Autumn Trip to Laugarvatn
[Written Wednesday 15 October 2014. Happened over the past weekend, 11-12 October.]
Back in September we promised Finnur’s family to take down the trampoline by the Laugarvatn summer house before winter came roaring. (Translation: We were there in September, and failed to do it then.)
We were too tired to set out on Friday night like usual, so we ended up leaving town shortly before noon on Saturday instead. We’d invited Guðrún and Snorri along for the change of scenery, and we somehow all managed to arrive at the gate to the summer house at the same time. Great coincidence!
On the Saturday the boys took the older kids swimming, while Guðrún and I hung out with the little kiddos. We managed take down the trampoline before the scrumptious lamb dinner, and even had energy to spare to play some cards in the evening.
Our guests took off shortly after noon on the Sunday, but they didn’t drive straight to town though. First, they followed Finnur, Anna and Bjarki to the Geysir area, where Finnur flew his camera drone. Meanwhile, Emma and I napped. Mmmm… naaaapping!
We left slightly later in the afternoon, but had to drive back 20 minutes in because we’d left a charging drone-battery in the summer house. To make up for the extra drive, we stopped by one of the cracks in Thingvellir (a less famous one) and Finnur flew his drone, while the kids clambered around, and we did our best not to shiver into oblivion. Yes, it was coooold!
Some photos from the weekend follow… (35 images total)
Saturday 11 October 2014
Emma enjoying the vintage Fisher Price school house. This was the first time she actually played with the figurines, carefully putting them on the swings, and spinner, and pushing and spinning. Yay for daycare!
Deciding how to spend the day.
Conjoined kids.
Emma and her red hair.
Playing outside while the others were away swimming.
How does this work?
Finally, they had the trampoline to themselves! No big kids messing everything up!
Emma figured out trampoline jumping a long time ago, and actual jumping about a week ago. Jumping is fun!
A little while later, the trampoline was all gone. Bye, bye for now.
Snorri minding the lamb on the BBQ.
Sunday 12 October 2014
Bjarki reading shortly before departure. His teacher reports that his reading skills have skyrocketed since last year, and he’s already surpassed his grade’s requirement.
Anna also reads like the wind.
Such a great toy!
We were shocked when there was a knock on the door, out in the middle of nowhere. Turns out the people in the summer house being built basically across the road had been baking, and had made too much. We were the lucky recipients of the overflow!
The kids got kicked out of the house while we finished cleaning. They had the walkie talkie so we could tell them when to return.
Bjarki, busy reteething.
Is it time to leave yet?
No, not quite time to leave yet… The light’s too good. Come stand over here… !
Does this qualify as a gaggle?
Emma smiling for 0.2 seconds before resuming screaming for something.
There was some vog in the area from the erupting volcano in Holuhraun which shows no signs of stopping.
Nice fall colors though.
This is taken as were were driving BACK to the summer house to fetch a hiding drone battery.
Yup, back to Laugarvatn, and deeper into the vog.
At Thingvellir, Finnur parked in a small parking lot next to the biggest crack on the ‘other side’ from where all the tourists usually stop. The sun was vogging it’s way down.
Drone up in the air over the crack, straight ahead.
Anna and Emma checking out the crack and watching the drone fly.
Finnur was so poorly dressed he was shivering by the end. It was cooold out!
We were transporting this awesome woolen shawl to the city, which I happily borrowed for the chilly occasion. It was surprisingly warm, and I may have to start knitting.
Bjarki also took a photo of the drone.
The sun at our backs.
This car drove by, slowly. We weren’t the only ones taking photos of it. There was a surprising number of foreigners about.
Emma waiting for her siblings, before returning to the car.
They had clambered down into the crack. I was not amused. That moss is super soft, not all that stable, and not to be damaged.
One last sibling image before driving home.