Summer Vacation

In true Icelandic fashion, Finnur and I are taking July off for vacation this year.  Incidentally, our good friends, Adda and Halli, are also taking July off, so we decided to join forces and go on a short vacation together.  As any parent should know, bringing playmates for the kids along for a vacation means that you have a much greater chance of actually going on vacation.  Also, as we may have mentioned before, we are incredibly fortunate in that we have family-access to quite a few ‘summer-houses’ within easy driving distance of the capital area.  For this particular trip we decided to start by going to Ólafsvík for a couple of nights, and then to Hvalfjörður for a few more nights.

Our adorable flower-picking-fairies right before taking off for Ólafsvík on Saturday 2 July 2011. This picture does not capture the ever-present chaos and craziness raging before embarking on any such trip.

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Bjarki turns 4 years old!

Today it has been four years since Bjarki and Reynir were yanked into this world.  It doesn’t quite feel like it was yesterday, but it’s a little surprising to think that it was four whole years ago! To mark the day, Bjarki got to open a present this morning.  We then brought ice-cream to daycare,Read more

Diving in Silfra

Nicolas and Precilla visited us from California this week and asked if I (Finnur) wanted to join them for a dive in Silfra (in Þingvellir). This was the perfect opportunity for me to do the dry suit course I’d been meaning to take, and Oli, who had also been toying with the idea of divingRead more

Also on Sunday…

Sunday was the first really really really nice day weather-wise for weeks.  We did manage to go biking after all, and it was gorgeous out there.  To celebrate the weather, we broke out Anna’s Stomp Rocket, and it was an instant hit with the kids. 🙂 Later that afternoon we headed to a birthday bashRead more

Bjarni Sr. Passes

A bike-trip with mom was planned for this glorious-weather morning, but when I called mom up to see if she was still up for it, she informed me that Bjarni Sr., my stepdad, had died this morning from complications of a long term illness.  This wasn’t entirely shocking, since he’d been sick for a longRead more

Cute Kids

Bjarki got Anna to wrap him up in a duvet etc this morning.  He was her little baby.  Awwww… It was a mostly quiet day, even though this is the start of a three day weekend (yet another holy holiday on Monday).  We took forever to leave the house (herding cats that dress slowly isRead more

At the Store

Iceland is a special little country were ‘common sense’ does’t always work the way you think it would.  Case in point: price per weight for goods of varying packaging sizes. Example 1: Basmati Rice: To summarize: 500 g in a paper box with four plastic boil-in bags: 296 isk or 592 isk/kg 500 g inRead more

Clean-up at Daycare

Just a few pictures of a ‘summer clean-up’ at Bjarki’s daycare. The parents were summoned to help weed, sweep, mend etc the main playground. We were also asked to bring hot dogs and buns, and a couple of teachers manned the BBQ so there was a steady stream of hot dogs for a couple ofRead more

Surprisingly Sad

This is going to one of those blog-posts-as-therapy, since I’m too stingy to actually go see a therapist – and seriously, isn’t a therapist there to get you to talk and realize what your hang-ups are?  Well, look, I’m ‘talking’! So yes, today I’m surprisingly sad.  Or perhaps a more accurate description is that I’mRead more

End of the School-Year

This past week has been Anna’s last week at school.  On Monday we’re supposed to show up to fetch her report-card, and then she’s off to at least a month of aftercare before we begin our month-long-ish summer vacation in July.  To celebrate the end of school, two big events were planned.  The first one was this past Tuesday morning, where all the parents of the kids in class gathered into the school-auditorium and saw the kids sing, give a power-point presentation (!!!) and act out three plays.  The second part was today (Friday) where the entire morning was fun and games, then some hot-dogs, then a small concert plus ice-cream.

Part of the new building that they built next to the old main building to house all the kids Melaskóli needs to house.

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