Aloha ahiahi, Island Lake Families!

‘Ohana is a Hawaiian term that means family. Watching our campers grow into a family has been a highlight that I will treasure from the summer. It truly feels like yesterday we were unloading buses and hugging campers’ hello; it’s dizzying to believe that come tomorrow there are just two weeks of camp left.

Why all the Hawaiian lingo, Dustin? Thank you for asking! Today is a very special day here at Island Lake because we’re having a theme day! The theme today is a reflection of tonight’s evening activity: A LUAU!

Campers are decked out in their best Hawaiian shirts, rocking some gorgeous handmade grass skirts, and there are leis as far as the eye can see. Our Group Leaders have been hard at work all day to bring a little bit of island flavor to the 18462. Tonight is shaping up to be a fun-filled night full of sand, surprises, ukuleles, hulas, and bubbles (so, so many bubbles).

This morning we sent campers and counselors from our Pioneering Department to Honesdale where they went on a hike, explored a cave, swam, and capped off the day with ice cream. I spoke with Olivia Rogers, a G14 camper and avid Pioneering enthusiast, about the trip. She exclaimed, “it was LIT!” which, I believe in camper parlance means she enjoyed herself immensely.

Changing gears and heading over to that magical land we fondly refer to as the last frontier, the land of opportunity, a place where the campers instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano: Cleveland. Our campers spent today at the second-oldest operating amusement park in the United States. Cedar Point, known as “America’s Roller Coast,” the park features a world-record 71 rides, including 16 roller coasters – second most in the world (thank you Wikipedia!).

Our slideshow tonight is a collection of photos from today’s Hawaiian themed day along with some snaps from the Luau! Enjoy and a hui hou (until we meet again), ILCUTHERE!!

Good Tidings, Best Friends!

It’s Dustin again and I’m here to provide you with the 411 on all the merriment taking place here at Island Lake.

Today started rainy and cloudy but the weather quickly improved and we enjoyed some blue skies and temps in the 70’s,

While we didn’t have any Sports taking place today, we do tomorrow so today was chalk full of sign ups and practices. Fingers crossed that in tomorrow’s blog I can regale you all with stories of Island Lake’s dominance on the athletic fields!

Our Teen Trip is in full swing and our campers spent a fun filled day in that magical, mysterious, mythical land they call Cleveland. Our crew spent the morning taking in the sites and sounds at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for some sweet Elvis swag from Wendy! The afternoon was spent at the Great Lake Science Center for some fun hands-on learning that culminated in a screening of “Incredible Predators” in their Dome Theatre. This evening dinner and entertainment brings the ILC teens to Dave & Busters.

Tonight’s Evening Activity is Groups!

Girls Group 1 is embracing their creative side with a game of The Great Imposter; while Girls Groups 3 & 4 saw how much fun Lip Sync Battle was yesterday and demanded they have a go at it tonight! Girls Group 2 is teaming up with Boys 2 for some Crazy Balloon Games in the Gym. Our older boys are keeping their arms loose because tonight is the camp classic Dodgeball!

Before I let you go, I’ve attached an assortment of photos from the day. There’s nothing like the smile on a camper’s face to get you through today and keep you excited for tomorr

Hi Island Lake Families! We finally had a beautiful day in Starrucca, PA. After seemingly endless days of rain showers and cloud cover, we had a gorgeous day with mild temperatures and lots of sunshine.

Today was Wednesday, which means a Lazy Day here on camp. The campers had a late wakeup, brunch, and then we headed out to a couple different activities. Our Group 1 and 2 campers went to the movies. They watched Cars 3 and after speaking with a variety of campers the consensus was it was a great movie but the popcorn and candy was even better! Groups 3 and 4 went hit the lanes for some intense bowling.

This morning, bright and early at 6:30am, our teen trip hit the open road for beautiful Cleveland. Oh, Cleveland: Land of Enchantment; the city that never sleeps; land of ten thousand lakes.

EDITORS NOTE: Dustin has never actually been to Cleveland.

Our 9^th grade and older campers who signed up for the trip, along with four staff members and Wendy, are in for an adventure of a lifetime.   They arrived in Cleveland around 2:00pm and went straight to the Football Hall of Fame to soak up all the majesty that is the National Football League. Following the Hall of Fame and a brief stop at their hotel, the gang will be heading to a Cleveland Indians game for the night. The Indians are locked in a tight 2-2 game with the Angels. Check out Sportcenter tonight, maybe you’ll see a familiar face!

Back at camp tonight’s evening activity was Groups. The Girls and Boys Group Leaders had a little something special planned for the campers.

Girls Groups 1 and 2 battled it out on the theatre stage in a Lip Sync Battle; while Girls Groups 3 and 4 chilled at the campfire with s’mores and guitars. Meanwhile, the Boys activities were camp classics: Gaga for Group one, Kong Pong for Group two, and Capture the Flag for our Group three and four boys.

That’s all for tonight but tune back in tomorrow for the continuing adventures here at Island Lake. Until then, ILCUTHERE!

Today was another cloudy day in Starrucca, PA. Don’t you like it better when I say it’s a “beautiful day in Starrucca, PA?” I definitely do. The temps cooled off late yesterday into the evening hours so we only hit the mid 60’s today. Pretty wild for July temps, huh?   We had some rain on and off in the morning only. This cool rainy weather won’t last too long, don’t worry.

We still had some sporting events today, regardless of the wet weather. 8^th & 9^th grade boys played baseball this morning out of camp. 6^th & 7^th grade girls also went out this afternoon to play basketball. Lastly, 8^th & 9^th grade girls played soccer here at home today.

Tomorrow morning, bright and early at 6:30am we are leaving for our teen trip to Cleveland, Ohio. Our 9^th grade and older campers who signed up for the trip, along with 4 staff and myself (Wendy), will be heading out of camp to make our way to the Midwest. Everyone is very excited for the trip. We will post photos of the trip with our daily summer photos and on this blog on Sunday once we return.

Tomorrow we will head straight to the Football Hall of Fame. After that we will go check into our hotel and then head to Progressive Field to see the Cleveland Indians take on the LA Angels. On Thursday we will visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and then the Great Lakes Science Center (a great hands-on museum that our campers have loved in trips past). We’ll watch an IMAX movie at the science center and then head to Dave & Busters for some dinner and a night of fun and games.

All day Friday will be spent at Cedar Point Amusement Park, one of the largest amusement parks in the world. Saturday we will start to head back towards camp and stop off at Splash Lagoon, an indoor water park, on the way. We should arrive back at camp around 10pm. Everyone going to Cleveland is super excited for this trip.

Tonight’s evening activity is ILC Game Night! Have you ever watched “Hollywood Game Night” on tv? If so, it’s very similar to that but altered for camp with ILC-related trivia questions and games.

Today’s special feature is last night’s Ceilidh dance party! It’s a little different because I posted a video instead of photos. Enjoy!

While I’m away in Cleveland, Dustin will take over the blog for me. No doubt that he will do a fantastic job reporting to you what’s going on here at ILC. We return to camp late Saturday night so I’ll be back behind the keyboard once again on Sunday. Until then, ILCUTHERE!

Hi Island Lake Parents! Last night we had lots of rain that stuck around until breakfast this morning. Lucky for us, by 1^st major the clouds started parting and blue sky peeped through here and there. We were fortunate that it stayed dry most of the day. The rain only just started again for 3^rd major.

Our intercamp games have started up once again so we had a few sporting events take place today. Our young gymnasts went out of camp for a full day competition at another camp in Wayne County. 4^th & 5^th grade girls headed out of camp after lunch for a soccer game. 8^th & 9^th grade girls went out for a basketball game this afternoon, as well.

This Wednesday, 2 days from now, over 50 campers, 4 staff members (including 2 group leaders), and I will hop on a coach bus and head to Cleveland, Ohio for 4 days of fun. We are very excited to check out the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Football Hall of Fame, Cedar Point Amusement Park, visit an awesome hand-on science museum, attend a Cleveland Indians game, along with some other great attractions. We’ll be away from camp for 4 days/3 nights and we’ll return to camp on Saturday night. Our teen campers are getting soooo EXCITED for this trip! It’s usually the highlight of the summer for them.

At snack break today I held my big Cleveland trip meeting with all of our campers and staff who are participating. I handed out the itinerary, a packing list, talked about our expectations while we are out of camp, and discussed details about the trip overall. Have I mentioned how incredibly excited our 9^th grade and older kids participating in this trip are for our 4 days of fun? We have a great group of kids going so we’re all really pumped.

Back here at camp, tonight’s evening activity is GROUPS! Here’s a list of what’s going on tonight: GIRLS: Group 1- Hungry Hungry Hippo (the boardgame comes to life!); Group 2- Cupcake Wars; Groups 3&4- Ceilidh (pronounced “Kee-lee”) (it’s a Scottish dance that our Scottish counselors will teach all of the kids in girls group 4 and boys groups 3&4). On the BOYS side: Group 1- Casino Night; Group 2- Pioneering Team Building; Groups 3&4- Ceilidh.

Today’s special feature is DANCE! Enjoy and until tomorrow when we’ll do this all over again, ILCUTHERE!

Happy first full day of 2^nd session! Today was mostly cloudy with temps in the mid 70’s. It was still the perfect weather to have some fun here at Island Lake. Our campers stayed busy with their 4-minors of auditions, level testing, and trying out activities that they’d like to sign up for as their majors.

This afternoon we held our special traditional ILC activity,…Panic! I announce items kids have in their bunks and they run in to retrieve them and bring them out to their group leaders/judges in the middle of their campuses. The bunk with the most points wins LTB (Late To Bed). We get creative and announce things such as 2 campers wearing last summer’s blue & grey Color War t-shirts doing leap frog from their bunk to the judges. Another item may be as simple as a red Island Lake canteen token. I play music after announcing each item so our campers can sing and dance along while playing Panic. It’s a fun activity for kids of all ages.

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

Tonight’s evening activity is GROUPS! Here’s a run-down of what each group is doing: BOYS: Group 1- Campfire; Group 2- Theater Games (“getting to know you” games for the kids that will actually take place in a building other than the theater); Group 3- Kong Pong; Group 4-Dodgeball.

On the GIRLS side: Group 1- Messy Twister (In case you missed it last session, our little girls will play twister on a giant sized twister board with paint. It gets messy but it’s so much fun!): Group 2-Pool Party; Group 3-Campfire; Group 4- Scene It (The girls will watch movie clips and then will be asked trivia questions about what they just saw. It’s an activity to test their memories.)

Today’s special feature is PANIC! Enjoy and until tomorrow, ILC U THERE!

Happy Changeover Day! With sadness we bid farewell to our 1^st session campers this morning. On a brighter note, we welcomed our 2^nd session campers with open arms this afternoon. It’s always difficult to see good friends leave but fortunately, lots of campers stayed on from 1^st session.

At this point (5:15pm), all of our session 2 campers have safely arrived at camp.

Last night’s performance of “Pippin” was truly unbelievable!   Combining the circus show with the musical up in the circus building was absolutely incredible. The kids all performed their hearts out. Between our wonderful theater staff, circus staff, and our talented campers, the show was a huge success!

With our 1^st session performances all done now, we will start over again in the 2^nd session with auditions tomorrow on 4-minor day. Our younger camper show will be “Seussical” and our older camp show will be “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”   Our sports tournaments will continue into the 2^nd session, as well.

Tonight’s evening activity is “Make Your Own Mess” (aka “Make Your Own Sundae”)! Campers will go to the canteen with their bunkmates to make ice cream sundaes and get to know their new friends better.

I don’t have any photos for you today, but there will be tons of them posted on our website of this morning’s goodbyes and this afternoon’s hellos. Until tomorrow, ILCUTHERE!

I cannot believe that today was the last full day of session 1 here at Island Lake! These past 4 weeks have flown by way too fast. It’s going to be sad to say goodbye to many of our amazing campers tomorrow morning. I hope they had the greatest experience here at ILC & I hope to see them all at camp again next summer. All parents of session 1 campers should have received an email from me yesterday 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.

Today we offered all 3 of our majors and just 1 minor in order to have “super cleanup” in the afternoon. Those campers who are staying for 2^nd session had to clean their cubbies and find those missing socks and brand new t-shirts they didn’t know their mom packed for them for camp. (wink wink!) Those campers who are going home tomorrow (tear!) had an opportunity to pack during this time.

I hate to sound redundant but today was yet another beautiful day in Starrucca, PA. The skies were a mix of sun and cloud in the morning and very sunny and about 80 degrees in the afternoon. We stayed dry all day long. (Whoop whoop!)

Last night’s Rock Concert was jamming! Our campers did a fantastic job singing and playing their instruments to cover songs as well as originals. Below at the bottom of today’s blog are some photos from the Rock Concert.

“We’ve got magic to do, just for you, we’ve got miracle plays to play,…” Tonight is our much anticipated, long awaited older camper show, PIPPIN! Combined with our theatrical performance is the CIRCUS SHOW! We are so excited to see both shows mixed into one in our circus building this evening. It’s going to be a wondrous, spectacular evening for everyone here at ILC.

Well, that’s about all the news that I have for you today, our very last day of the 1^st session. For those of you with children coming home tomorrow, enjoy your last evening of peace and quiet! I truly hope your campers come home happy, healthy, and with tons and tons of amazing ILC summer 2017 stories and experiences to share with you. To everyone else, ILC U THERE!

Hey Island Lake Families! Wow, 1 more full day left in this session before our first changeover day on Saturday. Time sure does fly by when we’re having fun. And fun is indeed what’s being had here at Island Lake. Even with an extra week in our 1^st session this summer, blink your eyes twice and it’s already over (Cue sad music and tears). For those of you with children coming home on Saturday, I hope they have only amazing ILC experiences to share with you.

Today was Wear Your ILC Screen Print Day here at camp. For those of you confused by this Island Lake national holiday, welcome to the club! Ha, but for real, our art department just wanted our campers to celebrate wearing the shirts that they worked hard on all session at screen printing. There are some really cool, creative shirts walking around here at camp today.

Last night’s younger children’s play, “Lion King Junior”, was a huge success! Wow, we have some talented children at this camp!!! Their acting and singing skills entertained the audience throughout the entire show. And those costumes,…wow! Our stagecraft and costume departments did a fabulous job transforming our campers into a variety of animals for this show. Just wait until you see the photos. Those little ones truly sang, acted, and danced their hearts out. It was very creative incorporating the dance concert into the show. I hope you enjoy the photos posted on our website and below here in the blog.

Over 30 of our baseball and softball campers went on a trip today to Cooperstown to the Baseball Hall of Fame. At the Hall of Fame they learn about the history of baseball, many of the previous top notch players, and our campers participated in some interactive games. They always have a great time in Cooperstown (and not just for the fudge!).

In other ILC sports news, our golfers went out to the local golf course to play 9 holes this morning. 10^th & 11^th grade girls participated in an all day volleyball tournament out of camp. 8^th & 9^th grade girls played basketball this morning out of camp, as well.

So yesterday I was chatting with some of our older girls at the cookout. We’re talking about our international campers from overseas and I mentioned that we have some children coming from Brussels next session. One of our campers asked in all seriousness, “Brussels, England?” I started laughing so she tried again, “Brussels, Australia?” Aahhh, kids say the darnest things!

Our special feature is LION KING JR! Tonight is our big 1^st session ROCK CONCERT! We’ll be jamming out this evening in the theater. Due to some late afternoon rain, we’re unable to host the event outdoors by the lake (booo!). The theme for the concert tonight is “Summer of ‘17”. Verbatim from flyers that the rock shop department handed out at breakfast this morning, our hard core rockers asked our campers to “wear bright bandanas and shiny sunglasses, like the festival crowds when music history passes, or maybe some patterned shirts of purple haze, so you can join the bands in their rockin’ craze.” They added that “dressing like Hendrix too would be pretty fly, now ‘scuse me while I kiss the sky.” Based on this you can get a taste of what we’re expecting tonight from the following bands: The Bye Felicias, The Clueless, Blue Fire, and The Burritos. We will absolutely enjoy tonight’s festivities and until tomorrow, ILCUTHERE!

Today we celebrated ILC National Neon Day here at camp so you should see lots of kids sporting their neon clothing in our daily photos on CampMinder.

Today was one of the most beautiful days we’ve had here at camp all summer. It was truly an absolutely gorgeous day in Starrucca, PA. The 18462 had clear blue skies and warm temps all day long. The morning started out in the upper 60’s and then the temps rose to the low to mid 80’s. What a perfect summer day to play camp!

Last night’s magic show was magnificent! Our prestidigitators performed some jaw dropping hocus pocus that conjured up shocking abracadabra for our audience. Ok, I may have gone a little overboard with magic terms that I googled but hey, it’s all about the kids here at Island Lake!

Now that Island Lake is in its 32^nd summer, we have had 2^nd generation campers for several years. Some of our former campers from our early years, the late 80’s to early 90’s, have children who are currently campers with us. We love keeping it in the family and offering this wonderful camp experience to the next generation of children. The photo at the top of this blog is a pic of all of our alumni’s children who are currently here at ILC. We’re missing a camper, a 10^th grade girl, because she was playing in a tennis tournament at the time that this photo was taken. Hey, just use your imagination and add 1 more child to all who you see here.

Today was a perfect weather day for sports tournaments. 8^th & 9^th grade girls lacrosse team went out of camp early this morning. They came back at lunchtime cheering and screaming as they ran into the dining room. Why you ask? Because they won and now they will play in the finals. Yay! We’re so proud of our girls. 6^th & 7^th grade girls softball also left camp for a game this morning. 8^th & 9^th grade boys went to another camp for a beach volleyball tournament later this afternoon. 8^th through 11^th grade tennis kids, boys and girls, went to another camp for a full day competition.

Special feature of the day,…WATERFRONT! I had some campers borrow my waterproof camera to snap some shots swimming under water in the pool this afternoon. Sorry some of the boating photos are kind of far away. Short of going for a swim myself, I zoomed in as far as possible from the docks.

Tonight’s evening activity is LION KING JR. combined with the DANCE SHOW! These kids have been practicing for over 3 weeks now. We’re all very excited to see our little kids and our dancers of all ages perform on stage for the whole camp. We’ll have lots of pictures posted for you on CampMinder tomorrow. Until then, when you can see those adorable faces in photos, ILCUTHERE!