Hi Island Lake families! Yesterday’s Country Western theme day was a chock full of fun. The group leaders pretended there was a bandit named “Los Pantalones” and he was running around camp taking things from our staff. The staff had been announcing missing items at dining room announcements for a couple of days in preparation for this. They had wanted signs posted all over camp so the kids were seriously trying to find this masked bandit. Good thing they never did, otherwise we’d owe them 100 canteen tokens and LTB for a week!
Last night’s Hoedown was a fun-filled evening activity for our campers. Boy did they line dance, especially to the Cotton-Eyed Joe! The kids ate chili, searched for lollypops in the hay, got hitched at our marriage booth, played on a real tractor (it was parked, don’t worry), and counselors participated in a pie eating contest. Our Country Western Day was a hit!
Today was Tournament Tuesday and the Book of Records. Tournaments took place not only in Sports but also in Science and Cooking as it’s spreading all around camp. In sports we had some 3 on 3 basketball games, World Cup games, archery tournaments, fencing tournaments, martial arts challenges, mountain biking time trials, home run derby, kong pong, LAX skills challenge, hockey skills challenge, and even Quiditch!
In Cooking they had a “mystery box challenge”. In this competition our department head, Sanne, gave the kids 5 ingredients. Our campers had to work together in teams to incorporate these ingredients into one dish. They had 45 minutes to cook, clean, and prepare their dish for guest judges to taste and decide upon a winner. I have to tell you, I was a guest judge in 1st session and man oh man those kids can cook! In Science there was a chess tournament for Tournament Tuesday.
For the book of records kids competed in push ups, saying the ABC’s backwards, swimming times, singing the longest note, basketball spin, the loop run, fastest at tying shoes, verticle jump, soccer juggle, racket bounce, farthest throw, and more.
Today we hosted our annual Wayne County Volleyball Tournament for boys 11th grade and under. About 6 other camps came to ILC to play one another in v-ball all morning into the afternoon.
In out of camp trips today, our Pioneering kids had their 2nd session climbing trip to Prompton Park. The kids had the opportunity to hike, climb 30-40 foot boulders, and enjoy the great outdoors.
Our teen tour out west is drawing to an end in a couple of days. The feedback we’ve received so far is more than enthusiastic. The kids are having the greatest time of their lives. I didn’t think that was possible after spending time here at ILC but hey, camp friends together,…nothing better than that! Today the kids went on a Pink Jeep Tour. It was a scenic off-road adventure in red rock country. Great pics to come on our CampMinder photos. After the tour they went out to Jerome, the largest ghost town in America. Set on the side of Mingus Mountain, this mining town is propped on a 30 degree mountainside 2000 feet above the Verde Valley. There they also checked out the cute shops and took more great photos.
Today’s special feature is TOURNAMENT TUESDAY! Tonight’s evening activity is everybody’s favorite,….can you guess? Yup, that’s right,…Mo & Tal’s Circus Show! Ok, we’re going to start out the evening with our favorite circus directors who will be putting on a show for the camp. About 5 minutes in, what’s going to happen? You guessed it, Revival Night will surprisingly break out! The kids have absolutely no idea either, which is going to be the icing on the cake. More info to come tomorrow. Until then, ILC U THERE!
