Bonfire 2013

Over the spring and summer months, we build up quite the brush pile.  We have a lot of trees to trim around here.  We also lost a large elm tree this spring to disease, which we recently cut down. So that certainly added to the pile.  By Fall, our brush pile is huge and provides a great excuse to host a big party!

This year, we planned the event around my brother's visit.  He and his wife and daughter, Chloe came for a long weekend. What better way to kick off a fun family weekend than a big bonfire and weenie roast?!

While we prepared for the event, the kids played outside in the unusually warm weather.  85 degrees isn't really ideal bonfire weather, but we didn't let that affect our plans!




Maise and Chloe didn't waste any time having fun together. It warmed my heart to watch them bond.

We learned a few things from last year's fire.  The biggest lesson was you can't really roast weenies on a fire that big.  At least, not without a fire suit.  So, we lit a smaller, more manageable fire in our fire pit by the house.  

15 adults and 14 kids arrived to join in the festivities.  At dusk, we lit the fire.  I was a nervous wreck.  As usual.  Not only because I knew the fire would be HUGE, but we also had about 15 kids running around.  

The fire grew...

and it grew, and grew, and grew....

It grew so large, even Gabe got a little nervous. So we turned the sprinkler on to keep the embers from starting an unwanted fire.

As darkness fell, we gave each of the kids a glow stick. We originally bought them because we figured they would have fun playing with them in the dark.  As it turned out, they also had an unexpected benefit.  Because of our huge yard, the kids were running around everywhere, and it was so dark we couldn't see anything but their little glow sticks bouncing around.  It was very helpful and somewhat calming knowing where they were.  If the glow sticks got too close to the fire, we hollered at them to back off.  

It was a really fun night.  For some reason, I didn't get any pictures of the party goers, but it turned out to be a great party! Lots of good food, conversation, and laughs. We plowed through 4 dozen hotdogs and buns, and lots and lots of s'mores. The kids crashed at the end of the night. So did we.  

As luck would have it, a fast moving thunderstorm came through just as we packed in for the night, helping the fire die down so we could go to sleep worry free.  By morning, the ash pile was still smoldering but there wasn't a single twig left of that big brush pile.  Mission accomplished.

A big thanks to all who came out to join in the fun! 

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