Hallgerður Katrín Named
[Photos from 11 September 2016, posted online 22 November 2016. For completeness.]
As I mentioned in my last post, Finnur’s now the brother of a grandmother! Yup, Eyrún’s older daughter gave birth to a beautiful baby girl earlier this year, much to everybody’s joy.
It took the parents a while to settle on a name, but they got there in the end, and invited everybody to a naming party. I took a ton of photos, you can see them here. (Below are 26 of them.)
The star of the day.
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!
Birthday Party at Steinunn’s
[Photos from Sunday 3 April 2016, put online on 5 April 2016. Politics in Iceland are insane right now. The mind boggles.]
It was a mostly quiet weekend. On Saturday I drove for the first time in about three months!!! To celebrate, I took Anna on a slow shopping trip for some outdoor equipment for the school trip she’s on all this week, and we also made a library run. Then we all spent the evening with some good friends.
Sunday was pretty quiet, but we did attend the birthday party of Steinunn and Einar’s one year old boy. (5 images total)
(After the party Iceland’s version of the Panama Papers reveal was broadcast, and the entire nation gasped. It’s been a wild ride since.)
I can drive again!! Freedom!!
Easter Day 2016
[Photos from Easter Sunday 27 March 2016, posted online 31 March 2016. We just finished all the chocolate.]
Easter Sunday began unusually calmly, as the smaller two kids seemed happy to hang out in computer-land for most of the morning, or until the resident teenager woke up around 10 am. The kids then hid our eggs, we hid their eggs, and chocolate bunnies, and then we all overdosed on chocolate.
Around lunchtime we went to Finnur’s parents’ place to eat good food, enjoy good company, and play social whist. Bjarki participated in the whist for the first time, and handled it well, although he joined his grandparents near the bottom of the final score pile. Finnur was victorious though, just like last Easter!
Here, have some photos (33 images total) or if that’s not enough, HERE ARE ALL OF THEM.
The kiddos with their standard issue Icelandic Easter eggs.
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.
Emma’s 3rd Birthday Party
[Photos from 21 February 2016, posted on 25 February 2016. In a galaxy far, far away…]
We celebrated Emma’s third birthday with a family party. It was pretty interesting trying to get everything done with one adult hopping about on one foot, but we managed.
Photos! (28 images total)
Three-year-old Emma, getting sung for.
New Year’s Eve – 2015 Edition
[Some photos from New Year’s Eve 31 December 2015, pre-and post-midnight. Put online on 24 January 2016. The snow seems to be retreating a bit, I can see grass.]
We spent this past New Year’s Eve with Finnur’s family, as has been our habit lately. This year, Finnur’s uncle and his wife hosted a lovely party, a hop and a skip away from us, with tons of fantastic food.
Shortly before 9 pm, I dragged a few people (mostly kids) with me on a short walk to check out two ‘proper’ fireworks-displays. They’re hosted by the ICE-SAR units in Kópavogur and Garðabær, respectively, and always feature the big-bada-boom fireworks. It so happens that if you stand on the ridge that separates Kópavogur and Garðabær, you can watch the two shows.
Back at the party, we chatted more, ate more, and watched the annual comedy hour, which was somewhat meh this year. Then it was 23:30 and we went outside to shoot up some fireworks and witness the neighbors go bonkers with theirs.
All pretty standard stuff, but it was fun anyway! ALL THE PHOTOS ARE HERE, if anybody’s interested. Here are a few as well: (28 images total)
The five of us! In one photo!
Anna 12 Years Old and Yuletide Party
[Originally posted 25 December 2015. Updated 26 January 2016, with more photos below the fold.]
Anna Sólrún turned 12 years old today! How’d that happen?!
We also visited Finnur’s parents as usual for a family yuletide party, ate a lovely meal, and then played a whist tournament… And I WON! For the first time in 21 years of participating! Which shows that it has more to do with luck than with skill. 🙂
Now, as much as I’d like to dump a gazillion photos in here, there is no time, so JUST CLICK HERE FOR ALL OF THE PHOTOS!! (24 images total on this page)
Ms. Anna, all grown up!
December Without Finnur
[Photos from 02-13 December 2015, posted on 7 February 2016. Still on the couch.]
Finnur was in California, visiting his work mother-ship, from 27 November to 14 December. That span covers three weekends. Ayayay!
I’m collecting the photos I took during the first half of December here. I was hunkered down in survival mode, but still stuff happened. Crazy! (41 images total)
Thursday 3 December 2015
Emma loves mixing colors, and painting.
Filling in the November 2015 Hole
[Photos from 1 to 26 (!!!) November 2015, posted online on 16 March 2016. This is what guilt looks like!]
This past autumn somehow, slowly but surely, crushed me.
By the time the kids were taken care of by 9 pm, I was totally done for, and blogging (which I enjoy, darnit!) rarely happened. Documenting our busy summer months took half of forever, so when I looked back over the year in January, I discovered I’d posted ZERO things from November. That hasn’t happened in years…
Since November (and the autumn in general) still taunts me, I’m going to try and give it a little love. I hope you bear with me! (42 images total)
Sunday 1 November 2015
Anna wearing a fun mask her grandparents bought on one of their recent travels.