Southern Trip

The next day we trekked down to the southern part of the island.

The first stop was Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach.

It was still windy and cold, but the sun was out and felt delightful. It wasn't that different from going to our beach in Santa Cruz during the winter.

There were Basalt Columns to explore.

Perry was toasty warm and cozy and awake during daylight hours, hooray!

They all liked having rocks to climb.

Jonah was happy playing in the black sand.

There are signs all over warning not to put your back to the waves because they come up quickly and kill tourists. John risked it for a picture since I was watching closely.

There were natural bridges in the background just like home, too.

We found a little cave area

with either a wedding couple or models.

Happily perched 

We even found someone to take a picture of all of us together.

Having Perry up high made me nervous and I was worrying about the boys going too close to the water or the tide coming in with nowhere for us to go.

 It was nice that the kids could play and get wiggles out, but I was ready to go back to the main beach area.

The walk back out to the car was beautiful. The clear, blue skies made for a lovely day.

Scott discovered rock jumping and entertained himself for a while.

Perry ate his way through the next stretch of driving. We saw so many turf houses, including little ones built into hills that looked like hobbit holes.

We stopped for a yummy lunch at a quaint restaurant called Sudur-vik. We tried another hot chocolate, which was delicious, but not Geysir level. We were wondering if we'd set an impossible bar, perhaps our memories raising it above its own level even.

Jonah played downstairs with John while I took Scott to the bathroom before we left.

Then we went to Solheimajokull glacier, which Perry napped through.

It was a bit of a walk out to the glacier because it's been melting since they built the parking lot.

It would normally be a regular walk for the boys, not even steep, but Jonah was melting down. 

I prodded them along a little at a time and it took a long time, but we made it.

You can only go out on the glacier in a group with the proper gear.

John wants to try it some time. I'm good looking from the base of it.

Jonah was too tired to walk back. 

I encouraged, bribed, tried to race, threatened, all my tactics, and nothing was working.

John and Karen enjoyed a beautiful view on their leisurely walk back to the car.

Meanwhile, I found the motivation that worked: ice. I let them try bites of snow from the side of the path. It made Jonah walk to the next spot that had ice on the hill so I could find another clean piece for them to eat. It did the trick and we caught up.

The drive out was incredibly sparkly, so John ran over to see what it was. Glitter. Someone dumped glitter in the stream of water.

A short drive later we were at Skogafoss.

It was COLD. I'm guessing from the mist, but I couldn't keep the boys happy for a second. They both wanted to get back in the car, but I dragged them over and said we'd just stay for a minute.

Until I told them they could throw a rock in the water.

Karen and John went out to see the waterfall up close.

They came back soaked and frozen, meanwhile the boys were still happily rock throwing. We let them play for a long time and had to drag them away when we left.

At the next falls, Seljalandsfoss, we just left the boys in the car with Karen to thaw out.

John and I walked around for a few minutes. It was awesome to be kid-free and really enjoy the experience uninterrupted.

We saw so many great places and even with some crabby moments from tired kids, we loved this day.