New York
We did a fair amount of traveling this year and started out with a great trip to New York City in March. Nick presented at the American Educational Research Association conference, so we took the opportunity to see the city. Our good friend Jennifer flew out from Milwaukee to join us for a few days.
We were able to get tickets to two outstanding Broadway shows, Curtains (starring the talented David Hyde Pierce from Frasier) and Spamalot (starring American Idol strange guy, Clay Aiken - nope, we aren't kidding!). Both shows were really fun.
Since New York is significantly more pedestrian friendly than Miami, we really enjoyed walking everywhere. Central Park was a definite highlight. The best quote from the trip came as we dragged poor Jennifer through the Metropolitan Museum of Art : "You've seen one Monet, you've seen them all!" Thanks for the memories, Jennifer!Omaha
In May, we visited the Brincks clan in Omaha for a few days to celebrate Jen's graduation from college. Again. She topped off her bachelor's degree with an associate's degree in veterinary tech and now works with the Humane Society in Omaha. Way to go, Jen!
While there, we spent some time at the Omaha Zoo and learned that silver-backed gorillas don't like to be ignored. Some teenage kids taught us that if you turn your backs to the gorillas and act like you are ignoring them, they will seek your attention. It was true! When we tried it with one of the bigger gorillas, he would bump the glass and pound his chest to show his frustration with our lack of attention.Milwaukee
On our way home from Omaha, we extended our layover in Milwaukee to spend 4-5 days with our good friends Chris and Jennifer. The four of us took an overnight trip up to lovely Door County and enjoyed the awesome weather. While there, we stumbled upon an outdoor miniature golf course that we just couldn't pass up. The entertainment complex also had go karts and, best of all, SKEEBALL. We stayed for hours and had an awesome time.
Milwaukee is always a fun stop for us. We're looking forward to hosting Chris and Jennifer in Miami sometime this winter!
Ohio
In late June we headed north again to spend a few days in Ohio and celebrate Kathy's birthday. Nick's sister Jen was kind enough to host us and we had a great time with her, Dave, Amanda and Madison.The family game this year was definitely bocce ball! It was fun to hang out with all of our nieces and our little nephew, too. 
Scuba
Many of you know that we did our scuba certification in April and May this year. We trained with, and continued to dive all summer with, our fun-loving friends Rui and Ling. Despite a rather, uh, bumpy certification process (who knew Nick would be seasick???), we did get in a number of terrific dives over the summer months. 
Since we live about an hour from Key Largo, we figured out how to hand-select the days we dive in order to maximize calm weather conditions. And, we've learned that morning dives and wearing a dive shirt instead of a wetsuit help keep Nick's stomach happy.We've now seen goliath grouper (they're HUGE), nurse sharks, lobster (both free and caged), sting ray, a host of beautiful fish and amazing coral formations.
Scuba definitely makes living in Miami more fun!
Chicago
The last of our travels came with a great conference on multilevel modeling in Chicago in September. Clinching our title as the nerdy-est couple on the planet, we both really enjoyed the opportunity to spend 3 days learning from the two top researchers in this area (on the off chance any of you are remotely interested, the presenters were Steve Raudenbush and Tony Bryk).
Though we had certainly been to Chicago before, we took the opportunity to enjoy our first ride on the ferris wheel at Navy Pier. We also visited some old haunts like Giordano's Pizza, and enjoyed walking about the Magnificent Mile.Work, Study, Work, Study ...
2008 was another year of many long work and study hours, with as much fun packed in as we could. Nick began his fourth year as an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at the University of Miami after successfully passing his 3rd year review - a milestone on the path to tenured professorship.
Ahn is in her third year as a PhD student, and transferred from Florida International University to the University of Miami in August. Much of her time is now spent working on data that was recently collected by the Center for Family Studies on HIV+ women and their family members. The study she works with is designed to improve health outcomes for these women.
Visitors Welcome!
Need a break from the cold winter? Come see us! If you're lucky, our pineapple plants will have fresh fruit for you. If you're unlucky, the papaya will be producing (our papaya fruit is the worst we've ever tasted!). Here's hoping for pineapple!