Faxi Campsite / Flúðir Folf / Finnur’s 50th
[Photos taken 25 – 31 July 2024, posted online 14 October 2024. It’s chilly but beautiful out there.]
One day, Emma noted that she’d never slept in a tent, and we decided that was something we should probably fix. A few days later, we lucked out in getting invited to join some friends at a campsite by the waterfall Faxi.
We arrived just as the most recent rain-storm was passing, stayed for a couple of nights, and managed to pack up the tent just before the next rain-storm arrived. We tried Frisbee golfing (folfing) for the first time, and it was a resounding success for all.
We returned home in the rain, caught out breaths for a few moments before attending a multi-Christening/Confirmation, and then it was Finnur’s 50th birthday!
Thursday 25 July 2024
Easter 2024
[Photos taken 31 March 2024, posted online 19 August 2024. This might be a week without rain!?! Fittingly, the big kids start school today.]
We arrived back from Sweden in time for a very traditional Easter Sunday. Chocolate eggs were hidden at home, before we headed over to my in-laws for an Easter feast and social whist.
Easter Sunday 31 March 2024
Grandma Turns 90 / Moving Assistance / To Sweden
[Photos taken 19 – 24 March 2024, posted online 15 August 2024. The start of this entry was written in toasty Munich, Germany, but finished in fresh-but-wet-aired Iceland.]
Life returned to normal for a short moment after returning from Brussels. The primary event that week was my grandmother turning 90 years old. It’s hard to fathom all the changes she’s seen in her long life, and even weirder to think that she’s essentially lived for double the time I’ve been alive!?!
Then it was mental and physical preparations for our upcoming Easter trip to Sweden, to visit my brother and family that moved there in 2023. Along the way, we helped another brother move into his new apartment, and I resigned from my job.
Tuesday 19 March 2024
Celebrations / Wacky-Weather / Helgafell Circled
[Photos taken 01 – 13 March 2024, posted online 25 July 2024. The weather continues being wet, wet, wet. The plant-life is loving it, but the humans are getting a bit miserable…]
March 2024 would turn out to be a very busy month. It kicked off with birthday parties, a confirmation, a mild eruption threat, wild weather changes, a new pizza oven, a programming competition for Bjarki, a hike, and work-wonderings. Phew!
Friday 01 March 2024
Goodbye 2023 / Hello 2024!
[Photos taken 31 December 2024 (and just after midnight…), posted online 21 June 2024. The lava from the current eruption has toppled over one of the lead-walls keeping it from the Svartsengi power/hot-water station. Crews are onsite pushing up a second lead-wall. Thankfully the eruption seems to be dying down…]
Finnur’s youngest sister repeated hosting the new year’s eve party, much to everyone’s delight.
Sunday 31 December 2023
Ginger Bread House / Yule 2023 / Anna’s 20th Birthday!
[Photos taken 23 – 30 December 2023, posted online 20 June 2024. I now have a 67 year old mom!?!]
This yule went pretty much by the book. No surprises.
We managed to organize ourselves enough to make the annual ginger-bread-house, and some cookies. Then it was on to Christmas itself, which we celebrated on Christmas Eve as is the Icelandic custom, hosting my mom and one of my brothers. We spent Christmas Day at Finnur’s parents’ place, eating and playing social whist. That was also the day that Anna turned 20 years old!
My work gave us the days between Christmas and New Year’s off, so the days were calm and restorative. We ended the week by going with friends to the “summer” house, as the temperatures plunged outside.
Saturday 23 December 2023
Scout-Camp, New School, & 80th Birthday
[Photos taken 14 – 18 August 2023, posted online 01 June 2024. It keeps raining, but the weather remains mild. Shall we all be collectively shocked that it’s June already? Oh, and today Iceland elects a new president.]
School loomed as we returned from Finland, and it was also time to return to work. Bjarki’s new school started up that week, but Emma still had a week and a half to go, so she went to an all-day scout-camp with some friends. I can’t remember when Anna’s school restarted…
I took action to start Emma’s room’s reorganization, began visiting the gym again, but the work-week concluded with Finnur’s dad’s 80th Birthday and Party.
Monday 14 August 2023
Thorlákshöfn Horse Rental, Summer Housing & Finnur’s 49th Birthday!
[Photos taken 27 – 31 July 2023, posted online 04 May 2024. We’re starting to see a little bit of greenery erupting from the ground, shrubbery, and trees!]
We managed to find a break in Anna’s work schedule to go horse-back riding by Thorlákshöfn. Then we spent a night with friends at a nearby summer house, before heading to our own summer house, and celebrating Finnur’s 49th birthday!
The weather cooperated and we went kayaking, before returning to town, and getting started for real on the garbage bin shed. I may also have gone gymming… Thus endeth July of 2023.
Thursday 27 July 2023
Mom’s South-Coast Birthday-Trip & Bjarki’s 16th Birthday
[Photos taken 25 – 30 June 2023, posted online 16 March 2024 from Brussels. Yesterday I saw dinosaur fossils, and The Smile (nearing dinosaur-status, but not fossilized, yet).]
We went on an afternoon-trip with mom to celebrate her birthday a few days prior with a fleet of four cars, then attended another university graduation party (we know so many studious kids!). A few days later, we celebrated Bjarki’s 16th birthday, and he took his first driving lesson, thankfully returning unscathed.
Sunday 25 June 2023
Outdoorsy-Days of June, Gym & Graduation
[Photos taken 16 – 24 June 2023, posted online 15 March 2024. Still in Brussels, still no eruption in Iceland.]
I guess our lives have settled into a deep groove at this point. With the long, lovely days of June came the usual: e-biking, weeding, summer-housing, gymming, horse-camp, and attending a university graduation party!
Friday 16 June 2023
