First photos from CPH!

What a great welcome at the airport!



With Anna who was responsible for the bar hopping...



A lovely dinner at Sölyst - the royal hunting club of Copenhagen



Artist at work - Arken Museum of Modern Art. Looks more like people investigating bird flu cases!



More team effort. I think the Atlantik staff might win the pre-school competition :o) More photos to come....

Köbenhavn

I am sitting again behind my desk after a great weekend in Denmark with my mates from work. Atlantik Tours invited us for an all inclusive incentive weekend in Copenhagen - we left left Iceland on Friday at noon and returned yesterday afternoon tired with big grins on our faces :o) Inbetween there was some shopping, a lot of sightseeing, cycling, eating out, team building - and yes, some barhopping. I will be posting some stories of the highlights of the tour so keep an eye on this spot!

Quiet Evening

Such a nice evening spent with my friend Elisabet. Nice dinner at her house and then a stroll down Laugavegur (main shopping street in the centre of town) and a coffee at a small bar. Now I remember why I wanted to live close to the old city centre!

BINGO!

Me and the other parent rep for Sandra's class are organizing an afternoon of Bingo between 17:00 and 18:30. I am thinking of letting the little ones handle the shouting out of the numbers - should be fun :o)

I will post later tonight to tell you how it went! I just hope there will be no tears - and the school will be left still standing...

A few hours later....

We all survived the Bingo/Lotto and it was great fun. Kids read out the numbers and parents helped out. All these cute 7 year olds - still mixing up 41 and 14, 61 and 16. But we go there in the end! BINGO!!!!

Meet Dr. Korstanje in Argentina!

Great to hear from you my dear Maria Alejandra! Congratulations on your Phd and your position as the Director of the Institute of Archaeology. Isn't it almost 20 years since we partied on your BS graduation day in Tucuman... and you have not aged a bit, always so beautiful ... will be writing to you soonest ... Un abrazo grande amiga!

Queen

Yesterday´s theme song in the car was from Queen:

I want it all,
I want it all,
and I want it now....

Scary stuff hehe

Sunday

We were sooooo busy on Sunday... and had a great day. We went with amma Sigrún and afi Eiríkur, Anna, Axel and their kids out of town - and of course Birta. First we visited a cave called Raufarhólshellir, then on to the black beach for a walk and after the walk the group split into two, Sandra and myself joined Anna and family at the Selfoss swimming pool whilest my parents took Eirikur to visit the Ghost Museum! He loved it but was a little spooked by it too :)

Late in the afternoon Anna and myself took the kids to visit Auntie Anna Þrúður to play with her puppies - 9 little sausage dogs, what more can a child ask for. Anna Þrúður is well and happy, with a house full of dogs and busy preparing for her next visit to Africa.

Saturday School

Believe it or not - my kids are happy to wake up early on Saturday mornings to go to school! Well, this is no ordinary school, it is English classes for bilingual children (http://www.ahus.is/ahus/althjodahus/) and they are having such a good time with their great teachers Elizabeth (from the US) and Anne (UK). Now they are learning all about vulcanos but they have enjoyed studying diverse themes like Narnia, air travel and all about chocolate!

Coffee Morning at Vesturbæjarskóli

What a nice start to the day! Eiríkur's class invited the parents to come for a coffee to the music room at 08:20 in the morning and listen to the songs they have been rehearsing. Everyone crowded in and had such a good time with the kids. The theme was "Þorri" and kids sang with great gusto all these old songs :o)

Rebekka who?

As all teenagers Rebekka has decided that home is the place where one keeps the clothes, looks into the empty fridge on regluar basis to complain and leaves the laundry. Well - no this is not true! Rebekka is such a hard working and busy person - school, homework, part time job at Noatun, friends, driving lessons, babysitting, family...

And today it is the Annual Dance at her school MR and I hope she has great fun! She has really earned it :o)

Going back in time...

..and finding some more pictures from last year! This is a great one of Eirikur and his mates at summercamp "Vatnaskógur" last summer. Fishing, swimming and playing all day!

Have a nice one!

Back to Work

Feeling somewhat better and have returned back to the office. Lot's of things have piled up on my desk, but still only a hill and not yet a mountain :o) Feel I need to include this lovely picture of Sandra from last September (photograph by Dóra!)to make this posting more colourful!

Afi Þorkell

Today we will celebrate my late grandfather's birthday. This is a tradition the extended family has kept for years and we all enjoy meeting up for a coffee and a chat.

Afi Þorkell was my dad's father - Þorkell Björnsson from Hnefilsdalur. Both my paternal grandparents (my grandmother was Anna Eiríksdóttir from Skjöldólfsstaðir) came from the mountains of the East - known as Glacier Valley. People from there were known for being straight forward, quick with words, great hosts and well - quite heavy drinkers. I think all but the last fits my grandparents well. Ok - my grandfather did enjoy his schnapps every now and then (but only for medicinal purposes) but more hospitality and great stories could not be found for miles! Cheers to them both.

SMS from Congo!

My dear Austrian/Swiss friend Irene sent me an SMS this morning all the way from Congo in Africa. She has accepted a 6 month assignment with the UN in Congo. I believe it will be something like her old job in the Red Cross, visiting long suffering prisoners and doing what she does best - protection work and reprimanding the authorities for not looking after their people! All the best and see you soon in Iceland - you still have some mountain trails to do here in the North!

Birta the Black Labrador

We have had Birta now for three years and she continues to be the greatest friend possible. Obedient and gentle with the kids and a great companion on walks in the neighbourhood. We decided to enter her into a dog show just for fun - and we all look forward to an exciting day full of dogs and noises :o)

Prince Caspian

Rebekka started reading the 4th book out of the seven book Narnia series to Eirikur last night. I had lost my voice (an I am still ill in bed...) so Rebekka played mum last night, cooked spagetti for the kids and read the bedtime stories. Just to play my mummy part I went into Eirikur's room afterwards to tuck him in and a little voice in the dark said sleepily: "I love Rebekka, she is so good to me. I go to sleep with a happy feeling inside"

Hehe I better take this quote out before Eirikur is a teenager - but until then it too gives me a happy feeling inside :o)

So eine schöne Familie!

Shalom all the way to Africa dear our Red Cross friends - Martin, Judy, Tahel and baby Henry!!! Great to hear all your news - we hope to see you again sooner rather than later!

Beware

Instead of taking days off to study the time off has turned into sick days. Please be warned to stay away from Hringbraut for the next few days - I may be feeling better myself and fit for work towards the end of the week but the kids have started coughing as well: Now we need some magic potion to set it right!

It's a Boat!

And not a Castle any more. My living room furniture was not tidied up yesterday because the tidy-up crew (Sandra and Eiríkur) converted the castle into a boat and spent an hour or so playing orphaned children sailing the Seven Seas... I tidied the mess up this morning in a hurry before the kids came up with a new idea - ... the sofa would make a great train, wouldn't it???

Today I have day off work to study so I better get on with it! Have a great working week folks :o)

More Friends Visiting

Sandra's classmates Lilja and Sólveig María visited us and with assistance from Eirikur they managed to build a castle in my livingroom from all my furniture, pillows, cushions and blankets. Todays task is to dismantle the construction :o) After building the castle we made pancakes and kids ate until they thought they would burst!

We made more pancakes in the evening at my parents house and I tried using two pancake pans for the first time. Wow - it went quickly, both the baking and the eating! May not sound like a big deal but a small victory on my side hehe.

Today it is the swimmingpool with even more friends but no more pancakes for awhile.

Birta's Boyfriend Karri!

Narnia

Last night Eiríkur and I spent an hour reading together before bedtime. We were so fortunate to have Amma Sigrún visiting and Sandra was more than happy to read with Amma. So Eiríkur got the royal treatment of a full hour of Narnia. We are just about to finish the third book in the series - A Horse and his Boy - and we could not put it down. King Edward and King Lune have just won the battle against Rabadash - and we believe that Shasta might be Corin's twin brother! Go Aslan!!!

Latibær - Lazy Town :o)

Kids were enthusiastic yesterday about the book they got sent from Latibær (http://www.lazytown.com/) which encourages kids to eat healthy and do sports. It gives you stickers for chores as well - and both kids cleaned their rooms without being asked! Great idea and thanks to Latibaer!!

Terima Kasih Kayee dan Ibu Lisa!

Thank you Kayee, Lisa and families for the wonderful presents for Rebekka. She was so happy to receive them - and will be fightng me for the book hehe! Can't wait for her to finish it... Terima Kasih!



Just had to post this old picture from Jakarta of Danny (Lisa's boy), Sandra and Jiji (Kayee's little girl) celebrating Sandra's birthday!!!! They are soooooo cute!