Iceland, Day 5

We accomplished so much more on Friday than we expected, so Saturday was a bit more relaxed. We went into the city and walked around, looking for souvenirs and nice things.

We knew that things were expensive in Iceland, but we were shocked at the prices we saw. At one point I stopped to grab us two cups of regular coffee -- $15. Iceland is famous for it's puffins and puffin stuffed animals started at $40. We bought nothing! It started to rain again (shocker) and so we headed to Len and Sandra's to hang out a little before dinner. Noah didn't want to go to sleep so he slept on Paul's lap.

Iceland, Day 4

We woke up Friday morning with plans to explore the country. The weather forecast was not good. Storms with severe wind and horizontal rain. Tough... we were going anyway!!! We packed up the car and headed out.

The first stop was Pingvillar, the site of the first Parliament in Iceland. It was awful. The rain was so horrid that we couldn't see. I was pretty miserable. We walked and saw some babbling brooks and took a look at where the tectonic plates split (pretty darn cool....) and got right back in the car.

one of the two tectonic plates (behind paul)

We drove a while praying for better weather and God provided. We reached Geysir which is an amazing place where tons of natural geysers come up out of the ground all the time. You are just walking along and up comes a 20-30 foot gush of water. It was so hard to believe all of this was natural and without pumps and prodding. There was a bigger geyeser in the early 1900's that rose to 80 or 90 feet but that one has been dormant for a while.


We were however disappointed with the restaurant (which served only burritos, pizza and hamburgers -- very Icelandic) and the gift shop (see below for authentic Icelandic garb).


Back in the car we headed to Gullfoss, the biggest waterfalls in Iceland. It has a similar feel to Niagra Falls but I would venture to say it is much bigger and wider and longer and multi-tiered. The other great thing is that it is all just natural. There are no stores, no big fences, no boats charting expensive trips. Anyone can go and get as close as they want... heck you could jump in if you want. There is no security or anything. It's just nature. Radical concept.



Noah snuggled in for a nice long nap while we continued eastward on the island. I wanted to make a stop at Skalhalt, an old religious community that had historic significance in the history of Iceland. I loved it. The mosaic of Jesus on the front wall was made out of 1X1 tiles and was much more breathtaking than the photos show.



Moving onward we headed far east on the southern coast to the town of Vik. We had hoped to see puffins here as this is the most likely place to see them, but we were never sure if the birds flying overhead were puffins or not. What we did see were the amazing black sand beaches and the incredible finger rock formations.

Noah was so happy all day because we kept seeing rocks and water -- a two year old's dream vacation.

We headed back eastward along the souther coast, stopping at two more places... the first one was home to the basalt church pipe rock formations:

The second, draeholey was home to these awesome rocks and coves.


We had to accomplish Paul's goal, which was to touch a glacier. There was one within our reach so we drove for a little while on a dirt road to find it and we did!! We had to go about 800 m on foot and we were able to touch and stand on a real glacier. The eerie part was there was no one there and we could have completely died and no one would have known.


Our last stop on this marathon day was at Skogar Falls, a huge waterfall in Southeast Ireland. Again, no fences, no stores... just stunning nature.

And of course, we passed a million sheep and a million more mini-waterfalls.


We got home at about 10:30 that night. It was our biggest day and Noah did his best this day.. as long as he could take rocks from every place we went!!!! There is so much more to see and do, we'll just have to go back!

Iceland, Day 3

Day three was Thursday and we knew that Len and Sandra had planned that we would have lunch with their relative Jim, so we had the morning to do something. We headed in to the city to walk around but it was still raining and pretty yucky. We just drove around for a while and found a light house and some nice views.


We finally ended up at the Pearl which is a landmark in Iceland.

4 water tanks are joined together with a dome in the center and it has turned into a museum about Iceland and a central lookout point for the city. We headed inside and watched the man-made indoor geysers forever. Noah loved watching them bubble and go off.




We headed up to the viewing deck and got some ice cream and walked around outside on the deck in the rain.


After I had enough rain we headed to have lunch with Jim. He was the most amazing man!!!! He had served in the military when the US had a base in Iceland and he fell in love with Sandra's aunt who recently passed away. He was awesome with Noah and was very patient and kind even though Noah ransacked his house. He kept telling me to relax (and kept offering beer, wine and Icelandic vodka shots) while Noah decided to snuggle up in his bed! I decided it would be best to head outside and play in the yard. It turned out to be the most amazing place... like a botanical garden!!! I told Noah we could stay outside if he would let me take pictures... I got some of my favorites in a long while!





After Jim's we headed to the hotel we were staying at the rest of the trip. It was right next to the airport and Noah was so excited to be able to watch the airplanes from the window. He did this most of the rest of the week!



We returned to Len and Sandra's for dinner and just time to hang out together.

Iceland, Day 2

The short drive to the city was nice, though it was raining and very cloudy. I was so excited to see all of the new things. The terrain was covered in volcanic rock from hundreds of years of volcanic activity. The ground was literally choppy and bulky.

When we got to the apartment, Len and Sandra were so excited to see us. We got such a warm welcome!!!! Their apartment was wonderful and it was just great to be with them. Noah quickly warmed up to them and their home, running from room to room and exploring every detail. He hopped right up into Amma's bed and snuggled in!

We were introduced to some new foods and we just sat and talked about everything. We were in quite the daze, having been awake for 24 hours at that point. We got Noah down for a nap, but we tried to stay awake to get ourselves into the right time zone.

We headed downtown to just walk around for a little bit. We strolled through the streets and went to city hall and to the duck pond (where I got a horrible bee sting... OWWWW!).

These Ducks were showing off on one leg!

On the way back to the car we walked past an art project in the city. Iceland has so many remote villages with children who never get their picture taken and so a group of artists went and did a photo mosaic of them. It was so awesome. Here is Len with Noah in front of the exhibit.

Len made an amazing Icelandic lamb dish for dinner. I'm not a huge lamb fan because it has such a strong taste, but this was so different. I really loved it! Before dinner, Noah, Paul and Len toasted "skal" to a great trip.



After dinner, Noah started to go stir crazy and so we walked out the door and there was a park! And we walked up the street and there was another huge playground. The scales were tipping in our direction.. until it started to rain!!!!

Iceland, Day 1

We left JFK on Monday, August 25th to head to Reykjavik Iceland where Paul's dad and stepmother have been living since last August. I was confident that the flight out would go well because it was at night and Noah could sleep. We got to the airport and Noah started to say "I want to go home" which should have been our first clue. We sat down for dinner and he did so well. He put his bear next to him and put napkins on their laps and fed them dinner. We took that as a good sign to counterbalance his homeward requests.


After we got on the plane we taxied for an hour and then finally took off. Noah fell asleep somewhat easily only to wake up an hour later screaming bloody murder. Nothing would console him. Flight Attendants were pulling out random things out of the cabinet, acting like cartoon characters, offering chocolate.... nothing would stop the shrill screams of a two year old who woke up in a strange place.

We finally calmed him down after a solid hour of agony and lots of loving glares. He snuggled back in his seat and watched the Simpsons on the headrest TV with no sound. It was the only thing to keep the demons at bay.

We arrived in Iceland at 6am, picked up the car and headed on our way.

Skal!!!

That's Icelandic for Cheers!!! We'll be home in a few days... we miss everyone!

Ill-Conceived Children's Sermons

funny....

From Dr. Timothy Jenney

1. David and Goliath: Divide the kids into two groups. Distribute slingshots to the first group and have them gather 5 smooth stones each from the church parking lot. Give the second group helmets [bike helmets will work] and wooden swords. Let the sides fight and see which one God supports! If time permits, demonstrate the proper method of beheading a giant.

5. Daniel's prayer time: Find a lion. [Any large predator will do, even a really hungry alligator, if you minister in Florida.]. Shut it and the children together in a small room. Positioning yourself in a safe location, encourage the kids to pray. I guarantee all the kids' prayer levels will increase dramatically after the first one is eaten! [But hey, you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs.]

7. Sin offerings: Demonstrate the proper method of preparing and roasting a whole burnt offering. Explain how each Israelite who sinned had to bring a lamb from his/her family flock as a penalty. To help make the lesson more memorable, have each child bring one of their pets from home. Select one or two of the kids who have been giving you the most problems and have them bring their pets forward. Now, slay them in the proper biblical pattern...