Bun Day!

I can't believe my very best Icelandic friend neglected to tell me about Bun Day!! We missed out on this tradition last year, but we made up for it this year. We didn't know the whole tradition (see below) until last night so we missed out on the part where our kids beat us. But at least we got the cream puff part.




Bolludagur - Bun Day
On this day children, with colourful wands, try to wake up before their parents and spank the parents in their beds, saying "Bolla, bolla", (Bun, bun). The number of spanks being equal to the cream-buns they will receive during the day. Not a very old custom. Celebrated on Monday before Langafasta (Lent).

Copied from : http://www.simnet.is/gardarj/folk/days.htm#lang

How it is

We now officially have less than a year to go before we can move from this miserable base. (Please let me clarify... Iceland is a very beautiful place. This prison of a base is the horrible part.) We are located on a very windy part of the island. This past week we have had more days than not with 35-50 mile per hour winds! The Navy, Air Force and Icelandic Government are all "negotiating" over whether or not we should even be here. The Navy runs the base but has no mission here so they are putting NO money into the place. The other day I was at the theater and there was no heat. Dave just got notification that the WC (restrooms) in his building are off limits. The commissary shelves have been half empty for weeks with notes hanging all over apologizing for late shipments. With other notifications saying that they will no longer carry Icelandic salmon or chicken. Now our only option for chicken is frozen Tyson unless we go downtown to the store. To top it all off the only part of the Olympics we have been shown is Curling!!! (To be honest I have seen a little Hockey and I think other events are shown in the middle of the night.) My goodness we are only like 2 time zones from the actual events and we have to see them replayed during Central time. Where's the love?

On the up side... we are planning to spend this weekend off the base and enjoy some of the better parts of Iceland. My friend Laura and her girls are coming to spend a week with me while Dave is gone to Germany next month. And we are planning two trips to Europe this year. One with kids and one without!!! I think we will take the kids to either London or Germany. It looks like Dave and I will be going to Bulgaria and Turkey or maybe just Greece. Susie will be keeping the kids while we are gone. (Of course it all is hinging on this base staying open for the next 10 months.)

Here are a few things we need everyone to keep in prayer:
-Dave is going TDY for 4 out of 5 weeks between March 6th and April 9th.
- Dave's Lt. Colonel Board meets next month. There are pros and cons to making this next rank… God knows what is best for our family.
-Dave needs to look for a job once he finds out if he makes Lt. Colonel and we would really like to get back to Vegas!
-Amy's sanity.

Welcome Baby Carter

A very warm welcome to Carter Steven Miles, born Feb. 7th about 12:30am. He weighed in at 7 lbs 8 oz. Check John's blog soon for pictures. Mother and baby are doing great! Congratulations Jessie, John and Big Brother Luke!