Delavan Civil War Days 2013

This weekend delivered our first event of the season! This winter felt longer then I've ever remembered, but we've never even done an event this early before. I guess it just means my love for the hobby is growing despite the brief considering of terminating my involvement last fall.

The weather looked as tho it might crash the party, but it didn't end up being very bad at all. So that was really nice. Saturday started out a bit slow, but as the day went on went on we started coming out of our shell and actually talked to some people. lol

 

My beautiful big sis, Michelle! Isn't her dress like perfect. I think I like it more everytime she wears it.

Miss Cherice (more commonly known as Sarah). Such a cutie! 

My wool ended up being the perfect choice for the dismal weather. It kept me completely comfortable all day and I love how the water just rolls off of it rather then soaking in. I did use my wool shawl alittle, but most the time it was just hanging off my arm. 

Little sis, Megan, looking more adorable then ever. 

Drill. 

We farbed out and walked to Casey's at lunch to get pizza. It was quite fun to say the least. I think the best part was when I walked thru the door and the cashier looked at me and said "Good day.." I had alittle trouble keeping a straight face. lol oh my.

Probably my favorite picture from the weekend. These are the ones that are going to be even more special here in a few short months when she leaves me. :'( lol

We were overjoyed to see the delightful Meister family there! I'm always so inspired by Sarah's work, not to mention her fabulous personality.. She's by far one of the sweetest ladies I know!

Here you see Chis taking his turn holding the charming little, Anne! 

And then Tom... 

Last but not least Michelle..she didn't put her down for most the afternoon. Can you tell she loves babies?

 The pretty little girl herself. Doesn't she have the most wonderful eyes?

  One of her older brothers, Judah.

The twins. Looking alittle mischievous if you ask me. 

Sarah and I taking a moment to watch the water run thru the little creek. 

Another one of my favorites!  

 Could they be any cuter?!

Same as last year it started raining during the battle...does make for sweet photos.

 Some awesome cavalry action right there!!!
Michelle has vowed she's never going to take pictures of farbs so thus the result of only 2 good pictures from the battle.. hehe

Chris and Lee - the troublemakers.

Megan, me, Sarah and Michelle towards the end of the dance. (Thanks Lee for getting the one and only group picture of us...) We have bunch more pictures for your viewing pleasure here. Also, Tom has a lot here!

 

All in all it was a very fun day that ended with a bang! Its quickly becoming one of my favorite events. This was only the 2nd year so it may not be as big as some people like, but I actually think we have more fun and get to spend more quailty time with folks when things are more relaxed. One of these years we'll get perfect weather and it'll be even more epic! Anyway here's the website - check it out and for the locals definately plan on coming out next year. ;)

Love,

Brooke

First Annual Delavan Civil War Reenactment

This past Saturday 6 of us girls attended Delavan's first ever civil war reenactment. Delavan is only about half an hour from here and Michelle and I used to drive thru there everyday on the way to work in fact. :) Its a gorgeous town and has some of the most beautiful Victorian houses! I've always said if I was to live in a small town I'd choose that one. :) The week prior was filled with much excitement and preparation! Food to make, stays to finish, a cage to construct, etc. We had a lot of big plans and many things to look forward to during the day, so you can imagine our excitement as Saturday dawned... :) Sarah and Rachel met up with us here and we all road up together. That always makes things more fun. To keep up with tradition I did a bit of necessary sewing on the way. lol I always like to say its not an event if I'm not finishing something in the car on the way. :P
 The park at which it was held is very pretty. Made for some nice pictures I must say. :D

We started the day off by being in the parade. That was alot fun. :D

Photo Credit; Tom G. Davison 

Dave and Duke getting ready for the parade.

Where we hung out most the day....some of the guys kindly asked if we wanted to sit with them. Which we're very greatful for as it was like 100 degrees or higher and the shade really helped. Plus they were just super fun to be around. lol

We all sewed on our scrap quilt. We got quite a bit done with so many hands. :) We're doing pretty small blocks so we have to have over 1000 and we're hand sewing the entire thing. So we take all the help we can get on it. lol

Mean while the guys had lunch...I love this picture...I think its one of my favorites from the day.

Michelle showed Chris how to sew some of the blocks together.

Chris hard at work.

Michelle wants me to tag this one as "A rose among thorns." But I said I didn't want to make them sound like thorns or me like a rose. So she said to say "A thorn among roses". I didn't like that one either so we'll just leave it like this and let y'all think what you want. :P lol

Miss Samantha! It was so wonderful to meet her at last. I've read her blog for a couple years so it was quite delightful to put a face to the name... :)

2 beautiful girls! Emily sewing and I think Rachel's probably hiding a jar of pickles. lol

Lining up for the battle.

This is like seriously one of the only pictures of the battle we got. It started pouring rain as soon as it started and did throughout most of it. I have to say that it made it more realistic and unique. It got really still and all the smoke all stayed low, it was kinda of eery and made for come cool shots for the spectators I'm sure. I think the battle itself was good. Especially considering the number of reenactors. They did the battle of "Little Crane Creek." They even did a little hand to hand which is always really sweet.

We had the pleasure of seeing our friend Tom there. He's always soooooooo much fun and definitely did not disappoint this time. lol Seeing him was totally one of the best parts of the day. Needless to say we had a few different photoshoots. :)

All of us together. :) From left to right: Michelle, Rachel, Sarah, Emily, me, Samantha, and Megan

Miss Sarah poses by one of the wagons.

Megan looking quite happy indeed.

My beautiful big sister Michelle.

Mrs. Baker pleased us all by making an appearance as well. :)

Rachel looking completely adorable! Love that girl!

And yours truly looking not so great in a white dress. I definitely think that was one of the last times I'll wear that gown....

Having some fun after the spectators were gone. :D

Photo Credit: Tom G. Davison

Larry and Tom with us girls. :) These 2 gentlemen are always such a joy to see and help make the events be a ton of fun.

Photo credit; Tom G. Davison

Michelle tried to capture some of the artillery pieces.

The 33rd Illinois Infantry Band played for the dance. They do such a good job and we always love dance to a brass band. :)Band

Me & Aaron, Sarah & Chris, and  Michelle & Paul scheming our bumper car waltz. lol That's was so fun... :D And in case your wondering what it involves...we'd run into each other really hard and then say "sorry, we're new". lol It was great.... :

Nate and Megan sashay during a vigorous Virginia Reel.

Michelle and Sarah doing the Virginia Reel as well. We all danced even when they had breaks so thus the reason for so many Virgina reels. lol We mainly did that and the Nine Pin. :)

Nate & Megan do the Spanish waltz with Chris & Rachel.

Me and Bryce during some sort of odd carousel dance/waltz thing I'd never done it before and don't care to again it was very odd and not all that energetic. lol Never the less Bryce did a phenomenal job and we were very glad he came to the dance. :) 

 I love how me and Aaron are doing the exact same thing in this picture. lol

This is probably my favorite picture of all time! I think it turned out so great.

Left to right:

Tim, Rachel, Aaron, me, Chris, Sarah, Paul, Michelle, Dave, Megan and Nate.

Photo Credit: Tom G. Davison

Over all it was pretty much the best event I've ever been to. I've never had so much fun and the dance was phenomenal! Totally the best dance of all times. :D Thanks so much to everyone that made it such a wonderful day. :)

And in case you'd like to see more pictures...here's the rest of Michelle's and Tom's. And there's even a news clip about it with some familiar faces in it here.... :)

 I'd totally recommend anyone to attend this event and I'm already looking forward to next year. For more information visit the website here.

Hope you enjoyed the post and be sure to check back soon. :)

Love,
Brooke