Dear Griffin,
Happy New Year! Â Imagine, that in a few short months you will be one year old!
We wanted you to know that we visited with a judge yesterday. Â He told Ernie that he shouldn’t be feeding pigeons in the park, something he learned from his friend Big Bird. Â Or at least, he shouldn’t be feeding them pepperoni pizza!
The judge admonished us. Â (That’s quite a compliment, don’t you think?) Â Maybe I should look that word up in the dictionary.
Love,
Bert
Kevin Moore took these stunning pictures of Griffin while we were eating breakfast with him and Liz at The Mixing Bowl on Telegraph, December 26.
Some amazing footage from Anthony and Gena’s antarctic adventure, including a calving glacier and humpback whales up real close. This was shot on December 23 in Neko Harbour (where the wedding ceremony took place) by Jim Napoli, the official “Video Chronicler” for the expedition. (Note that Anthony and Gena are on their way home this morning so I should soon have links to more personal photos and videos of their trip.)
Dear Griffin,
Ernie and I went to St. Peter today to run some errands. When we visited Pam (more photos to follow), she suggested that we get our shots to protect us from the flu. I didn’t know that Sesame Street characters were “at risk”, but the public health staff assured us that it was the right thing to do. I told Ernie to go first. He was very brave.
Love,
Bert
Bert and Ernie have been enjoying a glorious white Christmas up in Minnesota. They sent this picture along to introduce Griffin to the joys of snowmen:
We just got the happy news:
On Wednesday, December 23 2009, Anthony Roy and Gena Lee were joined in marriage. The ceremony took place at 11:15am on a hill overlooking Neko Harbour on the continent of Antarctica. The ceremony was attended by the ship’s captain, the hotel manager, another crew member, and curious passengers who were passing by. It was followed by champagne, after which the couple “took their first plunge” by sliding down a snow slope holding hands.
This is all we know at the moment, though Anthony says they have a cool video of the event that they will share when they return. In the meantime, I poked around on the web to find out anything I could about Neko Harbour. According to Wikipedia:
Neko Harbour is an inlet on the Antarctic Peninsula on Andvord Bay, situated on the west coast of Graham Land. Neko Harbour was discovered by Belgian explorer Adrien de Gerlache in the early 20th century. It was named for a Norwegian whaling boat, the Neko, which operated in the area between 1911 and 1924.
So where exactly is it? After a bit more poking around, I located it on some on-line maps. The first map below shows the Antarctic Peninsula. Andvord Bay (with Neko Harbour) isn’t marked, but I’ve added red arrows to show approximately where it lies—on the coast behind Anvers Island. The second map is from another source and shows Andvord Bay in detail.
I did a google images search for Neko Harbour just to get a visual sense of the place. It is a common stop on Antarctic cruises, so there were a fair amount to choose from. Here’s a selection of my favorites:
Wow. A magnificent place for a wedding. We all can’t wait to celebrate with the happy couple when they return!
No, we’re not in Antarctica. But my brother and his fiancée are! On December 18 Anthony and Gena boarded the National Geographic Explorer in Ushuaia, Argentina. They headed across Drake passage to the South Shetland Islands off the Antarctic Peninsula. At some point during the voyage they will be married by the captain of the ship! Our only way of keeping tabs on them is to read the public expedition reports posted on the company website. [Update: they were married on December 23! See the post, “Anthony and Gena are Married!“]
If you’d like to see the expedition reports, click on the following dates. (The pdf archives are permanent copies in case the live versions are ever removed.) I’ll add more as they become available.
| December 19 (pdf archive) December 20 (pdf archive) December 21 (pdf archive) December 22 (pdf archive) December 23 (pdf archive) |
December 24 (pdf archive) December 25 (pdf archive) December 26 (pdf archive) December 27 (pdf archive) December 28 (pdf archive) |
Or, just enjoy the pictures that the expedition photographers have posted:
Dear Griffin,
It’s pretty cold outside, but Bert and I were pretty excited about our first time sledding this year!
Notice that I found my hat.
We’re glad that you like the snowflake for the window. Pam and Jeff put one up in their front window as well. It looks like you like the box the most. We have your picture up on the refrigerator already.
Love,
Ernie
Another missive from the snow-bound pair:
Dear Griffin,
We wanted you to know that the birdies in Minnesota are safe and well fed even though we have had quite a bit of snow. We couldn’t find Ernie’s hat, so he wore a warm scarf instead. Stay warm—we heard that it was quite chilly in Oakland, too!
Love,
Bert and Ernie