Wednesday, August 2nd

Happy 2nd 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!

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