My great grandfather got off the boat from Finland, and went to Corning, New York, to make a new life.  A couple of years later, he went back to Finland to get married, and he came home a year or so later with my great-grandmother and infant grandfather in tow.  The great thing about having a messed up last name is that it’s really easy to track where the family has been over the years.

Ellis Island Records is cool.  You can see Matti Loytty’s passenger record, it shows that he was from Kymi, Finland, was 24 years old, and came over on a ship called the Teutonic. and arrived in the US 100 years ago today, October 28, 1909.

Have I mentioned that Eric is very smart?  He’s brilliant.  He reads everything he can get his hands on, has a really quick mind, and a very dry sense of humor.  He’s also kind of unorganized.

Yesterday, he brought his report card home:  Math, A.  Science, A.  Spanish, A.  Language Arts, B (lack of organization got him there….the B is actually an improvement, a few weeks ago, his average was 4.  FOUR.  Out of A HUNDRED.  Next grading period, that will be an A).  Finally, he got a D in gym.  GYM.  I lost the stern “you got a D, so you’re going to get a talking to” face and laughed.  Apparently, you get graded down when your  uniform isn't cleaned.  We wash it whenever he brings it home, but he seems to lose things.  He gets that from his mother.