Iceland!

While Danny was in the states for his parent's 50th Anniversary party, the kids and I went to Iceland for 2 days. We pulled out our winter coats and landed in Reykjavik late Friday night. 

The next day, we took a tour of the golden circle. It was a beautiful drive and this was the first sight of a snowcapped mountain.

We learned that the North America and the Eurasia tectonic plates meet here. One side is North America, while the other is Europe.

We had to try some Icelandic treats, of course! We also tried Opal candy--and it was a very strong flavored black licorice. It was nasty! Evan liked it, and now I wonder about him.

We even stopped and got to pet some horses. Our tour guide said that these horses have really long hair all over their body in the winter.

Next, we stopped at the second strongest waterfall in Europe. We got soaking wet from its mist, but it was gorgeous. 

See the mist rising from the waterfall?

We then stopped for a bite to eat. The boys enjoyed some fish and chips, while Embry had a burger and I had soup. 

Our next stop was to see the geysers. There was steam coming out of the ground all over the place. The largest one erupted every 5-8 minutes. We even captured it in slow motion.

A little geyser for Embry!

Here's the blue bubble that appears as its exploding.

Our next stop was to see where a volcano crater had collapsed. It was really amazing to look at. It was huge and a long ways down to that water.

We drove by the ocean and even saw a double rainbow through the windows. Our guide also pointed out volcanoes, little elves' houses (rocks with little green doors), and more. We even saw the black lava on the side of the volcano that erupted about 5-6 weeks ago. 

All of this lava rock was neat to look at. 

Our final stop of the day was the Blue Lagoon. This is a place that has geothermal waters pumped in. No bacteria can grow in these waters. It was so warm and relaxing.

I have an extra long arm...

The rock and moss everywhere in Iceland was very beautiful.

That evening, the boys decided on a restaurant that said, "In pizza we crust." I also liked this sign inside of the restaurant!

The next morning was freezing cold and very windy. While it was in the 30's, the wind chill was in the teens. We still fought against the wind and checked out Reykjavik for awhile.

Mountains with snow!

Silly boy

We had to eat Icelandic hot dogs, of course!

...and sushi for dinner!

We took a flight out of there at midnight, so the kids were pretty tired. Luckily, all of us were able to sleep the whole way home. 

This was Evan's little souvenir that I bought him. He never wants souvenirs. This little guy was pretty cute. We made it home early in the morning and crawled into our beds and went to sleep. It was a pretty sweet trip and we are grateful to have seen a small glimpse of Iceland!