Civil War re-enactment

We just got back from a very lovely weekend in Princeton, IL where we attended a reenactment called Shadows of the Blue and Grey. It was very cold the first day, but pleasant today. The boys were especially excited to attend. Max brought his own money to purchase a confederate hat, so he can pretend to be a soldier from both sides of the conflict, depending on his mood. We all dressed up—which is fun. Emily has grown quite a bit. I’m not sure her dress will make it through another season. Trevor’s band played concerts throughout the day, so we listened, and walked through the camps. They had a scavenger hunt for kids to find things from the period, so we talked to all the reenactors and learned some new things. The kids were also thrilled that the hotel had a pool.
This weekend, Sam noticed the Abraham Lincoln re-enactor. He was absolutely fascinated, and said, “It’s really him, see his beard!” I explained that it was a man pretending to be Abraham Lincoln because Abraham Lincoln lived a long time ago but we wanted to remember the important things he did. Sam said, “Is he dead?” In confirmed that, yes, Abraham Lincoln died a long time ago. So then the next day, when Sam saw the same re-enactor in the camp parade, Sam turned to me very seriously and said, “Mom, I told you that Abraham Lincoln was NOT DEAD!” I attempted to explain again, but am not certain that the idea was understood.W