Fourth of July 2008 - Amherst, NH Parade

On July Fourth, the First New Hampshire had a few events going on. The first event we had was a parade in Amherst, NH. We had a great turn out for the parade! It was so nice to hang around before the parade and talk to everyone.











The guys lined up fairly early because we were going to be leading the parade! Makes sense since it was July Fourth (ya know Declaration of Independence and all).







Those of us that would be following behind the guys also got ready to step out. (Or just waited around, while the guys did their checks.)







Bruce and Kris also took the momentary wait to step off to get a picture with Governor Lynch. He was very gracious, and it was nice to meet him in person.



Once we finally stepped off …



the crowd seemed pleased to see us march by …



except some who were nervous about the guns.





We were walking right in front of the Governor, he was such a nice guy, waving to everyone, saying hi and just being exceptionally friendly. It was very nice to see!



After the parade, the guys did their final gun check to make sure they weren’t still loaded …







and we were all sent on our way.

Some of the members headed over to Strawberry Bank to do an event there and to meet up with some other members who didn’t make it to the parade. The others headed up to Hubbardton, VT for the event there. We ended up following Art and Lindsay. We stopped at a little diner in Peterborough, NH and had an awesome lunch.







After lunch we headed right to Hubbardton and got everything set up and ready for the weekend.





Stay tuned for pictures from Saturday and Sunday! It was a great weekend, we had a large turn out, the weather was nice, and the battles were awesome! To see the rest of the pictures from July Fourth, be sure to check out my album here.

Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel

Memorial Day Parade - May 2008

Two good things happened on Memorial Day. The first thing is that it was our official 1 year anniversary with the First New Hampshire. The 2007 Memorial Day parade was the first event that Kris dressed for. Kolby and I did not dress, but we were there for moral support. It is fun to see just how much we were able to get together between then and now. At that time he didn't have his own gun or a regimental, now he has both! We really enjoy being a part of the first New Hampshire, and I am sure that every year we do the Memorial Day parade, it will be a sweet anniversary for us.

We had a good turn out at this parade. I snapped a few photos in the parking lot before we took off for the march.















When the British marched by, the boys had fun shooting at them. Oh how quickly they learn who the enemy is!





And this is where I tell you the second good thing that happened today. After these few pictures of the parade, my camera died. The batteries wouldn't hold a charge and I couldn't take any more shots. So after we left the parade, we went to Circuit City and got me a new camera!! Yay!! I hated my old one with a passion, so I am hoping this one will do a better job taking good pictures for me. I decided to try the camera out while Kris was cleaning his gun that night. Here's one shot I was able to get.



See the sparks from the flint there? I think it came out pretty good. (And his gun is working now!!) So I will be able to use the new camera for our next event and decide if it's better than the old one. If it's not, I may return it, but I can already tell that I am going to like this one a lot better. And we finally got the old one working properly and Kris will be holding on to that one for himself.

So even though I didn't get more pictures of the parade, it went well. This is probably one of my favorite parades we do, because it's short, sweet, and to the point. Afterwards we had some good eats at Cracker Barrel. It was fun to go there all dressed up, all we heard from everyone was "So did you do a parade?" I realize most people don't go to reenactments, but do they really think we would buy all this stuff to do 3 parades a year? I guess they do!

Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel

St. Patrick's Day Parade March 2008

Today was the St. Patrick's Day parade in Manchester, NH. It was a little bit later in the month because Easter was so early this year. The parades that we do help us be able to afford to do the reenactment battles for the summer season. We needed a turn out of at least 15 members at this parade, and we got 21!! Wahoo! Unfortunately our captain couldn't make it today, but don't worry Joe, your troops did you proud. The boys look really great marching today, and they got some great firing in that really scared some of the crowd! :-) :-) Kris and I joined after the St. Patrick's Day parade last year, which it sounds like we should have been very happy for. Apparently it was beyond cold for the parade in 2007. But this year we got very lucky, even though it had snowed quite a bit on Friday, (Yes, snow in late March!! And just a side note, that puts us on the records as the second snowiest winter ever!!) it was actually great weather for a parade. It was just warm enough to not be considered freezing, but still cool enough to not get over heated walking a mile down Elm St. There was next to no wind, so overall it was a great day! We were marching in front of a group of military soldiers (perhaps reservists? Not too sure) and they were getting a lot of well deserved applause, but it made us feel like we were getting some of it too!! :-) Okay I'm sure some of the crowd was clapping for us, we do look pretty dang cool all dressed up. And after all we are representing the soldiers that fought the very first battle for the United States. But of course the guys behind us are fighting a war right now, and any one of them could have their lives in real danger within the next 6 months, so they deserved a lot more than applause. The boys even gave a 'present arms' for the soldiers as they walked by at the end of the parade. One of the new guys, Lorenzo, was able to make it to the parade and marched with us. We assured him that if he thought this was fun, he would have a blast at one of the weekends! I was able to get two videos of the guys before we started marching, they did an awesome job following their commands, and they looked really great today!





After the parade, most of us headed over to the Jameison's, where they had some good eats and Janie got to watch Daniel Day-Lewis run naked through the woods in Last of the Mohicans. She had a fun time showing Kolby the movie, and he seemed to find it very interesting. I actually have not seen this movie from start to finish, but sadly we have gotten rid of our TV for a year ... so anyone up for a movie night at their house?? :-) Most likely we will just rent this one in 2009 when we have the TV back. That and hopefully the John Adams series will be out on video by then too. But I ramble. There was a lot of good conversation at the Jamieson's and a fun time was had by all! For more pictures from the parade and from the Jameison's be sure to check out my album.

Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel

Memorial Day Parade 2007

Our first official event was the Memorial Day parade on May 28, 2007. The parade was in Andover, MA. Kris was the only one in our family to march. Kolby and I sat on the sidelines watching the entire parade. There were quite a few re-enactment groups there from all different eras. Kris was not quite dressed to the nines as some of the other guys were, but for the short amount of time we had to put him together, he looked pretty darn good! Kris had been practicing drilling and shooting a rifle for a few weeks prior to the parade. Being a former Marine, he was able to pick up on all of it fairly quickly. During the parade he was able to borrow a gun, but he did not shoot it. Since they were so close to the audience, they didn't feel that it was appropriate to have the parade be his first event shooting a gun, just in case something happened. After the parade they had a ceremony in the park. During that time I had the opportunity to get acquainted with some of the women in the regiment. The two pictures on this page are of Bruce, on the left, and Kris, on the right, getting ready for the parade. For the rest of the pictures from this day, visit my photo album.

Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel