Backyard Campfire 101:
How Siblings Light a Fire

 

It is sad to say Summer is almost over and we hadn’t had a campfire at all this year. I think the main reason is due to a much hotter Summer earlier than normal.  We had weeks of high 90’s and over 100 numerous times.  We have a firepit in our backyard that totally needed some TLC.  Princess set to work arranging all the bricks that had been knocked into the firepit and taking all the small sticks out of it.  I had mowed as close as I could and pulled some weeds the mower couldn’t reach.

 

We promised the kids we would have a bonfire but had been too tired the night before by the time it would be dark enough to have one.  So this brave and CRAZY momma allowed Eldest and Princess to build a small fire in the firepit by themselves.  I provided some guidance and we tried to use a matchless flame lighter. The child-proof buttons proved to be too difficult so we opted for (gasp) real matches.

Eldest declared he had learned the safe way to use a match at nature camp.  I said that was fine and he could teach Princess how-to do it.  So with Lil’ Red on my lap I provided verbal instruction for how to lay the sticks and where to place the small balls of newspaper and where to place the matches.  I reminded them to hold the flame end up so as not to burn themselves.

Once Riley was home from work we proceeded to roast hotdogs for a late evening snack.  I was smart this time and gathered the supplies on a large tray for the hot dogs.  Then I used a different container to hold the graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows for s’mores.  Both of these containers were placed on our glass side table within reach of our lawn chairs so we weren’t running inside for missed items.