Our First US Visitors!
[Written 19 JULY 2014. Because there was a huge backlog. Sorry Stella!]
Early Sunday morning, our good US friends, Sarah and Augusto, arrived in Iceland from California with their two children. I went out to the airport to pick them up, we fed them, and then shooed them into bed for a quick nap.
A couple of hours later, Sarah’s parents, Stella and Walter, also arrived, and this time Finnur went and picked them up from the airport. He dropped them off at his parents’ place, where they would be staying while Finnur’s parents were traveling. (Finnur’s parents are awesome like that!)
Thus began two weeks of fun-ness, and a great time was had by all!
Being a total trooper, Sarah’s already begun blogging about their trip, see the Trip to Iceland, and the First Day, so I guess now it’s my turn.
As it happened, Finnur worked through their first week here, so I was responsible for our three kiddos. This left me somewhat mentally and physically drained (it’s like herding cats!), so I didn’t take a whole lot of photos, and the few I took were mostly on my cell phone. Sorry!! (But Augusto took a ton, so watch their blog if interested.)
So here goes! (26 images total)
Sunday 29 June 2014 – Arrival and Salalaug Swimming Pool
While our guests slept, we did our best to keep the house quiet. The big kids were engrossed in their computers, Finnur was out on an airport run, so that left Emma and me. The weather was nice so I used the opportunity to visit the playground of her daycare-to-be (now closed for the summer holiday). I also took her to this tiny playground adjacent to it. She was very happy there, although she had a hard time understanding why she couldn’t just go up the slide once she’d gone down it.
Bjarki’s 7th Birthday – The Family and Friends Party
[Written 18 JULY 2014. Joy and happiness for all!!]
We hosted a “family and friends” birthday party for Bjarki on a semi-sunny Saturday afternoon. As is customary in the middle of the summer, a lot of people were traveling and/or sick with some bug, so a lot of people couldn’t make it. We still had a full house, and a good time was had by all! (I hope!!) (21 images total)
Bjarki’s birthday cake, completed shortly after midnight on his birthday.
Eating at Ikea
[Written 18 JULY 2014. Why hurry?]
Emma and I went to Ikea for a quick stock-up before the impending arrival of our US guests. Of course, lunch was had.
The salmon received a failing grade, but the peas made up for it. Will have to try something else next time.
Bjarki’s 7th Birthday – The Classroom Party
[Written 18 JULY 2014. It was raining earlier.]
Bjarki’s waited fairly patiently for his birthday for an ENTIRE YEAR. For his patience, he was awarded with two birthday parties, one with his classmates, and the other with family and friends.
For the first one, we joined forces with the family of another classmate’s of his to host a double birthday-party at one of the local party-haunts (Ævintýragarðurinn, yes the same as last year). Co-hosting is the only thing that makes financial sense because there are a whopping twenty boys in the class (and ten girls and two teachers, yes there is a severe girl shortage in the neighborhood). Surprisingly, almost all the boys made it to the party, even though it’s the middle of summer, and people traveling here and there. (9 images total)
The two birthday boys and two guests by the cake and muffins.
Late Afternoon Kiddos and Library Run
[Written 17 JULY 2014. There’s no going back.]
A few snapshots from a Wednesday afternoon. (5 images total)
Emma the builder. Behind bars. A snapshot of the future?
Bjarki’s First Football Meet – Skagamótið 2014 – Day Three
[Written 15 JULY 2014. Time is in the eye of the beholder.]
The third and final day of the football meet began with the same shoddy weather as before. Thankfully Ríkey was there to rouse me, because I’d been so out of it the night before (sooo tiiiiired!) that I’d only begun setting my alarm, without completing it.
After getting dressed quickly, I headed out to fetch Bjarki from school and found him… (47 images total)
… still fast asleep at 8 am. Apparently he was a little apprehensive falling asleep the night before but got to lala-land in the end.
Bjarki’s First Football Meet – Skagamótið 2014 – Day Two
[Written 14 JULY 2014. Because of clogged brains.]
Day two of the football meet greeted us with more of the same weather wise, and a lot more football. (39 images total)
The boys started waking up around 7 am, which was fine because we had to be at breakfast around 8:30 am.
Bjarki’s First Football Meet – Skagamótið 2014 – Day One
[Written 14 JULY 2014. Because I can.]
This spring, innocent old me signed Bjarki up for a football meet, not realizing it was THREE DAYS of commitment a little ways away from the capital, with two overnight stays. After much hand-wringing about how to go about this, I ended up taking Bjarki there, while Finnur and the girls hung out in the city.
We arrived around noon-time on Friday, and went straight to the opening ceremony. (19 images total)
Bjarki with his fellow team-members. Their team is called Breiðablik. It doesn’t really translate, but they had a ton of teams there.
Celebrating 20 Years Together
[Written 13 JULY 2014. We’re always a little behind.]
TWENTY YEARS AGO I gave Finnur a lift downtown where we meant to meet some friends and celebrate Independence Day. We never found our friends (this was before mobile phones), but instead went for a romantic walk around the pond which included the first hand-holding, and then I drove him to his grandparents’ house, where we hung out into the wee hours of the morning.
To celebrate the occasion, we went out to dinner downtown, and then walked down to the pond, where Finnur presented me with a can of pineapple! Or as I posted on Facebook: (6 images total)
Celebrating 20 years of ‘togetherness’ with a can of pineapple, which happened to be the only edible thing we managed to scrounge up at 5 am at Finnur’s grandparent’s place way back then. (They were out in the country.) Good times!! 🙂
Row, Row, Row Your Boat…
[Written 13 JULY 2014. What is time anyway?] This March I switched from doing mommy-gym to what they call the ‘Newbies’ (Grænjaxlar) at Boot Camp. (Lets take a short moment to marvel at the fact I enjoy the heck out of boot camp!) Now, seeing how I’m still in sorry shape, it took me aboutRead more