Iceland Accomodations

 Brian planned the whole trip, everything, which was so amazing.  He picked the most perfect accommodations, which I meant to take pictures of each, but somehow didn't.  The first was this adorable apartment tucked in the back of a house.  

 It was just the right size for us with this cute little side yard.

 After leaving Reykjevic, we headed to the Westman Islands and stayed in a really nice (small) hotel.  I didn't get any photos of the hotel itself, but this was the view out of the window.  It was right around the corner from our favorite restaurant on the Island, Gott and we were situated so that we could walk to each hike we wanted to do. And the breakfast was pretty amazing, simple, but yummy.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures from our next stop at the Black Sandy Beaches, but I wish I had.  The room had twin beds, which I thought were funny for us.

The last hotel he booked for two nights, but we ended up only spending on in, was called "Milk Factory".  We still cannot figure out why.  We had a room that we think was just sort of added on.  It was attached to the hotel, but not in the hotel, very strange.

Lots of Demolition Going On

No make up, no filters.

Just wanted an early morning with mom I guess.

Snuggling with my Fireman

 This kid loves his fireman costume (A's fireman costume from 5 years ago)...  He wears it often.  And he likes snuggling. 

Start of a New School Year

The big guys started 5th and 3rd grade on Monday.  Its a big change given we no longer have anyone in the K12 (main) building.  Drop off and pick up are a drive through.  They were both ready to go back and excited about their new classes (LT with the same kids but all 3 teachers are new) and A an entirely new class with new teachers (though one is a friend of his mom).

 But these two are still together.  Year 7 of being in the same class.  A wanted me to come in on the second day to see his Rube Goldberg project his group was working on.  

 B starts next week, but he had his Popsicle Pop In this morning.  As soon as we dropped the big guys off he was ready to go, but the party wasn't until 10:30.  We did a few of his favorite things to pass the time: Starbucks date, drive through car wash, dollar store trip and some time at the library.  He insisted on wearing his hard hat to surprise his new friends.  I am not sure what this meant, given that he hadn't met any of them yet, but we went with it.

He absolutely loved it.  I hope that excitement continues next week when mom leaves and he's there with his friends and teachers.  I imagine it will be a shock to him and maybe a little sad, but I might be happily surprised.

Iceland-Day 3

 We started our day with the most delicious breadbowl soup at our favorite spot (we ultimately ended up eating here 4 times) and then drove a few hours to catch a ferry.  We had originally planned on taking our car on the ferry, but when we got to the loading dock, the ferry car spots were sold out for several weeks due to the "festival" that would be happening on the Westman Islands that weekend.  We actually lucked out with timing (our plans had us staying at the Westman Islands Wednesday-Friday), but had we been a day later, we wouldn't have been able to board the ferry at all due to the festival.  The ferry itself is pretty uneventful, until you come to this picture below.  I mean, it was INCREDIBLE.  Out of nowhere come these cliffs jutting out of the ocean created entirely by volcanic activity.  

 Its hard to tell, but these cliffs go straight up, 1000 feet or more.

 After settling into our hotel room, we headed out to the Volcano Museum on the Island.  In 1973 the island was changed forever by the eruption of Eldheimer.  The entire town on the island was covered by volcanic material over the course of 6 months.  Luckily everyone was able to evacuate the island with only one casualty.  However, homes were destroyed.  6 months after the volcano began erupting, the island had grown by 20%.  People were finally allowed back onto the island to begin their new lives.  The museum was built around an excavated home (see above and below) and is very informative of the volcanic activity not only on the island, but in the area.

 There is a trail that begins outside the museum and leads to the top of Eldheimer.  There are two routes and Brian and I chose (not intentionally) the incredibly steep (and not popular) route up.  It really was beautiful, and windy, and along a cliff.

Iceland-Day 2

 After getting a good nights sleep (until noon or one!) we got in our rented car and began what is known as the "Golden Circle"  It consists of 3 sites (with multiple other detour sites) and is all drivable from Rejekevic.  We actually skipped the first one and headed straight to Geysir.  Supposedly it is what all other Geysirs are named after.  It was pretty amazing, but very small in comparison to Yellowstone.  There is one active Geysir as well as many other small thermal pots and an inactive geysir.  Nonetheless, it was a beautiful place to stretch our legs and take a hike.

 The first of many cliffs we would see on our trip.  I mentioned to Brian that I felt like the city was safe and his reply was, "I think the dangers to toursists here are falling off cliffs and driving off the no shoulder roads".  

 We got back in our car and continued on to Gulfoss.  Again, the first waterfall of many we would see in Iceland.  This was the largest we saw and one of the most beautiful for sure.  There wasn't much hiking, you basically get out of the car, walk a ways, look down steep cliffs at the waterfall and get back in the car.

 On our way back to Reykjavik, we noticed a parking lot with lots of tourists and decided to check it out.  It was an old volcano, Kerid,  that now has a beautiful lake inside the crater.  There is a path around the entire upper part as well as a path down into the crater and one around the lake.  We took the upper path and then walked down to the lake.

 Given that our planning didn't pan out the day before for the Blue Lagoon, we had made reservations for our second day at 8PM.  Our late start to the day didn't allow us to complete all the detours on the Golden Circle, but we were very glad to have the chance to enjoy the Blue Lagoon.    After walking down a long path nestled between this volcanic debris covered in this green moss, you come across a milky blue water.  I've never seen anything like it.  Its probably the most touristy thing we did while there, but well worth the $150 we spent on the tickets.  You line up inside a building while a "host" gives a little speech about how to use the lockers, gives you a wristband that allows you to lock you things as well as order anything you'd like from the bars around the pools and explains how to take care of your hair inside and out of the pool.  Once inside, men go into their locker rooms and women into theirs and you meet outside.  The pool is a perfect warm temperature, naturally heated.  You cannot see the bottom due to the milky nature of the water and so they suggest not bringing in cell phones for photographing.  There is a mud mask bar as well as a regular bar, one each included in your ticket.  You are allowed to soak as long as you want.  We stayed for 2 hours and took the photo below afterwards (at 11 PM!)