Evening Campfire

Due to Tim consuming a bad taco at Taco Bell on Saturday, we spent the day at home yesterday (except for me -- I had to run out and get Tim some Gatorade). Michael proclaimed it the best day he'd had yet in Flagstaff! The kids played outside most of the day after their picnic hike and Tim felt well enough later in the afternoon to play Frisbee with them in the cul-de-sac.

We decided to have a campfire in the backyard fire circle here. Since we're in the forest, we had to get a campfire permit. The fire station is on our corner, so three fire fighters came to inspect where the fire would be. With the promise that we would rake all of the pine needles away from the fire circle, we were issued Campfire Permit 0155.


Tim was an Eagle Scout and learned how to make a fire with the Boy Scouts.


But he decided not to trust rubbing sticks together, matches, or even a lighter to do the job of starting the fire.


And here's the resulting bonfire:


In the Gardner tradition, you can't just have a campfire, though.

Yes, you have to have s'mores, too.


The kids got right down to roasting the marshmallows. Each has his or her own idea of the perfectly roasted marshmallow. Jay sets his on fire and then blows it out for charbroiled goodness. Annie likes her marshmallows slightly warm. Michael looks for the perfect color of brown all around and on the top.


Everyone loves the results, though. Michael and Annie like the full s'more and Jay likes the 2/3 s'more (graham cracker and marshmallow)


After we consumed all the s'mores we could hold, we sang songs around the campfire. I pulled out all the songs I learned at Camp Shaw-waw-nas-see and Tim dug deep into his scout days and remembered a few more. We sang until the fire died.

Then we all went to bed late, happy, and smelling of campfire.