UK Easter Break

2019-04-18Easter, Hrefna's family, UK, Us Standard

[Photos from 18 – 22 April 2019, posted online 07 October 2019. Hey, it’s a brand new week!]

Early on a Thursday morning I made my way to Keflavik airport, and flew to London, arriving early enough that I could take the kids to a trampoline park in the afternoon!

The following days, Anna and I went shopping, and the two of us also journeyed to London where we met Pétur & Signý for lunch, and saw Hamilton!

On Easter Day, the kids got huge chocolate eggs, we ate fantastic food, and also took the younger kids on a walk, and to two playgrounds. Anna claimed she was too old for those outings!!

On the Monday after Easter Day, we hugged our hosts goodbye, and flew on home to Iceland, where happily the weather had turned for the better. (80-ish photos total!)

Thursday 18 April 2019

With grand/dad in the garden. The weather was super lovely!
This had been the view in Iceland at 06:30 that morning. (That red roof is the airport building.) It was a good thing that I’d booked parking in advance, as the parking attendants were turning unbooked cars away at the gate!!!
The airport was silly busy, I don’t think I’ve ever been in a security line that stretched so far out front.
Thankfully the line moved fast, and 25 minutes later I was well on my way to the plane.
Boarding Eldfell.
Goodbye muggy Iceland.
Hello green-ish England!
A short while later I got to witness the kids doing gymnastics in the back yard.
Emma was super excited about her new kitty cat!
It was so nice to see a bit of true spring, almost summer, for a change!
The kids wanted some more action, so grand/dad took us to the trampoline place a hop and a skip away.
Bjarki, mid-jump.
Bjarki and Emma both attempted The Wall. Bjarki had a height advantage and got a bit further than Emma. (Those white pushers move back and forth all the time.)
Animated gif of The Wall.
Another animated gif, this time from the basketball area.
They also spent a good chunk of time throwing balls at each other, while I sat and watched from the parental area.
Even more animated gif action!

Friday 19 April 2019

Anna and myself got an early start to the day, going shopping at the mall well before noon! (This is us on a quick lunch break.)
This store won as the weirdest store in the mall. Yes, it’s a place with fun/interesting areas/backgrounds to take selfies.
What was even weirder was that there were quite a few people inside!
Our chauffeur picked us up shortly after 2 pm. 🙂
FLOWERS!!
Back at home-base, everyone was enjoying the glorious weather! As Good Friday is a public holiday in the UK, Finnur got to enjoy the lovely weather as well. 🙂
The ice-cream fans.
Five people come with a lot of laundry!

Saturday 20 April 2019

By 10 am, everybody was out and about. Yes, it was yet another gorgeous day!
Anna and myself however went to the train-station to take the train to London.
A classic English view.
Attempt at artsy-ness.
Grit!
Danger!
Lovely view!
In London!
We’d made plans to meet my brother Pétur and Signý at a restaurant close to the train station. Of course, as luck would have it, the restaurant turned out to be not very good, as some of the food was cold! It was a very English experience.
The dessert was good though!
Myself and Anna by the Victoria Palace Theater, where we had tickets to see the Hamilton musical! Yup, Anna’d fallen hard for the soundtrack, and dragged me along with her, so I’d bit the bullet and gotten us tickets, pricey as they were. You only live once, somebody said!
Saying goodbye to Pétur (so normal!) and Signý before entering the theater.
We were sensible and just grabbed some water from the concession stand/bar.
Anna inside the auditorium. Our seats were pretty much straight under that first balcony, by the exit sign.
The stage view from our seats.
Excited!
All of a sudden it was intermission!
Too tempting!
The show got a standing ovation, and here the cast are having us applaud the orchestra. What a great show!!! 🙂
I suck at keeping actual mementos so here’s a photographic memento.
Back at home-base, my youngest brother, Anthony, had arrived just in time to go play at a concert. He’s quite the music man!
Since Anthony had reclaimed his bedroom, Anna moved down to the living room (yay, for large houses!!). The younger kiddos joined her for a bit.

Sunday 21 April 2019

Easter Day!! The kids got eggs from granddad and Shirley, and they were so excited I could hardly get a picture of them!
Opening the boxes, to get at the good stuff.
Granddad laughing at all the shenanigans. 🙂
Well, that was a first: Eating Easter eggs outside in the sunshine!
The kids were starting to get a little bit stir crazy, so grand/dad and I took them out for a walk.
Investigating a rusted hull.
Moving on!
We walked to the edge of the world. That’s the mouth of the Thames if I’m not too mistaken.
Pretty lichen.
Emma being silly by the marshes.
I’d foolishly forgotten to feed the kids before departing, so we bought some emergency rations (read ice-cream and cookies) at the playground next to the walking area.
This is such a cool playground!
We discovered both Emma and Bjarki had enough strength to traverse this obstacle course.
It’s hard work being a granddad! 😉
This was a super fun swing!
The view from the other side.
Animated gif!
We drove back, but made a quick pit stop at the usual playground before returning to home-base.
I’m feeling nauseous just looking at this animated gif! 🙂
Lounging at home-base. There was a lot of football on that day, if I recall correctly.
Father and son! 🙂
Because life loves throwing us curve-balls, I’d discovered lice in Bjarki’s head at the second playground, and upon subsequent searching found some lurking on Emma’s head as well. Thankfully, the local pharmacist is an Indian, and not Christian, aka he was open on Easter Sunday, so we could get lice-killing shampoo.
Among all the commotion, Shirley magicked up a wonderful Easter Sunday FEAST. The food disappeared faster than I could photograph it, but I did manage to take a photo of the pie!
Digesting in the back yard.
Hair-art!
Soon it was time for Anthony to take off back to where he’s currently living and studying.
“Relaxing” in the conservatory with Emma.

Monday 22 April 2019

Group photo by our taxi driver the next morning at 9 am as we were about to depart for the airport.
Goodbye!!
Good old Gatwick airport!
We got good food at Jamie’s Italian, although they forgot to bring Finnur’s food at first…!
Emma not really excited to model in front of our airplane.
By 1:30 pm we were airborne. Goodbye England!
Happily, we were greeted by gorgeous weather in Iceland. And so our UK Easter Break ended!