Couples Trip to Edinburgh (Day #0)
[Photos from 22 September 2016, posted online 6 January 2017. The family (-Anna) was felled by the flu this week.]
Our good friends Adda and Halli both turned 40 years old last year (in 2016!). To celebrate they wanted to weekend-hop to another city, and kindly invited us along.
After much discussion, we decided to visit Edinburg, and splurge a bit on a hotel, because we’re adults now. Finnur’s parents kindly agreed to keep the kids alive and get them to and from school, which made everything super easy for us.
Thus it transpired that I arrived from a work-trip to Canada in the wee hours of the morning, went home to sleep and do laundry, and then hopped back on a plane around dinner time, and flew to Scotland! (10 images total)
Thursday 22 September 2017
Emma by her artwork at daycare at pick-up time.
September Begins
[Photos from 3 to 16 September 2016, posted online 20 November 2016. Foot seems to be healing up nicely. Famous lasts words?]
September is always a tricky month. It means finding a new rhythm as school and after-school schedules get locked into place. We tried to use the nice-ish weather to be outside, and go here and there, we also hosted people for dinner, and I took a lot of photos at an event or two, tried a new meeting place at work, and etc. etc… (29 images total)
Saturday 3 September 2016
Please look at this image with the eyes of a garden owner, who’s husband has just put a weed-stopping cloth along the whole hedge, and dressed it with lots of gray sand. To a weed-less future!
August Ends With School Starting, Multiple Birthday Parties, Being Outside, and Haircare!
[Photos from 22 to 31 August 2016, posted on 13 November 2016. I’m stubborn to a fault. Also, Finnur just returned home from a two-week stay in California this morning. He spent a week+ before that in the UK (we came along for the ride for 5 days). It’s been busy. 16 November 2016. My ankle got cut up today to remove all the hardware from the breakage last January. Hello painkillers!]
Finally, school started up again! This year Bjarki’s in 4th grade, but Anna’s up to 8th grade, meaning she now a teenager according to the school system. Emma continues in daycare, and started in the room she’ll be in for the next three years.
The last week-and-a-half of August was apparently spent: Starting school, going to a concert, attending multiple birthdays, going out for walks/jogs/biking, working outside, food procurement, and hair-stuff! (47 images total!)
Monday 22 August 2016
Mr. Bjarki, about to begin 4th grade! I didn’t accompany Anna to school, she’s just too old for that now!
Late August Visit to Laugarvatn
[Photos from 20-21 August 2016, posted online 25-ish October 2016. We had a little bit of snow this morning, a first this winter. Haha, very funny! It’s now 6 NOVEMBER. The snow stuck around for 15 minutes, it’s been borderline warm since then!]
Our friends, Holla and Óli, tend to be such busy people in the summertime that the only way to meet up with them is to drag them off to the summer house at Laugarvatn. So we did! (38 images total)
Saturday 20 August 2016
Picking blueberries in the blazing sun!
Summer Vacation Ends, Real Life Revs Up Again
[Photos from 05 August – 12 August 2016, posted on 03 OCTOBER 2016. Tried a new cafe this evening. Not bad!]
The last weekend of our summer holiday, and the first working week, went by in a flash of snapshots.
Emma was adorable, we met a new human, we had dinner bracketed by handyman-jobs, I stole quiet moments where I could, the big kids returned to horse camp, and I attended a 40th birthday party! (27 images total)
Friday 05 August 2016
Emma pretending our MiFi gadget is a phone. Photo by Anna.
City Family Park & Fákasel Horse Theater
[Photos from 03 August 2016, posted on 02 OCTOBER 2016. There’s a storm outside, so let’s pretend it’s still summer!]
I was just done with painting after finishing the outside of the house, so to give Finnur peace to continue the seemingly endless task of staining wood, I took the kids to the farm-animal/family park in downtown Reykjavik.
While we were there, a reminder popped up for a trip to the Fákasel Horse Park with some of our Icelandic friends from California. Finnur wanted to keep on working, so I took the kids, and we had a grand time! (21 images total)
Emma at the end of riding in a large circle on horse-back at the farm-animal park.
Visiting Laugarvatn, Slakki Petting Zoo, and Thingvellir
[Photos from 24-26 July 2016, posted online 11 September 2016. Baby steps.]
It was “our week” at the summer house Finnur owns with his siblings, so to the summer house by Laugarvatn we went! With us were Adda and Halli, plus kids, and a lovely time was had by all (we hope). We visited a small petting zoo for the first time, there was more jogging, and on the way back, we stopped at various places to hunt Pokemons. (23 images total)
Anna and Finnur at the overlook point by Þingvellir, as they hunted for Pokemons on the way back to town.
Day #7 in Sweden: Visiting Friends & Second Beach Trip
[Photos from Sunday 17 July 2016, posted online 4 August 2016. Two posts in one night? It’s really late…]
On this lovely Sunday, we went and visited our friends, Stina & Tommi. (Yes, this is the same Stina that Anna and I went to watch sing a few night earlier.)
Afterwards, we decided to try the ‘other’ beach in our town, and the kids had fun splashing around for a bit, while Finnur went grocery shopping. (23 images total)
By Stina & Tommi’s dining room table.
Bjarki’s 9th Birthday
[Photos from 28 June 2016, posted online shortly after midnight. Hopefully.]
Bjarki turned 9 years old today! Click here if you want to read up on the day of his and Reynir’s birth, also known as the best of times, and the worst of times.
But, Bjarki keeps thriving, and he was pretty excited to open his presents this morning. He then spent the day at a camp (námskeið) with the local scout group, before coming home in the afternoon, and spending pretty much the rest of the day on some computer or other. It was his birthday after all!
With Finnur slowly making his way back from Nice, France, via Vienna (!), and not expected to arrive until right now (30 minutes past midnight, technically on 29 June) I invited Adda, Halli, and their kids over for some hamburgers, ice cream, and muffins. Bjarki even got to blow out a candle!
Formal family celebrations will have to wait a bit, probably until next week, while Finnur recovers from his football adventure in France, and until the weather forecast gets its act together.
Some photos from the day! (9 images total)
The birthday boy!
First Day of Summer, Nature, and Jigsaw
[Photos from 21-23 April , posted online 26 May 2016. Backtracking yet again…]
As always, I’m conflicted on whether to post old or new stuff, and tonight old stuff wins out. I find it remarkable how I manage to always lose the plot on this blogging thing!
Anyway! Here we have The First Day of Summer (which is a national holiday, always on a Thursday, go figure) which we marked by opening up, cleaning, and filling the hot tub for the first time this year (I think?). Meanwhile, gardening work commenced, and continued into the next day. Saturday saw us visiting good friends, and walking to a beach and back. We saw a spider weave her web, and I completed a stubborn jigsaw. (24 images total)
First Day of Summer – Thursday 21 April 2016
Emma posing just before going into the hot tub. She’s wearing Anna’s old swimsuit!