The Famous BLUE LAGOON!!!

The Blue Lagoon - a geothermal spa - is one of the most popular travel destinations in Iceland. We visited this unbelievable place with Leah - our very first Team Diabetes friend!!! If you keep a bucket list, you may want to add this sanctuary to it!

Is this for real? How can so much natural beauty exist in one place?

Sarge finds himself in a similar situation to the Dead Sea - Ziplocked and LOVING LIFE! (I hate to admit it, but he actually looks a wee bit scared!)

Hi Leah and Phil!!! People in sweaters and jackets look on as those in the lagoon relax with healthy "spa-like" drinks (or those of another nature)!

Tayls forgot her swimsuit but Sarge was willing to share his swimwear with her! Unfortunately, the "zipping" mechanism wasn't fully intact and she had to sit on the sunny window sill when we returned to the hotel.....

Sea creature explorers!!! We spent a long time finding the coolest parts of the lagoon - including the shallow parts, the "really hot" parts (the temperature ranges from 98 to 102 F), the "massaging" waterfall, and the spooky cave......

There were big buckets of "GOOK" (<--- or "silica nourishing mask") that patrons could apply on their skin for free. Just apply, let dry for 5 to 10 minutes, wash off, and FEEL FRESHER!

Our Mrs. Doubtfire moment. I wonder why Phil didn't want to participate....

Can you spot us?! Talk about relaxing. AND DEHYDRATING!!! I drank so much water after this water-zapping affair!!! Definitely not recommended pre-race.

This place was HONEYMOON CENTRAL! It may not have been our honeymoon, but a day at this place sure made it feel like one!

[Side Note: I was just on the website for the Blue Lagoon - where there happens to be a LIVE WEBCAM! Haha, if only I had known sooner....you could have joined in on our experience!!!]

The Premiere Soir!

It was after 5 before we got settled into our hotel room and we decided to peruse the downtown before heading to bed early. Our hotel was right near the city centre, so exploring the area was quite easy!!!

Here it is - the gem booked for our team!

Our walk by the harbour. Ah - FRESH AIR!!!

You can see the new opera house in the background. You should have seen it all lit up and pretty on Culture Night!

Memories of our wedding day in Cyprus....

Even at a chilly temperature of 12 degrees, everyone is outside - enjoying the (seems-to-be-never-ending) sunshine! HELLO - cute sweaters EVERYWHERE!!! Oh - I did get one of those by the way. I hope it gets cold in Kuwait soon!!!

Misson: Get to ICELAND!

Our journey to Reykjavik was quite the hilarious one (<---- Phil may not agree with me). Let me share with you a few of the bizarre incidences we encountered:

*** We hate the Charles de Gaulle airport. We had an 8 hour layover in this far-from-cool-attractions place, which was cut in half by the time we actually found our terminal and gate! That place is like a maze....we walked through detours directed down sketchy hallways, took the shuttle bus a ba-zillion miles to the correct building, and then navigated the most obscure walking sidewalks you can imagine (ones that go uphill and downhill)!!! It was like the amazing race - except neither of us were really in the mood to play that game. We had a sleepless flight to Paris and the last thing we wanted was a challenge! Luckily, we got some comic relief going through security, as Phil was asked to unpack the bag he was carrying - my new lululemon bag. Out came the pink snuggy, Sargeant Snowflake and Captain Canada. He had to tell security that "YES" he did pack the bag himself. BAHAHAHAHAHA - that security woman will be smiling for days! Tayls and I had a good chuckle over it as we sipped tea together before the next flight:


*** We really thought our hassles were over until we boarded the plane and noticed that every single piece of luggage was loaded onto the plane, except for five suitcases. Thank goodness we were seated by the window because three of them were ours! We alerted the flight attendant, who looked into the situation and returned to tell us that no one believed "the Parkinson's" were on the aircraft (I suppose the pink snuggy and teddy bears didn't make the big impression we thought!). Ah well, the men in the bright vests went back out to sort through the luggage and put two of the five suitcases onto the plane. The two that weren't ours!!! Again, we got the flight attendant, who promised she would NOT leave without our luggage!!! Sure enough, in the middle of an almost-freak-out, they loaded our bags onto the plane too! Woo hoo.....the marathon would have been much tougher in Birkenstocks!!!


Once the plane left Charles de Gaulle, our luck seemed to change! The Iceland Air staff are LOVELY and the plane is so sweet inside. There are quotes about the country everywhere (on the seats, pillows, blankets, napkins, etc.), including ones that tell you about believing in elves and finding the Prime Minister's personal number in the phone book! SO COOL. Here's a view of this INCREDIBLE place as we began our descent to the most AWESOME time EVER:

Slept Like A Baby.

While getting into our OWN bed (after 2.5 months away from it!).....

Lindsay: I love that we have two perfect pillows EACH!!!

Phil: (admiring our positioning on opposite sides of the bed) I love that we aren't even near each other!!!

Haha.....aren't we romantic?! Phil actually slept in the other room because we are no longer accustomed to the rush of traffic on the ring road!!! He's still in there....and I have a feeling this day may be an individual one :)

HOME SWEET HOME!

Ah - home AT LAST! After a whirlwind summer and a very quick trip to Iceland, we are excited to get cozy into this BIG BED tonight! I assumed we would drop like flies upon arrival (having slept very little in the last few days!), but we are so excited to be here that we can't sleep just yet! In fact, it is after midnight and Phil has gone to get his haircut at the barber shop (<--- yahoo, BYE BYE BEARD)! I'm comfortable in my snowsuit on the couch, loading photos onto the computer!

Iceland was INCREDIBLE. Will share more with you tomorrow :)

P.S. Phil is so happy to be home that he didn't even freak out about our missing luggage. If you know him at all, you know that this scenario is OUTRAGEOUS. You may even think I am lying. But I'm not.

FANTASTIC NEWS!!!!

Taylor has finally arrived at the hotel - just in time for an enjoyable lunch and our arrival at terminal three! Usually I want to sit beside Phillip on the plane.....but I'm kinda hoping he won't mind if I choose to sit with Tayls this time! He's been acting funny anyways....I've never seen Phil embarrassed around my sister before. It must be his pre-flight jitters.

Thank you for all of the encouraging messages (and blog posts!) we received this morning. We are so blessed to have all of these cheerleaders in our lives!!!

Oh -the food is here! Must go!!!

BLOG YA SOON!!!!!

Safe in TORONTO!

Well - after three separate goodbyes (Dad and Julie, Graeme, and Dad P), we finally made it to the airport's Sheraton hotel! I managed to survive the trip here with minimal tears, but something about waiting in the lobby while Phil returned the rental car made me panic. Yep - you could say I lost it, BY MYSELF, right beside the hotel bell desk. YEESH. I'm not really sure what came over me, although I assume it was the realization that I won't be seeing many of you again until next summer. If only my genius brother would invent that teleporter, I could have the smoothest of departures each and ever year.

Lucky for me, I have the SWEETEST husband around the globe, who surprised me with a "teacup" Pandora charm and a spontaneous hair appointment (I had an urge last night to chop more off and get side bangs - so I did). We also medicated with an episode of the Biggest Loser (which got me pumped for the marathon!) and an enjoyable half hour in the whirlpool (where I attempted to give Phil swimming lessons).

Needless to say, I feel much better now. I am looking forward to the year ahead (grade 6 and EMILY!) and very eager to get to Iceland and meet the rest of Team Diabetes!!!

Thank you to everyone for the many GREAT memories you made with us this summer.

We love you,

Linds and Phil
xoxo

P.S. Graeme - I'm serious about the teleporter. What are your plans post-MCAT?!!! BAHA.

For Our Running Friends:

We saw this on the globe and mail website this afternoon! [Click on the image to enlarge]. Anything but the medical tent will be A-OKAY with us!!!

ONE LOUD LUB-DUB.

Here's the thing: I don't think Phil should be watching "Hoarders" before our upcoming flight. He's stressed enough as it is and this show just makes things worse! YIKES! I'm going to hook him up to the heart rate monitor during one episode just to prove my point.

Reasons to do things WAY in advance......

1) It may pour rain the day you need to do ALL of your laundry.

2) You may need to go to the "main" Service Ontario center to get something done (insert LONGER line-up HERE).

3) FedEx may lose your passport.