Dagbók Hrefnu og Finns

To Washington DC!

2015-07-29USA Standard

[This happened on 29 July 2015, but is being blogged on 10 September 2015. No wind!]

In late May I got a fly in my head (Icelandic idiom) to go visit and stay with our friends Elsa and Þráinn in Washington DC during our summer vacation.

Long story short, a plan was hatched, tickets were bought, and on Finnur’s 41st birthday, we took off for a two week vacation! (16 images total)

You can tell be the cart/stroller that we're at Keflavik airport! Yes, we decided to buy proper headphones for all (but one unlucky soul). They paid off, big time!

You can tell by the cart/stroller that we’re at Keflavik airport! Yes, we decided to buy proper headphones for all but one unlucky soul. They were worth it!

Nökkvi, Jóhanna & Kids Spend the Day

2015-07-28Hrefna's family Standard

[Photos from 28 July 2015, put online 09 September 2015. Storm #2 arriving tonight!]

We finally got around to hosting Nökkvi and Jóhanna and their kiddos for a hot tubbing day! It was a surprisingly good day weather-wise, so Finnur also got in touch with his inner stainer, and stained some of the fences in front of the house. (14 images total)

Sunbrella time!

Ríkey & Co visit and Finnur’s 40th (+363 days) Birthday Bash

2015-07-27Finnur's family, Hrefna's family Standard

[Photos from 27 July 2015, put online 08 September 2015. Yet another storm hitting.]

Monday was a busy day. My cousin Ríkey and her gang came for a day-long visit, which included american pancakes, and hot tubbing, of course.

In the evening, we handed the kids over to my brother Bjarni, while we took Finnur’s immediate family out for dinner to celebrate his 40th birthday, two days before he would turn 41 years old. Better late than never?! (16 images total)

Pancakes about to be gobbled up. Palli was a little late to join us, and Bjarki was too hungry to be photographed! Also, we TOTALLY failed at photographing the cousins playing. Tsk, tsk!

Tigers and Voyagers

2015-07-26Uncategorized Standard

[Photos from Sunday 26 July 2015, text and stuff from 07 September 2015. The autumn wind is howling outside.]

Emma finally dared to put on Anna’s old tiger costume, and looked adooorable. Our friend Elsa brought her three kids over for an afternoon splurge in the hot tub, and a scrumptious dinner. Her oldest daughter then took the younger ones home, while we rounded up Guðrún, and went downtown for an evening coffee house chat.

I’m liking this “child has a drivers licence” thing! (10 images total)

Sisters.

Saturday Staining

2015-07-25Emma Standard

[Images from Saturday 25 July 2015. Blogged on 07 September 2015. Slowly, but surely…]

It was a slowish Saturday. The weather hung mostly dry, so I (Hrefna) kept staining garden furniture. The day before I’d managed to get started on a couple of Ikea things (a wooden crate, and a small table), and the staining continued with a small kiddie bench, and three chairs we got from my grandmother, that we’d neglected for a little too long.

Later on, Adda and Halli came over, and I’m sure we ate something delicious! (4 images total)

Emma, oozing cuteness and innocence while she tries to do something to my computer.

Bjarki Goes East, Hrefna Goes to a Concert

2015-07-24Events Standard

[Happenings of 24 July 2015, onlined 06 September 2015. Good thing nothing else is going on these days.]

We booked Bjarki a stay with his grandparents over the weekend to decrease our humans-per-area ratio a bit. The showering of unconditional love always does him good.

Meanwhile, I went out to dinner with Sigga (from CA), and then finished the evening by attending a jazz concert by the group 23/8, which is fronted by my old classmate Stina. They put on a great show of Björk songs, calling it Bjorkologi. (9 images total, 1 video)

Fresh from the library, these are the books Bjarki took with him to his grandparents’ summer house.

Travel Day: Time to Drive Back Home

2015-07-23Uncategorized Standard

[The long drive back happened on Thursday 23 July 2015. It’s being put online on 03 September 2015. In unrelated news: Happy Birthday Nökkvi!]

Our travels about Iceland came to a close on a fairly mild Thursday. We spent the morning packing up, and left our hosts close to noon. We stopped to buy cookies for the road, and then decided to eat lunch at a restaurant before heading off, in the hopes the kids would fall asleep.

Happily, all the kids nodded off for almost two hours, so we didn’t stop again until Staðarskáli for some ice cream. We kept driving south, clearing the Big Bank of Clouds at some point, to arrive in Borgarnes, where we visited the local swimming pool in gorgeous weather.

Our restaurant of choice in Borgarnes was fully booked, so we ended up driving to Akranes to eat dinner there, before driving the last 30 minutes home. All in all it was a successful trip, but we were also glad to be home. (13 images total)

Packing up the car.

Hrafnagil Day 3: More Horses!

2015-07-22Iceland Standard

[Photos from Wednesday 22 July 2015, but text and layout from 01 $#^@$ September 2015. How?!?!]

Our super fun horse ride along a beach on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula had us hungering for more horse-time. We decided to book a tour with Pólar hestar a little ways north of where we were staying.

This time, Finnur also wanted to try riding, so our hosts graciously offered to babysit Emma for a few hours.

On the way to the horse rental we picked up Solla and Gunni’s oldest daughter, Arndís, who tagged along with us on her first horse ride.

All in all it went well. It was a little troublesome to only have one guide out in front, because some of the horses were fairly willing, but Bjarki’s was not, so he kept falling behind. Bjarki was also still pretty traumatized from the last ride (where his horse took off like a rocket for a short spurt) so the overall speed was kept down low.

At one point, the guide tried to allow us to sprint away from her (and Bjarki) and back again, but the horses were unhappy to leave their lead horse, so that didn’t go so well. I did learn though that shorter stirrups beat long ones (Hello there, near fatal accident!).

We were a happy group at the end though, so that’s all that matters. (13 images total)

Horses!

Hrafnagil Day 2: North Along the Coast

2015-07-21Iceland Standard

[We did this on 21 July 2015, but I’m writing it up on 31 August 2015. It’s been a while!]

Our hosts decided our ignorance of the northern parts of their fjord was a travesty, so they set out to fix it.

First we drove to Dalvík where we visited the Hvoll folk museum, and then went to eat a late lunch. Afterwards we drove further and through one tunnel to Ólafsfjörður where everybody except the old geezers took a dip in the excellent swimming pool.

We kept driving on, passing through two long tunnels, to arrive at Siglufjörður. There we had a quick cup of coffee in the surprisingly lively town, before arriving at the herring era museum fifteen minutes before closing. It was nifty to see the entrance exhibit, but we decided we’d return when Emma was a bit bigger to investigate further.

With that we returned back to home base. (54 images total)

The house Hvoll houses Dalvík’s Folk Museum.

Hrafnagil Day 1: Relaxation

2015-07-20Iceland Standard

[Events of 20 July 2015 are being chronicled on 29 August 2015. Hope is eternal.]

After a stiff touristing program around Ólafsvík, we decided to take it as easy as we possibly could during our first day up north. So we did. I can’t even remember what we did for most of the day, but I’m sure it wasn’t much of anything.

We did manage to drive across the road to take a dip in the local swimming pool, and then drove a little ways late in the afternoon to visit our friends Solla and Gunni, while our hosts attended a birthday party.

Oh, and Finnur climbed up a hill with Bjarki and took photos. (16 images total, 1 video)

It doesn’t get a lot more relaxing than this! Emma getting her servants to put her shoes on after swimming.