What could be better than spending the weekend in one of our favorite places with one of our favorite families? We headed up to Michigan for the long weekend to visit Greenfield Village during the Civil War Reenactment and had a fabulous couple days.
There were the trains:
And then there were the reenactors:
A lot of the camps were elaborate, meant to portray not just want a military camp would look like, but also the homes at that time.
They also had some specialty tents, like this civil war doctor.
I would have hated to be someone needing medical attention back then.
And there were a lot of demonstrations of battle techniques:
The cavalry unit was impressive.
Beautiful horses.
We watched the horses and riders demonstrate their skills,
which got a little loud for this little guy. We finally have learned and bring these along with us if guns, cannons, fireworks, or movie theaters are involved and we're all able to enjoy things a lot more.
(I always love seeing the train go by in the background.)
At the end of the demonstrations, the soldiers all marched right at the crowd and fired--it was a little scary to have a bunch of rifles aimed at you.
Then there was that time that all our kids enlisted in the Civil War militia.
They went through training,
for what felt like a REALLY long time,
and then got to charge their parents. I think they liked it.
And sharing it all with friends made it even more fun.
These kids had so much crazy fun all weekend.
They never run out of ideas.
And they are good people to have around. In the train depot, the station master brought out the morse code machine for the kids to try because Sandra impressed him by being able to read the morse code that was printed on a window. He said there had only been a couple people in all his time working there that knew what it said ("Office").
We love this place
and were so glad we got to introduce one of our favorite families to the greatness of Greenfield Village.
We had another day and a half on our own, as well, and got to enjoy all the normal historic fun:
Henry Ford's childhood home
The writing desk his father used when keeping up with all the farming logs.
An interesting fact we learned this time around--Henry Ford collects stoves (as well as old houses and buildings).
Once this was pointed out to us, we noticed the stoves in every building. I think there are over 60 on the site, and even more in storage. Makes my kids' collections of rocks, shells, and stuffed animals seem pretty minor.
We rode in every possible type of vehicle.
And saw a bunch more:
(My dream car, only in red.)
The kids even got to help build a Model T:
We also ate in some fun places:
The Eagle Tavern,
where we tried way too many different things (and the kids mostly only wanted the ham.)
And got to drink sassparilla through noodle straws.
And this diner,
which the kids thought was a lot of fun.
Not pictured is our daily frozen custard. It was always too hot, and the custard was melting too fast to bother with a picture. Besides, I don't think a picture would do it justice.
We all found fun little treasures:
Bug, who is a big fan of Abraham Lincoln, loved getting to see this Illinois courtroom, and the cabinet in the corner that Lincoln built with his father as a child.
Bean loved getting to wander through the old fashioned gardens
and even do a little watering--she really thinks getting to live in the 1800's for awhile would be heaven.
I got to visit the farmhouse, where they are always cooking or eating something that looks delicious
and have beautiful spinning wheels and looms.
I love seeing the projects.
And for the rest, a photo dump--I took too many pictures, and love all the memories they all bring up, so here's a bunch more:
