Last year we spent a wonderful week at Holden Village with a huge group from our church, and I wrote several posts about our time there:
The journey in
Village life and sights
Child's play
Hikes
Eating and drinking well
Friends and family
Artwork abounds
Back to civilization
We thought it would be our last visit for several years, because Holden is
beginning a major Superfund mine remediation project. This year the contractor began implementing early projects, which means that Holden still had a program this summer while housing 60+ plus mine remediation workers. So we took advantage of that to spend 10 days in Holden Village this summer, the longest time ever. Although we did not go with an organized group from our church, several of our friends went up there around the same time (overlapping), as well as my parents. We had a wonderful time, but we definitely missed some of our usual Holden peeps!
Here's a pictorial history of our 10 days in Holden--so much to do and never enough time!:
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The night before leaving for Holden we met up with our friend
Shelia and kids in Wenatchee and had a Thai dinner |
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| Fields Point Landing, where we catch the ferry bound for the village |
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| On the bus up to the village |
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| Chris playing drums during vespers |
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| Nick falling asleep on Mike's shoulders during vespers--2009 and 2012 |
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Nicholas performing a dance to "Electricity" at the talent show...
we were there for two talent shows, and at the second one
Kieran and Nick did a duet to "Express Yourself" from "Billy Elliot" |
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Holden is having a weekly parade this summer to celebrate its 50th anniversary--
the kids got to be in two parades |
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| Historic Holden Village mine truck |
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| Nick in the parade |
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| Misty morning in the village |
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| Participating in a great jam session in the dining hall |
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| Village scenes |
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Narnia...
where the kids spent their mornings |
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And where Chris spent most of his time...
the pool hall! |
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Nick and Mike bowling in the manual bowling alley
(pins have to be set up by hand) |
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| Matching Holden scoops t-shirts |
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| Chris playing "Bullshit" with friends |
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| More village scenes |
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| Railroad creek |
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| Nick's favorite place--the Hobbit House |
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| My little hobbit |
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| Nick expressing himself |
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| Throwing rocks in the creek |
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| Happy boy! |
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| Kieran in the trees |
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| On the zip line |
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| Mike chatting with friends Christie and Shelia on the ark |
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| Kieran and friends participating in international folk dancing one evening |
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| Hike to Tenmile Falls |
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| With Mike at the falls |
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| Shelia with her sweet kids (Beck, Ari, and Myla) |
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| Rare photo with my teen! |
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| Beautiful Tenmile Falls |
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| Learning how to make a book! |
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| Boys in line for ice cream |
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| This is how we embarass our older brothers while they are playing pool! |
One of the most unusual things about Holden Village is the freedom for the kids. Last year the kids associated with our church produced "Hansel and Gretel." This year, Myla wrote a version of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," and after months of planning (starting when we visited Boise over spring break), they performed two shows in a row:
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| Kieran as Charlie with his mom and grandpa |
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The cutest little Oompa Loompa!
(Nick memorized all of his lines with Myla and Ari coaching him, since he can't read yet) |
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| Myla as Willy Wonka |
Mike's role as Augustus Gloop stole the show! I had to step in as Mrs. Gloop--yes, that is weird!
Check out this video of the play:
Then I
made Shelia step in for me! She did an excellent job:
An actor was on the teaching staff in the village and recruited the kids to appear in a Shakespeare play the last day we were there. The result,
Pyramus and Thisbe, was hilarious! Chris, in high heels and dress as Thisbe, stole the show!
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| Clue game one evening, complete with costumed characters and Holden hilarity! |
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The Mission of the Atonement team with Colonel Mustard
(Chris and Beck were on the winning team, which had no young kids) |
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| Kieran in the vintage ice cream shop |
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Participating in my favorite Holden pastime--
friendship and fellowship on the porch in the evenings! |
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| Nick with Grandma in the dining hall |
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Kate with her gorgeous weaving
(Holden has several looms that can be checked out for use in the Craft Cave) |
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| The first day of goodbyes |
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Terracotta figures made for the Holden museum
(Shelia and kids made the tall one with glasses, and Myla made the small one) |
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| In the dining hall |
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Last lunch before Shelia and kids leave
(the food was definitely not as good as previously,
I think because the kitchen was cooking two sets of meals, one for the mine construction workers) |
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| Saying goodbye to Shelia |
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| Shelia and girls getting ready to board the bus |
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Nick saying goodbye to his buddies
He REALLY bonded with the girls at Holden...
after they left we had lots of tears! |
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| More drums at vespers (although not enough, in my opinion!) |
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| Mom and Dad ready to depart with friends Doug and Susan |
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| With my parents |
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| The beautiful covered bridge |
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| The creek |
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Sitting on the covered bridge is one of my favorite things to do in the village,
and during the first several days it was closed;
fortunately I got to spend a few moments there reading my book and writing in my journal |
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| Mike on the ark with his three separate pair of glasses! |
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| Llamas visit the village! |
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| April and Mike in their matching summer theme shirts |
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| Epic thunder/lightning storm, and my young ones go out to get soaked! |
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| The rainbow after the storm |
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| More village scenes |
At the second talent show in the Lift, not only did Kieran and Nick perform together, but Kieran was also invited up to the stage to help another boy with his comedy routine (his role was a talking pizza). Little did we know that he has quite a gift for improv.
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The second parade
Kieran, my vegetarian, as bacon! |
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| Nick in the parade |
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| Saying goodbye to more friends |
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| Last night in the village--boo hoo! |
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The last day before our departure,
our friend Jen arrived after being away from her family for over a week |
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| Last night on the porch! |
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April with her husband David, who was a first-time Holden visitor
(and exceedingly talented photographer!) |
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| Breakfast before departure |
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| Hanging out on the ark |
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| Mike took the boys to a campfire sing while I went to a writing class |
We took the late boat out, and it was the first time we left Holden without any friends in tow. Right before we left, the buses came in with new villagers, including
my former feminist theology professor from PLU, who had arrived with her partner to be on teaching staff. I was able to spend about 15 minutes with her before it was time to leave!
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| Mike and Nick on the boat |
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| Gorgeous Lake Chelan |
It was harder to leave than ever, knowing that we will not be back for at least three years...when Chris will have graduated from high school! This trip was definitely different than others--I really missed many of the people from our church, especially our pastor who is undergoing cancer treatment--but it fed my soul. Read how Holden affects its visitors--
this is a piece written by my friend April about her time in the village.
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