Day 106-Sumardagarinn fyrsta

   April 19-Happy summer!  The first Thursday after April 18 is the first day of the Norse month of Harpa and is called the first day of summer, or sumardagarinn fyrsta.  It is also a national holiday in Iceland.  So, no one had school today and the kids could sleep in.  Of course, our kids got up early and Jóhanna slept in!  Good for her.  When she got up, we called up Gaui and Magga,who woke up Águsta, so she could walk back over and rejoin the remaining festivities of Joslyn's birthday sleepover, part 2.  Sally cooked some American pancakes for everyone and soon after we were done with breakfast, Jóhanna had to go home.  Águsta stuck around most of the rest of the morning, doing various fun things inside the apartment.  The weather was very nice, though, so at some point, our kids finally got dressed and everyone ran outside to go play.

This is the only time we have seen this flagpole get used.

   Bifröst University holds an open house every sumardagarinn fyrsta and this year was no different.  It is designed to give prospective students a chance to visit the University, view the campus, meet faculty and staff, and get a feel for student life at Bifröst.  It is also a celebration of sumardagarinn fyrsta with many events that appeal to kids.  The open house got under way at 2 pm and we and the kids headed over to check it out.  A room had been prepared with information tables about the campus, the academic programs, and the availability of child care facilities at Hraunborg. 

   Outside there were two bounce houses, including one that had huge boxing gloves that the kids could use to bump into each other.  That one developed a problem at one point and partially collapsed while Joslyn, Spencer, Brindís, and Águsta were boxing with each other.  To hear them tell the story, you would think that they barely escaped with their lives! 

   Laser tag was also set up on the outskirts of the campus.  Each kid got a laser gun and 100 lives and then headed off into the countryside to shoot people on the other team.  When their lives ran out, they came back down to the van to turn in their equipment and get back in line to do it all over again.

The Hays family enjoys "second breakfast."  Our apartment
buildinig is outside the window behind us.  Shan is covertly
advertising Western State College by wearing the shirt. I
don't think we attracted any students to WSC, though.

   After all of the hard work that running around and playing entailed, everyone needed sustenance and Bifröst had us covered there as well.  Local farmers and ranchers had set up booths inside of Kaffi Bifröst.  The Erpsstaðir dairy, which we had visited on Sunday, also had a booth, so we stopped by and bought ourselves some of their delicious ice cream.  Slushies were for sale outside of Kaffi Bifröst, so the kids each got one of those.  And, the University provided waffles, so we dropped in for our share of those.  Afterwards, the kids returned to play laser tag until they packed it up, while the adults returned to the apartment to get work done.  Shan finally got the last day of his family's visit posted and figured that getting the blog caught up would progress much more quickly after that. 
   As for the open house, we talked to some of the faculty members and the rector later in the day and they seemed cautiously optomistic about the turnout, although they did not know if any applications had actually been received because of the open house.  Since Bifröst has low student enrollment numbers, this is a big issue here and is on everyone's minds.