Happy Holidays from Michael and Nikki!

Happy Holidays!!

 We hope you're enjoying your holiday season!  We've been busy here in DC...

Nikki's first Thanksgiving turkey. 

Michael approved.

The National Harbor Christmas Tree

Sunset at National Harbor

We got to take a tour of the White House when it was decorated for the holidays.  There were many, many, Bo the First Dog figurines in the decorations.  They were made from lots of different materials...Licorice Bo, Button Bo, Tissue Paper Bo...all sizes!

 Outside the White House

On Christmas Eve we went to FedEx field for the Vikings/Redskins game.  Michael showed his support as usual.

We rang in Christmas Day at midnight doing a monument run with our Triathlon Team.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year!

We have some big things planned for 2012 (again, it's not that, jeez) stay tuned!

Las Vegas Rock n Roll Anniversary!

 This December was our 5th wedding anniversary!  It's hard to believe we're so old and have been married so long.  To celebrate, we went to Las Vegas and got married again...by Elvis!

We suckered convinced some very important people to come celebrate with us at "An" Elvis Wedding Chapel, and by running the Las Vegas Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon.

Las Vegas Rock n Roll is unique because the race is run at night: Start time is 5pm.  The highlight is running right down the strip.  Low points included unmanned water stations, water stations being filled from a fire hydrant, almost freezing temps, rain, wind and some parasite or virus that struck many participants.  Luckily, nobody in our party got sick: Read about it here.

 We had a ton of fun!  Renee (Nikki's mom) and Sipke came from Minnesota, Mike and Terese (Yeah, boohiss if you thought Terese would stop appearing in the blog just because we live on opposite coasts now,) came from Whidbey, and our friend Sam, who we met in Pensacola, lived near in Whidbey and is now our neighbor in DC all came, and EVERYBODY ran!  It was a first time 1/2 for Mike, Sipke and Sam.

Marine Corps Marathon 2011

On October 30th, 2011 we ran the 36th Annual Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC and Arlington VA

This was Nikki's 3rd MCM and Michael's 2nd.  We both had PRs!

 

The weather was cold and clear...a beautiful day for running!

Ragnar DC 2011

We completed the 2011 Ragnar Relay Washington DC!

This was Nikki's second Ragnar (she did Ragnar Northwest Passage in 2008,) and Michael's first.

Ragnar Washington DC is part of the larger Ragnar Relay Series, there are 15 races around the country: www.ragnarrelay.com

Ragnar Washington DC is a 198 mile relay race, from Cumberland, Maryland to National Harbor in Washington DC.  Teams consist of 12 runners, alternating running the 36 legs of the race.

Team Fortune Cookies (named for our team captains Will & Shelly Fortune) started at 6:30am on Friday, September 23rd and finished at 4:30pm on Saturday, September 24th, 2011. 

 Roughly 35 hours of racing included only 4 hours of sleep, which was partly on a highschool gym floor and later on a tarp in a field somewhere in suburban Maryland and one trip to Denny's at 3am (for dinner or breakfast...we weren't sure.  Michael didn't really care as he slept through it.)

Unlike Northwest Passage, where Nikki did all of her runs during the daylight, we ran a lot of this race in the dark.  Add in rural roads and terrible fog, and there was zero visibility for us while we ran at night.  It was a bit scary and disorienting only being able to see the 3-foot radius that a headlamp illuminated, but it was an excellent adventure!  Below is a picture of one of our runners at night...you can see how dark it was...

Poor Michael was assigned as Runner #3 (ok, he asked for it.)  His first leg, #3, was a 7.8 mile run with a 1247 foot elevation gain.  He and other runners assigned that leg got a special medal for completing it.  (Perhaps this difficult leg explains the complete meltdown he had about 15 hours later over a sleepng bag.  A meltdown he claims to not remember having.  Ask about it sometime, it's funny now that it's over.)

All in all, it was an excellent adventure!

Congrats Travis & Jillian!

Nikki's sister Jillian wed Travis Dahl on September 10th, 2011 

 Nikki had the pleasure of being Matron of Honor for her little sister!

Congrats Jill & Travis!

What Exactly Does Michael Do?

Michael's job can be hard to explain, but we'll try! The last four years have been his first "sea tour," during which he flew the EA-6B Prowler, an Electronic Attack aircraft. For the next 30 months or so, he is on his first "shore tour." His job now is to analyze threats to naval air warfare and brief other aviators on those threats. Being on a "shore tour" means he won't be deployed during this time. (Unless something very unfortunate happens...)

There is an article in the L.A. Times that explains what Electronic Attack aircraft do, and focuses on their role in the Libyan conflict. (The article talks mostly about the "Growler" which is the aircraft that is slowly replacing the Prowler; they do the same job.)

Michael's old squadron, VAQ-140, is deployed again out of Whidbey...this is the 3rd time in 3 years for VAQ-140, which puts a big strain on both the service member and their family. While most of the folks Michael flew with have also moved on to other jobs, we still have some friends back there, and they are always in our thoughts!


Here is the L.A. Times Article...
EA-18 Growler: U.S. is using electronic warfare to attack in waves - Los Angeles Times

DC Summer Fun

We're settling in to our DC home very nicely! 

We've particularly enjoyed getting to know our neighborhood, the Capitol Riverfront:  http://www.capitolriverfront.org/

Right around the corner is Barracks Row, where we love to visit the doggie boutiques, restaurants and shops:  http://www.barracksrow.org/

Maya loves the dog parks, and the fountains...where you'll often see both humans and dogs swimming and nobody seems to care!

Our neighborhood has outdoor concerts twice a week, and an outdoor movie on Thursdays.  Maya particularly enjoys the outdoor movies because she gets to share our picnic blanket (and our picnic food too.)

 We've also been sampling the DC Food Trucks when we find them, and at the bi-monthly Truckeroo (http://www.truckeroodc.com/www/) where about 20 food trucks (there are more than 75 total..) gather outside Nationals Stadium.  There is a bar and live music as well.



Happy Independence Day!

We celebrated our first Independence Day in our Nation's Capital...

We started by catching some of the DC Independence Day parade where we saw Michael's high school marching band

Then we spent several hours (melting, sweating, getting sunburnt) on the capitol lawn claiming our spot for "A Capital Fourth" which is the concert and fireworks celebration.  This year there were a few broadway stars, Matthew Morrison from Glee, Steve Martin and Gosh Groban.

Lessons learned:

1. Always bring an umbrella- for the crazy sunshine and the rain that will both happen in the same hour

2. No amount of sunscreen is enough

3. Nikki is still allergic to DC lawns

We Made It!

After four long years on Whidbey Island, we left our very first house to move to Washington D.C

 We spent long days in the car...which made nobody happy...

But we finally made it!

Some of us are taking longer to adjust than others...

We would love to have visitors! 

Our new contact info:

1000 New Jersey Avenue SE

Apartment 423

Washington DC 20003

nicolecraig24@gmail.com

mpcraig@uwalumni.com

Nikki: (262) 374-0562

Michael: (262) 844-8609

Presidents Love Whistler

For the long Presidents' Day weekend in February, we took a trip to Whistler, BC. Whistler was home to some of the Alpine Events for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Games last winter.

Standing in the Olympic Rings in Whistler Village

Waiting in line to get on the slopes on Saturday. There were over 26,000 people skiing on Saturday and Sunday this weekend. The mountains are so big, it didn't really feel crowded. (We both ended up skiing alone for half a day because we lost each other!)

A view from Whistler Mountain


The Peak to Peak Gondola: The longest un-supported gondola in the world. It's 2 miles long, takes 11minutes and at it's highest point is over 1400 feet above the valley. It connects Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.



By the Olympic Inukshuk. Obviously, there has been a LOT of snow at Whistler recently.

On our last evening, we went Ziplining between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. (As seen on The Bachelor.)

And of course, we had to try the Canadian "delicacies" of 'Beaver Tail' and 'Poutine.' Yum!

Home is Where the Navy Sends You

We're Moving to Washington D.C.!

The time has come for Michael to transition to his first shore tour. We got an excellent Christmas present in the form of Michael's orders to the Office of Naval Intelligence(ONI)
All jokes about the irony of Michael working at an intelligence office are welcome....

ONI is located about 5 miles east of the U.S. Capitol in Suitland, MD.

Their website is here: http://www.oni.navy.mil/ We'd tell you what Michael is going to be doing there, but then we'd have to kill you.

We're currently in the process of finding a place to live and renting out our house in Oak Harbor. The house has it's own blog in progress, check it out: http://www.1221lola.blogspot.com/

We should be in the DC/MD area by mid-April. If you'd like notification of our new address when we move, send Nikki an e-mail at nicolecraig24@gmail.com

Merry Christmas and On Wisconsin!!

We had an amazing holiday season! Having not been back to Minnesota since the year we were married, (those trips to Wisconsin seem to take up so much time!) we decided to spend Christmas in the winter wonderland of Minnesota...

After an exciting Christmas Eve at Grandma Culver's with the whole clan, we headed up to Renee (Nikki's mom) and Pete's house in Northern Minnesota.

Hello Christmas Tree Forest!

A yummy all-fondue Christmas Dinner

Renee and Pete put together ice-versions of golf, cricket, bowling, badminton and Bocce ball...it was amazing!

Playing on the lake

Pete's children and grandchildren came out to enjoy the winter playland!


Michael very much enjoyed being a kid again with Pete's grandkids. (And he got his butt kicked at Wii!)

For the New Year we headed to Los Angeles!

Here we are on New Year's Eve with Renee and Pete and Nikki's aunt Alicia at the BEST place in all of California...Tiki Ti!

After a late night, we started 2011 VERY early with the 2011 Rose Parade. The highlight being the BEST BAND IN THE LAND!!

Renee and Pete outside the Rose Bowl

Outside the Rose Bowl

It was a tough game, and even tougher end to the day with Wisconsin's 2 point loss to TCU. But, with the best fans and the best band, we still had a great time.

We finished with what's now become a regular stop for us in L.A., a hike in Griffith Park to see the Hollywood sign.

2011 brings some big changes for the Craigs! Stay tuned! (Just back right up, it's not THAT.)