…we are saying goodbye to this website…

…if you would like to continue on our new journey, then please bookmark our new website…

The Holt Clan

Clip on above photo to follow us in Carbondale, CO

{click on the mosaic to see bigger}

…and we are off…

SOLD:: Dallas & Jennifer Seavey purchased our lovely home we built from scatch…

WE hope they have a wonderful life in this beautiful Yurt/s!

I know NOT a lot of folks read our blog…but I figure what the heck!

We are still trying to sell out home in Alaska!  It has only been on the market for 3 weeks, but we are of course always anxious when it comes to selling…winter is just around the corner & it would be wonderful to get this awesome place in the hands of a musher or a snowmachiner or a fishermen(women) before the snow flies!

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WE are selling for a low price of $88,000

Don’t be Afraid~~BRING all offers to the Table!

Check out these sites to see more information & photos:

Craigslist or McKinley View Realty

Exterior Photo’s:

Interior Photo’s:

View from back deck:

If you are interested, please contact Patti Coleman at McKinley View Realty: Patti@mckinleyview.com or 907.733.3300

…erin & bill made a visit to the yurts before we locked the doors & headed on down the road…we were so lucky, as we would have never gotten the packing done that they so generously jumped in and helped with…how many friends would join you at the start of our new life in willow and then come back and help pack up the end of our adventure in willow…

…thank you Bill & Erin…You are FANTASTIC FRIENDS!!!…and of course we look forward to many more adventures in the future…

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…our last meal at the Battino/Schreiber homestead…they have a beautiful spot in talkeetna, ak…the boys’ had a great time playing bocce ball…we all loved hangin’ out and chatting around the campfire…

Rick and I spent the better part of the day ignoring our children…the result of packing, cleaning and getting ready to hit the road next Monday.  Thankfully our children are pretty independent and play well together…but still…what kind of parents are we to leave 8.5 year olds on their own…of course we were right there if they needed us…but still…fortunately their imaginations are wild and take them places we can only hope to go to in our own minds…the boys’ were off to the Putting Range (can you believe that out here in the boonies there is a little putting range…it even has fake grass…but it is so “ALASKAN” & rustic…but still funny!  the best part is no one plays on it and it is private…well within the gated community up the road…oh you ask…who lives in the gated community…we call them the WEEKEND WARRIORS from Anchorage) just up the road…riding bikes…playing in their fort…helping for bits of time…playing computer games…and eventually helping us load up the truck for a dump run!  WE are so completely~incredibly LUCKY to have these two wonderful children in our lives!!!!

**This is the view we will miss…today Denali and the Alaskan Range was out in its glory**

With that being said…we wanted to be sure to find time for Keegan and Rohnan…as I am sure they are feeling the stress of moving too!  So off to Talkeetna we headed with a load of trash…a quick stop at the dump(why is it that it takes so long to load, but seconds to empty?)…then we went to get ice-cream for the boys’ and iced coffee for the mama and daddy…but we did have one last stop to make…we NEEDED to check out the new Community playground in Talkeetna…it is called Wild Woods Park & it is incredible with more to come in September…WOWZERS!

**the park is full of art…and the boys’ really enjoyed looking around, climbing & just getting a little fun exercise**{click on photo to see larger}

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We had good friends come over for dinner tonight::Rich & Tina joined us for a little evening of fun…it was also an opportunity to donate quite a bit of mushing gear for all their future dog adventures.  Tina brought over her beading materials and sat with the boys’ to make a few things…they loved having all of her attention…and I think we might invest some more time in beading once we get settled in Colorado…fun!  We will miss Rich & Tina’s friendship…they are too good to us!

{stay tuned, as I have some past blogs to enter with photos…but i have lost my battery charger for my camera…and can not extract my photos…bummer deal…so hopefully soon we can catch you up on more friends & moose}

::our last night in Girdwood::

::Did we really need to use all of the dishes in the kitchen?::Can you guess who does the cooking and who does the cleaning in the VanHuis/Penn household?::

::Rohnan & Keegan using their mtn. bikes as stunt bikes…hmmm::

…we had a great week with the VanHuis/Penn family…we ended our stay by going to the Bake Shop…it has the best sweet rolls and beautiful outdoor eating…of course before heading out of Girdwood the boys’ wanted to do some stunt riding at the skateboard park…oh boy!…

::back at the Yurts::

…our good friend stacy foshee came for a quick visit…we are smilin’ in the photo, but really we just had to come out and question the boys’ about fire safety and choices they were making…oh it is so fun to have buddies in the Yurts…

…love this photo of ben eating pizza…mostly because Kim Hanisch has quite the expression…we were lucky to have Kim stop in on her way back to her plot of land- -where she is building a cabin in Tok, AK…

::We will miss our friends when we move to Carbondale, CO, but we hope that they will make the drive and stay a few nights at our new home:: We love that our buddies take a quick side trip and stay a night or two before moving onto their next adventures here in Alaska…next time we hope to be their adventure in the heart of the Rocky Mountains::

This is NOT doug and laurie’s boat….

…this boat lost one of it’s bumpers, so we picked it up for them…it looks like a sweet ride…

We were lucky enough to go out on doug and laurie’s boat…not the above boat…but a boat similar to this here. It is fantastic…and lets us get out of the rain…plus it has sleeping quarters, so we just stick all four kids in there to wrestle and get their energy out.

…the kids had a great time…kintla palying with an apricot…the boys’ posing in front of a glacier waterfall…kai & rohnan telling stories in the sleeping quarters…the trip was fantastic…we saw sea otters in groups of one to eight…seals swimming and ducking quickly under water when noticed…eagles flying above us…kittywakes rushing off to their nests…other boats putting out shrimp pots…and the fast ferry making a landing in whittier…

…ice sculptures that have calved off the glacier…they are so amazing…littering the sound…making it an obstacle course for the boat…but quite beautiful to view…if you are quick enough you can catch a bird or two standing atop an iceberg…

…of course the glaciers are amazing in the Prince William Sound…this is Blackstone Glacier…

Bye…Bye…We are heading back to Whittier!

Past adventures::We have such great memories with Doug & Laurie. Our first trip was a boat ride to Blackstone Bay in a small boat…then we headed out the next day on seakayaks to look at the kittywake rookery…Then our next big adventure was a week long trip of seakayaking…camping…kayaking…camping some more…kayaking back into Whittier…Of course we had to do this with children…so we were dropped off for a few days…camping…day trips in seakayaks…hiking…swimming…more seakayaking…

Doug, Laurie, Kai and Kintla are WONDERFUL friends and we are going to miss them terribly when we move to Carbondale, CO.

…homeschooling has been a challenge from the start…both boys’ were excited, but i was feeling a bit overwhelmed…being a teacher by trade, well i didn’t know how it was all going to work at home…i love my children, but found the daily grind–the ins and outs of the day to take a toll on us all…the pressure to have a homeschool experience that looked more like a public school & letting that go…worrying about whether i was giving my children the opportunities & lessons they needed to move forward…feeling guilty when we had time during the day that was not structured…working on skills that my boys’ fought me on…not getting into groups or music lessons or sporting teams or having a network of homeschoolers to connect with was disappointing…of course there is always things we loved…but not enough to feel like our days were going to continue on for years and years as homeschoolers…we love setting our own schedule, doing projects that could be left out and worked on later, choosing to read all day or cook treats or go on a nature walk & collect items…homeschooling had its good parts…but i think that i wasn’t loving it…the boys’ were tired of it…and we were all wishing for something different…

…it is hard to admit defeat…we came to the conclusion that our boys’ need school for all the good and all the bad…that we could supplement where needed…and i believe that we will continue to learn as a family, but have public school as part of their learning too…i truly believe we will all be happy…i thought homeschooling was going to be the way for us…i had my boys’ home with me from birth to 6 years old–and enjoyed every minute with them–but that has not been the case this last year…and for them too. both boys’ have asked to go back to the classroom…not for the academics, but for the friends…they are tired of each other…of me…and maybe to some of you it might be a shock, but the boys’ really do like school for all the good and all the bad…and thankfully they have someone at home that likes to be with them, talk with them & make sense of the world…when they get home from their day of learning…and so it might be a little more effort on our part to help our boys’ filter through all that information they get, but if they are happy & moving forward…well to me i can deal with it…for goodness sakes i am one of those public school teachers…

i admire true homeschoolers/unschoolers…it can be incredibly hard…and always questioning your capabilities, but it is extremely rewarding…and to be home with your children–guiding, participating & enjoying the learning…impressive!

::maybe i am too hard on myself…as i do look back at the things we did together and continue to do together & think WOW!…but in the big picture we were not happy…it was not working for our family::

so with that said::

It’s Okay::Accept what Works best for your FAMILY!

**join in the fun at Twinkling Stars Family School:: New Weekly Feature ~ Friday Freebie

…things are slowly moving out of our home in willow…but we still have quite a bit to accomplish before the 7th of July…YIKES! …but we are taking a break from it all…Rick is on his last travel bit for his current job…and we decided to take advantage of the time & go to Girdwood to visit good friends for a few days…

…but not without a few errands along the way…we were able to return Andy Haviland’s grill…he LOVES his grill and last year we bought him a new one, as he had left his old grill with us when we were first building…and well with no garage, the grill got quite weathered…out of sheer embarrassment, we thought it only appropriate to replace his grill…but now that we are moving…Andy is in need of his old grill for his home in White Mtn. So lucky us…we were able to meet up with Andy at Middle Way Cafe for a very nice lunch & the passing of the grill into his car…Andy is a good friend and a kind person…and we feel fortunate that he makes time for us. It was so great to see you Andy!!

…these are our two dogs…Ciku and Chautauqua…we brought them down to Girdwood with us…this will be their last travel opportunity, as we will be putting them on a retirement lot in Alaska before we move to Colorado…they are 12 and 14 years old and could never make the long car ride to Carbondale…plus the heat would kill them…so they will continue to live a good life here in Alaska.

…GEAR bikes…GEAR bikes…GEAR bikes…the boys’ have been counting down the days for new bikes…and they needed to be GEAR bikes…so we went to REI had the kids sized for bikes last week, then held off on buying anything…then yesterday we shopped around for bikes…slowly realizing that bikes in department stores are just as expensive as REI…we even looked at Costco…so we went back to REI and headed straight for the kids GEAR bikes…and that is when we found out that they were on sale…Woo-Hoo! The boys’ have exactly the same bike just different colors…and they are loving that they can climb mountains without getting off their bikes and pushing them up the hill. They are a little bit big, as the boys’ are in between a size 20″ & 24″…we obviously went with the 24″, so they can have the bike for a few years…

We are now in Girdwood visiting our good friends the VanHuis/Penn Family…before I headed out for my dr. appt this afternoon, this is what I saw going on in the living room…Keegan on the keyboards, Kintla on the cello, Rohnan rocking out on the guitar…and Kai off to the side out of the picture playing his violin…all four of them are singing…pretty fun! …much more silliness and good times to come in the next couple of days…

oh yeah..and when we were coming home from the new library in Girdwood when we looked up the road to spy a big ol’ black bear lumbering across the road. It was so shiny and clean…the bears just live amongst all the humans that have taken over their territory here in Girdwood.