Happy Holidays 2007

We wanted an efficient way to share all the happenings from 2007 with you and decided to go with an internet greeting this year. Hope you enjoy the pictures and stories!

Happy Holidays!
Ahn & Nick


Sanibel Island
We started the year with a week-long trip to Sanibel Island (on the west coast of Florida) with Ahn's parents and sister, Jennifer. Everyone flew into Miami and we drove across the state. Although Florida is very narrow down here at the southern end, it still took us about 9 hours to make it across the 200 miles thanks to many, many stops along the way.

Jen continued her star-sightings (she made a visit to Miami Ink while in Miami) when we ran into Manny Puig, famous for his work with alligators and sharks. We found Manny snorkeling (yes, snorkeling) in the Everglades while filming a new movie. We never imagined we would find someone willingly submerged in the alligator-infested waters of the glades, but we did!.

While in Sanibel, we spent many days hunting seashells on the beach and riding bikes. We enjoyed a guided canoe trip through the Ding Darling Preserve as well. After a week of searching the horizon, Ahn finally saw dolphins while on a leisurely bike ride with Nick and her dad.









Cozumel
Most of you now know that we eloped to Key West via a Royal Caribbean cruise in May. The port that followed Key West on our cruise was Cozumel, Mexico and we made sure we got to do some snorkeling while there. The underwater camera we purchased doesn't quite do it justice, but the views at Paradise Reef were lovely.



Nevertheless, our favorite snorkeling spot remains closer to home at Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo. Just an hour away and very reasonably priced, it is now one of our favorite places to take guests.







Rice Lake, Ontario
We spent a fun and relaxing week at Rice Lake, Ontario with the Myers men on their annual fishing trip. Our big cabin housed Nick's brothers Daniel and Chad, as well as his dad and his Uncle Dave. There was a lot of fishing and an almost equal amount of Texas Hold 'Em. We were so glad we got to spend some time with everyone, and we are looking forward to our next fishing trip with them.













Charleston
In August, we made our first trip to Charleston, South Carolina to visit Nick's brother and sister-in-law, Daniel and Maria. Their two kids, Valencia (2) and Kaori (8 months) kept us quite entertained.

Friday night, friends of Daniel and Maria were kind enough to share their pool with us for an evening swim. Saturday, we had fun making sand sculptures with Valencia at Estero Beach.

Despite calls for a wicked hurricane season, we lucked out with no major storms this year. Nevertheless, we found ways to entertain our native neighbors by putting up shutters "just in case" for the storm approaching before we left for Charleston.




Omaha
Also in August, we went to Omaha to attend the Brincks family reunion. Dan and Kathy, Nick's parents, shocked us by flying in to spend the weekend with us in Omaha and attend the reunion as well. It was fun to have everyone together.



On Sunday, Ahn's family took Nick to see the Omaha zoo. The big guerrillas were our favorite. (Although, that mouse that mom about stepped on in the bat caves was pretty entertaining!).





Key West
Ahn and her dad rented a Harley for a ride through the Florida Keys in October. It was the rainiest two weeks of the season, but somehow stayed dry for almost the whole trip.

Key West is relatively quiet in early October, but the street entertainers still performed for sunset at Mallory Square. Ahn's favorite restaurant (Ricky's Blue Heaven) was closed, but we did find some good chow.

Our hotel had an awesome pool and we spent one whole afternoon there relaxing and enjoying the live music. The trip home was a 150-mile search for key lime pie. Good stuff.





Work, Study, Work, Study …
Though we squeezed in a lot (A LOT!) of travel this year, it's been another busy year of work and study. Nick began his third year as an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at the University of Miami. He spent a week in Kansas this summer honing his technical skills. He was also in Chicago for a week in April to present a paper at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

Ahn is in her second year as a PhD student at the School of Public Health at Florida International University. She spent a few days learning new (well, new to her, anyway!) statistical approaches at Penn State this summer. In early November she was in D.C. to present a paper at the American Public Health Association's annual meeting.