We started 2009 with a holiday cruise through the Caribbean with Ahn's family - a very nice way to begin the new year! Lots of relaxing and some fun adventures in the ports. The beaches were beautiful throughout the Caribbean and this one looked like it came right out of a magazine:
Our big success was scuba diving THE WALL - an 8000 foot drop off about 1/4 mile off-shore in Grand Turk. The diving was AMAZING and we saw and swam with our first sea turtle (and survived that expansive abyss below us!).
No travel expedition is complete without a visit to the local Harley Davidson, of course:
It was just a fun week!
Washington, D.C.
At the end of May, Ahn presented a paper at the annual meeting of the Society for Prevention Research. While there, she stole away to visit the Hirschorn Art Museum (favorite!) and the National Botanical Gardens. Very fun trip!
New House
The new house kept us really busy throughout the summer. We did a few upgrades and did our best to get settled. The best thing about this house is how quiet it is - a couple of nights our biggest irritation has been a cricket or two outside our window. If you've stayed with us at our old house, you know this is a major upgrade! You can see pictures of the new house (if you missed them earlier this year) ---> here.
In July, Ahn's parents visited for a week to help us get settled and take care of many "handy man" jobs (Dale was the handyman, Nick the lovely assistant). It was great to have the help!
One of the big tasks was to rebuild the shelves (bigger and better!) in our kitchen pantry:
Daniel!
In late July, Nick's brother Daniel made the long drive down from Charleston for a weekend with us. The fellas took the bikes into the Everglades one day and had a great time. The three of us spent a fun afternoon and evening on South Beach as well. Somewhere we have pictures of these guys braving the small surf at South Beach so D could try out snorkeling ...
Ohio
Though we don't have any pictures from the trip, we had a fun visit in Ohio in August. We got to celebrate some birthdays, play a friendly little game of poker, and hang out with Nick's family.
Ohio Visitors
Longtime friends Nette and Mike made a quick visit to Miami in October and we were so lucky to get to spend a whole day with them. We enjoyed walking around Fairchild Tropical Gardens and hanging out for a quiet evening at our house. We haven't seen these two for a long time, so it was a real treat to have them in town.
Milwaukee Visitors
Our good friends Chris and Jennifer flew down from Milwaukee for a few days of fun in the sun this October. They are such fun company - always lots of laughter and adventures when these two are in town. We visited some sites in and around Miami and then took a whole day to hang out at the beautiful beach at Ba'hai Honda State Park in the keys. Well worth the 2.5 hours of driving (one way! we MIGHT have underestimated exactly how far south this little destination actually was ...).
Soon-To-Be Baby Makes Three
If you missed our other big announcement this summer, you may be surprised to hear we have a baby on the way. The official due date is February 3, so we're getting close. For more posts about the pregnancy, you can stop by our temporary baby blog -----> here.
Work, Study, Work, Study ...
2009 was another year of many long work and study hours (seems we write this every year). Nick began his fifth year as an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at the University of Miami and Ahn started her dissertation - finally!
Visitors Welcome
We actually have some room for you now! With some added breathing room in the new house, and a lovely rotting deck on the back, there's lots of space for our visitors to stretch out a bit. Although the guest room will eventually be a nursery, we'll still have plenty of room for guests. We'd love to see you!
