Iceland

Charlotte: Today it was our last full day in Iceland. We went to the park for an hour and a half.  We drove to go hiking at a place where they made some of The Game of Thrones show. It is a very scary show. Mom isn’t even brave enough to watch it. There were lots of mossy rocks. I played fox with my mom and looked at lots of caves.  There were also big, pretty formations of rocks. There were a few ponds and were a couple of pretty waterfalls. We hiked for about 5 hundred million hours (or 120 minutes).  Tomorrow we are going home. Sam: We went to Thingvellir National Park. We saw three waterfalls. There was also a church and a ton of rocks. It really rocked! The park was a place where the government used to meet and talk with people. Two tectonic plates were pulling apart and we walked in the middle for a

read more Road to the Eyrie – Thingvellir National Park

Sam: Today we woke up at five in the morning again to go on another big trip. About two or three hours into the drive, we stopped at Skogafoss, located on Skogavegur in the village of Skogar. It was over of the best waterfalls I’ve seen on our trip. It was really big and wide and there’s a legend that goes with it. It goes like this – A group of people noticed something sticking out of the waterfall. It turned out to be a treasure chest, but the handle fell off. They went to town to tell others, but when they went back nobody could ever find it again. They think it’s still behind the falls somewhere. We also went to a big lake full of icebergs that kept breaking off and floating into the ocean. There were some seals in the lake, too. I skipped some rocks into the lake. With a piece of ice I chipped from

read more Mother Nature’s Meltdowns and Mythology

Mom and Dad: After our super-long day at Westmann Islands, we took a much-needed day off if “touristing.” Dad has to go back to work when we get home, so he won’t have time to have a vacation after our vacation! Plus, we needed to prepare for the longest journey of our vacation, which you’ll read about later.  We spent a lazy morning (the kids did indeed remain in bed until 9) – Charlotte was thrilled to binge-watch Full House on Netflix and Sam happily cuddled up with his Chromebook to guffaw over ridiculous YouTube videos. We had a brunch of pancakes. You know, normal Saturday morning stuff. Mid-afternoon we drive over to the swimming pool near the President’s house in Alftanes. It boasts the largest waterslide in the country as well as the only wave pool. We all had a great time! We still can’t believe that our scaredy-cat kids are loving all these waterslides! They are getting braver

read more A Little R&R

Charlotte: Today we woke up at five in the morning to go to Westmann Islands. There I did some cool stuff, like I went to a swimming pool and played at a park. Then I ate fish and chips for lunch.  After that, we went to an aquarium when I got to see a puffin up close and a baby guillemot, too. I got to pet the guillemot but not the puffin because then its raincoat would get off and it would be sad because it wouldn’t be able to go in the water. We left the aquarium and walked around. I got ice cream that looked like a clown. I liked it so much – it had gummy eyes, nose, and teeth and it had chocolate dip hair. It was so delicious! Then we went hiking. We went to a museum, but it was closed – only today! We saw this cool little house that had dirt and rocks

read more Gullfoss and Geysir and Puffins, Oh My!

Charlotte: Today I went to a museum. It was very cool! There were skeletons. One of the things my mom said, “oh, that’s so sad” to was a baby skeleton.  There were lots of things from the old days.  One of the things I saw was a wooden cabin. In the cabin was where they used to live. There were beds, a nightlight, things that made and kept lamb’s wool. Actually, the was a speaker and I could hear singing. It’s like the children were singing inside their house.  We had these papers with things to fill in like word searches and drawings – I drew a beautiful crown and a drinking horn.  There was a fun dress up room. I was a village and a fighter. The fighter suit was really heavy and made out of a metal called chainmail. We went to a hotdog stand for lunch. I actually don’t usually like hot dogs, but I loved these

read more Roaming Reykjavik

Today’s post is only from Mom and Dad’s perspective. Charlotte and Sam headed to bed after a long day in the car. Somewhat rested after yesterday’s adventures, we packed up and left our Akureyri apartment. We wanted to explore the “city” (a bustling metropolis of about 17 000), so we began at the (free!) Botanical Gardens. We had fun wandering around the flowers – taking pictures, watching bumble bees hard at work, and hunting for fairies. We were lucky enough to find a beautiful pond with an obvious fairy pathway leading to it! The poppies were bigger than my hand! Apparently the Lorax lives in Iceland! Here are his Truffula trees! This picture (above) shows the fairy pathway. You couldn’t see the sunbeam at all, except in the photo… Obviously, magic was afoot. When we were sick of gazing upon the gorgeous flowers (is that a thing? can that even happen?), we went downtown to check out the shops and

read more Akureyri to Reykjavik: parking rules and other oddities

Sam: Today we went on a boat trip and got to see tons of puffins and about 15 whales. We also went to a whale museum – the blue whale skeleton was so cool.  The mud pits were really smelly. They were kind of neat, though, because they were bubbling. Charlotte: Today we took a one hour trip to go whale watching and puffin watching. It was very cold out there, so we had to wear warm suits. The whales were very cool and the puffins – I wanted to see even more of them. It was three whole hours on the boat! We also went to a steaming mud pit. It was disgusting! I felt like I was going to barf! It was more disgusting than anything I ever smelled before. We saw a waterfall, too. It was very wet. We climbed on the rocks. Mom and Dad: As we write this post, we both are completely exhausted! It

read more A Whale of a Day

Charlotte: This morning we left for a 6 hours car ride to Akureyeri. We did lots of stuff on the way. First, we stopped at a store and we bought some food and one of my favorites – we bought wool from Icelandic sheep. I like that because I’m going to knit a scarf. I chose magenta wool. Then, we went back in the car and went to a hot spring. We swam in the hot water. It was FREEZING outside, but it was so warm in the pools. Next, we went to a church and we went to see lots of crosses. There was little nice, cute houses made out of grass, wood, and dirt. I also got to try lamb on a bun from a food tractor. Then I was SO excited because we arrived at Akureyeri, at the house we are staying in. I played with the toys in my room. And then when I went shopping,

read more On the Road Again…