Horses, Cows, Water and Food.

After such a lazy Sunday, we felt energized to actually do something the following Monday.  We opted to have the kids ride horses, visit a coffee house with a view over a fully automated milk farm, go swimming in Akureyri, eat dinner and then head back to home base.

Kids playing nicely together in the morning.

Shortly after lunch we called up the horse rental place (Hestaleigan Kátur) and made an appointment for 13:45. On our way there, we met our friend Kata out on a run, but we couldn’t stop for long because we were late!

Read more

Lazy Sunday

Sunday was such an excellent day weather-wise, that we decided to just hang out and chill the entire day.

Hildur the Cool.

Northern-ish view.

Read more

Getting Settled

Our summer-house was located 30 km (19 miles) south of Akureyri (Iceland’s capital of the north), which meant that we had to drive all the way there to get gas and groceries (Americans: feel free to roll your eyes at our ‘long’ distances).  Yes, we were pretty much located in the middle of farm country, but it was really lovely.

Our first day was therefore spent driving to Akureyri and back and then just chillin’ at the house!

Getting ready to set out to Akureyri.

Read more

Carpentry and Travels

Friday morning the carpenter(s) showed up bright and early and set up their gear.  Most of the work was done by a younger guy, while his boss (an older gentleman) showed up now and again to check things out.  By the end of the day the lowest deck was almost fully completed. We then wavedRead more

Bjarki’s 5th Birthday!

Today marks the 5th anniversary of the birth of the twins, of whom only Bjarki survives.  Bjarki’s been waiting and waiting (mostly) patiently for this day to arrive for some months now, and he was pretty happy and excited when he woke up.

When the kids were both awake, we summoned them into our room, where Bjarki got to open his first present.

Read more

Plumbers and Garage-Organizing

Today we were visited by a couple of plumbers who rigged up pipes in the backyard for our soon-to-be-installed hot-tub (yes, with a lockable lid). When the house was built, a water pipe was installed under the kitchen floor, beginning from the garage and exiting just under the patio deck, just in case somebody wantedRead more

Snapshots

It’s getting late so this will be short.  Went swimming again, this time in the still-empty 50 m indoor pool at Laugardalslaug.  Bought fabric for curtains and ordered two small pli-sol curtains (I hope they turn out ok?!).  Had lunch: Wandered around some furniture stores, discovered that Ilva is a slightly more upscale version ofRead more

Let the Shopping Commence!

This blog will very shortly be renamed ‘Hrefna’s First World Problems’.  Woe is me. No, I kid.  But still… 🙂 I started the day by going swimming in Laugardalslaug (great blog link!), one of a handful of 50 m pools in the area. Since I was there during the morning, the pool was crowded with olderRead more

Álafosskvos

We had a mini-California reunion today, and met up with the Guðrúns and the Elsas at Álafosskvos.  None of us had been there, so we didn’t quite know what to expect, but it was pretty idyllic, with a ‘monkey swing’, a slide, and a little coffee-shop.

Look, nature!

Read more

A Toasty Day

It’s so bright now long into the night that the kids keep going to bed later and later.  We’re pretty sure Anna didn’t fall asleep until 11:30 pm, and since I knew she would tear herself out of bed by 8 am to go watch videos on the computer (8 am is the earliest allowedRead more