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 2018 here at Island Lake.   Be sure to check out our daily summer photos via CampMinder on our website. We also tweet daily, post on Instagram, and post on our Facebook page. There’s SO MUCH to check out that’s going on here at ILC.

Today’s 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 session.   Campers took deep-water tests, had sports orientation, pioneering, started art projects, and were tested for their tennis levels. Auditions for the musicals went on all day today, as well. We’re excited to offer Wedding Singer for our older campers and Wizard of Oz for our younger kiddies.

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

Directly 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. The hope is that our campers won’t have to wear these (rain) jackets quite so much over the course of the summer. But per usual, we experienced some rain today on and off. We had a medley of weather: sunshine, clouds, rain, cool temps, warm temps,…but don’t worry, nothing stopped our kids from running around and having fun!

After our 4 minors and snack break, we held our favorite traditional 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 2017 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,…well, until the rain returned. Luckily that was a quick rain shower and we were able to continue and finish the game in style.

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 (weather pending): BOYS: Group 1- gaga; Group 2- dodgeball; Group 3- dodgeball (separate from group 2); Group 4- capture the flag. On the GIRLS side: Group 1- sidewalk chalking; Group 2- xtreme crazy games (in other words, getting to know you games amongst the bunks); Group 3- welcome party (a cool title for getting to know you games); Group 4- xtreme bonding (yet again, getting to know you games)

Below is an array of photos from out around camp today. Please return to this blog each day as I, Wendy, will be posting ongoing events happening here at Island Lake. I’ll hit different departments daily to show you action photos of your campers living it up here at camp. Until tomorrow, ILC U THERE!