The Conclusion

Sigh. Avoidance is a coping mechanism, right? But it doesn't fix anything. It just delays the inevitable. The inevitable being that this dream came true, but now is over. It was one month ago today that we returned from our trip. One month ago at this moment we were checking into our hotel in Boston before flying home the next day. And now it is the last day of the year.

Our last day in Iceland was as special and magical as every other day that we were there. We had been invited to spend the afternoon at the Blue Lagoon, including a floating massage for this tired mama and dinner for us all at LAVA after having a long soak in the water.

Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures while in the water (you do not want to drop your camera or phone in that water), but just trust me on this: It was fantastic. Warm water, steam, a waterfall. My floating massage was unforgettable. I can't think of anywhere else where you can get a massage in warm water while hail and snow pelt your face. We were so well taken care of by Edda and Omar, who were so incredibly sweet and nice. Omar even brought his little girl in to meet us before he left for the night. They had closed off an entire changing area just for us, and had candles lit and towels, robes, and shoes for us. And there was more cake (!), as well as fruit, tea, and chocolates. I can't get over how great they were us. It was so, so special. We saw a helicopter there, which we found out later was Jay Z and Beyonce. I can't imagine that they got better treatment than we did, because we were treated like royalty.

Driving out to the Blue Lagoon. This is about 1:30 in the afternoon.

Pull over to take a picture, turn around to see a cave!

Make sure you wash all your parts before going in! All your parts. All. Your. Parts.

Kevin took these two photos from inside the restaurant, so sorry about the refection in the window.

The wonderful, sweet, and beautiful Edda who invited us to this incredible day at the Blue Lagoon.

And, well, that's it. I hope that you enjoyed coming along on our trip with us. I can't believe we went. I can't believe it happened. We had done a lot of reading about Iceland and have been drawn to the country for a long time. But being there was just as awesome as we thought it would be, yet even better too. Even though the Make a Wish thing was a disaster, it actually was a blessing, a huge blessing. 

This whole wish came true because of the kindness of people all over the world who were touched by the story of our girl. Love and kindness made this dream possible. We met people and had experiences that we might not have had otherwise. We have made new friends in Iceland who we hope to visit again as soon as possible. 

Thank you all for believing that a wish can come true.

Winding Down

Well, my darlings, 'tis the season — the season for getting caught up in doing other things and neglecting your blog followers. I am so sorry! You know how it is. There's school and work and laundry and vacuuming and preparing for Christmas. Corbin had an orchestra concert Monday night (he plays violin, for those who don't know). Now that he's in high school we have to make sure the whole tuxedo is ready, shoes clean, then scarf down dinner and run out to the school.

We aren't the type that make a zillion Christmas cookies and decorate every room in the house. We also only have a few people to buy gifts for so it hasn't been too ridiculous, but we missed Thanksgiving and by the time we got back, Christmas preparation was underway. I'm going to do a separate post on our Christmas decorations because we bought a few things while in Iceland and we have adopted the tradition of having loads of candles (even more than we usually have).

So, by this point in our trip, we were on our last few days. We left a some days with nothing pressing to do, which ended up being a good thing. After such a mild November, on Sunday, November 30, Iceland was hit by the first of a series of big storms (which are still ongoing!). We took the time to drive around a bit, look at houses, and we had to go see the Christmas goat outside Ikea. The 6-meter-tall goat has been placed in front of their Ikea since 1966, but it has not always stood long enough to see Christmas due to, umm, fire and, not surprisingly, wind. So we figured we had better get a photo while it was still there!

Here is something that you can file under "only in Iceland": As we were driving out of the city, I got a text from Snorri, the manager at our hotel. 

"Looks like you're not staying in. You just passed us on the road out of town. Enjoy."

I figured it was our gigantic Yukon XL that gave us way.

"Mostly the careful driving of Papa Fierce. A local in that car would go 120/hour and never indicate."

Things like this made me deliriously happy that we were being looked out for. I love that about these people. Love them, love them, love them.

We drove out to Kjalarnes. We had seen photos of this pretty little church and wanted to see it in person. It is very close to the water, as you can see, and by this point, the wind was incredible. Close to 50+ mph and spitting rain. So we took these shots from inside the car!

Because of the crazy weather and the prediction that it would get worse, we went to the grocery store so we wouldn't have to venture out for dinner. Plus we were out of Appelsín. And Malt og Appelsín. And we needed more skyr (pear was my favorite) and licorice and chocolate.

So Kevin made us omelets and we sat in our living room and listened to the wind howl around us. 

Because our room was exposed on three sides, we really were in the midst of it. The pictures below are taken from each of our decks.

On Monday morning we found out that the wind had taken down the national Christmas tree, a gift from Norway for the past 50 years. There is now an Icelandic Christmas tree standing in Austurvöllur Square for the first time in half a century. Here they are taking the poor, broken Norwegian down.

 

We spent the rest of Monday just taking one last walk around town and taking pictures of things we wanted to remember.

 We met up with some friends again, this time at Stofan. We could have stayed there all day, it was so cozy and the company was wonderful.

But we had to leave and meet Rakel from the Hotel Borg. She had offered to have us stay at the Hotel Borg for this last part of our trip, but we ended up staying at the Kvosin Hotel since we changed plans and came back to Reykjavik a night early. Rakel had prepared a very nice bag of gifts for our family, including a little box with a piece of Eyjafjallajökull in it! 

 Even though we didn't stay at the Hotel Borg, which is absolutely gorgeous, they very kindly bought us dinner that night at Nora Magasin, which is right next door. You'll remember that this was where we had our first dinner on our very first night in Iceland. They had decorated for Christmas while we were away.

Well, maybe part of my delay in keeping this blog updated is that we are nearly at the end of our trip here. If I'm done posting and reliving the trip, then I have to face that the trip really is over. Sigh.

Up next: Our last day in Iceland and our visit to the Blue Lagoon.

Saturday, Part Two: Meeting Pippa's Boys

Bum-ba-dum-dum-dum! Bum-dum-da-dum-dum-dum! It's THE BIG EVENT! 

Drumroll, Orri!

Pippa had painted pictures for each of them.

Pippa and Jónsi's "completely expressionless" dog. He's a cute guy, but he only has one expression. Pippa loved him!

Pippa said, "I love Jónsi." Alex said, "I think he loves you too, Pippa."

Both Orri and Pippa have big, black cats. Orri was showing her a picture of his.

We had such a nice, casual afternoon with the guys and their families (except Orri's family, who were all feeling under the weather). The kids watched Elf and Frozen, while we adults talked and laughed and had just a nice, cozy time. Everyone was just as kind as we had heard they would be, and being together was like we were meeting old friends. 

Thank you, Jónsi, Orri, Georg, and Kári, and your families. Thank you to Dean O'Connor for telling us from the start that this could happen. You are some of the kindest, sweetest people we have ever met. Thank you for giving up some of your precious time off to make our girl happy. She loves you all so much and still talks about you all the time.

Saturday! Or The Big Day: Part One

Phew! I am still playing catch up. Since we have come back to KC, we have been trying to get back into our old routine. I spent the weekend working on laundry, which I am still not caught up on. We had a lot of things to unpack, and we put up some Christmas things. To be honest, Kevin and I aren't feeling the Christmas spirit very much. A little. But we sort of feel like we already had Christmas. Reykjavík was decorated for Christmas from the store fronts to the streetlights, and we had such a great time with friends and food. Being back here sort of feels like that post-Christmas letdown.

The day that Pippa got to meet her boys was Saturday, November 29. Saturday is going to be a two-part post because I need to do the day justice. Sorry to be a tease and make you wait!

Here are some outdoor shots of Höfdatún, the guesthouse we stayed in outside Selfoss. The house was so comfortable and, boy, was I happy for the laundry facilities! We seriously needed some washing done so thank you, Þorey, for the laundry!

See our giant American vehicle. It was like the flipping' QEII!

Þorey took us across the road a bit to her parents' farm so we could meet the Icelandic horses and the sheep.

Pippa is slightly terrified below. Just slightly. She was fine until we suggested that she sit on this sweet mare. See her little fingers gripping my shoulder? Not gonna happen. (I hope you have also taken note of my lovely lopapeysa. My friend Joanna knit it for me before we went over. It was so warm and cozy, and I only needed it and not my coat on some days. Even in November!)

Once we checked out of Höfdatún, we headed down to Stokkseyri, a small village on the water. We were told that we just had to try the little seafood restaurant there called Fjöruborðið. We all had The Lobster Everything. That's not what it's really called, but it was loads of lobster: soup, then lobsters in garlic butter, potatoes, bread, salad, and some little sides. And for those who have never had one, Iceland's lobsters — langoustines — are very different from New England lobsters. They are smaller, the tails aren't as chewy, and you don't get the whole thing. Just the tails. Don't tell anyone I said so, but (pssssst) I like them better. As a New England girl, I will deny that I ever said that! It's not like I said it on the internet or anything. Oops.

A view of the sea from the stone wall behind the restaurant.

Next: Meeting Pippa's Boys!