I like to party all the time, party all the time, party!!!!!

I am a super party planner...NOT!  But I just took care of some important party plans pretty quickly.  Justin is graduating in a couple weeks so I thought, eh, why not celibrate it somehow.  I had originally thought we would go to a pub of sorts and have people meet us there.  It is cheaper for us because it is essentially BYOB, but then I would have to worry about  numbers and tables and kids.  So instead I decided to throw a very casual gathering at our house.  It is going to be outside because a ton of people won't fit in the house and we just don't have that type of seating, plus it is summer and beautiful.  I would love to have a firepit, but we don't have one and it would be in an odd spot since our patio is surrounded by juniper bushes that I hate.  So we are just going to be outside in the dark with chairs.  I will have a have some drinks and snacks and that is about it.  I am so glad that I planned more for a new years eve party in 2001 with 6 people coming than I have for this party.  I am just hoping to get to spend time with friends and family and enjoy a nice evening outside.  (Let me know if you find any tiki torches for cheap or come up with a firepit plan since we can't put them in our grass.)

Ava has been talking about her birthday party since pretty much the day after her last party.  I don't know what it is about kids parties now, but it seems like people from her school all have big parties.  I just can't rationalize spending that much money on a 2-3 hour party.  I also can't imagine having 25 five year olds at my house if I were to go the cheaper route.  So I proposed a family weekend.  I asked Ava if she would be ok with not having a party if we went somewhere as a family instead.  She thought about it and asked if she would still get presents and a cake.  I said yes.  Justin isn't able to take any vacation days at work right now so even though it is summer, we were pretty limited to the weekend of her birthday.  After spending 2 nights comparing prices and resorts and mileage, we ended up with booking Key Lime Cove.  It is an indoor water park by Great America.  The cool thing is, they had a promo going on, so we are also going to Great America.  It will be pretty awesome and I think she will have a ton of fun.  So sorry to offend those who wanted a party for Ava.  We will be living it up in the lazy river.

DAR

Last week I started up my free two week trial of ancestry.com.  It was pretty easy to trace things back because most of it has already been done by people and they shared it publicly.  I loved finding the little stories and pictures of people.  It turns out my Great-Great-Great Grandmother and Grandfather lived in the same town I currently do, in 1860.  That is extra interesting since none of my biological family is from Illinois.  There were pictures of them listed also and civil war documents.  Out of 8 family lines (great grandparents) 7 of them go all the way back to the 1700's at least , in America.  One line is very well documented.  Simon H. was the first person to come to America. He was a Quaker from Ireland.  He moved here with his children in 1712.  He had many children and they all had many children.  There are pages and pages of records for this family. In fact there is an entire society for ancestors of Simon H.

Many records were kept because of their involvement with the Society of Friends.  Simon's grandson Joshua, Jr. is a documented Patriot of the Revolution due to his providing supplies.  There are pages and pages of records for this family.  In fact there is an entire society for ancestors of Simon H.  On another side of the family, Godfried (Goodlife) N. came to America from Germany in 1759 and immediately became involved in the French and Indian War.  He was in the New York Provincial Militia.  See p. 89.  I haven't gotten as far with my mom's side of the family because my aunt has already done it.  She has things listed back to the 1500's.  It is all pretty interesting to me.

I am actually very interested in trying to join the Daughters of the Revolution.  I don't know why exactly, I just am.  I have requested to be contacted to apply, but I haven't heard anything back yet.  (They apparently take the summer off.)  The book series I have been reading this year is currently set during the American Revolution.   Maybe that has me really invested in the story or something.  Anyway, that is my newest story.