[Photo from 9 minutes past midnight on 01 JULY 2015. Posted online 25 minutes past midnight on 29 August 2015. I’m told northern lights were visible in the sky tonight.] The evening are growing increasingly dark now so it’s weird to think this photo was taking only a few days short of two months ago.Read more
[Photos from 28 June 2015. Written up just past midnight.]
Our Bjarki is 8 years old today! Yes, I spent some minutes being maudlin with a hospital keepsake box in my hands shortly after midnight had struck, but could-have-beens have never been very useful.
So, back to the birthday boy!
We all woke up pretty late because we all went to bed late, and presents weren’t opened up until past breakfast and clothes-on. They generally went down well, although he may have been wishing for a phone, which he’s just not getting for as long as we can get away with it.
Then there was computer time, then lunchtime, then we went to the playground for a bit in the surprisingly balmy weather. It was almost properly warm! (20°C/68F at one point!)
We left Emma and Finnur at home, and went to the library, as per Bjarki’s request. After the library, we stopped at the usual cafe for hot chocolate and cakes, and the kids read in peace and quiet. Next up on the request list was the arcade near our house, where we had a gift-card good for one hour of games.
Post gaming came grocery shopping for dinner, because we’d invited one of Finnur’s sister’s over on a whim when our previous plans of having a proper birthday party fell through due to forecasted rain. We’ll be trying again this Thursday.
Finnur magic-ed up a dreamy seafood soup, while the guests played games with the kids. We chatted away into the evening, and I think a nice time was had by all!
Some photos from the day. (31 images total)
EVEN MORE PHOTOS CAN BE VIEWED BY CLICKING HERE!
Bjarki, the 8 year old birthday boy!
[Happenings of 14 June 2015 were finally formalized in blog form on 14 July 2015. Where did that month evaporate to?]
Let’s take a time machine and warp back a month to where we woke up to a gooooorgeous Sunday morning, and a newly landed husband (fresh from California) who needed some peace and quiet to sleep for a few hours, before hosting guests for the afternoon and evening.
The easy solution was to visit the domestic-animals-and-family park, of course! (24 images total!)
We arrived at the house-animal-and-family park shortly after it opened at 10 am. The cows were outside, and google suggested the themed edit!
[Photos from 13 June 2015. Blogged on 15 June. When will it end?]
This weekend we actually had good weather. Both days had clear skies, but the Sunday was noticeably warmer than Saturday. We are fortunate enough to have a patio that is sheltered from most wind directions, so we had a pretty sweet time on both days!
Both days were busy, here are photos from the Saturday, where we put up a tent, attended a birthday, and hosted two of my brothers plus entourage for hot tubbing, and a dinner. Yes, this marked the first time we used the hot tub this year. Golly! (18 images total)
Shortly before lunchtime Anna suggested we put the tent up, so we did!
[Written and implemented on 09 June 2015.] I just took all the posts written between 01 March 2015 and yesterday and re-dated them so that they’re now organized in the order they happened, and not in the order they were written. (I do try to make the newest posts appear first, even though they’re outRead more
[Show on 06 June 2015, blogged on 08 June 2015. Brilliant!]
In a fit of unusual productivity in early April, I booked tickets for not one, but two (!!) plays with the big kids this spring time. The first was Pippi Longstocking, which Bjarki wanted to see. That had been running for a while, so that was easy to get tickets to, and we went a week or two later. That show was a hoot!
The other was Billy Elliot the Musical, which Anna wanted to see. It started its run late this winter, and has been very popular. We therefore had to wait a couple of months to see a show from good seats. But boy oh boy were they good seats!
The musical was great! The kids did a wonderful job, the main adults were splendidly cast, and there was nary a dull moment. Bjarki did cringe a few times when Billy was dancing through his frustrations, but overall an excellent time was had by all! (5 images total)
We sat down in our seats early.
[The show was on 05 June 2015, but this is being blogged on 08 June 2015. Close enough.]
The academic year is over now, and one of the final events was the gymnastics spring exhibition. The local club is called Gerpla, and every year they host a series of spring shows. I’m pretty sure the big kids participate in all the shows (five this year) but the little kids only perform in one show, thank goodness.
The show this year was fun, they’d woven the performances to a narrative of the old Norse mythology. I did overhear somebody saying that they’d had to make a decision as to whether they should have good lighting or fancy costumes, and the lights won out. It was probably a good call, as it made for a cool show.
First though, we had to ‘assign’ Emma to somebody else, because I had no desire to try and wrangle her for a solid two hours. Finnur’s parents very kindly offered to take her to their summer house in Laugarvatn, which was great because the next night I had tickets for myself and the big kids to see Billy Elliot the Musical. (Finnur’s still in California.) (10 images and 1 video total)
Emma in the car with her grandparents and one of her cousins, who was also having a summer-house sleepover.
[Club held on 04 June 2015, blogged on 08 June 2015. Instantaneous!]
I’d committed way in advance to hosting a sewing club for the ex-CA-ans on 28 May, but as it turned out I had to postpone it because I was sick… and I remained sick all through the weekend. (Finnur departing for CA that Friday the 29th was less-than-perfect timing, but we all survived. Barely.)
Anyway, I decided it was one of those now or never things, so a week later I did host a sewing club, sans the help of Finnur who usually picks up a lot of my planning slack, and takes care of the kids upstairs while the girls chat and nosh.
No such luck this time, but it all worked out ok (and as an added bonus, the lower floor is clean and tidy for once!). The only thing to go “wrong” was Emma discovering a jar of vaseline which she smeared all over herself and our sheets, and Anna calling down around 9:30 pm to ask if she should give Emma a bath to clean her off. (I decided no bathing, just a rub down and back to bed. She finally succumbed to sleep soon thereafter).
Other than that I think a good time was had by all! (2 images total)
The ex-CA-ans who could make it.
[Written 28 May 2015.] So, May’s essentially come and gone. It was unusually crazy. Here are the highlights: Weekend #1 saw our first weekend trip to the summer house at Laugarvatn, where we erected the big trampoline, along with Holla and Óli. On 7 May I visited my little nephew for the first time, andRead more
[Written on 28 May 2015.] So many long-time bloggers I’ve sort of followed are falling off the cliff and not blogging any more. Is it the 15 year ennui? (Ennui = a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement.) Yeah, it’s been almost 15 years, if you start countingRead more