The map above summarizes, and puts into perspective our travels through Iceland. Tiny trips around Reykjavik have been omitted, as they are impossible to see at this scale anyway, but all major destinations, and all detours are there.
Reykjavik. On three of the ten days, (Day 1, Day 3, and Day 7) we stayed pretty much within greater Reykjavik (except for the trip from the car rental place on Day 1).
Long day trips. On three days: Day 2 (Golden Circle), Day 5 (Diamond Circle), and Day 8 (trip to Vik and back) we did long day trips with multiple destinations.
Short day trips. Twice, on Days 9 and 10, we did short day trips to a single destination (and then spent the balance of the day in Reykjavik).
Change of location. Finally, on two days: Day 4 and Day 6 we changed locations, while doing some limited sightseeing along the way.
For a trip that is largely based in a single location, it appears to me to be a reasonable balance. Some people we met in our travels did the Ring Road trip, where they would travel from location to location along the circumference of the island. The latter is a good trip for either the young who can stay in hostels along the way, or the adults without kids, who can plan accordingly. With kids, having a base of operations is important, as packing and unpacking every day gets tiresome, takes a lot of time and effort, and also - requires a car that can comfortably fit everyone's stuff in the trunk.
This itinerary, incidentally, wound up being similar to our trip to Ireland, where we did one two-day trip with a sleepover in a different place, spent three days in Dublin, had a couple of long day trips (one to Kilkenny, one to Newgrange and Trim), and took a ferry to Wales to spend a day there.
Intuitively, it is clear why this is so. Despite kids being five years older each, they still tire from constant movements in the car, and for every two days of activities, they want an "easy" day. And, of course, Ireland and Iceland are somewhat similar in size.
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