War in Buffalo

We went to a civil war battle re-enactment!!! I've always wanted to see one and now I have :) This particular one was the battle for the Erie courthouse (yeah I know, the Confederate army actually got some troops this far north). It was kinda small, but still interesting. after the battle we looked around the museum that was hosting it. They have moved a lot of old buildings from the area to the museum grounds for restoration and preservation and they made a little village out of them all for the battle. It was fun. And of course, we forgot to get a family picture :(

The Rebels!

Moving some troops (in vain!)

We're winning!

We win! After the battle all the actors lined up and shot their guns and whatnot. The cannons were super loud during the fight, but surprisingly Noelle was not bothered by them or the gunshots.

Spectators. In pretty dresses.

This is called a crazy quilt. Apparently they were all the rage in the late 1800's. Basically you plan out this crazy mismatch of a quilt, then you embroider all the seams with different patterns, and for good measure embroider all sorts of flowers and animals onto the patches. And the nicer the fabric scraps you used, of course the more affluent you were. The museum had several of these on display, they were really neat to look at.