Dagbók Hrefnu og Finns

Edinburgh Day #1

2016-09-23Friends, Us Standard

[Photos from 23 September 2016, posted online 7 January 2017. Wondering if I should have a doc listen to my lungs.]

Adda is the opposite of me when it comes to traveling, as she likes to have things planned out in advance, whereas I usually don’t start planning until I’ve already arrived. Thus the trip was mostly planned out before we arrived, with breakfast and evening restaurants spotted/booked, so there was no time wasted! (42 images total)

Halli and Finnur in front of a church on our short walk from our apartment to downtown.

Couples Trip to Edinburgh (Day #0)

2016-09-22Friends, Us Standard

[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.

Short Worktrip to Canada

2016-09-17Hrefna Standard

[Photos from 17-21 September 2016, posted online 27 November 2016. Winter’s gone into hiding again.]

My first work-trip post ankle-breakage was to the Edmonton area in Canada. It was my third time going there, so I knew what to expect.

Imagine my surprise then when I hauled my behind outside for a walk/slow-jog around a nearby unexplored neighborhood, which went from cookie-cutter houses to a lovely pond, and then a wooden trail! I’ll have to continue exploring next time I go there! (32 images total)

Saturday 17 September 2016

Flying over Greenland. Sharp mountain-tops peaking out of the ice-sheet.

Hallgerður Katrín Named

2016-09-11Finnur's family Standard

[Photos from 11 September 2016, posted online 22 November 2016. For completeness.]

As I mentioned in my last post, Finnur’s now the brother of a grandmother! Yup, Eyrún’s older daughter gave birth to a beautiful baby girl earlier this year, much to everybody’s joy.

It took the parents a while to settle on a name, but they got there in the end, and invited everybody to a naming party. I took a ton of photos, you can see them here. (Below are 26 of them.)

The star of the day.

September Begins

2016-09-03Friends, Uncategorized, Us Standard

[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 a whole hedge, and dressed it with lots of sand. To a weed-less future!

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!

2016-08-22Friends, Us Standard

[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

2016-08-20Friends, Us Standard

[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!

The Week Before School Started Up

2016-08-14Uncategorized Standard

[Photos from 14-19 August 2016, posted online 18 October 2016. October so far is balmy warm, with intermittent storms.]

The last work-week before school started. The big kids were at horse camp, the little kid was at daycare, and the big folk were at work. A few photos got taken nonetheless. (13 images total)

Sunday 14 August 2016

The adorableness is strong with these. Emma’s out there in front.

Engjabær-Descendants Meet Up

2016-08-13Hrefna's family, Us Standard

[Photos from 13 August 2016, posted online 07 October 2016. This post took two coffee house visits!]

Earlier this year, after a funeral of a member of my mother’s extended family, the idea was floated to have the descendants of my maternal-great-grandparents meet up outside of the funeral context for a change.

My great-grandparents, who lived in Engjabær, which was located where the farm animal/family park in Reykjavik is now, had 12 children (sort of standard for the time), all of which made it to adulthood, but only five of which had children of their own.

One cousin offered up a fishing hut/camping site that he runs at Minnivallalækur. Since the five of us still don’t have the equipment we need to camp overnight, we instead drove there on Saturday morning, spent the day (fake-camped our small tent), and then drove back in the late evening.

A good time was had by all! Also, the whole photoset can be seen here. (32 images below)

Group photo of (most of) the attendees. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Summer Vacation Ends, Real Life Revs Up Again

2016-08-05Friends, Us Standard

[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.