A long and wonderful summer
Wow, this has been great! First, I went off to Thailand for two weeks of fun and education. Then a month in the States. Most recently, I went on a three day fishing trip. Could a summer be any more fun?!
I guess that since I've written a little about Thailand, I should write today about the other two trips this summer. When we decided to go the States this summer, we knew that this one should be a trip specifically for the kids. We also thought it would be a good idea to have something planned for each day so that we wouldn't waste a whole bunch of time just trying to figure out what to do. That turned out to be the best thing for us, despite all the crap we got from friends and family about how much stuff we had planned.
We started right off with a drive up to Bar Harbor, Maine to see an art show in which my mother's talent was on display. You can see photos of the piece that she had there on her website (third link down on my list of links), but to get the real effect of it-it's pretty big-you have to see it in person. At the show, Dagbjört made a couple of friends who will be her pen-pals. My family ate dinner with the two new friends and their mother at a restaurant calledGeddy'ss. The restaurant was not very impressive to me and I wouldn't recommend it. The second day we were there gave us an opportunity to drive around Mt. Desert Island a bit. That's a place that everyone should visit at least once.
The next two days went to shopping for summer clothes (as one might expect, summer clothes arenoto very necessary in Iceland) and a trip to Canobie Lake Park. Canobie Lake is an amusement park (tívoli) in southern New Hampshire. The park had been expanded since the lat time I was there and everyone had a great time. But I knew it was just a warm-up for the rides we would experience in Florida!
The good folks at campmor.com managed to get the tent and other camping gear to my mother's house in time for the three days of camping that we did at White Lake in NH. On that trip, My uncle Tom and his two girls joined us as did my aunt Norma and her husband Paul. The group of us enjoyed a couple of days of real New England downpours. Unfortunately, it proved to be a bit too much water for the tent we bought and I walked down to buy a big plastic tarp to string in the trees over the tent for the second night. But we made the best of it anyway. We walked around the lake-along the way we found a turtle nest that had been dug up by a large animal-and we toasted marshmallows and we rented three boats (2 canoes and 1 kayak for Dagbjört and Marissa). All in all, it was a great camping trip.
Then back to my mother's house for a while. One of the places we went to is one of my favorite places in Massachusetts. The wildlife sanctuary on the Ipswich River in Topsfield has a decent expanse of trails to walk and even provides canoe rental (when the office is open). It features a man-made rocky outcropping that is fun to walk through and sit on. The highlight of the day was Dagbjört's attempts at catching the leopard frogs that inhabit the grass. She finally caught one and I'll be posting the pictutomorroworow.
Carl's wife, Holly, is fortunate enough to have a grandmother generous enough to let us all stay at her place on Martha's Vineyard (Chappaqiddick, actually) for a few days. Unfortunately, she had recently had some sort of medical problem and we were denied the blessing of her company. Thanks, anyway. We also got to meet her father, Butch, and as one might expect from the knickname, he is a colorful character. I had a great time there. I managed to sneak in a bitsnorkelingling, but saw nothing but thousands of comb jellies, a few welks and a whole lot of hermit crabs.
We left for Florida right after leaving the island and we spent each day at a different park down there. First, we went to Disney World. For a family with a five year old, the Magic Kingdom is a must at least once. We had a lot of fun but ended up wasting a bit of time wandering back and forth and waiting because we hadn't planned things out quite well enough and because I had forgotten to bring the walkie talkies. The second day was my turn to pick our destination and Sea World was a no-brainer. We managed to see almost all of the animals before the rain started and because we were wet anyway, we took 5 or 6 runs down the Atlantis ride which hurtles you down at high speed only to soak you in the pool at the bottom. Even Guðjón enjoyed that, although he couldn't bring himself to hold his head up when we shot downward. The rollercoaster there is also my favorite of those that I rode in Florida. It's a longer ride than most of the others and it is pure fun. Dagbjört chose Wet 'N' Wild for the third day of our trip. We slid and slided and swam all day until thunder showers drove everyone home. We waited the storm out (as any Icelanders would do!) and then got in quite a few rides without lines when it stopped raining. The last day down there we headed to universal. We went forst to Isle of Adventure. This park is one of the coolest looking places I have ever been. Every turn exposes one to fantastical buildings and sculptures and such. Much of what one sees in the park is directly out of the movies but some of it is not from movies. The attractions at the Universal parks are really cool. They are more creative than your typical amusement park ride. Many of them involve real fire that's close enough to make you turn your face from the heat! In one of them, the whole ceiling catches fire! We stayed at the Radisson Barcelo and would stay there again. It's got a great location and was cheap compared to the quality of the room.
After Florida we went back to MA and then moved in with my uncle and his family. That worked out well and the rest of our trip was fairly relaxing and fun.
I guess that since I've written a little about Thailand, I should write today about the other two trips this summer. When we decided to go the States this summer, we knew that this one should be a trip specifically for the kids. We also thought it would be a good idea to have something planned for each day so that we wouldn't waste a whole bunch of time just trying to figure out what to do. That turned out to be the best thing for us, despite all the crap we got from friends and family about how much stuff we had planned.
We started right off with a drive up to Bar Harbor, Maine to see an art show in which my mother's talent was on display. You can see photos of the piece that she had there on her website (third link down on my list of links), but to get the real effect of it-it's pretty big-you have to see it in person. At the show, Dagbjört made a couple of friends who will be her pen-pals. My family ate dinner with the two new friends and their mother at a restaurant calledGeddy'ss. The restaurant was not very impressive to me and I wouldn't recommend it. The second day we were there gave us an opportunity to drive around Mt. Desert Island a bit. That's a place that everyone should visit at least once.
The next two days went to shopping for summer clothes (as one might expect, summer clothes arenoto very necessary in Iceland) and a trip to Canobie Lake Park. Canobie Lake is an amusement park (tívoli) in southern New Hampshire. The park had been expanded since the lat time I was there and everyone had a great time. But I knew it was just a warm-up for the rides we would experience in Florida!
The good folks at campmor.com managed to get the tent and other camping gear to my mother's house in time for the three days of camping that we did at White Lake in NH. On that trip, My uncle Tom and his two girls joined us as did my aunt Norma and her husband Paul. The group of us enjoyed a couple of days of real New England downpours. Unfortunately, it proved to be a bit too much water for the tent we bought and I walked down to buy a big plastic tarp to string in the trees over the tent for the second night. But we made the best of it anyway. We walked around the lake-along the way we found a turtle nest that had been dug up by a large animal-and we toasted marshmallows and we rented three boats (2 canoes and 1 kayak for Dagbjört and Marissa). All in all, it was a great camping trip.
Then back to my mother's house for a while. One of the places we went to is one of my favorite places in Massachusetts. The wildlife sanctuary on the Ipswich River in Topsfield has a decent expanse of trails to walk and even provides canoe rental (when the office is open). It features a man-made rocky outcropping that is fun to walk through and sit on. The highlight of the day was Dagbjört's attempts at catching the leopard frogs that inhabit the grass. She finally caught one and I'll be posting the pictutomorroworow.
Carl's wife, Holly, is fortunate enough to have a grandmother generous enough to let us all stay at her place on Martha's Vineyard (Chappaqiddick, actually) for a few days. Unfortunately, she had recently had some sort of medical problem and we were denied the blessing of her company. Thanks, anyway. We also got to meet her father, Butch, and as one might expect from the knickname, he is a colorful character. I had a great time there. I managed to sneak in a bitsnorkelingling, but saw nothing but thousands of comb jellies, a few welks and a whole lot of hermit crabs.
We left for Florida right after leaving the island and we spent each day at a different park down there. First, we went to Disney World. For a family with a five year old, the Magic Kingdom is a must at least once. We had a lot of fun but ended up wasting a bit of time wandering back and forth and waiting because we hadn't planned things out quite well enough and because I had forgotten to bring the walkie talkies. The second day was my turn to pick our destination and Sea World was a no-brainer. We managed to see almost all of the animals before the rain started and because we were wet anyway, we took 5 or 6 runs down the Atlantis ride which hurtles you down at high speed only to soak you in the pool at the bottom. Even Guðjón enjoyed that, although he couldn't bring himself to hold his head up when we shot downward. The rollercoaster there is also my favorite of those that I rode in Florida. It's a longer ride than most of the others and it is pure fun. Dagbjört chose Wet 'N' Wild for the third day of our trip. We slid and slided and swam all day until thunder showers drove everyone home. We waited the storm out (as any Icelanders would do!) and then got in quite a few rides without lines when it stopped raining. The last day down there we headed to universal. We went forst to Isle of Adventure. This park is one of the coolest looking places I have ever been. Every turn exposes one to fantastical buildings and sculptures and such. Much of what one sees in the park is directly out of the movies but some of it is not from movies. The attractions at the Universal parks are really cool. They are more creative than your typical amusement park ride. Many of them involve real fire that's close enough to make you turn your face from the heat! In one of them, the whole ceiling catches fire! We stayed at the Radisson Barcelo and would stay there again. It's got a great location and was cheap compared to the quality of the room.
After Florida we went back to MA and then moved in with my uncle and his family. That worked out well and the rest of our trip was fairly relaxing and fun.
posted by Our Hero, at 11:01 PM
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