In Iceland They Call Their Country "Island"

In July I saw a three-day package deal to Reykjavik, Iceland.  It included air fare with direct flight from Washington DC, two nights in a hotel including a buffet breakfast, and an all-day bus tour.  I thought it was a very reasonable price, considering how much air fares have been this year.  And it was only a five-hour flight.  Kent and I wanted to go to Iceland when we lived in Germany but never made it, so we went ahead and booked the tour.  We also convinced our friends the Andrews to go with us.

Our flight left at 8pm on Thursday evening, and we arrived in Reykjavik at 7am.  We'd paid extra for a bus transfer to our hotel, where we allowed to check in and to eat at the breakfast buffet.  Afterwards we headed to downtown Reykjavik to look around and shop for souvenirs.  It was EXPENSIVE.  They have a 24 per cent sales tax, which you should remember the next time you complain about your state's sales tax!

Seeing this church in downtown Reykjavik was one of our first stops.

It's the most famous landmark in the country.  Kinda looks like it's made from legos, doesn't it?

This is the organ inside the church

This is the view from the observation deck at the top of the church.

We thought the houses throughout Iceland were very picturesque.

We like to see the sights at night when they're lit up.

 Most of the energy in Iceland is provided by geothermal steam.  This pipeline carries steam from the hot springs to the cities and towns.   

We took an all day bus tour to see some of the natural wonders of Iceland.  It's called the "Golden Triangle" tour.  Our first stop was a geyser that goes off every 10-15 minutes.

 Our next stop was a massive waterfall.

 As we drove through the countryside our tour guide pointed out the greenhouses, where they grow most of their vegetables.  I think all the fruit is imported.

 We also saw several herds of Icelandic horses.  They're pure bred; if a horse is ever taken off Iceland it's not allowed to return to the country in case it might have mingled with another breed.  Our guide told us that  the only animal native to Iceland is the Arctic fox.  All other animals were brought in by boat or iceberg.

There are also no mosquitoes, ants or cockroaches in Iceland.

 The last stop was a national park the shows where the north American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet, and are pulling apart 2cm every year.

 All the trees on Iceland were chopped down by the year 1000 AD.  They are now trying to build up the forests again, but we saw very few trees in the part of Iceland where we were.

 On our last day we went out to a large mineral hot spring that's supposed to have healing qualities.  We could see the steam rising from miles away as we drove toward it.

 The hot spring is called the "Blue Lagoon" for the color of the water.

 The water was a light, milky blue color.

 It's a very popular resort.  These people are lined up to buy drinks at a little bar on the water.

 Here we are with our traveling companions, David and Tresha Andrews.  We enjoyed their company.

 Thought I'd show some Icelandic language.  Our tour guide said it's one of the most pure Scandinavian languages because it was written down a thousand years ago and they've been very isolated for many years.

On our flight home the skies were clear and I had an awesome view of Greenland from the air.  I saw icebergs and lots and lots of snow mountains.  From what I could see the southern tip of Greenland was a solid sheet of ice--a glacier, I suppose.

Even More Pictures From our July Activities

There were so many pictures from the family reunions in Oregon and our visit to Lissa and Jason in Texas that I had to post more pictures. As promised I started out with a picture of Daniel with his amazing mother, Krystal.
Me with my mother and sister. Me with two out of three of my daughters.

Garrett and Krystal went out to eat while I babysat Daniel. I took him out to swing and he really loved it. I even got him to laugh.

We also spent a morning with Kent's side of the family in Vancouver, WA. Below you'll see that Kent always finds a project to do when he's at his mom's house. Russ and Tyler were his lovely assistants.

Here's a shot of the Carson (and a Lee) men--the first time Daniel had met most of his great-uncles.

A four-generation shot with Kent's mom, Kent, Garrett and baby Daniel.

Daniel with his great-grandma Carson.

Daniel with his great-grandma Christensen. (my mom)

Garrett, Krystal and Daniel with the new car they bought in Oregon. They were on their way to drive the seven hours to see Krystal's side of the family.

And now for the visit to Texas--

July 24th was Savannah's blessing day. I had been there since the 7th of July, but Adri and Kent flew in just for the weekend. Kiera was happy to get some extra attention from Adri and Grandpa. Here's Savannah on her blessing day, lying on a quilt made by her great-great grandma.

The girls.

I made the blessing dress while I was in Texas since I didn't have time while I was home. It was intricate and time-consuming, but it turned out well.Kiera liked to sit with me while I was sewing. Hopefully everyone has linked over to Lissa's blog to see the picture of Kiera and me sewing together.

Such a PRECIOUS family!!

Kiera is modeling a dress I made for her mommy. Lissa wore it when she was about five. Kiera is only three but she can fit into it, though it's a little big. I put this picture in so everyone could see how long Savannah's hair was when she was only two weeks old!! We had so much fun being with our kids and grandkids in July; it was hard to come back to Virginia.

Playing Catch Up

So apparently blogger has a new way to insert pictures--FINALLY-- and the way I've been doing it for the past three years is obsolete.  The good news is that all the pictures downloaded much more quickly than they used to.  The bad news is that I no longer have to post my oldest pictures first so they'll end up on the top.  It used to be that the first picture loaded was the last picture on the blog.

 This blog post is consequently backward, because the first picture I downloaded is at the top instead of the bottom where it used to go. That means this blog post will start with the happenings of the end of September and go back to August, instead of the other way round.

In September I organized a group of Relief Society ladies from our ward to visit the section of DC known as Georgetown.  Below I'm standing in front of the Old Stone House, which was built in 1766 and is the oldest home in the District of Columbia.  It's now run by the National Park Service.

 Our first stop of the day was to buy cupcakes at the famous Georgetown Cupcake shop.  We were very fortunate to get there early in the morning so there wasn't a line.

 Also in September was the National Book Festival on the mall in DC.  This was the first year Kent came with me.  We went to hear David McCullough speak.  In the picture below the author behind Kent is Garrison Kellior.  He spoke at the same time David McCullough did, so we didn't get a chance to listen to him speak.  He talked longer that David Mc. so we just stood on the outside to see him.

Also in September the Relief Society put on on luau for the adults in the ward.  There was lots of good food, good decorations (for once I didn't decorate, so I can say that!) and we learned how to dance the hookie lau.

 At the end of August I spent five days with Lissa and the girls while Jason was on a business trip.  It was so fun to see Savannah smiling already! I spent lots of quality time with Kiera so her Mommy could take care of seven-week-old Savannah,

 I took Kiera to the neighborhood pool one evening.

 I took these pictures of the girls one morning when we were letting Mommy sleep in.

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This is a shot of the Washington monument from the airplane as I was landing in DC on the way home after a fun time in Katy.

 I know this doesn't look like much, but here's a picture of the homemade salsa I canned with tomatoes and peppers Kent grew in our garden.

 I had fun getting fancy making some designer cupcakes as refreshments for my book group.  The top ones are mint/chocolate and the bottom are peanut butter/chocolate.  I'll humbly say that I think my cupcakes looked and tasted as good as the $3 each ones from Georgetown Cupcake!!

 My sister, Jill, came to visit for a few days in August, and I took her to see Thomas Jefferson's home in Monticello.  It's about a two-hour drive away.  In the five days she was here we had an earthquake (no damage at all to our house) and a hurricane, so she got lots of bang for her buck while she was here.

 The first event of August was a day trip I organized for the Relief Society ladies to visit the Governor's Mansion and state capitol in Richmond, Virginia.  It was VERY interesting and informatiive.  I learned that eight presidents of the US were born in Virigina, and that the Virginia capitol building was designed by Thomas Jefferson.

This statue of George Washington was in the hall of Presidents.  There were busts of the other former US presidents.

 The dome is enclosed and isn't visible from the outside.  The VA capitol was the first neo-classical building in the United States and was very unique for it's time.  Jefferson was inspired by his years spent in Paris.

The Governor's mansion looked small from the outside, but seemed bigger once we went inside.  It's also an historic building, which is why it's not huge. 

The dining room rug was brand new and had been custom designed for the room with seal of the great state of Virginia.

 Yes, that's a portrait of Robert E. Lee.  He's almost as beloved as Washington and Jefferson to Virginians.