Once again, we've had a busy year…

The first excursion of 2008 was a surprise trip Rich planned for us to go to Miami so I could go to the Monkey Jungle that I hadn't been to since I was a little kid. We also took in the beautiful art deco around South Beach and took a LONG drive all the way out to Key West and back.

The next surprise getaway was a weekend at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. We went to see the show Forbidden Broadway and enjoyed our view of the euphoric hysteria in Times Square when the Giants won the Superbowl.

For two weeks in February, I left Rich and Tyner to travel with my "crew" (you remember - the gals that did that song at the wedding) to the Philippines where we climbed the rice terraces, saw hanging coffins, and went SCUBA diving on Palawan. On the way I stopped in Miyazaki, Japan to see college friend Keiko. I had REAL sushi and saw all the sights of beautiful Miyazaki. At the Udo Shrine, I miraculously threw a clay stone right into a pool of water on top of a rock out in the sea, so now my wishes will come true!

At the end of February, Rich, Tyner, my mom and I traveled down to Maryland for cousin Noemi's baby shower. While there, we saw some of the memorials in DC (WWII, Vietnam & Korea). I also planned a surprise for Rich (for a change): dinner at the Kennedy Center Roof Terrace and a McCoy Tyner (our dog's namesake) concert.

For our six-month anniversary, I planned another surprise outing for Rich: dinner at the Rock Center Café, at a table right next to Rockefeller Center's ice skating rink, followed by a trip up to the Top of the Rock observation deck where we danced to our song, "The Way You Look Tonight".

Back to Rich planning surprises for me: a trip to Las Vegas in early March to see Bette Midler! We stayed at Caesar's Palace, had dinner in the Eiffel Tower, saw a Cirque du Soleil show, drove out to the Hoover Dam, saw the Exotic Cars at Caesar's, saw Bette, saw the Las Vegas LDS temple, went through the Star Trek Experience at the Hilton, and went to another auto collection at the Imperial Palace. So much to do in so little time - we can't wait to go back!

For my birthday, Rich arranged for a small surprise party at Max Brenner. (Mmm... chocolate!) The following weekend he whisked me (and Tyner) away to Mystic, Connecticut where we enjoyed the Mystic Aquarium, downtown Mystic and Mystic Seaport, ate at Mystic Pizza, and where we learned that one should not use Lush bath products in a bathtub with spray jets.

In early May, we took Tyner to a pet fair. He loved interacting with the other dogs, and he was very curious about the calf in the petting zoo.

We celebrated Rich's birthday during and after Memorial Day weekend. It included a couple's massage at Lather Spa, a free guided Memorial Day walking tour of Central Park, dinner at Delmonico's, and the Broadway musical "Young Frankenstein". We also had some of my friends out to the house for a Memorial Day barbecue.

All three of us were supposed to drive out to Illinois at the end of June, but that plan got flooded out. So instead, Kim H. talked me into meeting her in Australia (where she'd been since we all went our separate ways in the Philippines) to spend a week on a liveaboard dive boat in the Great Barrier Reef. (You may know how persuasive Kim can be.) The trip was amazing! I got to spend a few unexpected hours in Sydney seeing the famous opera house while Kim panicked about where I was because my flights were all delayed and stuff. Then we got onboard the Nimrod Explorer III and I think I did sixteen dives in six days. Before going down under I bought an underwater casing for my digital camera, which made diving even more fun than ever before. I took some great pictures and videos of sharks, clownfish (Nemo) in anemone, giant potato cod, Minke whales, giant jellyfish, etc. Maybe someday I'll get around to posting all those on flickr. (If that does happen, the link will be on my website, to which there is a link at the end of this letter.) The day we disembarked, we took a very long skyrail ride over/through the rainforest up to the village of Kurunda. There, we fed kangaroos, threw boomerangs, watched aboriginal dancers, and cuddled koalas - all the nifty things you HAVE to do when you go to Australia, right? After the even longer scenic railway ride back to Cairns, for dinner we had crocodile, emu and kangaroo, all of which were very yummy.

In early August, Rich and I, as well as my former Radio City Music Hall duet partner, Bob, were invited to theater organ-enthusiast Dave Kopp's castle-like home to see, hear, and play his Wurlitzer organ. Wow - what an incredible instrument to have in your home! It was fun to try to resurrect the old Christmas duets with Bob.

In August, Rich, my mom, my sister Tracy and I flew down to Puerto Rico for my cousin Eddie's wedding to Maria Amelia. (They are now expecting a baby!) Mingled in with the wedding festivities, we found plenty of time to sightsee: Old San Juan, Parque de las Cavernas del Río Camuy (Camuy River Cave Park), Arecibo Observatory, Caguana Ceremonial Ball Courts Site, Arecibo Lighthouse, La Cueva del Indio (Cave of the Indian), the Bacardi factory, and El Yunque National Forest. Having been there before with some of my "crew" in 2004, I enjoyed playing tour guide for Rich, mom and Tracy.

Rich planned a wonderful surprise outing for the two of us for our first anniversary: a dinner cruise around Manhattan on The Spirit of New Jersey. A few days later we did attempt to eat part of the top layer of our wedding cake, but what they say is true: it's not very good after being in the freezer for a year. Then I surprised Rich on 9-11 with a quiet dinner at The Pointe restaurant in Jersey City where we had a gorgeous view of the "Tribute in Light" and the Statue of Liberty.

Knowing I'd always wanted to go through a corn maze, Rich planned a surprise trip the first weekend in October to Norz Hill Farm in Hillsborough, New Jersey. We made it out of the corn maze (which spelled out "Cornfusion"), and then took tractor-pulled hay rides to go see the farm animals (LOTS of milk cows, among a few other things, including a zonkey) and pick out a bunch of pumpkins and other gourds in the pumpkin patch.

Radio City did not hold auditions for organists this year at all (politics), but they did announce that they were auditioning keyboard players. So, I figured, "What the hey" and gave it a whirl. I didn't get the gig, but I'm glad I tried. Rich, in the meantime, has been working there full time as a stagehand since the end of October. That's in addition to taking care of the organ there, running his business, scheduling Christmas tunings at gazillions of churches, and keeping me spoiled. He's basically Superman. At the very least, he's MY hero.

For our wedding, Rich's friends M.J. & Chris gave us a hot air balloon ride through our registry at Cloud 9 Living. We finally scheduled it for October 30. We had to drive out to Sky Manor Airport in Pittstown, New Jersey where we helped inflate the balloon. We then floated up over the gorgeous farmland in western New Jersey and admired the spectacular fall colors. There was another balloon flying with us, and the couple in that balloon got engaged during their flight! After about an hour, we landed in a field, helped pack up the balloon, and rode in the "chase car" back to the airport where we had some complementary snacks and looked at all the pictures that the photographer had taken of our flight. On our way home, we stopped at the Pittstown Inn for dinner where we found out that the now-engaged couple had the same idea.

As you may already know, the day after Thanksgiving is ThanksGrauman. It is usually celebrated at my Uncle Danny's and Aunt Joan's house in Potomac, Maryland. The traditional fare is anything the "Omis"/"Imas" (ie, my dad's mom, Judy, and her sister, Lotte) used to make, with the main staples being schnitzel and Aunt Lotte's apple pie (of which we had SIX this year). Rich's schedule at the Music Hall has been pretty tight, so we drove down the day of the event, and drove right back home afterwards. In attendance this year were (see picture): Joe (Tracy's boyfriend), Rich, cousins Beth, Emily, Alyssa and Jennifer, Tracy, me, Aunt Janet, Uncle Danny, Great-Aunt Gerty, mom, dad, cousin Micah and his daughter Lorena, Maria Amelia, Eddie, Fritz the dog, Aunt Joan, Noemi (Micah's wife), Uncle Yossi, and cousin Larry.

The three of us are looking forward to a quiet Christmas Day split between our Manhattan apartment and our house in Union.

We hope you enjoyed our second holiday letter.  'Wishing you all the best in 2009!

Love,

Ronnie, Rich & Tyner