Granddad Visits
[Wednesday 14 – 17 December 2016, posted online on 14 February 2017. Just twooo monthsssieessss laaate.]
Granddad Gunnar came over to Iceland while I was in Canada. He was scheduled to depart the day after I arrived, so we just caught sight of him on his last evening in the country. Other than that, Christmas kept creeping closer, with a to-do list a mile-long… (7 images total)
Wednesday 14 December 2016
Emma painting while Granddad Gunnar looks on.
Anna’s, Ylfa’s and Iðunn’s Birthday Party
[Sunday 4 December 2016, posted online on 11 February 2017. I’d like to file a complaint with Time!]
We celebrated Anna’s 13th birthday on “my” side of the family jointly with my brother Nökkvi’s two girls, Ylfa and Iðunn. We also did this last year (2015), the year before that (2014), there was a double birthday in 2013.
The whole thing went pretty well, and it’s hard to believe our “little girl” is rapidly approaching adulthood! (20 images total)
Anna is now a certified teenager!
Autumn School Break Trip to England
[Photos from 26-31 October 2016, posted online 10 January 2017. Upcoming worktrip is going to kill these updates for a while.]
For this year’s autumn school break (no school Thursday and Friday), we decided to hop on over to England to visit Gunnar granddad, and his gang, as it had been a while.
To kill two birds with one stone, Finnur left the weekend before so he could get a full work-week at Google in London (while staying at dad’s), and we then joined Finnur there late on Wednesday. We hung out for a few days, and then all of us flew back on the Sunday.
(Due to crazy scheduling issues, Finnur slept at home for one night, and then left for California the next day, for two weeks. Eek!) (39 images total)
Wednesday 26 October 2016
Excitement as the kids and I prepare to board the plane to Gatwick.
Engjabær-Descendants Meet Up
[Photos from 13 August 2016, posted online 07 October 2016. This post took two coffee house visits!]
Earlier this year, after a funeral of a member of my mother’s extended family, the idea was floated to have the descendants of my maternal-great-grandparents meet up outside of the funeral context for a change.
My great-grandparents, who lived in Engjabær, which was located where the farm animal/family park in Reykjavik is now, had 12 children (sort of standard for the time), all of which made it to adulthood, but only five of which had children of their own.
One cousin offered up a fishing hut/camping site that he runs at Minnivallalækur. Since the five of us still don’t have the equipment we need to camp overnight, we instead drove there on Saturday morning, spent the day (fake-camped our small tent), and then drove back in the late evening.
A good time was had by all! Also, the whole photoset can be seen here. (32 images below)
Group photo of (most of) the attendees. Click on the image to see a larger version.
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!
Bjarni Graduates from Keilir’s Health Academy
[Photos from Friday 10 June 2016, posted online Saturday 11 June 2016. My laptop needs a new battery.]
My brother Bjarni has been a fitness enthusiast for a very long time, and even won a fitness title this winter. Last year he decided this is a field he wants to build a professional career in, so he enrolled in the Nordic Personal Trainer Certification program at Keilir’s Health Academy.
Yesterday he graduated with flying colors, after working hard all winter. We threw a small party to celebrate, just with the closest of family, as Finnur was still jetlagged, and I was still recovering from being sick. He then took off for a more party-like party with his buddies.
All the photos are HERE (including a few of a friend of my mother’s who was also graduating), but a selection follows: (24 images total)
Bjarni, Personal Trainer, at your service.
Winter-Break Trip to England
[Photos from 24-29 February 2016, posted on 01 March 2016. Yes, it’s my birthday! 🙂]
Long before I fell and broke my ankle, we’d bought tickets for the whole family to visit England over the kids’ winter school break.
All the doctors I talked to leading up to the trip said that I should be able to travel, but I was doubtful because my foot would get swollen and painful very fast when down low. Then the cast came off (on a Tuesday) and I realized that the majority of the pain was from my swollen skin pushing up against the cast, so the odds of going to England the next day went from 10% to 90%.
Then I looked at the seats I’d booked, and realized that we’d have two adjacent window seats on the correct side of the plane, meaning I could keep my leg on the armrest in front of me. Thus I decided I would go after all, because a change of scenery is always a good thing. Happily, we discovered that Easyjet has pretty flimsy seats, so there was plenty of space for my leg. (Icelandair has bulkier seats, and the gap between the seatback and the fuselage is smaller.)
Also, compressure socks are amazing! (41 images total, including TWO PHOTOS of SCARS 13 images down as Friday begins)
Group photo, taken by Finnur, as we were about to head for the airport.
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.
Bournemouth-ers Visit
[Photos from 4 January 2016, posted online 27 January 2016. Finally got the big camera into my grubby hands!]
My brother, Pétur, and his wife, Signý, are both doing their masters degrees at the University of Bournemouth. They decided to come home for Christmas, and freshen up on why living abroad isn’t such a bad deal, with all the light, and warmth, compared to Iceland!
As always, the holiday went by in a blur, and all of a sudden they were about to leave, and we’d hardly seen them! We managed to coax mom, Pétur and Fannar over for dinner, but Signý was busy writing a paper. Aw shucks! But I did remember to take a few photos to prove they were here! (7 images total)
Bjarki envisioning Fannar being in a lot of trouble soon!
A Triple Birthday Party!
[Photos from Saturday 19 December 2015, posted online 9 February 2016. All hail the foot!]
My brother lives in student housing (with is wife and three kids), so he’s got access to a party room. So, yet again, because it’s awesome (!), we celebrated a triple birthday there: Anna’s 12th, Ylfa’s 6th, and Iðunn’s 4th!
Some photos from the day follow! (27 imagest total) YOU CAN SEE ALL OF THEM BY CLICKING HERE!
Anna decorated her own cake. I’m so happy she’s old enough to do that!