10 Days Down, 50 To Go

We've gone through 10 days of our 60 days of summer fun. Which means, we have also survived 10 days with out Tracy. Only 50 more days. Haha, only? Trying to make it sound not so bad.

Here are pictures of the fun we've been having.

DAY 1: Sidewalk Chalk

DAY 2:  Picnic in the Park

I planned this activity early in hopes to beat the summer heat. Well this day ended up being over 100 degrees, so we only made it as far as the shopping center where the splash pad is located. Then we came home and had a picnic lunch on our patio.

DAY 3: Swimming 

DAY 4: Story time at Cellar Door Books

James refused to go into the bookstore for story time, 

so he played outside the store for awhile then we did our grocery shopping.

DAY 5: Game Night 

It has been so hot James has started refusing to wear any clothes at home.

DAY 6: Make Play dough 

The recipe I had didn't turn out. We'll have to try another one some other time.

DAY 7: Splash Pad

He was a little nervous cause there were a bunch of other kids playing rough.
Once he got over being scared, one of them almost knocked him over. :(

DAY 8: Bubbles 

DAY 9: Fireworks

Note he has our tablet. He had Talking Tom the Cat App running and kept showing Tom the fireworks.

It was great being able to watch the city firework show from our patio. There were a few trees in the way of the view, but we could still see most of them. Plus, they broadcast music to be in sync with the show over a radio station. My city is awesome. James had a blast. He kept saying yelling things like "That's Awesome", "A Big One", "Cool", "Wow", and "Mommy, you see that." 

DAY 10: Pizza Party

We made little personal pizzas using English Muffins as the crust. James had fun helping make them and eating all the toppings in the process. We also were joined by Tracy via Skype and he made some with us too. Such a fun pizza party. 

Stay tuned for the next 10 days of fun.

Silly, silly kid.

As I was putting James to bed, tonight.

James: Mommy turn air on. (He likes to stand on the vent when the a/c is running.)
Me: When I go back down stairs, I will.
Few minutes later James picks up his ball, walks out of his room and then comes right back.
James: Mommy, help me.
Me: What do you need?
James: Ball fell down the stairs. Go get it please and turn the air on.

Did I just get out smarted by my 3 year old?

Family History

Family History - I am doing it, my family history.
And the love I feel when I'm doing it is very sweet to me.
I learn stories of my progenitors; I write their history.
I keep records of my loved one on my own family tree.

If you're familiar with that song, you probably will have it stuck in your head for the rest of the day. :)

My oldest sister is really good at genealogy, so good she got a bachelor's degree in it. Sometimes she shares her finds with Facebook or when I'm feeling into searching for ancestors I ask her what she's working one. Last week was one of the weeks where both things happen to a line. I hadn't asked her yet, but she ended up posting about finding a picture of our Great-Great-Great-Great Grandpa, John Lowe. Our Great-Great-Great Grandpa, George Alma Lowe never knew his father. My sister came across an old newspaper article talking about him meeting his sister for the first time at the age of 61. The article said his sister immediately knew who was because he looked just like her dad. So my sister wanted to find a picture of John Lowe. She knew some other things about John Lowe (I will get into that in a bit) but the chances of actually finding a picture were kind of slim. However she found it. And where did she find it? On familysearch.org. There is now a new feature where you can add pictures and stories of your ancestors. Someone not only had added a picture, but a small life history of John Lowe. Stories we would never know because our direct relatives didn't know anything about him. (Hope I haven't confused anyone.)

If your curious you can see his picture and read about his life: John Lowe.

He was one of the early pioneer settlers in Pasadena, CA. So my sister was going to ask me to take a trip there and explore the historical museum and the library there to see if I could find anything about John Lowe. But the new feature on familysearch.org made it possible for someone else to share what they had already found. I will still go to Pasadena someday and see what is there about my relative.

I've personally been drown toward working on a certain line of my family. It gets a little tricky since there isn't a lot known and there was a time where they lived in Russia. Do you know how many records are available from Russia? Not very many.

My sister also told me about this wonderful thing called digital newspapers. Did you know many old newspapers have been scanned and can be searchable online? I didn't till last week. I have found some fun articles about my family. One about my gr.-gr.-gr. grandpa, Conrad Stuckert, being arrested for making moonshine in his home.

It is so fun to learn about family, that I wouldn't know other wise. Hopefully someday I can find the missing relatives.

Are you doing your family history? What things have you discovered about your family?