Hi Island Lake Families! This morning we woke up to some very nippy temperatures. Once our campers returned to their bunks for clean up, a rain shower came through the 18462. It ended during our 1^st major and by 1^st minor the sun shined and the temps started to warm up. We got hit again after lunch with another rain shower but again, it was soon followed by more sunshine. It’s been a cool start to summer but it looks like that will change very soon.

Island Lake Summer 2017 is now officially in full swing. Our campers are adjusting to their majors, trying out new activities for their minors, and are becoming great friends with their bunkmates. I hope you can see all the joy on your children’s faces in our daily photos.

Speaking of photos, we started to take bunk pictures. Once they’re complete, we will post them in their own folder on CampMinder.

Tomorrow is our first Lazy Day of the summer. The kids get to sleep in later and eat brunch at 10:30am. We will have an optional breakfast for the early birds at 8am. After brunch we will take groups 1&2 (7^th grade and under) to a bowling alley in Binghamton. Groups 3&4 (8^th grade through 10^th grade) will go to a local town to see Pirates of the Caribbean. Dinner will be a cookout at our picnic tables.

Tonight’s evening activity is Taste, Touch, & Smell. We will break up the camp into lower campus (groups 1&2) and upper campus (groups 3&4). Each campus will host their own evening activity. Here is how the game works: The group leaders will call to their stage 5 contestants at a time. The contestants will be campers and counselors. They will then be blindfolded and given a surprise treat. The audience will know what that treat is (it will be written on a whiteboard behind the contestants). The humor will be in what the contestants think that they are tasting, touching, or smelling. Don’t worry, those with allergies will not be given anything that they cannot eat, touch, or smell. The item could be something as fun as chocolate pudding with rainbow sprinkles and marshmallows. This should be a fun evening activity for all, whether they are participants or spectators.

Today’s special feature is THEATER. This session’s shows are Lion King Junior and Pippin. There are also some photos of campers working in stagecraft and costuming. Enjoy and until tomorrow, our first Lazy Day of the summer, ILCUTHERE!

Happy first day of majors and minors! The day started off party sunny and very cool but by after lunch the temps warmed up to about 70 degrees. Cool temps don’t really bother the kids, as they were still out and about running around all morning & afternoon. The camp spirit is very high and activities are all in full swing now.

Show rehearsals have started, rock bands have been formed, and dances are being choreographed. Kids are walking around doing magic tricks, making all sorts of arts & crafts projects, riding horses, waterskiing in the lake, swimming in the pool, and some campers are becoming little chefs in cooking. They’re flying in the air on the giant swing, as well as on the circus trapezes. Kids are learning to use the half pipes in our skatepark, the low and high ropes courses are being climbed, and science experiments are being created by children of all ages.   Sports and tennis went on outdoors and in the gym and it was great to see so many kids participating. We’re so pumped for all the action going on here at Island Lake!

Tonight’s evening activities are GROUPS! Here’s a breakdown of what everyone in camp is doing: BOYS: Group 1- Sidewalk Chalking (they’re going to decorate the new blacktop by the dining room); Group 2- Gaga; Group 3- Video Scavenger Hunt; Group 4- Bunk Feud (similar to Family Feud but the topics are all about camp, and with girls group 4). GIRLS: Group 1- Ugly Fashion Show; Group 2- Video Scavenger Hunt; Group 3- start working on Bunk Cup (I’ll get to that in a moment); Group 4- Bunk Feud (with boys group 4).

Bunk Cup is a camp-wide activity that will go on for most of 1^st session this summer.  Each bunk is its own team. The bunk/team can earn points in just about every activity here at camp. At the end of the session we tally up the points and have a winner on the boys side and a winner on the girls side. Each team will make a bunk plaque, a bunk flag, and a short video. This is our 4^rd annual Bunk Cup and the kids are so excited for it.

After evening activity tonight our campers will head to the canteen for a snack or two and then have the opportunity to socialize there and at the gym. We also opened our Teen Lounge for our campers who are entering 9^th grade and older (boys and girls group 4 and CITs). They’ll have access to a television, a soda machine, and couches to hang around and socialize on. The teen lounge is a good alternative to hanging around in the gym and the canteen every night. Our kids seem excited about it, too! What will they watch tonight? American Ninja Warrior or The Bachelorette? Oh, such decisions!

To summarize the first few days here at Island Lake, I can honestly tell you that our campers are having so much fun and are forming everlasting friendships with one another while learning so many skills in their activities. We couldn’t be happier for all of them!

Today’s special photo feature is SPORTS. Here are a bunch of photos from a variety of sports majors today. I know there are a lot of photos to scroll through, more than usual for the daily blog, but we had that many sports activities (and more!) taking place today. Enjoy the pictures and until tomorrow, ILC U THERE!

Happy first full day of camp! Yesterday’s Opening Day went extremely well with lots of happy campers coming off of the buses. New and old friendships are blossoming already. Campers are bonding with one another, as well as with their counselors, and they are settling into Summer 2017 here at Island Lake.   Be sure to check out our daily summer photos through CampMinder. We also tweet on our Twitter account daily, post on Instagram, and put up short videos on our Facebook page. There’s SO MUCH to check out that’s going on here at ILC.

Today was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL DAY in Starrucca, PA. The temperature hit the low 70’s with a light breeze and it was the perfect day to run around and have some fun. It was our 4-minor day so the kids were busy trying out activities to see what they’d like to sign up for as their majors for the remainder of the session.   Campers took deep-water tests, had sports orientation, pioneering, and were tested for their tennis levels outdoors. Auditions for the musicals went on all day today as well. We’re excited to offer a combination for our older campers of the show, Pippin, along with our circus department. The 2 departments will work together and at the end of the session the performance will take place in the circus building. Our younger campers will put on Lion King Junior in the theater at the end of the session.

Lots of other activities also took place today. Horseback riders and dancers were tested for levels, circus activities were in full effect, our magicians started to learn their skills, our skaters & bladers rode in the skatepark, in addition to all of the other activities we offer here at ILC: magic, video, cooking, rock shop, gymnastics, and more!

After lunch we gave out many 5-year jackets and 10-year jackets to our loyal Island Lakers, both campers and staff. In our daily summer photos through CampMinder we will show you photos of campers and staff in their ILC-wear. I hope this beautiful weather continues so they won’t have to wear these (rain) jackets quite so much over the course of the summer.

After their 4 minors and our snack break, we held our favorite camp extravaganza,…PANIC! It’s a camp-wide game where I call things out over the PA system and our campers have to run into their bunks, find the item(s) and bring them as fast as possible to their group leaders in the middle of their campuses. It can be something as basic as a red toothbrush or more involved like 5 campers wearing 2016 ILC Color War t-shirts singing the camp alma mater. I play music over the PA in between while the kids all sing and dance with their bunks. Ok, I’m not gonna lie. The boys don’t sing and dance as much as the girls! Regardless, Panic was a hit and the kids participated and cheered their bunks on as they ran around having a fun-filled fantabulous time.

Tonight’s evening activity is GROUPS, which means the group leaders take charge and run different activities for their bunks. Here’s a list of what everyone is doing: BOYS: Group 1- Video Scavenger Hunt; Group 2- Gaga Ball; Group 3- Dodgeball; Group 4- Capture the Flag. On the GIRLS side: Group 1- Theater Games; Group 2- Minute 2 Win It (game show that you’ll have to google because I’m not even sure how they play it!); Group 3- Ugly Fashion Show (the girls dress up in crazy funny outfits and have a fashion show); Group 4- Crazy Game (fun active wild game to try to tire them out!)

Below is an array of photos from down at the lake today. Please return to this blog each day, as I (Wendy) will be posting ongoing events happening here at Island Lake. Until tomorrow, ILC U THERE!

Hey Island Lake families!

Two more days!  Two more days!  The camp season is finally upon us and we just want to remind you of several important things.  This letter is for all camp families, new and returning, so please read it thoroughly.

All buses leave our bus locations on Opening Day at 11am sharp!  Please be sure to give yourself enough time to get to the buses by 10:30am, especially those of you going to our Queens bus stop. It is inevitable that there is always traffic heading to Queens, so leave extra early in order to arrive on time.

Don’t forget to pack your child a lunch for the bus ride to camp. Please do not pack anything containing peanuts or tree nuts.  For campers who are flying, it’s a good idea to send them with extra money for snacks that they’d like to purchase upon arrival at the airport.

Cell phones are strictly prohibited at camp!  Any child caught with a cell phone will be sent home from camp for a 3-day suspension.  Only campers flying to camp via airplane may travel with a cell phone.  We will collect your flying camper’s phone after your child calls home to let you know that he/she arrived at Newark safely.  Additionally, non-functioning iPhones are not allowed to be used as music players, even with the SIM card removed.

The bunks are all finalized and campers will receive their bunk numbers on their bus ride to camp.  We can no longer accept new bunk requests for the 1st session.  We try to honor all bunk requests to the best of our abilities.

If you have not yet sent in extra spending money for out of camp trips, it’s a good idea to send some money up with your child to place into his/her bank account. Although all trips out of camp are paid for, our campers like to have extra money for snacks and souvenirs, especially for Dorney Park in the 2^nd week of camp. We recommend approximately $25/week ($100 for session 1 and $75 for session 2) but feel free to use your own discretion.

SOCIAL MEDIA
We will once again post hundreds of pictures to our website daily so be sure to go to islandlake.com and login to your Camp Minder account to view the photos and weekly videos. You can also view photos through our Island Lake app by logging into CampMinder.

We will also continue to post a daily blog to our website at islandlake.com. Scroll down and click the yellow “B” at the bottom of any page on our site to read the latest regarding what’s going on in camp and to see some extra photos. You can view the blog through our app, as well.

We will continue our practice posting to our Facebook page.  You do not need to have a Facebook account in order to view our posts.  You can just visit facebook.com/islandlakecamp.

Last, but definitely not least, we will be tweeting daily.  Once again, you do not need to have a Twitter account to see what we are posting.  Simply go to twitter.com/islandlakecamp to know more about your camper’s daily life at Island Lake.

We can’t wait to see all of our first session campers roll in on the buses this Saturday, June 24^th!

This past Saturday was our Open House here at Island Lake for new campers and their families and it was a FANTASTIC DAY for all!!! We had a great turn out with lots of excited new campers. They all met one another, meet our staff, they toured camp, and they play games together in the afternoon. We loved meeting our rookie Island Lakers and we are that much more pumped for June 24^th to arrive. We hope all of our campers are, as well.

With only 11 days until our opening day of camp (as of today, June 13^th), many of our staff are arriving for training in their specific departments. Circus, waterfront, ropes/pioneering, and horseback riding are amongst the departments that are already in training. All counselors and staff will be here by June 16^th for our staff orientation week.

We are sure many of our parents are now in full “camp mode” as you pack and prepare your children for their amazing ILC experience. Just a reminder that our packing list and equipment list are right here on our website under “Families” and “forms & mailings.” Any outstanding Medical Forms must be completed, signed, and returned to us ASAP, prior to your children’s arrival at camp.

By now you should have received your luggage tags and bus stop information packet. Place your children’s tags on each of their 2 duffel bags so we can transport them to their appropriate bunks upon arrival. All luggage goes to camp on the buses with our campers.

REMINDER: ALL BUS STOP DEPARTURES (other than Newark Airport) WILL BE AT 11AM! This is different from previous summers when the buses departed at 1pm. Please arrive at your assigned bus stop by 10:00-10:30am on June 24^th for a prompt departure at 11am.

Today you can start calling camp to set up your children’s phone appointments for summer. The phones are closed the first week of the session and then each child can call home once per session. See your Parent Handbook for more details. Once you have dates and times in mind, just give us a call here at camp at 570-798-2550.

If you have any last minute camp questions, feel free to call us any time. Until camp begins, our office is open daily until 5pm with a break for lunch from 12-12:45pm. Once camp begins we’re open daily until 9pm.

Enjoy some photos below from our Open House this past Saturday. Lots of new, excited, happy campers joining us this summer. We CANNOT WAIT for everyone to arrive for an amazing, fantastic, out of this world ILC summer! In 11 more days, ILCUTHERE!!!

Greetings from Starrucca, PA! Although it’s been a chilly and wet pre-camp thus far, we’re getting a lot done to make camp look beautiful for your children’s arrival in a few weeks. We’re looking forward to our Open House for our new camp families this upcoming Saturday. An email will be sent out to all parents of new campers later this week with more details.

Below are some photos of our pre-camp staff working yesterday and today. This morning they worked hard through some major rain to get the mountain biking pump track ready. Enjoy the photos and ILC Ur kids in 18 days!

We’re BAAAACCCKKKK!!!!! It was with heartfelt excitement that I drove down Island Lake Road and entered my home away from home yesterday. Although cold and rainy out, nothing can bring down the exhilaration associated with returning to ILC. 32 summers and it never gets old. The thrill and elation associated with pulling into camp feels the same as it did when I was a kid.

Our pre-camp staff have all arrived and are already working hard to make sure camp looks beautiful for this upcoming summer. We are so incredibly pumped for a fantastic summer 2017! The only thing missing,…our campers!!!

Now that we are here in Starrucca, the office is currently open Monday through Saturday from 8:30am-5:00pm with a lunch break from 12:00-12:45pm. Once camp begins the office will be open daily from 9am-9pm, 7 days a week.

Our packing list, equipment list, handbooks, policies, and in general, all important summer information can be found right here on our website under “Families” and then “Forms & Mailings.” Be sure to print them out and read all of them to make sure you are well prepared for summer.

As always, if you have any questions about packing or anything else related to camp, feel free to call us here at camp at 570-798-2550. As of today, only 25 more days until camp begins! ILC U HERE!!!

Summer 2017 is right around the corner! As of today, May 15^th, according to our Island Lake website and app we have only 40 more days until camp begins! Excitement is building as the thrill of summer approaches! We move our offices up to camp the last weekend of May so as of May 30^th, all correspondence should go directly to our summer address in Starrucca, PA.

By now, all new families enrolled for summer 2017 at Island Lake should have received our spring mailing. This entire mailing is available for all of our returning families here on our website under “Island Lake Families” and then “Forms & Mailings.”   In this mailing and online are our camper, parent, and activities handbooks, our medication policy, and our social media policy.

A couple of months ago we mailed an Open House flyer to all of our new Island Lake families. If your child is new to ILC this summer, please return the bottom portion of the Open House flyer to let us know if you will be joining us at camp on Saturday, June 10^th at 11am. We’re very excited to meet many of our new Island Lakers and their families that day.

With summer right around the corner, many of you have probably started your camp shopping. If you’re really organized then hey, perhaps you’ve even begun the packing process! Be sure to refer to your Suggested Items for Camp (packing list) and Suggested Equipment List to assist you with this big ol’ fun task. Don’t forget, all camp forms can be retrieved any time right here on our website under “Island Lake Families” and then “forms and mailings.” Remember to label all items of clothing and equipment, too.

If you’d like to purchase Island Lake clothing and camp gear, you can do so by going to the Bunkline website. There’s a direct link from our website and here it is for your convenience: http://www.bunkline.com/category-s/125.htm. You can always find this link under “Island Lake Families” and then “Camp Store.” Remember, Island Lake is not a uniform camp so all ILC clothing is optional. We will also give every camper an Island Lake t-shirt when they arrive at camp.

At the “Camp Store” we also have customized Island Lake Islides that you can order for your child. Just click the link for more info about them at the store. We started working with Label Daddy this year, as well. They make great name labels for all of your children’s clothing and equipment. Here is a direct link to the Camp Store: https://www.islandlake.com/current-camp-families/camp-store.php

Parents, we highly recommend that you read all literature that we mail to you and post on our website at the forms & mailings link. Many answers to your questions can be found there. Our handbooks, packing lists, variety of forms posted on our website, and monthly newsletters provide a great deal of important information that will help prepare you and your children for a fantastic summer 2017. If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact us at our winter office until May 26^th and at our summer office as of May 30^th.

We are looking forward to the most amazing, fantastic, spectacular, wonderful, awesome, unbelievable, exciting, memorable summer ever at Island Lake! ILC U THERE!!!