We finally took off and 6 hours later or at 06:45 in the morning we landed in Iceland.  It was cold, about 40 degrees.  We got off the airplane and went to the duty free store to buy some stuff for Margret and then we met everybody that were waiting for us.  Bjarki's Mom, Stepdad, Margret Bjarki's sister along with her husband Raggi (Rocky), and their baby Rebekka Drofn, and of course Stina Bjarki's little sister where there to see us.

 

After that we decided to go and take a nap at Bjarki's sisters room.  We slepped until 1600 and then we were all energized and ready for the rest of the day.  Stina came and picked us up, and we drove to the Kringla which is another shopping mall.  There we met everybody, and did a little shopping.  We also met Thordis, Margret's and Bjarki's friend from Isafjordur, in the Kringla. 

 

After the shopping we went down town to take a look at the life in the big city.  Bjarki wanted to show Michelle everything, so we started out with Cafe Paris, where Bjarki used to spend alot of time.  Just out side the window there you can see the House of the Icelandic Parlament.  We walked to the pond called "Tjornin" and the city hall is right there.  Then we drove up to the Pearl or "Perlan"  we where able to go inside and get a great view of the city. 

 

After that Stina and us went for a Pizza in Pizza Hut.  We went to Margret's and Bjarki friend Margret for some late night snack.

 

 

A good night sleep was the next thing on our schedule.

 

We woke up and the plan was to go to Bjarki's cousins Reynir and his finacee Maria.  They have a wonderful daugther Margret Embla wich is 2 years old.  We planned a breakfast there with them and the whole family from The estman Island or "Vestmannaeyjum".  Bjarki other cousins Hafsteinn and Bjarki were there along with ant Ninna Bjarki's Mom sister and her husband Hjalmar.  We all sat down and had a great breakfast before we had to go on our road trip up North where we planned to stay for the next week.

 

Around 1300 we left Reykjavik up north to a little town called Borgarnes.  There we met Margret's and Bjarki's friends Margret and Nonni along with their little girl and one on the way when this is written.  We got some coffe there along with home made waffles.

 

Then of we go and Stina the driver got us home to Hofsos in about 4 hours.  It was all white and beautiful.

 

Home on the farm Grindur were Runar Bjarki's brother and his girlfriend Audur, and they had been cooking all day long horse meet for us.  And of course there was a Pizza for the girls that didn't like the horse meet.  We ate and drank some good beer and some wisky was floating around.

 

Of course the guitar and the piano were used quite a bit that night, and Bjarki and his brother Runar didn't go to sleep until 05:30 in the morning.

 

This would be Sunday.  We just cought up with the family.  Talking and joking around.  Telling people how we have been doing, and of course get the latest news from Iceland.  It was good to relax and get cought up in sleep and time for it is 7 hour difference from Phoenix to Iceland.

 

We actually went outside and Runar and Bjarki showed Michelle the farm and Runar let us try out one of his Icelandic horses that he has.  Of course that was a picture perfect moment there.

 

Monday morning we sleept in until 0900 and we already made a plan to go and see Bjarki's onkel Arni in the fish factory.  Arni is the BIG boss there.  There they make salted fish and ship it to the buyers around the world.  Bjarki used to work at the same old fish factory many years ago, and it was fun to see how much things have changed.

 

After we talked to Arni we went home to Grindur for some lunch and got ready for a trip to the town where Bjarki is born in called Siglufjordur.  the drive takes about 45 minutes.  We went there and met "grandma" Joa or "ommu Jou" Bjarki's real grandmas sister.  Of course she had coffe and waffles.  We also went to see the resting place of Bjarki's grand parents.  The cemetary is above the town so it is a really good view from there, it was starting to get a little dark so it was time to go home to Hofsos. 

 

We also had planned to go to a little late night coffe at Runars and Audar.  So we drove to Saudarkrokur where they live and got some icecream, coffe, and Wiskey.

 

Then we drove back to Grindur and that was it for that day.

 

Slept in again, and today we went to Saudarkrokur to see Bjarki's sister Margret, Raggi and Rebekka.  It was baby swimming day, so we went to the pool and watch little Rebekka swim and laugh.

 

Then we went to Margrets and Raggi's place and they had dinner for the whole family and that night was the big family picture night.  We took all kind of pictures and then we just sat down and talked and enjoyd the night.

 

We slept at Margret's and Raggi's house that night.

 

The next day we woke up and Bjarki had a plan to meet some of his friends.  He called up Tidrik and Torgils and they were able to see him Tidrik around 1300 and Torgils at 1600.  Michelle desided to stay at Margrets and talk to her while Bjarki drove with his little sister Stina back to Hofsos. 

 

He started out down at the harbour where Tidrik was coming in from a fishing trip.  We then waited for him to go and clean up and went to see his house.  After talking to Tidrik for a while, it was time to go and meet Torgils.

 

In the mean time Margret and Michelle drove to Hofsos and Michelle went to see Torgils with Bjarki.

 

Torgils and Harpa live together with their two daugters, their two older sons are in college in Saudarkrokur.  They had some coffe, waffles and more goodies there.

 

then it was time to got back to Grindur for the big Christmas party...Yes Bjarki's family desided to have a little Christmas/wedding/anneversary/birthday celebration for all the time they had missed with us.  So we ate, drank and spent some really good time together that night.

 

This day we had plannes to go to Arni og Fridas house for dinner.  The day was spent in relaxing and Bjarki went over some of his old stuff from Iceland.  We also packed because the next day we were on our way back to Reykjavik. 

 

That night we ate and listened to Margret and Rakel, Arni's and Frida's daugthers play for us.  We sat there and talked for a while, and then it was time to go home to Grindur for the last time.

 

On our way back to the city.  We left Grindur around 1000 o'clock in the morning to try to get to the city around 1400.  We had some very important people waiting for us there. 

 

We got there on time, after stoping for some photos and a quick lunch at Bru in Hrutafjordur. 

 

Two very special people were waiting for us.  Stina Bjarki's aunt and his onkel Hafsteinn from a little town on the west fjords called Isafjrodur were waiting to see us.  When we got there it was really nice.  They had rented a little apartment that the National Bank of Iceland owns.  Hafsteinn works for them.  Stina had coocked all kind of good stuff and they had tons of stuff to give us for the baby, and some really nice books about the Icelandic history and I don't know what.  We talked and enjoyd that night along with Reynir and his little daughter Margret Embla that joined us for dinner.

 

The last day.  We woke up from a good night sleep at the place that Stina og Hafsteinn rented.  We got some  good breakfast, and then it was time to get going to Keflavik International.  We got there but first of course we had to make a quick stop at Bjarki's aunt Anna in Keflavik just to say goodbye.

 

Then we said buy to everybody, and off we went back home to warm Phoenix, Arizona.

 

The trip took us about 6:30 to Minneapolis and then about 2:45 minutes to Phoenix.  We slept most of the way to Phoenix, and Vivan Michelle's mom and Sarah her sister picked us up from the airport.  When we got home it was time for bed, and man was it good to sleep in the next day.

 

We just want to say thank you everybody in Iceland for a time that we will never forget and we hope to see you all really soon.