How did your family end up in North America?

My dad's side of the family came to California in the Gold Rush (my family can be traced back to the founding of Sacramento--where I was born), originally from the East Coast. From the East Coast they can mostly be traced from England, but there's also some French ancestry in there as well.

My mom is from Japan and moved to California when she was in her 20s. 

Legally. My father came over when I was young to work as a professor. The rest of us came with him.

They bought tickets on a "budget" airline to go to Athens. They ended up in Georgia.

They came over on a boat with a bunch of other illegals. :-)

Really?  Your family got the permission of the continent's original inhabitants to come over?  :-)

They came from the Ukraine in the late 1800s.

My father's uncle was kicked out of England because he was a drunken playboy who was wrecking the family business, died from alcoholism then his sister -who became my grandmother- came to Canada to settle his affairs, met my grandfather also from England who was here seeking a new life.

Mother's mother's side been here since early 1600s, her father's side came here mid 1800s ; both from Ireland.

They didn't.

i was born in south america and my father came to nyc to see his sister and ended up staying there, and then my mother bought the rest of us here