Day 31-stomach flu

   February 4-Joslyn woke up this morning and promptly threw up.  Friends of ours have been talking about going to Varmaland to pick up their kids from school and the kids have mentioned that classmates have been sick and missing from school these past couple of weeks.  So, we knew the stomach flu had been going around, and now it has finally came home to us.  Consequently, today was a quiet day for the Hays family.  We hung around the apartment, getting a little work done, watching TV, and relaxing.  Joslyn was sick the entire day but complained about it very little.  She did lay down and get a little rest, but she also was more active playing around the apartment than I would be if I were laid low with the flu.  Whenever her stomach got to churning, though, she would just slip away and quietly deal with it.  She always has been very low-maintenance when sick.  I just hope the adults don't catch it; we are horrible patients!

   Since this counts as a "slow news" day and I am already concentrating on Joslyn, I should use this post to give her credit for figuring out one of the mysteries of the apartment: the toaster.  You would think that a toaster is a toaster, and that is true for this one as well, except for one odd, removable piece on the top of it.  We noticed it right away when we moved in and puzzled over it for a while.  Joslyn decided to make herself toast two weeks ago,

when we were not here, and she started playing with the little doo-dad.  When her toast came up, she happened to push down on the plastic tabs and found that it caused the metal pieces to grab the toast, allowing her to pick the toast up out of the toaster without burning her fingers.  Why go to the trouble of getting something this fancy when a simple fork does the job?  More than one native has mentioned to us that Icelanders are notorious for running out and buying the newest gadget that comes on the market, so that may be the reason for this gadget as well.  In any event, count it as one mystery solved!

   Spencer, Alex, and Shan did motivate themselves to go for a short hike in the late afternoon.  We hiked to the tunnel that runs under the highway and then to the Glanni waterfall.  It is amazing how much of the snow has already melted.  The pathway is half clear now and the tunnel entrances are only half-filled with snow.  Spencer enjoyed seeing the waterfall for the first time and the hike was good for all of us after being cooped up in the apartment all day.  We all forgot cameras, though, so pictures of Glanni will have to come later.  We got back to the apartment around 5:30, and I pointed out to everyone that exactly one month ago, to the hour, we were boarding the plane in Denver to begin this adventure.  That means that tomorrow is our one month anniversary of being here.  I hope that Joslyn is well by then and noone else is sick, so we all can enjoy it!