Today is the 3^rd and final day of Color War. It’s been a fierce but friendly 3 days of competition between Comedy and Horror. Yesterday’s rain let up after lunch so we were fortunate to be able to play the Sports before dinner. The winner of sports was grey Horror, but by only a few points.

Last night’s Lip Sync Battle & Music Videos was truly FANTASTIC! I kid you not, these campers and staff did a stupendous job choosing songs, choreographing them, and then performing them. The Horror team’s music video was aesthetically rich, gruesome in context, and perfect for their theme. The Comedy team’s video was cute and light hearted since hey, it’s comedy! Because both teams did a superb job with this evening activity, it was extremely difficult for our judges to choose a winner. Ultimately, the scored was drawn as a tie.

Yesterday’s decorum points went slightly more to the grey Horror team but again, only by a few points because both teams are truly going above and beyond in so many aspect of Color War this summer. With all of these points in place, and the recovered hatchet points added in from yesterday (Comedy found it), the team who was winning this morning at breakfast was,….drum roll please,….COMEDY by 73 points! It’s truly anyone’s game and it can go in either direction today with sports, our big annual apache relay, and Sing tonight.

And now onto all of today’s Color War events: We woke up to blue skies and cool temps that the sun burned off pretty early on. The temps reached the upper 70’s, which was perfect for running around for Sports and then doing the afternoon Apache Relay. But before I get to all of that, here’s a list of what everyone did for sports this morning: Group 1: Boys- dodgeball, Girls- musical chairs; Group 2: Boys- theater challenges, Girls- Gaga; Group 3: Boys- chess tournament, Girls- Chopped (cooking) & Kong Pong; Group 4: Boys- touch football, Girls- water basketball.

The winner of this morning’s sports goes to Horror but again, only by a small amount of points! Here are the scores as of lunchtime: 3147 to 3129, for a difference of 18 points, in favor of BLUE COMEDY!!! It was still anyone’s game. After lunch we had team meetings and then we hosted our sailing regatta and staff island swim meet that was previously rained out. Following that we went directly into our big Apache Relay. The Apache spans over the course of a few hours and it involves a couple hundred campers on each team. The relay entails a total of 167 tasks for each team to successfully complete. The kids run from one location to another throughout camp and tag a child in a specific department to do an activity/task. Once complete, they then tag another camper either in the same department or someone to then run to a different department to tag a child and perform another activity/task.

The Apache is a big camp tradition and it involves all of our departments here at camp, and then some! We include a whole lot of fun tasks such as eating saltine crackers and then whistling Yankee Doodle Dandy before tagging another camper to run to the next department listed on the schedule. Other fun activities in the Apache are kayaking around the floating raft in the lake, filling a cup of water using a teaspoon, saddling a horse, beading a bracelet, typing “Island Lake Rules” in different languages in the video room, self-hit a homerun on the baseball field, run to pioneering with a jalapeno pepper in their mouth (Oy vey!), drop in on the half-pipe in the skatepark, deflate a tire in mountain biking, sing the camp alma mater over the PA system in the office, and much, much, much, much more. Our counselors also have some difficult tasks to perform such as doing 100 push-ups or hitting a baseball over the fence on the ball field. The Apache Relay finally ends with all campers and counselors in the gym sitting on the bleachers watching a camper from each team successfully shoot a half court basketball shot.

The Apache Relay represents such a special thrill and excitement of summer camp tradition! It’s all about fun during this event here at ILC, and it shows. In the end, the blue Comedy team beat the grey Horror team by about 14 minutes. Below are just a few photos from the start and the end of the Apache. Please see our CampMinder page for many more photos from all of today’s events.

Color War closes tonight with our annual Sing. Each team is judged for their creative entrance into the theater. They then take turns performing a March/Fight song, a Comedy song, a Skit, an Alma Mater song, and then they present their team’s Plaque. The entire night is bittersweet and somber as Color War comes to an end. Everyone hugs, many cry, and while the final scores are tallied we play the camp alma mater so everyone joins together to sing.

And finally, once the scores are all tallied up, Oliver, who is in charge of Color War, will stand on the theater stage and announce how proud she is of everyone who participated these past 3 days. Then she’ll announce the winner of the Sing and the winner of Color War overall. The winning team will jump up and scream and go crazy with excitement. The other team will be sad for a moment but they’ll quickly get over it by the time they head to canteen. Since this blog is being posted prior to Sing, later tonight I will post the winner for all of you. Until then, ILC U THERE!

Happy 2^nd day of Color War!   Last night’s rope burn was a very close call with the two teams’ ropes burning within a few minutes of one another. Ultimately, the grey Horror team won and took more of the time differential points.

At the end of each day, decorum points are handed out to the teams for cheering, dressing up, banners, sportsmanship, etc. The decorum points for day 1 went to the blue Comedy team. With the decorum points tallied up with all of yesterday’s friendly competitions, as of this morning the leading team with 322 more points was the blue West Coast team.

Today we woke up to partly cloudy skies and the temps rose to the mid 70’s. It started off as the perfect day to be running around outdoors for Color War. This morning we hosted the Swim Meet down by the lake and the pool. A variety of groups participated in the following on the lake: canoe relay, kayak relay, freestyle relay, medley relay (freestyle, backstroke), sweat suit relay, greased watermelon, & swim to the island and back. Here’s a list of activities that took place in the swimming pool: penny fetch, water basketball, medley relay, kickboard relay, paddleboard relay, & freestyle relay. Due to thunder, we ended the staff greased watermelon relay early and sent everyone back to the bunks before lunch. The winner of the Swim Meet was Comedy by a hair!

Another activity that runs throughout Color war is the “Find the Hatchet” event. The hatchet is hidden somewhere in camp. Our campers (who must be accompanied by a counselor) search high and low throughout ILC looking for the hatchet. Clues are given out one per day and are quite difficult to solve. Once the hatchet is found, the clues all make sense and the points are given to the team who finds it. This morning, during the team meeting, the Comedy team found the hatchet. We watched as they ran down the road screaming with pride.

We had some rain during lunch and afterwards but that’s ok because after lunch we had rest hour and then team meetings. After the meetings was snack break followed by Battle of the Bands. Our campers (& staff) played a variety of instruments, sang songs related to their team’s names, and each group had a separate battle against one another.  The whole camp stood up on their seats and sang and clapped along with the bands. Everyone was super into it, which was great. There’s been an amazing amount of Color War spirit these past couple of days. The winner of the Battle of the Bands was Comedy!

After the battle we ran sports. Here’s a list of what everyone played: Group 1 boys played kickball and girls played Gaga. Group 2 boys had an engineering challenge in science and the girls played charades in the theater. Group 3 boys played sand soccer and the girls played water basketball. Group 4 boys played chopped in cooking while the girls played a game of giant foosball at the hockey rink.

Sidebar: A few years ago we ran something called “Tribals”, which was a smaller version of Color War. We introduced the camp to “silent dinner” during that event. I personally loved it! A dining room filled with children and hardly a sound was made throughout the meal. So peaceful! Well, some older girls wanted us to bring it back and yesterday Matt told them that if they got 250 signatures from campers then we will apply it to Color War this summer. Well, these determined girls got right to it and brought him over 250 signatures first thing this morning after breakfast. Low and behold, tonight’s dinner will be a silent meal. Take note parents, as you may want to apply this event to your own homes after the summer!

Evening activity will be Lip Sync Battle and Music Videos. Each team has spent the past 2 days creating a music video that relates to their team’s theme. We’ll play them in the theater on a big screen for the entire camp to view tonight.

Lip Sync Battle is inspired by the tv show. Our team representatives will attempt to intimidate their opponents with their sweet dance moves and lip sync abilities. Each team will have 3 dance crews: lower camp (groups 1&2), upper camp/CITs (group 3&4), and counselors. Each crew will prepare two dances, complete with props, costumes, and a song relating to their theme. Each crew will compete head-to-head against their opponents. This is new to Island Lake Color War and I’m so excited to see it. I’ll report the winners to you in tomorrow’s blog.

Below are photos from this morning’s swim meet. Until tomorrow, our final day of this intense, powerful, yet fun-loving Color War, ILCUTHERE!

Happy Color War ya’ll! The energy is high here at ILC as we complete our first full day of CW. We broke it directly after a surprise snack break Revival Night (or shall I call it “Revival Day”?) yesterday afternoon. Once the gun shots rang through the air, the whole camp ran to the gym where they picked up flyers to see which team they were on. We then introduced all of the officers of each team. The cheering immediately began and Color War was born!!! The next 3 days are all about Horror (grey) vs. Comedy (blue).

The kids had their first team meeting after introductions and then we played “5 Period Basketball” for evening activity. Different groups played each period (youngest to oldest) and the game ended with a staff round. In the end, the blue Comedy team dominated over the grey Horror but don’t worry, this is only the beginning.

This morning we woke up to sunny skies and warm temps outdoors. After breakfast and clean up, the teams each had their respective meetings. Once the meetings were over we started our first full camp Color War activity, Sports. We’ve changed up our Color War sports quite a bit this summer so here’s a list specifying what they all did. In Group 1 the boys went Fishing and the girls played Bocce Ball. In Group 2 the boys played Gaga and the girls played Sand Soccer. In Group 3 the boys played Kong Pong and the girls played Charades. In Group 4 the boys played Giant Foosball (which was really cool!) and the girls were broken up into two groups to play either Kong Pong or Chopped (in cooking). Our campers really seemed to enjoy this change of events from past summers. It was very close but the winner of sports was Grey Horror! At this point in the day the Blue Comedy team is only ahead by 8 points.

Following Sports was lunch and then rest hour and show rehearsals. In the early afternoon we held a Fire Brigade and then Tug O’ War. With the Fire Brigade, each team lined up from the lake all the way up the hill where there was a huge empty garbage can. The kids by the lake had small buckets, water pitchers, and drinking cups that they had to fill with water and then pass along to each and every child until it finally makes its way up to the large can. First team’s garbage can to overflow with water is the winner of the Fire Brigade. And that team was Horror!

Following the brigade was our traditional Tug O’ War up at the beach volleyball courts. Each group had representatives participate. The winner was Comedy!

The kids then went back to their bunks for a snack break followed by another team meeting. Late afternoon we hosted our annual trivia game, Unique. It’s held in the theater and it’s done group by group. The 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,….Grey Horror!

It’s a tight race so far. Off to dinner we go, followed by the final team meeting for the day. Then the teams are off to present their entrance for the big 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.

Below are some photos from sports earlier today. For more photos, please view our daily summer photos through CampMinder. Until more Color War scoop tomorrow when I tell you which team is in the lead, ILC U THERE!