Saturday in the Park

We spent Saturday at Rand Park here in Keokuk, enjoying some sunshine, good food, lots of history being reenacted and fun times. I just had to take a picture of the man and his dog above. I saw this gentleman several times and never once was he without the dog, and never once was the dog on the ground. The dog reminded me of Amis when Amy dresses her up!

Leave it to these three to try on hats and cheese it up!

Spent some time wandering through the tent shops.

We didn't buy a thing, but as you can see, the boys and Bruce had a good ol' time.

This is the 24th year for the Reenactment here in Keokuk. The first year Amy was just 3 months old. We took her to the park and I was prepared to have a very scared and crying baby. She slept through everything. Even the booming canons! Someone from our family has been at this event every year since the beginning. It was just a couple of years ago before Amy finally missed one.

One year, we were sitting right behind that tiny green piece of twine that you see at the bottom of this picture. (That is all that holds the crowd back from the battle field. ) Jonah was just a little guy and was just beginning to understand that even though this looked and sounded real, it was all pretend. At one point, as he's peaking under the piece of twine, he turns around and says "Whoa! Did you see that? I almost got pretend shot by a pretend bullet!" Then he went right back to watching the show.

If you notice, the brick building in the back ground is almost in the same place in this picture as it is in the one above this one. However, in the top picture, the "Confederates" are in the picture, while the "Union Boys" are in this one. They move back and forth, up and down, across the field, canons booming, horses neighing, guns blazing and orders being shouted. It's not an event for the faint of ears!

We were right near these canons and boy are they loud! It was fun to watch the people in the crowd who hadn't been to an event like this one and see their reactions to the booms! People were jumping and putting hands to their chests all over the place. I have to admit that I had to giggle watching most of them.

The new pavilion in Rand Park is amazing! We didn't have a fantastic seat on the rock wall to watch Abe and Mary Lincoln, but we saw him a lot as he walked around the camps. Somewhere I have a picture of Amber and Amy with Abe.

The camps are pretty authentic. They cook on campfires, wear the proper period clothing, and sleep on the floor or on low cots in the tents. However, it is sometimes odd to come around a tent and find a man dressed in full Civil War clothing, scraggy beard, woolen uniform, hat on his head, the smoke from a campfire wafting around him.... and see him talking on his cell phone!

Most people in the camps will gladly, happily answer questions for you about what they do and who, if anyone real, that they are portraying. This blacksmith had a working blacksmith shop going on. He was explaining his craft and why he did each step as he did it. We watched a woman make yarn, then weave that yarn on a loom. We saw rope making and hoop tossing. There were soldiers shining the brass on the wagons and canons. There were women sewing and darning. There were children in period clothing running around and playing all over the park. I love spending a day in the park when the reenactment is going on.

Today my face and collarbones are sunburned. I was dog tired last night from spending the day walking and out in the sun and wind. Supper last night was cheese and crackers and sausage and such after church. It was a wonderful, fun-filled, happy, sun-shiny day! : )