls- sand soccer

Group 3: Boys- kong pong         Girls- charades

Group 4: Boys- giant foosball    Girls- kong pong & chopped

Chopped takes place in cooking. Girls group 4 was able to choose either activity to participate in. The giant foosball in the hockey rink was amazing to watch. It was very close but the winner of sports was Grey 50’s!

Following Sports was lunch and then rest hour. Due to the possibility of rain tonight, we switched the schedule around and decided to hold Rope Burn this afternoon instead of for evening activity. With rope burn, the counselors fetch wood and build their fires while the kids cheer them on. The first team to burn the rope with their fire wins. This is truly an amazing Island Lake tradition. Everyone walked down to the rope burn pit by the waterski lake and then low and behold, they had to turn around and head back to their bunks due to a potential rain storm. We got everyone back and as luck had it, it hardly rained while the thunder/lightening stayed far from us. Oh well, better safe than sorry!

The kids stayed at their bunks for snack break and then we hosted our annual trivia game, Unique. It’s held in the theater and it’s done group by group. A select number of kids come up to the stage and stand before podiums with lights. When a camper knows the answer to a trivia question, whether it is related to the CW teams or camp, they flip a light switch and then answer. They earn points for their team by answering questions correctly. And the winner of Unique is the blue 60’s.

After Unique we were able to get in Rope Burn and man oh man it was a doozy! This was probably one of our longest rope burns ever due to wind constantly blowing the fires away from the ropes. Finally, well after an hour, the rope that burned was,……blue 60’s!

Tonight’s dinner will be a special one. It’s a Silent Dinner! We did this last year and the kids loved it. Ok, I’m not gonna lie, the staff love it as well. A dining room filled with children and hardly a sound made throughout the meal. So peaceful! It’s fun messing with the kids and trying to make them speak. It’s amazing how resilient they can be when they’re taking one for the team.   Take note parents. You may want to apply this event to your own homes after the summer!

After dinner is a team meeting following by evening activity. Teams will present an entrance into the gym for the Five Period Basketball tonight. Different groups will play each period (youngest to oldest) and the game ends with a staff round. It’s fun cheering your team on as lots of spirit fills the air.

Tomorrow I’ll let you know who won Five Period Basketball and who is winning Color War overall.

Below are some photos from sports earlier today as well as “Sister Act” last night. There are 2 separate slides shows to look at. For more photos, please view our daily summer photos through CampMinder. I’ll post a link for David Lobel’s pics once he posts them. Until more Color War scoop tomorrow when I tell you which team is in the lead, ILCUTHERE!

Hi ILC Families! With this being our final week of camp, the whispers and murmurs of Color War are gaining momentum and are quickly becoming the loud talk around town. When is it going to break? How is it going to break? What will the teams be? These are all questions the kids are rightfully asking and so far from what I’ve heard, no one has come close to guessing the team names.

The other talk around town,…Revival Night! It has quickly become shortened to just “Revival,” as on a daily basis the kids keep trying to guess when it’s going to break. First they thought it was going to break out during Masked Karaoke last week. When it didn’t, they thought it was going to break during Magic Lunch in the dining room. When that didn’t happen they thought for sure it would break out during Music Lunch, but noooo. They also thought it would break during snack break the other day when our waterfront staff had their weekly meeting and set up the lake to look like Revival. Aren’t they sneaky? “What is Revival,” some of you rookie parents may be asking? Hmmmm, I’ll let your children tell you when they get home from camp. Let’s just say it’s an ILC tradition that the kids can’t live without each and every session.

In the meantime, guess what time it is? That’s right, it’s ILC weather forecast time! This forecast has been brought to you by Beaverhead. Scaring campers since 1986! We woke up this morning to sunny blue skies and temps already close to 70 degrees. It quickly warmed up to the upper 70’s by lunchtime and the mid 80’s by the afternoon hours with partly cloudy skies. It was fantastic weather for majors and minors.

Today was our once per session big outing for the tubing trip. A busload of campers headed to the Delaware River for a few hours of fun in the sun on inner tubes. They always have a blast and this activity is quite popular amongst our waterfront enthusiasts.

Today was our 2^nd session “Big Air Sk8 Competition” over at where? You guessed it! The skatepark! Here’s a list of our winners:

Rollerblading-  3^rd place- Miko M.:  2^nd place- Griffin M.:  1^st place- Sydney M. (do all rollerbladers have a last name that begins with an “M”?)

Skateboarding- winner is Danica M. (hey, all skatepark kids have a last name beginning with an “M”!)

And now it’s time for your ILC Morning News riddle. Yesterday’s riddle was: A child was born in 1955. Today is their 18^th birthday. How is that possible? Answer: 1955 is the hospital room number the child was born in. (It took me a little bit of time but I’m happy to say I finally came up with the answer yesterday). Today’s riddle is: It has a tongue but never talks. It has no legs but sometimes walks. What is it?

Tonight’s evening activity is our older campers’ performance of “Sister Act”! Grab your nun habits and get ready to party with us tonight!

I’m happy to share with you David Lobel’s free downloadable link to last night’s CIRCUS SHOW. Check it out to see some beautiful photos from this fantastic, amazing, stupendous, out-of-this-world phenomenal show! Our campers were on the edge of their seats watching the wondrous acts of their fellow bunkmates and friends as they performed their hearts out.  Just click the photo below to be taken to his page.

The Circus Show is also today’s special feature. Enjoy and until tomorrow, ILCUTHERE!

We’re in our final week here at Island Lake. Although it feels like yesterday when the opening day buses rolled onto Island Lake Road, it’s already been over 6 full weeks of camp. I hope your children come home next Saturday happy, healthy, and they share all of their amazing camp memories with you. And hey, if there’s a pair of clean matching socks thrown into the duffel, even better!

Today was an absolutely beautiful day in Starrucca, PA. I never get sick of saying that. We woke to pretty warm temps (close to 70 degrees) and they rose throughout the day to the mid 80’s. It’s definitely not nearly as hot up here in the mountains as I hear it is south of us in the tri-state area. We had blue skies with the sun shining bright all day long.

Last night’s younger kids’ show, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” was adorable! The kids did an amazing job performing on stage for their peers. We have lots of pictures posted on our daily photos. David Lobel is also back at camp taking photos so you can view his pics at the following link: https://davidlobel.smugmug.com/Island-Lake/2018-08-04-ILC-Charlie-Brown/

And now it’s riddle time! Yesterday’s riddle was: I have two legs but they only touch the ground while I’m at rest. What am I? Answer: a wheelbarrow (ok, I have a confession. I’m in my 40’s and I only just learned today that it’s not “wheelbarrel.” Who’s with me here?) Today’s riddle: A child was born in 1955. Today is their 18^th birthday. How is that possible?

Our ILC Tennis Open has finally been completed. Congrats to all of our runner-ups and winners. They will receive trophies at our closing night banquet on Friday. Here’s a complete list for you:

BOYS

Group 1: Runner up- Grayson L.    Winner- Ricky P.

Group 2: Runner up- Aden K.        Winner- Andrew G.

Group 3: Runner up- Jack S.          Winner- Trey S.

Group 4: Runner up- Emi P.            Winner- David P.

GIRLS

Group 1: Runner up- Daniella T.      Winner- Lucy H.

Group 2: Runner up- Eliza Z.          Winner- Abby M.

Group 3: Runner up- Isabella F.      Winner- Kamryn W.

Group 4: Runner up- Sammy W.     Winner- Bella G.

Step right up because tonight’s evening activity is the Circus Show! We’re looking forward to our 2nd and final circus performance to see all that our campers have learned over the course of the summer. 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! We know it’ll be the best show on earth with the theme being Music From the Grammys.

Today’s special feature is photos from last night’s performance of Charlie Brown! Enjoy and until tomorrow, ILCUTHERE!