So Much Weeding & Staining
[Photos taken 01 – 03 August 2019, posted online 22 March 2020. Covid-19 is on a rapid rise, 568 cases confirmed in Iceland as of today. The news from all over the world is scary.]
We took advantage of the amazing weather to work in the garden (me) and stain the woodwork of house #2 (Finnur). As it happens, Anna had to work at the horse-camp and there is no staining decks with kids around, so it worked out quite nicely.
To enjoy the last remaining weekend on vacation, we then drove to Finnur’s parents’ summer house at Laugarvatn for the long trade-holiday weekend. (30-ish images total)
Thursday 01 August 2019
Horse-Rental & Hot Springs
[Photos taken 25-31 July 2019, posted online 14 March 2020. Covid-19 is pushing more and more people into self-quarantine, among them three teachers at the local school. Large gatherings forbidden as of Monday, Anna’s school is moving to online-only, and the elementary school is trying to figure out how to partition into 20-kids per non-intermingling groups. ]
Although Anna had spent weeks working at horse-camp, she’d not gotten to ride the horses much, as she spent most of her time walking alongside them. She therefore kindly asked if we could visit a horse-rental close to house #2 while we were there, which we did.
We also visited a nearby powerful hot spring, and a new (for us) swimming pool, before heading back to town, after a week in the country, to see family members that were visiting from New Zealand before they flew back. Then Anna went back to work, and we tried to find things to do during the daytime.
Finnur’s 45th birthday happened on a lovely day, and we went out to dinner to celebrate with friends. (55-ish images total)
Thursday 25 July 2019
Waterfall Trolls & Glacier Trip
[Photos taken 23 – 24 July 2019, posted online 08 March 2020. Very chilly but gorgeous day outside.]
Our second set of house #2 visitors, aka Adda, Halli and kids, were in an adventurous mood, as this summer was a stay-cation for us all, after we’d spent 10 days in Florida together in February.
We therefore used the time we had with them to check out nearby tourist traps and go snowmobiling on a glacier (!!!), as well as just trying to relax and enjoy a few days away from life as usual. (50-ish photos total)
Tuesday 23 July 2019
Staycation Continues
[Photos from 18 – 22 July 2019, posted online 07 March 2020. I took the kids skiing yesterday!!!!]
The days passed relatively uneventfully during our stay-cation. We hung out in town as Anna kept working, and the other two each spent half a day at horse camp, and stocked up on things needed for house #2.
As Anna finally had a week off, we drove to house #2, and hung out there with friends, managing to finally get the guest house into a usable state!
Oh, and there was also a cat-story! (45-ish images total)
Thursday 18 July 2019
Horse Camp for All & Housing Progress
[Photos taken 13 – 17 July 2019, posted online 29 February 2020. Snow on the ground, and we have our first local Covid-19 case.]
We drove up to house #2 with some friends who live in California for a change of scenery. As they only have young children, we only brought Emma along, leaving the older ones to fend for themselves for a night.
I tried being good about gymming, but hurt my foot assembling a bed (!!?!), and then it was all over for a while. Both Emma and Bjarki began attending horse camp, but not at the same time, so that involved quite a bit of driving. I did also succumb to Emma’s request to go to the farm animal park, where we saw a four day old calf! (40-ish images total)
Saturday 13 July 2019
Summer Vacation Begins/Bjarki’s 12th Birthday Party
[Photos from 10-12 July 2019, posted online 28 February 2020. Lots of snow falling lately, driving Anna to school in the mornings has been a bit adventurous.]
Emma finally truly graduated from daycare, as it shut down for its summer vacation. We were rather stuck-in-town though for the work-week because Anna kept working at horse-camp. Happily we finally managed to celebrate Bjarki’s 12th birthday, and even go out on a date night! (25-ish images)
Wednesday 10 July 2019
Hiking & Kayaking Weekend
[Photos taken 05-07 July 2019, posted online 22 February 2020. The days are getting brighter, finally!]
We spent an active weekend at house #2 on a gorgeous weekend in early July. There was trampolining, hiking (without water or food, silly us!), a water-balloon fight, and kayaking! How lucky we are to have such good friends! (55-ish images)
Friday 05 July 2019
Outdoor Activities as July Began
[Photos taken 01 – 04 July 2019, posted online 15 February 2020. Yesterday saw such high winds that most of the capital area closed down in the morning, and all schools were closed! It’s calmer today.]
We’d made the decision to not travel abroad for our summer vacation for the first time in many years, so this was an unusual July for sure. Horse camp played a big role, with Anna working there, and the other kids attending.
For the first week, the weather was super nice, which meant time spent outdoors. (15-ish images total)
Monday 01 July 2019
Bjarki Turns 12 Years Old, Anna Bakes & Emma Plays
[Photos taken on 28 – 30 June 2019, posted online 24 January 2020. I’ve lost count of the ‘yellow’ weather warnings since December. Tumultuous weather indeed!]
Lo and behold, somehow it was Bjarki’s 12th birthday!! He opened presents in the morning, and then Anna had very kindly baked a cake for him to take to horse camp.
The following weekend was calm-ish, with Anna going all out making macaroons from scratch, and myself and Emma visiting the farm-animal-and-family-park yet again. (20-ish images)
Friday 28 June 2019
House#2 Progress, Endless Walks & Finally RAIN
[Photos taken 16 – 26 June 2019, posted online 20 January 2020. The weather is unstable. Very unstable.]
June was such a strange month. The sun would not stop blaring, and the weather was continually awesome, which seemed to render me unable to sleep, which made me anxious.
Nice progress was nonetheless made at House #2, particularly in getting the guest-house operational, and Finnur volunteered to drive up there to start staining the huge deck (which can only happen with zero children around).
I took a ridiculous amount of walks, as it felt impossible to just sit around at home in the evenings with all that sunlight going on. We bought a new car (!!!) after waiting patiently for a sturdy enough electric car, the kids went to their camps, and practices, and life just sort of stumbled along. (65 images total)
Sunday 16 June 2019
