May 2017 Runs On
[Photos taken on 15 May to 20 May 2017, posted online 14 23 September. Spent a long weekend on a work-trip in N-Ireland! (Now two weeks ago!)]
The Ingress game (close cousin to Pokemon Go, played by going to certain locations with your phone) posted a challenge, which involved hunting down about 400 locations in two weeks (before 21 May), and leave markers behind.
Something about that sounded like a good idea, so Finnur and I found ourselves in random locations either after the kids had gone to bed, or taking “the long way home” after work. Very little else got done during those two weeks, and yes, blog posts were put on hold.
Photos got taken, and of course life continued on as usual. Bjarki played his guitar at a spring concert, I tried going out on jogs again (only to hurt my Achilles tendon even more), there was reading, we got visitors, and I even went to a party! (40 images total and 1 video)
Monday 15 May 2017
The view while out on a lunch time jog.
December Outings and Bjarki’s Guitar Recital
[Saturday 03 – 06 December 2016, posted online on 13 February 2017. Slow and steady. I’m told it works.]
December showed up, from nowhere it appeared! The weather was too warm by 5 degrees, and no snow was to be seen for miles. (5 images and 1 video total)
Saturday 3 December 2016
I’ve begun going downtown to my favorite cafe to work on my photos and blog on Saturdays. Often time I also walk around to play a bit of Ingress, and on one such walkabout I stumbled upon the December-only ice-rink in downtown Reykjavik. Pretty!!
Bjarki’s 9th Birthday Celebration
[Photos from Monday 04 July 2016, posted online 23 August 2016. Truly.]
On this gorgeous US Independence Day, we hosted a family birthday celebration in honor of Bjarki turning 9 years old.
It was a pretty standard birthday party except there was a small interruption in the middle as everybody gathered in front of the television to watch the Icelandic national football team drive into downtown on a roofless bus, being greeted as heroes by thousands, after their 2016 Euro Cup performance! (17 images total)
Bjarki’s cake, and some extra items. The sword was there to raise the plate up, because the cake was a bit crooked. It sure tasted good though!
Bjarki’s 9th Birthday
[Photos from 28 June 2016, posted online shortly after midnight. Hopefully.]
Bjarki turned 9 years old today! Click here if you want to read up on the day of his and Reynir’s birth, also known as the best of times, and the worst of times.
But, Bjarki keeps thriving, and he was pretty excited to open his presents this morning. He then spent the day at a camp (námskeið) with the local scout group, before coming home in the afternoon, and spending pretty much the rest of the day on some computer or other. It was his birthday after all!
With Finnur slowly making his way back from Nice, France, via Vienna (!), and not expected to arrive until right now (30 minutes past midnight, technically on 29 June) I invited Adda, Halli, and their kids over for some hamburgers, ice cream, and muffins. Bjarki even got to blow out a candle!
Formal family celebrations will have to wait a bit, probably until next week, while Finnur recovers from his football adventure in France, and until the weather forecast gets its act together.
Some photos from the day! (9 images total)
The birthday boy!
Spring Gymnastics Show & 20 Year Reunion
[Photos from Saturday 4 June 2016, posted on Sunday 12 June 2016. Finnur’s traveling to Munchen for four days.]
My last Finnur-less day, for the time being, was packed to the gills, with Bjarki’s year-end big gymnastics show starting at 1 pm, then driving the kiddos to their respective babysitters, before joining my 20 year Junior College (MR) reunion, which had events beginning at 2 pm and lasting long into the evening.
And of course Emma starting the day by falling ill with a spring cold.
Being a third child, I took her temperature at noon (38.5 C/ 101.3 F), gave her fever-reducing medication, dragged her to see Bjarki’s show (It. Was. Amazing!), dropped Bjarki off at Steinunn’s, and Emma off at her grandparents’, and then reunioned until about 9 pm, at which point drove back to pick Emma up, and took her home. (Phew!)
The final numbers of the evening: 39.4 C/ 102.9 F, followed by another fever-reducer. (19 images total, 1 video playlist)
Bjarki, with the pineapple who wanted to be a dictator/king, and was thwarted by the other fruits in the fruit bowl (aka Ávaxtakarfan).
Kids’ Spring Concerts
[Images and videos from 17-18 May 2016, posted online 18 May 2016. 9 pm feels like 5 pm daylight wise.]
Since I last blogged (27 April), Finnur’s traveled to England with his football-buddies for a long weekend, I’ve traveled to Prague with my sewing club girlfriends for a long weekend, and we spent the last weekend (also a long one!) at the summer-cottage by Laugarvatn!
Add to that the usual mix of full-time work, three kiddos, and spring looming with a thousand-and-one projects that seemingly need doing (but don’t get done, they just loom), and there is little to no energy left for frivolous things like, say, blogging.
But, I’m putting my fingers down to post that the big kiddos just finished their spring performances, with Anna on piano, and Bjarki on guitar.
Anna is not a big fan of performing, so she chose a simple short-ish song. The final decision on whether she’ll continue next year will be made on Friday, but most likely this is it for her formal music education.
Bjarki, on the other hand, is less jaded, and is game for another year of guitar.
Enough chit-chat, on with the media! (2 videos and 4 images total)
Tuesday 17 May 2016
Anna went first with “Bláu augun þín”. I apologize for the substandard sound quality!
Sandbox, Pippi, and Chicken Pox
[Photos from 12 to 16 April, posted 17 April 2016. Laptop got plugged in.]
Some photos of Emma and Bjarki playing in the sandbox in the sun, Emma with a Pippi Longstocking (Lína langsokkur) hairdo, and Emma with chicken pox. Boohoo! (10 images total)
Tuesday 12 April 2016
Tuesday was a lovely day, and almost warm enough to skip a jacket… but not quite. The kids hung out in the sandbox for a bit, until we hit kitty litter.
Bjarki’s Spring Gymnastics Meet
[Photos from 8 April 2016, posted on 20 April 2016. Random public holiday tomorrow.]
Bjarki and the other boys in his gymnastics group showed off what they’ve been working on this past winter, around dinnertime one recent Friday.
Yes, we’ve done this before, but I’m not sure we’ll do this again as Bjarki’s interest is waning. We’ll see how it goes, but we think it’s done him a world of good. (7 images and 1 video playlist)
The group of kids that were showing their skills that evening.
Screwed
[Photos from Tuesday 22 March 2016, posted online 23 March 2016. It’s hard to sulk with all this spring in the air.]
The day started out with terrible news from Brussels, so spirits weren’t exactly running high when I showed up at the hospital after lunch. The aim was to finally get a screw removed so that I could begin to put full weight on my foot, and begin to get rid of my crutches. Yes it’s been 10 weeks since my breakage!
But no, the doctor decided not to remove the screw. Perhaps it’ll go next week, or the week thereafter, I’ll have to wait and see. I will readily admit that I’m disappointed, and wallowing in self-pity a little bit. Hopefully it’ll pass soon.
The culprit was the shrinking-but-not-fully-healed hole/dip in the big scar (photo is from the England post), formed by a large chunk of clotted blood which got lodged there somehow. Apparently doctors don’t like cutting into legs that have open wounds still (it’s open enough to discharge liquid if squeezed). So, the hole got cleaned, bandaged, and I have strict instructions to leave it be. No scratching or whatnots. Sigh.
Feeling a little lost, and not quite up to going back to work with my metaphorical tail between my legs, I got Finnur to pick me up, and spent the rest of the afternoon working in his office. It was a nice change, although apparently I disturb Finnur’s otherwise very peaceful office-existence! 🙂
Meanwhile, Bjarki went to spend quality time with his grandparents, and he’ll spend the next few days at the summer house with them. I hope they have a lovely time! (7 images total)
The happiest photo of the day: Bjarki with his grandma filling up plastic eggs for the Easter egg hunt this coming Sunday. These are the eggs we brought back from the US after numerous fun Easter egg hunts there.
Parental Meetings at School
[Photos from 03 February 2016, posted on 05 February 2016. No more melty-snowstorm.]
I expected to get more done on the blogging front but a) my brain was hijacked by a new book series, which I’m having a very hard time putting down, and b) we had parental meetings this week, and my energy levels are apparently good for “one thing per day”. Also, going to the school on crutches was So. Much. Fun! (Not!)
The parental meetings at school went well. Both Bjarki and Anna seem happy at school, and are generally doing well. Anna is actually doing extremely well, scoring 9-10 out of 10 in every single subject. Her teacher describes her as even-keeled, and we struggled to find stuff to talk about.
Bjarki is reading fast, as he’s already achieved a reading speed two grades up. When he’s interested, he also understands what he’s reading. We see this in him as he’s now storming through Harry Potter (he’s on book #3). He’s also started to become a little more interested in interacting with the boys in his class, when up until now, he’s mostly focused on boys a grade below himself, possibly because two of them live on our street. He still has his strengths and weaknesses, but is definitely moving forwards.
Overall, both teachers sounded very positive, so that was good.
So yes, I’m made it out of the house lately, but now I’m back on the couch. Here, have some photos! (5 images total)
The couch is where it’s at!