What I Did On My Summer Vacation

It's certainly hot enough to be summer, so that must mean it's time for that annual tradition - summer vacation. Recent memories of glorious road trips to The North Shore, The Tetons, Yellowstone, and the Black Hills abound. So what grand adventure awaits this year? Is it Washington DC, or perhaps Glacier National Park? Actually, today Alondra and I walked to Target and picked up a toothbrush!

There's Nothing On

Because the networks don't have a clue. There's a pilot episode of a show called Nobody's Watching that made it's way to youtube. Neither NBC nor the WB liked it. So if you're in the mood for a sitcom that might actually make you laugh, turn off the TV and have a look. It's better than TiVo - no need to hit the 30 second skip button over the commercials!

The Teen Years

Technically we have until the 25th, but this was a sure sign that things are about to change. I've heard the lifestyle impact of a teenager in the house isn't as significant as adding an infant, but this is new for me. I'm scared! I think the grasshopper I found in the back yard is scared too.

Bert Not Evil

Contrary to popular belief, Bert is not evil. Rather, he's a rocket. Er... several rockets. These guys have too much time on their hands. I wish they'd ask me to come out and play.

Keeping Score

Just a little something we decided to do today, and for the next few weeks. If you haven't a clue what this means, I really don't want to explain it. If you want weekly updates, just stop back.

		Week
Owner	Contestant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Alondra	Danielle	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Alondra	Mike	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Alondra	Will	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dad	Janelle	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dad	Kaysar	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lauren	Diane	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lauren	Erika	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lauren	Nakomis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Matt	George	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Matt	Howie	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Matt	James	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mom	Alison	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mom	Jase	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mom	Marcellas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Score
Dad	0		1 point for each player not getting voted out in a week
Mom	0		1 point for each competition win (excluding week 1 competitions)
Matt	0		5 points for the BB7 winner
Lauren	0
Alondra	0

More on Little Brother #3's Ancestors

I had always thought there was some Austrian and Hungarian in our family history. But like Little Brother #3, I too always thought there was a lot of German. There is, on our father's side, only not so much. While Matt, Lauren and I were watching fireworks last night, Deanna did some more digging. She found our paternal grandfather Matthew Leroy Ollig (or Leroy Orville perhaps?) born December 26, 1907 to Hubert and Amelia. Amelia's maiden name was Altnow and her parents immigrated from Germany according the the 1930 census record. Also on that side are our grandmother Marie's parents Wallace King and Yvonne (Bourgeous) King. Both were French Canadian.

She also found another maiden name of one of our great grandmothers on the Schweighofer side - Renier. She didn't have any more details than that. But that would have been either Teresa Welligrant or Lorenz Schweighofer's mother's maiden name - those are Grandpa Schweighofer's parents.

As you can tell, this topic is one that a certain member of this household gets into.

Our Common Past

Read something very interesting this morning. As recently as 500 BC there likely lived a person who is a common ancestor to every person on earth today. If you think I'm just making that up, read for yourself.

So I hop over to ancestry.com because I heard they had recently digitized the 1930 U.S. census data. Sure enough - looks like they did. And they even let me search them for free today. I found my grandmother Emma (Block) Schweighoffer's name. The form says she was 14 at the time and living in St. Paul with her father Adam who was 40, mother Mary (33) both born in Austria. Adam worked in a paint factory and came to the U.S. in 1908, Mary immigrated in 1911. My grandfather Raymond was 15 in 1930 and lived in St. Paul in his grandfather Thomas's home. Thomas was 71 at the time and came to the US from Hungary in 1887. My great grandfather Lorenz (44) also lived in the home and was a railroad engineer in 1930.