ICELAND // PART TWO



My photos of Iceland are a mashup of two separate trips, one with my mom, both my brothers & their families & Austin, & then one with my mom, my sisters family & no Austin! My sister, mom & I went to Iceland after France before coming home.

After the Glaciers we headed towards our hotel for the night & stopped at Skofgoss, one of the (many) waterfalls on the side of the road. This was is HUGE & had stairs to the top of it. & then we stopped in Vik to see the cutest little church on the hillside that was surrounded by fields of little yellow flowers & lupin. The kids loved running through all of the fields & getting their wiggles out after driving for so long. While we were with my sister we stopped in Vik & went to the Black Sand Beach which is known for gigantic waves & these crazy rock formations. It was sooo pretty but also insanely windy while we were there, so we didn't last that long but I'm so glad we were able to go.

We stopped by the Kerid Crater before heading to the Geysir area in the Golden Circle where we stayed in a hostel that we absolutely loved! We stayed at the most magical hostel for kids that had so many horses, sheep & cats that they let all of the kids play with. They had a baby lamb that Milo & Cedar looved being able to feed & Milo kept chasing it trying to hug it, it was adorable. While we were there the cousins all had a sleepover (minus the babies!), it was so cute to see how excited Cedar was to have a sleepover with his cousins.

I feel like we could accomplish so much in one day in Iceland because it literally never got dark, haha. It was pretty confusing because the light was never a morning or evening light, it just seemed to stay a constant mid-day light, & I was never positive what time it was. I'm not sure how people can handle living with constant light because my 4 days was pretty hard, but also really cool because I had never been anywhere like that.

BEACH DAYS WITH TOTESAVVY


Have you ever heard of Totesavvy? They are amazing. They are purse insert organizers to help keep all of your items organized & keep your bags organized. I have two, a mini that I use for my diaper bag & purses & then a large one for bigger bags & I love both of them so much. I have a lot of different bags & purses & am constantly switching them out, but with all the stuff that goes in my purse for my kids & myself, it is sort of a pain to switch between bags but the Totesavvy makes it so easy. Plus, I never have to dig around in my bag anymore because the pockets make it so easy to be organized. I could go on forever about these things.
I have found the large one to be soooo great for beach/pool days & the park when I normally have a larger bag carrying toys with me. They make it so easy with all of the pockets, I can store all of our snacks, water, diapers, sunscreen & whatever my kids may need. One thing I really like to do with my large Totesavvy is to just put it in the basket of my stroller already packed with diapers, wipes, snacks & what not. It makes it so easy & makes it so I don't have to haul around my big diaper bag if I don't want to. Definitely check them out.
I took my Totesavvy today with me in my beach bag & it was perfect. The kids could easily find any snacks, I knew where the sunscreen was & where my keys were without having to dig through my bag. Win, win.

ICELAND // PART ONE




Last week we got back from our family vacation to Iceland & France & I'm already having withdrawals! We went with my whole family in celebration of my moms 60th birthday & it was so much fun. In total there were 9 adults & 11 kids (5 of them were 4 & under!), so we had a pretty big group traipsing around which can be totally hectic at some times, but also so much fun. All of the kids had soooo much fun being with each other since they don't all live near one another & I loved watching them play with each other. I feel so lucky that my kids have cousins that love them so much, even the older kids who are almost teenagers just love playing with the babies & it is adorable.

The trip was broken up into 3 sections, since everyone had to figure out timing with jobs & what not, we couldn't all make it to Iceland at the same time, so some of us started our trip in Iceland then went to France, while others started in France & went to Iceland after & then theres me, who can't pass up a trip & did it all: started in Iceland, went to France & went back to Iceland before coming home, haha. I figure why go home if I don't need to, right? Haha!

Iceland was unlike anywhere I have ever been. I totally get the hype on Iceland & you should all go. Seriously. It was completely gorgeous, going through all my photos I couldn't believe the colors & just how unreal it was. It was seriously hard for me to narrow down what pictures to share because I had so many that I want you all to see, so I've decided to break it up into a couple posts so it's not too overwhelming :).

We got to Iceland in the evening & were able to walk around Reykjavik for a couple hours before totally crashing. The next morning we woke up super early & drove to Jokulsarlon to see the glaciers & black diamond beach. Driving through iceland was so pretty & unique. It's like a different planet, the terrain was so lush & green, but then it went be solid black & there is volcanic rock everywhere that is covered in moss & waterfalls literally everywhere, it is insane. Plus, lupin is growing all over so there are bursts of purple against the green & black scenery, it is so pretty. Jokulsarlon is a place that you can get up & close to the glaciers that are breaking off from the giant glacier that is resting in the center of Iceland. The glaciers are so beautiful to see, a lot of them are white & a really clear blue color with hints of black on a few. While we were there we even saw a glacier break off! We went on a glacier tour where they told us more about the lagoon & the glacier & they even let us taste some of the ice, very exciting, haha.

Across the street from the glaciers is Black Diamond beach which is a beach with straight black sand & covered in glaciers that have broken off from Jokulsarlon lagoon & floated into the ocean. Depending when you're there, there can be really big glaciers or small cubes of ice that get washed up on the beach. The ice is so pretty on the black sand, it totally reminded me of the scene in Snow White when the dwarfs are mining & all the stones glisten & shine, that is what this looked like, I've never seen anything like it. The kids loved kicking the ice & trying to break it.