[Photos from 13-18 January 2017, posted online 02 April 2017. After a few spring-like days, it’s now snowing again.]
I went on a work-trip to Ireland in January. It was a nice change of scenery, and it was good to see some extra sunlight.
Friday 13 January 2017
At the airport, about to fly to Belfast.
[Photos from 01-09 January 2017, posted online 26 31 March 2017. Looking at the ocean from a Hafnarfjörður cafe Chilly but bright out. At Gló.]
We spent the first week of January fighting the flu. Finnur was the first to fall, and then we all got it, except Anna, who still gloats about it!
Some of us did manage to crawl out of the house on 6 January to shoot up a few fireworks and say goodbye to the year at Finnur’s parent’s place. The remainder stayed at home and cracked open the ginger bread house that had been taunting the kids for a couple of weeks.
Finnur and I also managed to drag our coughing tails to a new-years party, which was a lot of fun. (12 images total)
Sunday 01 January 2017
Sisters out in the snow for a bit.
[Photos from 31 December 2016, posted online 13 March 2017. Trying not to eavesdrop at a cafe. Some people talk loudly.]
Poor Finnur fell victim to the flu early on the last day of the year. It made the festivities a little different from usual.
After picking up some pre-ordered fireworks, I took the kids to Finnur’s parents’ place, along with their extended family. We stayed until about 9 pm, when we drove off to go see a couple of “proper” firework shows, where they use the “big” bombs.
On our way back home, we stumbled on the third show seemingly being run from an empty lot by our local grocery store. I still don’t know who was behind it, but it was very cool.
We watched the annual comedy hour with a barely-awake Finnur. When that finished at 23:30, I took the kids up to the hill above our house to enjoy the view as the city area went bananas. The kids liked it, except for Emma who lost her mind because I wouldn’t let her climb the tall Buddha stupa like her older siblings.
She apparently has some misconceptions about gravity! (24 images total, and 4 videos in a playlist)
New Year’s Eve from the hill above our house.
[Photos from 27-30 December 2016, posted online 12 March 2017. Fueled by a cinnamon bun!]
This year was a bad one for employees, as most of the public holidays associated with Christmas fell on a weekend. The only public holiday of the entire season was Monday the 26th! (The unions need to start fixing this!!)
I did get an extra day off (Tue), and I took a sick day off (Wed), but ended up at work for two days (Thu & Fri), which was a bit weird. Here are a few snapshots from that week (9 images total)
Tuesday 27 December 2016
We took the kids skating, even Emma! If you know where to look, you can see Finnur guiding Emma’s slide-rail.
[Photos from 26 December 2016, posted online 07 March 2017. Fueled by carrot cake!]
My uncle and wife hosted my mom plus kids, spouses, and grandkids for a lovely afternoon at their place. We ate too much, the kids played, the adults chatted, and a board game got played! (15 images total)
A feast!
[Photos from 25 December 2016, posted online 05 March 2017. At least she’s still a teenager!]
Christmas Day marked Anna becoming a teenager, as she’s now 13 years old! She got presents from us at home, and then we attended the annual Christmas Day party at Finnur’s parent’s place.
This year we broke from tradition and did not play social whist, somehow the time to do it never materialized. But it was a lovely day nonetheless! (42 images total)
Anna, the teenager, with her rapidly aging parents!
[Photos from 24 December 2016, posted online 04 March 2017. There snow outside now, but weirdly bright compared to Christmas.]
The all-important Christmas Eve finally arrived. I spent the day putting the finishing touches on a couple of presents that turned out to require a lot more effort than initially anticipated (for the second year in a row, why can’t I get this done earlier!!), but it was a nice day nonetheless. (14 images total)
The yuletide tree up and decorated, and about to be lifted off the ground with all the presents around it! The image captures the siblings pretty accurately, the girls were happy excited, but Bjarki had trouble finding joy in the uncertainty of what the presents contained.
[Photo taken on 18 December 2016, and lets make believe I posted it online on 24 December 2016… 🙂 ] Merry Everything!!! Gleðilegt allt!! 🙂Read more
[Photos from 23 December 2016, posted online 25 February 2016. Just in the nick of time.]
Anna has learnt to be very persistent in reminding us to schedule ginger-bread-house-making before Christmas. This year, we managed to squeeze it in on 23 December, and to make sure we carried through with the plan, we invited Holla and Óli to join us. (13 images total)
House parts, and a few extra nuggets.
[Photo from 19 December 2016, posted online 25 February 2017. After a crazy warm February, we finally have some snow on the ground again.] This winter has been warm, unusually warm. But the warmth has been interrupted here and there with small stretches of enough chill to carry snow with it. December was no exception,Read more