The other night we had a cookout with our kids and grandkids. At my last pack meeting I bought roasting forks so the scouts could cook marshmallows and make S'mores, and that gave me the idea to have a family cookout so the kids could cook their own hot dogs and then have S'mores for dessert. We have a free-standing firepit. We actually have an outdoor fireplace also, but the firepit is easier for the kids to get to. I think at first they thought it was great fun, but then they complained about smoke in their eyes and the fire too hot, etc. I thought it was great fun! They also thought they could just stick their hot dog in the fire for 3 seconds and it would be done. I think they had more fun roasting the marshmallows because they didn't take as long, and also because of the reward of the S'more afterwards. The adults had either steaks, brats, hamburgers or hot dogs, even though I totally forgot about the hamburgers until we were almost ready to eat and then we hurried and cooked them. I think I still miscounted and didn't cook all the hamburgers that were ordered and someone ate something else instead. Oh well. We kept the fire going and after it got dark, I got out some glow bracelets I had bought at Michaels for $1.00 and we made necklaces for everyone. They had fun chasing each other around in the dark and throwing their necklaces up in the air. One of my grandson's complained to me that he couldn't throw his up as high as his sisters could. I told him it didn't matter how high it went, and to just have fun throwing it. He thought about it a second and ran off to throw it some more. My grandkids on the east side of town wore their costumes over so we could see them. My oldest granddaughter said she would put her costume on after dark, which she did. She wore a black jumpsuit - long sleeved with a hood. It was battery-operated and when she turned it on, a stick figure lit up. The light up stick figure was all the way as big as she was - the legs went all the way down her legs, the arms all the way down her arms and the head went up around the hood. It looked really cool! All in all, it was great fun, even though we all reeked of smoke afterwards. :0)
