Season's Greetings from The Nelsons
Ho, ho ho. Merry Christmas 2008 to all ! Due to popular demand, I decided to post the family newsletter again after a year off. 2008 was an unbelievably exciting year for us, filled with lots of family visits, travel, Erik's graduation from college and the marriage of Rob to Kelley Fanshaw. Unfortunately, we underwent some heavy losses this year as well. So buckle up your chinstraps and come along for the ride! Our excitement started last Christmas in hosting a good old fashioned family Christmas, Griswold style. My Mom, sister and her significant other, Graham made the long journey from Washington State and Rob & Kelley came from California . Here we are sitting down to Christmas Eve dinner.

Our holiday mirth was amplified by the near-Super Bowl appearance of the Packers and Rob's Birthday (2 pictures below), but in true Griswold fashion, a stomach virus made the rounds with some of us, but it was short-lived, so in the end, a good time was had by all.

Early January was a sad time in the Nelson household as our beloved dog of 12 years, Hobbes, succumbed to an extremely aggressive cancer.

Late January meant back to California & grad school for Rob & Kelley and back to Frostburg Md. for his last semester for Erik. I taught fish biology Spring semester, a course with lots of field trips, so that kept me hopping as usual.

Spring brought a few business trips for Helga a business trip for me to France and lots of travel around Md in association with my fish biologyfield trips; Helga spent most of the Spring preparing for the rehearsal dinner of Rob & Kelley's wedding; my contribution was to build a new patio for the party, but first came a visit from an old college friend Tom Sklebar and Erik's graduation from Frostburg State University and subsequent party and crab feast (pics below)

The end of summer brought more sadness to the family as Helga's father passed away two weeks before the wedding. Helga had to fly back to Iceland on a moments notice and stayed for over a week. Fortunately she had done all of her planning ahead of time and the rehearsal dinner went off without a hitch. Below are a series of pictures from the rehearsal dinner ( the three with Helga are her siblings Adelsteinn, Gudrun and Ingibjorg.

Party under way and Rob had a big speech to give.

Party wound down and soon gave way to wedding prep.

And then, of course, the big day itself: June 22.

All went off without a hitch; the Iceland contingent you've already met.

and most of my brother Terry's family from Michigan came as well as my Mom's sister Sandy's entire family from Wisconsin

And I even got to dance with my Mom!

The rest of the Summer was a whirlwind of activity at our house. Rob & Kelley moved into the apartment of a colleague for the summer. Erik was home for the early summer, but then started his first real job as a professional goose remover in Islip NY (Long Island).

Here's a picture from a canoe trip I took w/ Kelley and the 2 boys:

Of course, one of the highlights of the summer is the Towson University summer softball league, in which I'm a co-coach of the science geek team "Biohazards". and Erik played for us again this year. I also made another 10 day trip to Europe for a meeting and then went to Portland for another meeting that we combined with vacation as Helga came out to join me at the end of the meeting and we met up with my sister and Graham in Portland and then went back to my Mom's in Richland WA to celebrate her birthday (she's the one with the 5 beers!).

End of summer meant sending Rob & Kelley off to Paris for Rob to do his dissertation research and the two of them to teach English to pay the bills. To do this, we took them up to New York and spent a last weekend with them and met up with Erik at his new place. Oh, yeah, and we celebrated my (cough, choke) 50th birthday.

Fall wasn't too bad, although I teach my most difficult class (Mammalian Physiology) in the Fall, Helga and I managed to get away for our anniversary (28) at Chincoteague Island on the Atlantic coast and we met Erik 1/2 in the Pennsylvania mountains to hike amid the Fall colors.

Helga flew home in early November help settle her Dad's estate and to visit her family. Thanksgiving was just the three of us and our new "grandchild" Erik's new border collie "Gin". She's a little hyper as typical of her breed, but lots of fun and an amazing athlete. Christmas will also just be us 3 as everyone opted for no travel after the hectic year. I'm off to join Rob in France next year and there are already trips to Iceland scheduled, so next year looks to be as exciting as the last.

Hope that this letter finds you together with your loved ones, happy, healthy and enjoying a joyous Holiday Season. Lots of Love from our family to yours, and please, keep in touch.

The Nelsons, Jay, Helga,Erik, Putty & Sadie: