A night finally freed up for my husband… but then of course, I couldn’t be there. I had to take the older two kids to a class.

I was just pulling out of the driveway when our horses escaped the paddock. With a fall nip in the air and some sprinkling rain, all five horses were in high spirits. They raced across the front field, galloped down the dirt road, and settled down just as they reached the center line of a moderately busy paved road.

I decided I’d better stay to help (or, at the very least, to spectate).

We have fantastic neighbors, and soon the horses were back in the paddock, thankfully without incident. But we were too late for the kids’ class.

We thought that a suddenly free evening in late September was perfect for an impromptu family bonfire!

We had a pile of debris that needed to be burned. We’d had some rain, so this was a good time for it. My husband kept the garden hose close at hand, though.

Fire is mesmerizing.

After it dwindled to a manageable size…

…I ran into town to get hot dogs and marshmallows.

I love that we live close enough that I can run into town now, without the trip consuming the whole evening.

When I got back, my husband had assembled some skewers for marshmallows and hot dogs. (I had to take this picture a different day because the ones I took of the roasting sticks that evening were unrecognizable.)

Below is my husband with our two daughters, manning the cookout.

It got too dark to take any real pictures, but of course I still tried! And I love this one:

The baby spent part of the evening safely tucked in a laundry basket. He had a lot of company.

I tried some flash shots…

…but maybe we were better off with the dark!

We had such a great time sitting out there together, stuffing ourselves with smores and inhaling the sweet scent of cedar logs. I live for family times together like these. I was sad when it was time to set up the fire for leaving it overnight.

While my husband pushed the coals into a pile and sprayed the ground again, the kids said they wanted to hear a story.

For the first time, they requested a scary story. So I told them about an owl who hooted in the trees above a bonfire, keeping its sharp eyes on the children who were roasting marshmallows below. Suddenly, the owl swooped down and almost stole the little boy’s baseball cap!

But just then, the dad sprayed the owl with the hose, and the cap was safe. Whew!

Then the kids started telling me stories about mountain lions who mauled the children and ate them.

It was time to go inside. The good news is that our marriage is better! The bad news is that our children apparently need intensive therapy after living on a mountainside for three years.