Kingston camping 2012!

It's a week that we look forward to every summer, the final chapter of summertime freedom before the school bell rings. The past 4 years we've packed up with camper in tow, and headed out to Kingston Campground....a 3+ hour trek to find some solitude amidst the mountains in a canyon deep within the Toiyabe National Forest.  

Excitement from our boys could hardly be contained as the question endlessly echoed through our house the morning of our departure..."is it time to go yet?" With the camper door shut and locked, Ginger anxiously pacing in the back of the truck, and boys buckled in their belts, we are finally headed out to what would prove to be another 4 days of adventure and unplanned surprises. En route to the campground, we go through the city of Austin, NV...a quaint little town filled with rich history nestled right along Hwy 50 as some would describe "in the middle of nowhere." Well, let's be frank; it IS in the middle of nowhere. ;) We finally took the time this year to get Austin's picture next to his city sign before climbing up and around the winding mountain roads. And every year, without fail, right around this seemingly quieter town, we see smoke from a fire that either has been burning for a bit or is just getting roaring. This year, we saw two. 

fire just west of Austin

another fire east of Austin

This year, one of Austin's birthday presents was his very own tent...from Pappy...and of course we brought that with and it proved to be just another 'sign' of my boys growing up way too fast. Austin put it together with the help of his daddy and together, him and Carson set up their own sleeping quarters to their liking. The days of sleeping in the camper with mom and dad are long gone....*sniff sniff*....

so grown up!

all set for sleeping!

With camping come the stresses in it's various forms, whether kid-related, weather-related, food-flop related, forgetting-socks-for-the-little-man related, etc. But regardless, it's STILL camping and it's STILL adventurous and relaxing in the same breath and you just find ways to "make due". The boys sought out their own 'quiet times', both Andy and I got chapters in our Bibles read, magazines thumbed through from cover to cover, multiple games were played, belly-aching laughter accomplished daily, savory food consumed, need I go on? You will now see an obscene amount of pictures displayed from our days spent soaking in God's beauty that surrounded us from all sides. I'll do my best to let the captions tell the stories contained within the photo. 

campfire time!

Austin with the glasses we found years ago at this very campsite!

hiking across the 'bridge' over a little stream by our campsite

French press coffee while camping?! SOOOOO delish! :)

why do blueberry pancakes made over the fire just taste so...delectable?!

Austin heading into his tent for his 'quiet time'

Carson wanted his quiet time up top--he found the story of Daniel :)

 I'll break in here to sadly say that the reservoir which is just a mile down the road from the campground, used to be the highlight of our camping experience with it's rocky shoreline and amazing trout fishing...but as you can see, it's nearly dried up. The grassy spots are new and the rocky shore is a lot bigger....the fish were still there, but the fishing itself not so hot. But, like I said, we "made due" and still had some fun times together making the most of what we were given to enjoy!!

Andy trying to catch a fish or two

muddy Mason

walking around the whole reservoir!

naptime in the truck :)

Water snake!!!

Mmmmm.....steaks....we do it right when it comes to camp cooking :)

steak dinner!

love camping with my LOVE!

mama and Mason

daddy and Mason walking down the road

family photo op! Our campsite is just behind us

my three handsome little men!

hand-in-hand

a storm rolling into the canyon

a camping must-have....peanut chews!

come on...you know you want a bite....

Austin laughing while sitting around the campfire

a little morning card playing

Breakfast!!!

Mmmmmmmmmmmm :)

I think he likes it.

Dessert after breakfast?! A little beignet to top it off...

YUM!

just some 'down time'

sheep on the hillside!

deer! I actually had the eagle-eye on this guy! :)

happy little camper!

enjoying the stream on our picnic

brothers!

headed downstream....

...to cool off apparently :)

I love this guy......

 Another new trial adventure, thanks to the "gotta try something new and crazy" side of my man, was doing a little crawdad catching and eating. Yes, you read that correctly. Crawdads. My skepticism was high and became even higher when I saw those things literally fighting each other over trying to escape from the cooler. But when it came time to cook 'em, I dug down deep and with crinkled nose and forehead mustered up the conquering of all things fearless and put it to my mouth. I won't say the cliche, it tasted like chicken...but it did taste like shrimp scampi thanks to lots of butter and garlic. I'd do it again.

watching daddy pull up the crawdad trap!

one happy...uhhhh...crawdad catcher?! Good job babe! :)

there they are in the trap!

The boys were fascinated!!

crawdads!!!

another storm, this one bigger, brewing and heading our way! (which also contained some hail! And yes, we decided to stand outside and jump around in it a little)

it looks like fog, but that's the rain wall!

even the deer were seeking shelter!

waiting out the rain in the truck!

Carson and daddy...those boys had some laughs back there!

Carson fell asleep at dinner (with a slight fever as well...which was short-lived PTL)

haha..into the boiling pot you go mr.crawdad

Bon Appetit!

Another camping must have...Dumpcake!

All done!

hot and savory

lovin' some cake!

french toast for breakfast!

brotherly love

rocks and water...a boy's playland!

mama and mason on a little walk

playing a game with Austin

hiking around with my AA and MR while CJ and daddy go fishing

 Our campsite!!

And there you have it! Despite the random hiccups, it was a good week. A needed week. A let-down and yet fulfilling week.  And now I only have one week left until I send 2 of my boys into that sea of unknown faces on the school playground and you can bet your bottom dollar I am going to enjoy each one of these days this next week!!