Fort Scott Candlelight Tour

This past Saturday, The Floras, Gerlachs and Chaneys travelled to Fort Scott Kansas to attend their civil war reinactment candlelight tour. The trip to Fort Scott was filled with games, singing, laughter,

and a very, very quiet study van for those studying for finals....shhhh In contrast to the "study van", was the "kid's van" in which we were graced with at least 25 versions of that all time favorite melody from Veggie Tales,

"Oh Where is My Hairbrush?"

Click play to experience the music with which we were blessed for the entire 3+ hour trip!

We arrived in Fort Scott, where we spent time with some old friends...Ron and Kathy Puterbough and their daughter, Anna Marie. Ron is the cheif of police in Fort Scott, and an accomplished "practical joker". We almost expected to receive a full police escort into town. However, much to our relief, the trip was uneventful.

The kids played fooseball and ping pong in the basement for a while.

This is obviously a new twist to ping pong. What it lacks in accuracy and ball placement, it makes up for in creativity!

Chris was able to replace the Puterbaugh's thermostat while we were there.

Eventually, most of the older kids and parents gathered in the living room for a game of "Catch Phrase". Daniel and Amanda seem to have the knack of finding the "love seat" in anyone's living room.
Our Host: Ron Puterbaugh

We also played a game of "Encore". It is a sort of "Name That Tune" game. Ron was especially good at this game.


After dinner, we headed to the "Fort". We began by gathering in the lobby.

...then started the candlelight tour.

We met in the old fort library where our tour guide gave us instructions.
We then ventured ourdoors, following the path of candles that lined the walkways.

We entered several of the old fort buildings, where there were reinactments of various soldiers, families and events from the 1800's.
click on this video clip to see a sampling of the reinactment...in a very dimly lit room.

Each place we entered had a reinactment of the history of the Fort, as well as Kansas' involvement in the Civil War and other events of that era.

When the tour was completed, we entered a building which housed an old wood floor ballroom, where they served refreshments... ...and crafts for the kids to do. They are making snowflakes to decorate the large tree in the ballroom. They also had a whirling circle game and live music from that time period. It was a little like "Ring around the Rosie", going under and through, flipping inside out etc. The little kids welcomed the physical activity. The Fort participants were dressed in "Union" uniforms and beautiful hoop dresses. The ballroom had some beautiful decorations.

Afterwards, our 3 families went for a walk in the historic "downtown district" next to the fort. It was all lit up with "window displays" and lights, even though all the shops were closed. We found a large decorated Christmas tree in the square, that was reminiscent of "Whoville"...(Dr. Suess) It only seemed right that we all join hands around the tree and sing.

This is a video clip of the singing and "slinging" around the tree.

Of course, we took some family poses and other shots since it was such a picturesque background.

The couple...

The girls...

The Kids...
Daniel, and his "other family"- the Gerlachs.and.... The Chaneys As we window shopped the old district, we all decided that this was the most unique gift that we saw in any window display! It's a "butcher block"...
After our outing, we went back to the Puterbaugh's house, where Ron showed the kids a truly nostalgic item! "What a giant CD!" "Don't bump it kids, or it will skip!" "The sound is scratchy and the tone is bad!" "How could you have listened to this stuff???"

Ron had records of many of our old favorite Christian artists from the 70's...Jim Sunderworth, Evie Tournquist, Chuck Milhuff, to name a few. The parents all enjoyed their trip down memory lane, and wondered what we ever saw in the music we used to listen to. The kids were astonished as well!

This video clip was taken with Jim Sunderworth on the "phonograph", while Ron was showing us an album of "Evie"...remember her?

We arrived home well after midnight. It was an eventful day filled with many happy memories.