Easter Day 2018
[Photos taken on 01 April 2018, posted on 17 October 2018. We’re now waking up in darkness, and it’s getting dark around dinner time. Sigh.]
Easter 2018 happened to land on April’s Fool’s Day. [Insert inappropriate joke here]. It was an Easter Day “by the book”, as I discovered last year, see HERE, when I cataloged the last 15 years of Easter Day! (61 images total!)
Sunday 01 April 2018
The annual attempt at a sibling photo with chocolate eggs. The younger ones did NOT feel like cooperating!
Emma Ósk Turns 5 Years Old
[Photos taken on 12 February, posted on 13 September 2018. Saw frost on the grass this morning.]
Emma’s fifth birthday landed on a Monday, and we decided to have a party for her at home after work ended. It was a party of the super easy kind, where we ordered pizza, and I think Anna even made the cake! (11 images total)
Emma Ósk, proudly 5 years old!
People Gatherings as 2018 Began
[Photos taken on 01 January 2018 – 08 January 2018, posted on 07 August 2018. Sitting at Súfistinn, after tidying up the garage today.]
The first eight days of January 2018 included no fewer than four food-included get-together-s with friends and family galore! (22 images total)
Monday 01 January 2018
Photo of the smog still sitting on top of Reykjavik (that grayness by the bottom of the mountain) after the massive fireworks the evening before. Yes, I ventured to the only open coffee house I knew of to work on photos. I thought it was a good way to start the new year!
New Year’s Eve: When 2017 Became 2018
[Photos taken on 31 December 2017 – 01 January 2018, posted on 31 July 2018. Back at Norðurbakkinn, and it’s rainy outside.]
This past New Year’s Eve was special, in that it was announced beforehand that this would be the last grand family party hosted by Finnur’s uncle and his wife. (The party hosting has alternated between the two brothers through the years). As a result I think pretty much everybody showed up, and had a great time as always. (49 images total and 1 video)
Welcome to 2018!!! (Many thanks to Anna for being patient and writing into thin air more than once as we tuned the camera settings!)
Anna 14 Years Old/Yule Day #1 & #2
[Photos taken on 25-26 December 2017, posted on 30 July 2018 from Nauthóll. The view is gorgeous, with the clouds rolling by, sun shining on the sea, and chatter all around. Finnur keeps building the wall in our backyard…]
This years Yule-tide celebrations didn’t stray much from the regular formula. On Christmas Day #1 we headed to Finnur’s parents’ place for a feast and social whist, bringing desserts to sing Happy Birthday to Anna over, while on Christmas Day #2 we got invited to my uncle’s for a small get-together with even more good food! (37 images total)
Much food was eaten, many words were spoken, games were played, and general well-being remained high.
Monday 25 December 2017
Anna, formally 14 years old, by the cheesecake she made herself, from scratch!
Birthday, Fancy New Work Space, and Evening Walk
[Photos taken on 17 – 18 August 2017, posted 03 May 2018. After a spring-like April, May’s begun with three days of intermittent snow and hail.]
A few photos from Finnur’s dad’s birthday, a couple of snapshots from my newly renovated workplace, as well as from a late evening walk in gorgeous weather. (15 images total)
Thursday 17 August 2017
It was a gorgeous day for celebrating Finnur’s dad’s birthday!
A Tale of Two Projects
[Photos taken on 31 July – 13 August 2017, posted 06 April 2018. Big fire next to Marel yesterday, no casualties. Pretty crazy stuff. 14 April 2018. This post turned into a bigger monster than I anticipated.]
The remainder of our summer vacation was spent with Finnur and I fulfilling our stereotypical roles to the max.
He took off for the summer house by Laugarvatn to build an extension to the deck behind the house (very manly!) while I stayed at home, stained the deck, tidied, and totally overhauled three rooms which were in dire need of help (very womanly!).
To make it possible to get any work done on both ends, Finnur first took Emma with him for a few nights, then swapped kids and took Bjarki for a few nights. His parents and a rotating gang of his siblings and their significant others also came through, so it was a whole team effort.
On our side, I sort of recall Bjarki also having a sleepover or two with some friends of his during this time, so it was just me and Anna for a couple of nights, which was admittedly weird! (120 images total !!!!!!!!!)
Monday 31 July 2017
As is often the case at the end of July, the weather was gorgeous for a few days, so I finally managed to stain our deck. Complicating matters a bit was a beehive that had formed under the deck close to the house, which was scary to stain on top of, but neither myself, nor the bees were harmed during the staining.
Summer House in Úthlíð
[Photos taken on 21 July – 28 July 2017, posted 29 March 2018. Looking like spring out there. Contemplating whether to continue blogging or not to continue blogging. Blergh!]
In Iceland, unions and employee associations are mostly just big summer house rental operations. As an employee (or union member) you pay a small amount into a joint fund, and then get rights to rent a summer house for a week for a low fee.
This summer, Adda and Halli were super lucky and got to rent a really nice new summer house in Úthlíð, a hop and a skip away from the Geysir area in Haukadalur. They kindly invited us along, and we had a lovely time, even may have returned home somewhat rested! (98 images total)
Friday 21 July 2018
This summer house in Úthlíð that was ours for a week. It belongs to the employee association of Halli’s workplace.
Bjarki’s 10th Birthday Celebration
[Photos taken on 02 July 2017, posted online on 17 October 2017. The days are getting noticeably shorter.]
We’ve come a long way from the Night of Extreme Drama, some 10 years ago. Yes, that means, Bjarki’s now 10 years old!
To celebrate, we held a customary birthday bash for family and friends. Just to see how it would go, we sourced almost all the food at Costco, which went fairly well.
On to the photos (18 images total)!
The birthday cake. We got it at Costco, and Anna added the personal touch.
Aðalsteinn Ingi Named
[Photos taken on 21 May 2017, posted online on 24 September 2017. Finnur just spent a week in Japan, will be spending this week in California. Emma is with her grandparents, hence I have time to blog.]
Steinunn and Einar newest son was named Aðalsteinn Ingi on a gorgeous day in May. This link will take you to all the photos, but below are 28 of them.
The cake with the name.