This Past Weekend
The first weekend of August is the ‘Commercial employees weekend’, aka ‘Verslunarmannahelgin’. I think I’m correct in claiming that it’s the only non-religious holiday with a guaranteed public holiday on a Monday. As a result it’s the biggest travel-weekend in Iceland, with lots and lots of festivals planned all over the country.
We’ve never been much for festivals (we’re quiet folks!), so this weekend we headed for the summerhouse that Finnur and his siblings own (built by their grandfather). The siblings split the house on a week-by-week basis. Due to some week-swapping this past weekend was our first at the house after arriving in Iceland. As it happens, Finnur’s parents have a summerhouse very close by (3 minutes walking?) where they spent the weekend.
We arrived on Friday, had dinner with Finnur’s parents, and slept in their house to take advantage of some early morning baby-sitting (priceless!). On Saturday we mostly hung out at their house, but then moved to the other house to welcome some fine guests (The Usual Suspects). On Sunday we visited a nearby swimming pool, picked berries (they’re early this year – hello Climate Change), and then waved goodbye to our guests.
We on the other hand spent one more night in the summerhouse, and were overjoyed when Bjarki actually slept until 9am, and not 5:45am like the night before (mental note: always always always cover the ‘black-out-curtains’ with an extra blanket to cover the gaps!). We drove back around 2pm on Monday, and arrived back early enough for Finnur to start his CA work (he has Monday meetings at 6pm and 8pm), while I took the kids to Arnar’s and Magnea’s where Bjarki unceremoniously and repeatedly attempted to whack their little Lóa as she tried to reclaim her toys from his clutches. We’ll have to work on him to use his words more…
And that was the end of that weekend. Here are a few pictures.
Bjarki and Anna 'helping' their grand-dad Þórarinn. Bjarki is absolutely enthralled with all power tools these days.
Anna took this picture of her dad and her grandparents.
Time to head to the other house! The kids run up the path to the parking lot.
I wanted the kids to walk, but Bjarki freaked out when his dad drove off and Anna ran after the car. The other house is just past the little hump in the road. Oh the drama!
In Afakot (Grandpa's house). Finnur found that some fish-line lubricant-container in his old fishing box had leaked, so he spent a good while cleaning his gear.
Bjarki walking back to his grandparents' house, this time more secure in the knowledge that the distance was walkable.
The kids on the swings!
Our guests have arrived, and the BBQ has been fired up. The kids can be seen jumping on the trampoline in the backyard. And yes it was so warm that they kept taking their clothes off!
Dinnertime! 🙂
We had a small birthday celebration for Hildur Sif and Arnar Freyr (Adda and Halli's children) whose birthdays straddle the long weekend.
Sunday
Adda surrounded by children. She specializes in calming children down by reading to them. 🙂
Hrefna by Óli.
Heading to Laugarvatn-town to visit the swimming pool.
Back in the day there used to be a sauna sitting on top of that steaming patch of earth by the lake. Laugarvatn actually means 'Bathing lake' or 'Lake Where People Bathe' or possibly 'Lake Where People Wash Their Clothes'. The steambath/sauna was recently torn down, but with the economy as it is, we don't know when or if anything will replace it.
Iceland has a lot of kamikaze-sheep. They eat grass by the roadside, and make a habit of crossing the road randomly.
After the lovely swim (25 meter open air pool, three hot tubs) it was time to eat. Here Óli is whipping up some cream with Bjarki's help, for Holla's pancakes.
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