Bill & I enjoyed coffee on the porch until it got to hot to be out there--by 9:30, it was 80 degrees. We had talked with the kids, and they really wanted to go back to see the re-enactment with the 400 guys instead of the couple dozen we had yesterday. So, the kids & I decided we'd better get to the early battle, because the afternoon one would be way to hot. Bill was worried about getting a headache in the hot sun, so he stayed home, and I adventured out with 7 kids on my own. I say "adventured" because that's exactly what it was, an adventure! Actually, the did really well, and I received more sympathetic looks than I thought possible--along with many offers of sunscreen for myself & the kids, since we were so red from yesterday. We did slather up with SPF 30 before we left.
The battle was great. It was actually too much to watch. 400 guys on the field were tough to keep up with....and I have to say that the learning we encountered yesterday, was certainly more than we would have had today, had it been our only time there. It was good today, but it was geared for everyone, and they did not have the learning stations set up like they did yesterday. It was a living history, and everyone was in character, but you had to seek each one out, and we were hoping to catch what we missed yesterday....but we couldn't locate the bugler, and the medical center was not open. Bummer. We did however, find some folks to chat with, and enjoyed what we did learn.
We were able to catch the guy who had the amazing horse from yesterday, and chatted with him for awhile. He explained how he trained his horse to side step...it was an amazing animal, and nuzzled the kids while we were there. Ryan got a nudge, and was a bit uncomfortable, until the guy chatted with the kids about the horse.
This was the guy (Ken), and the amazing horse "Bill" that we met yesterday, and chatted with today.
Our next stop was one of the cannon loaders. He had various types of "stuff" that they packed into cannons. Here we thought it was only "balls"....they used some similar to buckshot, some grape clustered items, and other's that looked like huge bullets. The boys really got into this table, the girls on the other hand were a bit bored after awhile. The gentleman that talked to us allowed Alyona to hold a sword.
We hit the Medical tent, but it was closed...however, there were lots of items left out for the kids to observe. We looked at all their crude tools, and were amazed that more didn't die from infection, or sheer fear!! There were some scary tools!
We wandered through the tents (there were literally hundreds of tents) and everyone in the family was in period dress. It is the rule of this club to dress from 6am on Saturday until 6pm on Sunday to be in total period dress..including food, cooking, sleeping & living quarters. Even their SOCKS had to be wool. The women were in full dress...including corsets. We talked to several people who were hot, but said that they were probably cooler than us, because they wore all cotton or wool, and these fabrics wicked the sweat away from them. I'm not convinced that my one layer tank top and my 'undergarments' and capri pants were warmer than their 12 layers of clothing!!
We looked for our friend Andrew because the kids all wanted their photos with him, but we could not find him. We wandered through both the Union and Confederate camps and did not locate him, but we saw some neat things.
The kids went to the tents to purchase their goodies....Kim missed getting a purse that she really wanted. Today a fan was more appealing to her! The girls (all but Alyona) bought fans, and the boys pondered and pondered over the black powder guns. The walked away twice (once yesterday and once today), then as we were on the way out of the gate...the boys decided they had better have those guns!!
We headed to the dollar store to get more soap to make the slip & slide REALLY slippery. We had lunch, the kids changed, slathered with sunscreen and were back out to the slip & slide. With temps at 92--it was the only place to be cool. Unfortunately, when you use soap on the slip & slide, it washes your sun screen off. All but our Ukrainian born kids are burned to some extent tonight. They all claim it was worth it. I've spent quite a bit of time rubbing aloe after sun lotion on them.
Enjoy the battle pictures. We will certainly do this again next year!!
1 comment:
Sounds like fun...when my kids are older we will have to come over for some slip and slide fun. No pictures of the finished bridge???
Post a Comment