Camping in Chitna, AK

This is the last part of our vacation trip in Alaska, for this time anyway. My dad had flew into Anchorage a few days before, but the main purpose of his trip here was to give salmon dipnetting a "go". So, we arranged and scheduled into the last leg of our trip with the Crandell family to leave Anchorage and go camping/fishing in Chitina for a weekend. The drive from Anchorage over to Glennallen is SO beautiful. This is a large glacier that is on the way.

When we got to Chitina, the men loaded their 4 wheelers, set up our big tent and were off! They went further up the river to a more narrow, and therefore more concentrated area with salmon over an hour away. Clayton and my dad shared a 4 wheeler, and Jonathan Crandell is on the other one. Good luck guys!

I love this picture. I think they are just a little excited!

After Mandi, her mom Laurie and I got camp the rest of the way set up, we took the kids down to the river to throw some rocks. We had pretty strict rules at camp because we were so close to the river, so this "allowed to throw rocks time" was a blast for them. Above: Jordynn, Hannah, Trayton and Kade is hiding behind him.

Weston and Kaiden

Weston

Kade, Trayton and Hannah

Kaiden

Hannah and Jordynn

Shortly after the rock throwing, we went for a walk up this side of the mountain. Hannah tripped and fell and as you can see turned the night into an ER visit.
I'm sure the night was just as long for Laurie with the rest of our 6 kids and it was for Hannah and Mandi and I. We all survived! And now this trip we will never forget!!

This is the morning after. Weston tied together several ropes he had found around the area to make a long "fishing line". The kids were all eager to go fishing off the bridge.

Weston, Kaiden, Trayton, Kade, and Jordynn. (Hannah was still in a drug indused coma! And baby Braylynn was sleeping soundly too!)

Hannah was not too happy when she got up. I think she was trying to decide if she still like Mandi or not.

Thanks to Jordynn, she chippered up fairly quickly and all was forgiven and forgotten!

After lunch, Laurie (Nana) did several science experiments with all of the kids. She is a science teacher at home and had brought really fun activities for the kids to do. The kids LOVED it! Jordynn is trying out the magnifying glass.

Braylynn, just being cute.

It was also Trayton's Birthday! After lunch we celebrated and sang to him and gave him a couple gifts too. I brought some fun styrofoam airplanes with launchers for all the boys to play with and we gave Trayton a much cooler and more sturdy version. Here they are playing with their planes....for hours!

Weston and Kaiden

Kade

Trayton - See, his is MUCH cooler! It's a rocket and launches pretty far!

Kaiden

Jordynn. Plane-less, but still having a good time!

Trayton got a book from his Nana for his Birthday. It was sooo cute, but predictable. Mandi started to read to Trayton amd soon after Jordynn climbed up on her lap too. Then Kade came over to listen, and then Weston and Kaiden too. By the time she finished the short story all 7 of the kids were crowded around Mandi and Trayton and the book. I love that our kids love reading and LOVE books! Such a treasured time in our house, it's fun that they got to have just a taste of that while they were camping too!

Dinner time! Roasting hotdogs and marshmallows! What more do you need when you go camping???

Kade, Mandi, Trayton, Kaiden, Jordynn (asleep in the chair), Hannah and Weston.

Soon after dinner, Clayton showed up on the 4 wheeler and said they had caught a TON of fish. He came to get the coolers and head back to their fishing spot so they could bring their load back. While we waited for them to come, we had the kids wash off in the freezing cold river water and get ready for bed. This is Kaiden, having a go at it.

Jordynn

Kade was a good sport. It took a lot of splashing himself to get all of the sticky marshmallows off. Afterwards, he told me his hands and cheeks were a little tingly (numb? poor guy)

Trayton's go at it. Nice and clean!

And then there Weston. He kept telling me he wasn't even that dirty! He did however WANT to wash off, he just didn't think it was necessary.

Luckily, we found him underneath all of that dirt!

I only have pictures of Jonathan's fish. This was the biggest catch of the trip, so its the one worth showing right? This is a King Salmon which you are only allowed to catch one per family. My dad actually caught ours for us (shhh, don't tell! Lucky guy!!) Clayton and my dad in total came home with 28 salmon and 1 king. Jonathan I think ended up with almost that same amount too! That, in weight just for our family, was over 200 lbs of fresh salmon! WHOO-HOO!!