the neighborhood bonfire

We hosted a bonfire at our old stone home last weekend.

It was scheduled for the previous weekend, but rain forced us to postpone it a week. Fortunately, the neighborhood kids were still up for watermelon, pink lemonade, and s'mores.

The bonfire was the brainchild of this fun girl. Here she is, eating peas and thinking about all the fun she was going to have in a few hours.

We opened with a backyard game of croquet. Having a large wooden mallet to swing around seemed to put the new kids at ease.

The LOTM was in top form, minding the flames and keeping tabs on the brush pile. He had obtained the proper village "celebratory" burn permit which demanded that a proper hose and fire extinquisher be on site.

The LOTM took his job quite seriously, for which we are thankful.

A real bonfire ("the Tee-Pee of Flame") was warming our toes by nightfall.
Within one hour, it was singeing our eyebrows.

Someone (not Jamie) brought a guitar, which is the instrument of choice at a bonfire. Shortly after this photo was taken, #1 Son brought out his fiddle. Shortly after THAT, the mosquitoes came out in full force and we all ran away screaming.

A whole posse of kids showed up, thanks to Facebook. We didn't know most of them before, but we do now.

Thanks, Facebook.

After the flames were extinguished and the mosquitoes had sucked most of us dry (and we think even carried a few of the lighter kids away), the die-hards came inside for shelter from the elements. And card tricks.

These were SOME card tricks.

We all had such a great time that another neighborhood bonfire is in the works for next month!