COLOR WAR COLOR WAR COLOR WAR!!! That’s right, summer 2018 Color War is in full swing here at Island Lake. The teams are 50’s vs. 60’s! 50’s are the grey team and 60’s are the blue team. I’m excited to see how each of these teams make use of their themes to their greatest advantage. Which team do you think your children are on? Let’s hope to find out via photos over the next 3 days. I’ll blog daily with tons of Color War updates and I’ll post some photos from special events. Speedy will take tons of photos to post on CampMinder, as well. David Lobel is still here so he’ll also take photos to post on his smugmug page. I hope you will love all that you will see as much as our campers will love experiencing it all.
Let’s start the day at the very beginning,…breakfast. The kids all showed up to breakfast surprised to see minor sheets on their tables. A bunch of kids brought their GoPro’s thinking they were going to be able to record a big break in the dining room. Dustin got up to do his morning announcements at the end of breakfast and when he was finished and he dismissed the camp just as he’s done all summer, the kids all boo’d him. It was actually very funny. What did they expect? For him to scream “Color War is here”??? We sent the kids back to their bunks and that’s when it all happened. The bunks were decorated with grey and blue streamers inside. As soon as the kids saw this they started screaming and ran up to the gym where we all congregate for the Color War intros. Some kids didn’t even make it back to their bunks yet but they just followed the madness.
After the intros were complete we sent the kids back to their bunks for a regular cleanup. Instead of cleaning I’m pretty sure the kids and counselors just got dressed up in their team colors with glitter, face paint, and all. Our group leaders are working quickly to organize and label color war t-shirts to give out to the kids later on.
After cleanup each team held their first meeting. Once the team meetings were over we started our first full camp Color War activity, Sports. We changed up our Color War sports quite a bit last summer and it was very successful so we’re doing many of the same once again this summer. Here’s a list specifying what they all did:
Group 1: Boys- fishing Girls- crazy games
Group 2: Boys- gaga Girls- sand soccer
Group 3: Boys- kong pong Girls- charades
Group 4: Boys- giant foosball Girls- kong pong & chopped
Chopped takes place in cooking. Girls group 4 was able to choose either activity to participate in. The giant foosball in the hockey rink was amazing to watch. It was very close but the winner of sports was Grey 50’s!
Following Sports was lunch and then rest hour. Due to the possibility of rain tonight, we switched the schedule around and decided to hold Rope Burn this afternoon instead of for evening activity. With rope burn, the counselors fetch wood and build their fires while the kids cheer them on. The first team to burn the rope with their fire wins. This is truly an amazing Island Lake tradition. Everyone walked down to the rope burn pit by the waterski lake and then low and behold, they had to turn around and head back to their bunks due to a potential rain storm. We got everyone back and as luck had it, it hardly rained while the thunder/lightening stayed far from us. Oh well, better safe than sorry!
The kids stayed at their bunks for snack break and then we hosted our annual trivia game, Unique. It’s held in the theater and it’s done group by group. A select number of kids come up to the stage and stand before podiums with lights. When a camper knows the answer to a trivia question, whether it is related to the CW teams or camp, they flip a light switch and then answer. They earn points for their team by answering questions correctly. And the winner of Unique is the blue 60’s.
After Unique we were able to get in Rope Burn and man oh man it was a doozy! This was probably one of our longest rope burns ever due to wind constantly blowing the fires away from the ropes. Finally, well after an hour, the rope that burned was,……blue 60’s!
Tonight’s dinner will be a special one. It’s a Silent Dinner! We did this last year and the kids loved it. Ok, I’m not gonna lie, the staff love it as well. A dining room filled with children and hardly a sound made throughout the meal. So peaceful! It’s fun messing with the kids and trying to make them speak. It’s amazing how resilient they can be when they’re taking one for the team. Take note parents. You may want to apply this event to your own homes after the summer!
After dinner is a team meeting following by evening activity. Teams will present an entrance into the gym for the Five Period Basketball tonight. Different groups will play each period (youngest to oldest) and the game ends with a staff round. It’s fun cheering your team on as lots of spirit fills the air.
Tomorrow I’ll let you know who won Five Period Basketball and who is winning Color War overall.
Below are some photos from sports earlier today as well as “Sister Act” last night. There are 2 separate slides shows to look at. For more photos, please view our daily summer photos through CampMinder. I’ll post a link for David Lobel’s pics once he posts them. Until more Color War scoop tomorrow when I tell you which team is in the lead, ILCUTHERE!
