Happy 4thof July and Happy Birthday, America! I hope you’re all enjoying your holiday as much as we are here at Island Lake. Our campers have completely gotten into the patriotic holiday spirit, all decked out in their red, white, and blue clothing and accessories. They look amazing! You’ll have the opportunity to see for yourselves here in my blog, as well as in our daily photos on Waldo.
To add to all the spirit and glory that this holiday brings, the weather today was absolutely stellar! We had beautiful skies with hardly a cloud out there, along with temps in the low 80’s. Tonight it should be in the mid-70’s for our fireworks extravaganza. We will have absolutely perfect weather for our Island Lakers to enjoy our huge firework display. We make the 4thof July very special for our campers and staff here at ILC. I’ll list all that this day entails. Let’s start from the beginning,…
At breakfast this morning we started our 4thof July with our friends, the Brits, who stood in front of the camp in the dining room singing 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!” Our kids were pretty enthusiastic singing the national anthem considering it was the morning and they had just woken up prior to breakfast.
Next highlight of the day- MUSIC LUNCH! I played the role of “DJ Wendy” as I spun tunes in the dining room. Ok, truth be told, I just hit the play button on my ipod with a pre-made music lunch play list. In any case, the kids had an amazing time singing and dancing to the pop music, camp alma mater, and USA theme songs (Party in the USA by Miley, God Bless the USA by American Idol singers from many seasons prior, & Firework by Katy Perry). Everyone joined in on the fun and they didn’t want to leave for their next activity, 2ndmajor. I know when Music Lunch is a success when our campers, who are singing and dancing, refuse to leave the dining room (all in a positive manner of course)! You can view photos from our music lunch here in this blog. I posted a ton! There will also be lots of music lunch pictures in our daily photos on Waldo.
Next highlight- COOKOUT for dinner tonight! Burgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers, watermelon, cupcakes, and more were devoured at supper. Our campers enjoy dining outdoors for our cookouts.
Next highlight- CANTEEN will follow rest hour instead of our usual evening activity prior to canteen. We do this so that we can put on our firework show once the sun sets. (Sidebar: By the way, I have to tell you that we have the most beautiful sunsets over the lake here at ILC. Legit, no filters necessary as the sky does all the work for us. I’ll have to take some pictures one evening during sunset to share with you.) Ok, back to 4thof July here at camp,…After canteen and prior to the fireworks, our rock shop staff and campers will put on a ROCK CONCERT on girls campus. We’ll also send off some SKY LANTERNS into the air, which always makes our 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 our show because it’s truly spectacular. I don’t want to toot my own horn but Magic, our amazing caretaker and head of our maintenance department, goes all out to create a fantastic firework show for our Island Lakers. Our campers all sit together on the hill by the canteen and girls campus to enjoy this traditional annual event. We’re looking forward to another great show tonight.
As a reminder, tomorrow is our Lazy Day. Boys and girls groups 1&2 are going to Sky Zone, group 3 is going to Montage Mountain (waterpark), and group 4 is spending the day at Ithaca. I’ll be on the Montage Mountain trip and we’ll hopefully have another day of beautiful weather. In Ithaca (I went on that trip last summer), our campers will swim in the gorges and then spend a couple of hours at Ithaca Commons. There at the Commons they will have lunch and do some “Ithaca is Gorges” t-shirt shopping. Since we’ll be out of camp until dinnertime, I’m going to forego posting a blog tomorrow. I promise that I’ll fill you in any lazy day gossip on Saturday, along with some photos.
Today’s feature: Patriotic campers at MUSIC LUNCH! I hope you’re all having a wonderful 4thof July. Until Saturday when we will resume our regular camp schedule, ILCUTHERE!
