Sadly, today is our last full day of camp. Summer 2016 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 here 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 for your children, 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 9am. The kids then went back to their bunks to start cleaning up. We then had our big session 3 Dance Show in the theater for all to enjoy. Lunch followed and then we had our 4th annual Color Run. Most of the camp participated in this fun run today. As they reached certain locations they got sprayed with powdered paint of different colors. They all eventually gathered by the lake at the finish line, proud of their accomplishments.
Directly after the Color Run we had our final Rock Concert of the summer in the theater. Of course, because it’s the summer here at camp, we had a thunderstorm during the rock concert so we kept the kids in the theater a bit longer than expected. Following the storm and the 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 at tables 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 2016 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 an amazing! It’s a wonderful memento for our Island Lakers to view all year long until they can return back here to their home away from home 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 “Island Lake 2016” sign on the water and we’ll sing some camp songs, including our ILC alma mater. 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 2016 summer sign burn. This sign represents the ILC summer in its entirety.
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 yearbook runs we will decide when everyone’s curfew will be.
And that’s about it for the Island Lake Summer 2016 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. I’d also love feedback from you, the parents, with regards to these blogs. If you have any ideas or suggestions regarding how to make it even more entertaining or better, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to drop me a note at wendy@islandlake.com.
We hope your children all come home to you as “happy campers” tomorrow. Hey, 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 couple more weeks so if you need to contact us, just give us a call here 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, ILC U THERE!!!
I have read these blogs At least twice each time! Not only is it my only link to my son but they have been so much fun to read, thank you for everything. I can’t wait to hear about it through my child’s eyes. I don’t know how to appropriately thank you for the military scholarship but I am in awe of your generosity. The Rios family