Happy Holidays!

Our initial plan was to go high tech with the Holiday Letter and post a video of each of us providing our update, but Tina and Tazia did not want to put on make-up today. So, you have to actually read in order to get up-to-date on the happenings with the Statucki family.

I finally made it to finding 4,000 geocaches and have a new favorite video game – Zwift. For those of you who are not familiar with Zwift, my road bike is attached to a trainer and as I pedal my real bike, my virtual bike explores different virtual worlds. I participate in occasional races with the sole goal of not finishing last. I also bought a new car because my FJ Cruiser is a collector’s item and I did not want to add unnecessary mileage because my commute to East CTA, where I am an Assistant Principal, is significantly longer than Tina’s commute. I still serve as the Executive Director of Nevada ACTE and the past year has kept me busy as we are hosting two conferences this year.

Tina is still fabulous. She is currently the principal at Northwest CTA, the 2nd best CTA in Las Vegas 🙂 During the Nevada ACTE summer conference, she was named Administrator of the Year for Nevada. She is still crafting and has spent the last year completing diamond paintings, paint-by-numbers, and she crochets three squares a month as part of her new crocheting club of the month subscription. Each month she receives yarn to make three squares of a quilt, complains about how hard each new stitch is going to be, and then finishes all three squares while I go on a walk with the dog.

Tazia’s year was pretty uneventful. Tazia’s last semester of law school started with her being named best oralist in her region at the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition and followed it up by finishing as the 20th best oralist in the world at the international Jessup competition. Can you believe that there are 19 people who are better at arguing with their parents than Tazia is? I’d hate to be those kids’ parents. Tina and I met my parents, Lavonne, and a host of other family members to attend Tazia’s graduation from law school. While it was a highlight to see her walk across the stage, Tina and I were proudest of the number and variety of awards that she received from the law school. Tazia moved to New York City for work, at Covington & Burling, at the end of July and took and passed the bar exam. After the exam, Tazia took Lavonne on a Mediterranean cruise for seven days. Tina and I can’t believe they both came back alive after spending so much time together. We couldn’t do it. If you want to know more about Tazia’s exploits, please email her at tazia.statucki@gmail.com and tell her to write her own letter now that she makes more money than we do. 

Quinton is still working as a diesel technician in Reno. He came down to visit Tina and I in June just after his birthday. Instead of going out partying with his friends, Quinton and Tina waited in line for hours at Zac Bagan’s The Haunted Museum (I choose to go geocaching instead, not because I was scared). Based on the stories they told, the scariest part of the museum was Quinton and Tina yelling and taunting the demons (not ghosts because “they are little bitches” according to Quinton) in front of the other members of their tour group and receiving the occasional unappreciative look from those who were legitimately scared. This year, Quinton has explored his artistic and creative side, much like his mother. He has been busy painting, sculpting, and building projects in his tiny apartment. I am sure that his neighbors appreciate him using power tools and blow torches in his apartment. He is willing to sell you his artwork, but if you tag him in a Facebook post, you will be paying a significant premium to own any part of his greatness. 

As for our Griswold family trips, which is now just Tina and I on road trips, we attended an ACTE Region Conference in Montana in April. In July, Tina and I drove up to visit with Quinton and then drove to the central coast of California. We had a great stay outside of Cambria and visited Nitt Witt Ridge, Blancas Piedras Lighthouse, and Morro Rock. No road trip would be complete without a geocache or two and our trip to Cambria was no exception. Since Tina likes scary stuff and I like geocaching, we went together to find a night cache in a cemetery that was established in 1870. The geocache had to be found at night because the path to the final container utilized reflective pins that we had to follow. So, Tina and I were walking around a deserted cemetery with headlamps on at 10:00 in the evening with the fog rolling in. When you put it that way, it seems a little creepy, but I did find the geocache which is the important part. In late October, we drove to Arizona to visit Organ Pipe National Monument and Saguaro National Park. We ended up in Tombstone, Arizona on the 138th anniversary of the gunfight at the OK Corral and stayed in a haunted bordello that was converted into a bed and breakfast. Tina and I both experienced separate unusual experiences during our stay, but we are not completely convinced they were supernatural. As much as Tina and I like our road trips, we are sure that Silver likes them more because he gets to stay with Grandma Lavonne. Lavonne and her boomer friends spoil him rotten. 

As I am writing this letter, we are staying in a normal, not haunted house in Lake Tahoe with the kids for Thanksgiving. Since we are not going to see either of them for Christmas, we have combined the holidays and are enjoying having both of them with us at the same time.We hope everyone has a great holiday season and maybe next year Tina and Tazia will put on makeup for a video version of the letter.

Craig, Tina, Tazia, Quinton, and Silver

Bonus Features

Craig’s Top Five Travel Bugs (in terms of miles traveled)

1. Sta2Key Travel Coin – 83015 miles
2. GeoSta2Key – 31281 miles
3. Vive Le Minion – 28885 miles
4. SkyMed – 21832 miles
5. Michelin Tag – 21557 miles

Tina’s Top 5 Favorite Hobbies

1. Acrylic Painting
2. Flower Arrangements
3. Refinishing and Repurposing Furniture
4. Crocheting
5. Photography

Quinton’s Top 5 Favorite Paintings

1. Van Gogh – The Olive Trees
2. Claude Monet – La Seine a Lavacourt
3. Van Gogh – Irises
4. Francisco Goya – Saturn Devouring His Son
5. Piet Mondrian – Silver Tree

Tazia’s Top 5 Favorite Mediterranean Trip Moments

1. Barcelona bus tour on my 25th Birthday
2. Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain
3. Eating pasta and gelato in Lucca, Italy
4. St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City
5. When the tour guide in Pompeii, Italy asked what a phallic symbol was, and Grandma Lavonne yelled “Jesus!” in front of the entire group.