Seeing the Northern Lights in Iceland

February 16-20 we took a trip with our friends Michelle, Glenn and their daughter Emme (who is in Ariana's class). We traveled to Iceland. My main mission was to see the Northern Lights, and it happened!! It was glorious and magical! It's hard to explain and even photos don't do it justice, but it was beautiful and I tucked those special memories away in my heart. Here is a rundown of our trip.

Judah on his first flight! Iceland Air!

We stayed at the Northern Lights Inn in Grindavik. It was pretty far away from the main city of Reykjavik. And by pretty far I mean we had to take a shuttle 5 mins to the Blue Lagoon, and then a 45 minute bus ride into the city. It was great being away from the city lights though. Perfect for viewing the Northern Lights! We were very lucky and saw the Aurora Borealis every night that we were there!

 The Northern Lights over our hotel.

Above: A rainbow of colors!

Below: My favorite shot of the Aurora Borealis!

Below: The Imagine Peace (tribute to John Lennon shining up through the clouds and into the Aurora Borealis. 

 One of the days we took a trip to Rejavik and took a boat ride out to go whale watching (didn't happen). It was SOOO cold that they gave us special waterproof coveralls to wear to protect us from the wind and any spray. 

Judah was not a fan of the cold winds on the boat. He stayed in the cabin the whole time.

The best known food in Iceland is Baejarins Beztu Pylsur, a hotdog stand. Of course we had to try them. I thought they were okay.

Judah all bundled up in the Ergo and me with my faux fur hat on.

Ariana and Emme learning the basics of chess in our hotel thanks to the help of the Dads.

It was a long day of sight seeing, Judah passed out on the couch by the fire in the lounge in our hotel.

Ponies and mountains.

We went to see the Geyser in Iceland.

We also went to the divide between the 2 tectonic plates, American and European (above), and the Gullfoss waterfall (below).

We spent an hour or so at the Blue Lagoon on our last day. This geothermal spa was only a short drive from our hotel. It is a manmade lagoon with naturally heated water 98–102 °F that flow from a lava flow nearby. It's warm water is rich in minerals such as silica and sulphur and it's supposed to be very good for your skin. Unfortunaly the day we went the winds were too strong and even though the water was warm your face was freezing in the whipping winds. Michelle came away with icicles in her hair!

Michelle found a great craft for the girls to make Northern Lights pictures using black construction paper and chalk!

Our hotel was surrounded by lava fields. It took hundreds of years for anything to grow there because of the volcanic rock that was everywhere. I found a heart shaped bit of moss growing at my feet. Ariana's beloved "hole bunny" came too!

It was a very fun trip with our friends. Here is all of us at the last dinner of our trip.

A Week in Sardinia!

We vacationed on the island of Sardinia (off the coast of Italy) for a week.

We stayed at the Villaggio Torre Del Porticciolo which is north of Alghero. It's a campground village and we stayed in one of the little villas that was complete with a kitchenette, 2 bedrooms, and a bathroom. Porticciolo boasted a big adult pool, kiddie pool, private beach, nightly entertainment, daily entertainment for the kids, restaurant, bar, and mini market for essentials. 

Our first and last nights we enjoyed dining at the on-site restaurant. We cooked 3 pasta meals in our kitchenette, and made sandwhiches for most lunches. Once we ventured into Alghero for dinner along the port.

We all enjoyed octopus a few times. Ariana really loves it!

 Ariana posing by the steps that led down to the private beach.

We definitely enjoyed the pool. Relaxing and playing in the water and the weather was sunny and hot enough to go swimming at 9:30 am!

We took the local Beach Bus up closer to Alghero and spent a day at the Maria Pia beach. There was a little snack snack and lots of umbrellas and chairs to rent. 

In Sardinia, there are no waves just clear calm water.

My view haha!

My wonderful husband of 9 years! While we were there we celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. I can't imagine a better man to spend this lovely life with!

Me at 31 weeks pregnant.

After spending a few hours on the beach splashing in the cool water and playing in the sand we hopped on the Beach Bus again to check out the Port. We indulged in refreshing Gelato and walked around doing some souviener shopping and exploring the area a little.

Later that night we walked on the cliffs by our beach to watch the sunset as a family. We had fun playing around with some family shots.

The next day we enjoyed our private beach that was part of the campground/hotel. It was very rocky and would have been more enjoyable if we had water shoes or snorkeling gear but we still had a good time.

There was some little fishes swimming around our feet and since it was a private beach there was a lot less people and we could relax a little more while she played.

We enjoyed collecting sea glass and I had bought kites from Amazon for us to take with us on our trip. We only ended up opening one (Ariana's red one). We had fun playing with that even though the breeze in the cove wasn't strong enough to keep it up for very long.

We spent as much time as we could at the pool and over the week Ariana became more and more brave. She took a few weeks of swimming lessons earlier this summer but that time in the pools in Sardinia really helped her find her "fins" if you will. 

She went from being cautious and wearing her floaties, to doing jumps and flips in the water and trying to hold her breath as long as she could. She made it 12 seconds a time or to but usually she averaged around 8 seconds. Pretty impressive.

The one planned touristy thing that we did was take a boat ride out to Neptune's Grotto.

Being inside the caves was really neat and inside Neptune's Grotto was filled with twists and turns and lots and lots of stalagmites and stalactites. 

Afterwards we ate along the harbor area and indulged in some more gelato.

Breakfast at the village/campground was very unique. Our breakfast was included and it came with a giant roll, individual packages of nutella, butter, honey and jelly, a juice and coffee and a croissant. It was a carb loaded breakfast. The blood orange juice was just amazing! New pregnancy craving!

During the day around the pool they would have music and dancing, water gym and sometimes activities for the kids. Ariana loved the archery!

The last night we enjoyed real Italian pizza and pasta at the village restaurant. I had a seafood spaghetti and Ariana had pizza of course.

Our week in Sardinia was just what we needed. No cell phones, no internet, no tv just good quality family time relaxing and having fun. It's something I think our family really enjoys having vacations where we can just focus on each other and having fun.

It was also special because it was our last vacation as just a family of 3!