Sweden / Paradox & Vasa Museums / To Iceland
[Photos taken 29 – 30 March 2024, posted online 18 August 2024. Last night was decidedly chilly, fall is approaching.]
Black Friday is a public holiday in Sweden so everybody was available for a trip into Stockholm. We found a fun museum to visit, and once that was done, I dragged the kids and my brother to the Vasa museum, just because it’s cool.
The following day, we cleared out of our AirBnb, drove to the airport, and flew back to Iceland.
Friday 29 March 2024
Sweden / Technology Museum / Viewing-Farm
[Photos taken 27 – 28 March 2024, posted online 17 August 2024. It’s my father-in-law’s birthday, which means the weather will be good!]
One of the staples of our city-trips, is visiting technology museums. We’d visited the same museum eight years before, but it had changed a whole lot in the intervening years. There was really just one area that I recognized!
The following day we explored a bit around where we were staying, which included visiting a “viewing-farm”.
Wednesday 27 March 2024
Sweden / Mini-Golf / Uppsala / Electric Go-Kart
[Photos taken 25 – 26 March 2024, posted online 16 August 2024. Seems like we’re in for a lovely day after heaps of rain. School starts next week.]
Our first day in Sweden was a quiet one. I hadn’t really given myself time to formally organize the trip much before we arrived, much to the consternation of some of my “we like a schedule” offspring.
Looking around, it became apparent that the Swedes are fairly “mall-oriented”. Weird entertainment things lurk in the basements of malls, so on our first day we went shopping and mini-golfing! My brother and his wife were both working while we were there, so we mostly met them in the afternoons/evenings.
Monday 25 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
Emma’s 11th Birthday / Summer House / Krauma
[Photos taken 11 – 28 February 2024, posted online 03 July 2024. The rain keeps raining, but at least the weather is mostly mild.]
Emma’s actual 11th birthday was on a Monday, so we had a small family party the day before. So many people were away that we combined both families into one party, which hasn’t happened in a long time. The celebrations continued with a dinner at a restaurant, and then a classroom party at an ice-rink.
We visited the summer house repeatedly, and in one such journey I ended up being sent to Krauma with a girlfriend to relax, as it was “women’s day”.
The days got longer, and the outside temperature started swinging wildly, as thaws and frost battled for dominance.
Sunday 11 February 2024
Jogging Resumes / UT Messan / Endless Snow
[Photos taken 01 – 10 February 2024, posted online 02 July 2024. The weather could be nicer.]
Two weeks after seriously straining my calf “dance-jumping”, I showed up for the last session of the nature running course. It was a leisurely jog through one of the small forested areas.
I made it to a couple of other runs, but was clearly playing chicken with my calf muscle. An appointment with a physical therapist would reveal that one of my left butt muscles was essentially on strike, causing all sorts of havoc down below.
I also got to attend an annual IT conference in town on behalf of my company, which was a nice change of scenery. Aside from that, I seemed to shovel a lot of snow?
Thursday 01 February 2024
January Eruption / Company-Event / Fancy Party
[Photos taken 14 – 31 January 2024, posted online 28 June 2024. Bjarki is now 17 years old!!]
Yet another eruption started shortly before 8 in the morning, and this time around I decided to drive to Kópavogskirkja, where I knew I’d have a bit of a view, and take a few photos. Unfortunately I didn’t realize just how freezing cold it was, and was severely underdressed.
Hilariously, some photographer there sold a photo to the Getty Images that had me and my tripod in it. There went my 15 seconds of fame!
Preparations for the much anticipated fancy-annual-sewing-club-party-with-spouses took up a lot of energy, as we rarely host those kinds of parties. But, the party was a success, and we could relax a bit!
In between all that there was a lot of snow, and snow-shoveling, as well as three whole days spent at a hotel on a whole-company event. There was also a bit of gymming, jogging, and dancing, where I completely busted a calf muscle. Ouch.
Sunday 14 January 2024
Nature Running Course / Party Prepping
[Photos taken 01 – 13 January 2024, posted online 26 June 2024. Hopefully the last wet day for a few days today… oh, and the eruption is over.]
January is typically a slow month, with energy restored after lounging over the holidays. This time around I’d signed up for a nature-running course (!!!), and began prepping for a fancy party that we were hosting at the end of January. Life could have been calmer.
We also bought an “adult” guitar for Bjarki, I resumed gymming, and we put all the yule stuff away. We even managed a dinner or two with friends!
Monday 01 January 2024 – New Year’s Day
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
