Why we love Patrick.... and the trash in our back woods

I took the entire day off of child-rearing yesterday to spend with friends and left the kids in Patrick's capable hands. I knew they would have a great time, but of course I had no idea HOW much fun they would all have. After Patrick got home from cleaning the church (he took over my responsibility there too!) he and the boys spent the entire day outside. They cleaned, raked leaves, played and of course had a glorious time. There were moments of panic... like Cache taking a hammer to the car! But mostly the boys played 'treasure chest' and found a plethora of things hiding in the yard and the ground. Ronin and Cache packed their treasures into a pirate box but Patrick put his treasures to use:

Since we have moved to this house he has been DYING for a fire pit. We have looked at them in the store and frankly the ones we like are not really worth the money and the ones that are cheap are pretty horrible looking. So Patrick took a big metal drum that he found in the woods. (Don't even ASK why we have a big metal drum stuck in the ground in our woods) and cut that baby to fashion our own fire pit:
It's pretty darn cool if I do say so myself. I think its rustic and 'sundance' looking and the fact that it was free and a day of fun for my boys makes it PERFECT! All three boys have been on cloud nine ever since. Last night they had their first fire and the boys couldn't wait to show me how it worked. So tonight we had fire #2 which is one of many to come, on our back porch. As Patrick said, campfires are one of his favorite things. Combine that with his favorite people (crazy kids!) and his favorite food (hotdogs!) and you have one happy camper at our house!
Or three happy campers if you really get down to it. (uh... I am happy too so make that 4!) They went to the store yesterday to pick up campfire provisions, but unfortunately the store was fresh out of big marshmallows. So they made due with mini ones instead.
They are quite hard to roast but very fun to eat. Cache didn't bother much with the fire, and just picked them off the stick. We went through an entire bag. What is it about marshmallows anyway?? Fluffy sugar. That's it but they are so great!
So far we are quite enjoying our Thanksgiving week as a family. I think there will be campfires every night, a Thanksgiving dinner and lots of time together. We will miss Patrick dearly when he leaves next week. Thank you for being the best dad! The best husband! And such a hard worker so we can enjoy living here in NY in this wonderful house. We love you so so much!!