Dagbók Hrefnu og Finns

A Beautiful Day by Laugarvatn

2013-08-06Uncategorized Standard

[Written 15 September 2013. Grrr.]

Our travel-partners, Guðrún and Snorri, headed back to the city around lunch on the Bank Holiday Monday to beat the traffic. Shortly after they’d left, we got a phone-call from Holla and Óli who told us they were close by, and asked if they could stop by for tea-time.

Not only did they stop by with materials to make American Pancakes (Holla is a kitchen goddess!) but we convinced them to chill and stay the night. Which they did. We even played Pandemic!

Lucky for all of us, the following day (Tuesday) was GORGEOUS. Here are some pics (10 total).

A lot of trees got planted around the summer house almost twenty years ago (Finnur and I had just gotten together, I still remember the tiny plants sticking out of the mud). Now these trees are BIG, and therefore cut down on the wind, but they also cut down on the view – except towards Mt. Hekla, seen here.

Black-Out Blinds

2013-08-05Uncategorized Standard

[Written 14 September 2013. Still more than a month behind. Grumble.]

Guðrún kindly brought her sewing machine to the summer house, and together we managed to turn one roll of black-out blinds into two blinds for the little guest-house where they were sleeping.

This project had been percolating in my brain for a few weeks (I’m such a sunlight-wuzz, and the guesthouse has always been curtain-less) so the fact we got it done was a huge relief. It was also pretty impressive in retrospect because I (the one supposedly directing this design project) was basically brainless due to lack of sleep, and Guðrún was under a serious cold attack, and should have been in bed with a hot cup of tea with lots of honey.

But somehow we pushed through, and then got a little bit of help from the men to actually install the curtains. (5 images total)

One box of black-out curtain for $20, check.

One box of black-out blinds for $20, check.

Playing Tourists – The Geysir and Gullfoss Edition

2013-08-04Uncategorized Standard

[Written 13 September 2013. Seriously.]

We decided to play tourists on this long-weekend Sunday, and go see Geysir (well, Strokkur) and Gullfoss (The Golden Waterfall).

We last went to see them in 2009 so it was high time for a revisit (There are 30-ish images total below.)

(Note: There are TWO photosphere images in this post (Geysir and Gullfoss), but you have to visit the actual post to see them.)

Strokkur calming down after erupting. It goes up every few minutes.

Strokkur the geyser calming down after erupting. It goes up every few minutes.

Laugardagur at Laugarvatn

2013-08-03Uncategorized Standard

[Written 13 September 2013. Yes, I’m over a month behind. Deal with it.]

Icelanders like the word ‘laugar’. It means ‘pool’ or ‘bath’, usually of the natural kind and geothermally heated. Laugardagur is Saturday, and Laugarvatn is PoolWater. I guess one was supposed to bathe on Saturdays in the olden times?

Pool-thoughts aside, we spent a long weekend with Guðrún and Snorri and two of their kids at the summer house. First up was a lazy Saturday (5 images total):

Our kids, barely able to eat their breakfast because the morning kiddie TV shows were on.

The Road to Laugarvatn

2013-08-02Uncategorized Standard

[Written 3 September 2013 – Happy Birthday Nökkvi!]

Google Street View has finally made it to Iceland, which may or may not have inspired me to take photos of the landscape as we drove (yet again) the hour-long drive to Laugarvatn for a four-night stay at the summer house. Most of these were taken out the window, and thus needed color correction, which I attempted.

Here are some examples (46 images total).

The route to Laugarvatn.

Kópavogur Main Library

2013-08-01Uncategorized Standard

[Written 29 August 2013]

This was a sleepy Thursday. As in: the parents were sleepy, and the kids were antsy and bored. So I handed Anna this What-to-do-with-children-in-the-city-area book and told her to pick an activity. She came up with a school playground we’d never visited, and Reykjavik’s Main Library (both relatively far away).

When she handed me the book I looked at the next page and saw Kópavogur’s Main Library and realized I’d NEVER BEEN THERE! (And I loooooove libraries!) This was extra pitiful because I biked past the library building almost every day on my way to work.

So to the library we went. And of course we discoverd that they have a pretty darn cool nature-museum on the first floor with tons of stuffed animals, cool rocks, and fish tanks. (See photos, this post has 4 photos total.)

Siblings by some ex-sea-ish life.

Happy Child

2013-07-31Uncategorized Standard

[Written 29 August 2013] Us girls stayed home on this pretty day, while the boys went back to work on Finnur’s parents’ garden, laying more paving stones. We didn’t do much, but I did document that Emma’s been practicing flipping from back to stomach, staying happily on her stomach for long periods of time. It’s highlyRead more

Parental Garden Day

2013-07-30Uncategorized Standard

[Written 29 August 2013]

As Þórarinn’s (Finnur’s dad’s) 70th birthday was rapidly approaching, the siblings organized a yard day at their parents’ house, to make it prettier for the upcoming party.

It was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny, and the grandkids had a good time in the yard.

Anna at the Hair Salon

2013-07-30Uncategorized Standard

[Written 28 August 2013] Anna’s not a big fan of taking care of her hair (#cough#mydaughter#cough#) so I decided to throw in the proverbial towel for long hair, and hauled her to the hair salon to get most of her hair chopped off. I confessed to her stylist that we were having some hairy issues,Read more

Finnur’s 39th Birthday and Emma’s First ‘Solid’ Food

2013-07-29Uncategorized Standard

[Written 25 August 2013]

We didn’t do anything fancy to celebrate Finnur’s 39th birthday, but he did cook himself (and us!) a fancy meal. He got presents, and Emma got her first taste of rice. All in all an eventful day!

Finnur getting his birthday present…

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