Happy Father's Day!

All our love.

Abi Greg and Jorn

Nap Time

I captured these two moments over the past few days which have been so cold (50 degrees but 42 with the wind chill...madness for June) that there hasn't been much to do but to stay in and relax. Here's the evidence...



Jorn loves his cats and they love him. It is just the cutest thing :-)

Families Start Your Engines!

The weather has been beautiful and the fairs have been a plenty so that means the Connors Clan has been busy having fun! We started Memorial Day Weekend with a trip to the Massachusetts Sheep and Wool Festival. You can read all about that on my knitting blog SpiderWomanKnits as well as see more cute pictures of Jorn and the other two people he lives with ;-)

On Sunday, Jorn and I made our way to the Pittsfield Carnival which was A LOT of fun. Jorn loves the games, the rides, the food, the carni atmosphere...he's a pretty cool guy to hang out with if I do say so myself.

Check him out on the truck ride! Doesn't he look like a trucker? He was really serious about steering I think he would have even downshifted on the hills had he had the option.


After the trucks came the cars. This has been Jorns favorite ride at every fair for the past two years. I have to be sure that I have plenty of tickets because he won't get off the ride unless he goes on two different cars at least. He started driving the bus.


Then switched to the car.

Then, Jorn crossed a threshold. He went on his very first ROLLER COASTER ride and he LOVED it! Check out the video but be sure to let the video "load" first before you play it so it isn't choppy. Jorn is in the second car.


Here he is as the Roller Coaster pulled to a stop. Look at his face. No fear there! I see a lot of trips to Six Flags in our future :-)



After the rides we dined on Carnival Food. Corndogs, Fries, Ice Cream etc. and then headed home. But not before trying a few carnival games. Jorn is a natural at these too! I was amazed he won two prizes and not because "every kids wins" he really won 'em fair and square. There were kids twice his age who couldn't "hook a duck" or catch the flying balls. (Sorry no pictures I was having way too much fun watching him)


After a day filled with rides and fun and food my sufficently stuffed son brought his stuffed turtle and stuffed snake home and took a nice long nap.

Testing 1 2 3

Ok everyone here it goes! YouTube is a service that will host video for you so that we can share our movies with you on the blog. So make sure you read the post below about our trip to the Festival of Celts and then check out the video of Jorn defeating the Invisible Knight! How great is this? Oh...be sure to let the video load completely before you play it so it isn't choppy :-)




Next, Jorn becomes SIR Jorn!

Celtic Festival 2006

Last weekend the Connors Clan headed over to Chatham, NY for the 2006 Festival of Celts. I have to admit that I have been pretty interested in Celtic culture ever since I started reading the Outlander Series this winter. (I am on book three now) This was my kind of fair. We had SO much fun. There is something so intriguing about re-enacters/time travel via recreation. I just love it.

We saw knights


Medieval Clansman


The Redcoats (Blah!)


Traditional Pipers (not sure of the clan)


And Jorn successfully fought off the Invisible Knight


But this guy captivated us the entire time



We just couldn't get enough (pictures) of him. It was like he was a time traveler. It was a beautiful day and a great time was had by all. Next year maybe we'll actually try the Haggis!

Jorns First Love and Where Have we Been?

Oh My. Has it really been months since I last posted on this blog? How awful. Well, for all the folks out there...all three of you ;-)... keeping up with our happenings here's what has been going on...

To start we decided to put our house on the market in preparation for a move.

PITTSFIELD. ADORABLE & sunny 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage, built ins, wood floors, den, office. Asking $159,900. Reasonable offers invited.

There is a house that we love and have put an offer on but we'll have to wait and see if we can get it because we must sell our house first and there is no way to say how long that will take. Cross your fingers for us.

In other news I decided to close down the old Revoltees web-site and start up a new store with Etsy which is a highly addictive web-site that provides the opportunity for artists and crafters to sell their goods world wide. You can check out my Etsy store here.

The end of winter and begining of spring have kept us quite busy but we still manage to have some fun. Here's proof...

Jorn has taken to drawing numbers and letters with complete ease. It is really amazing!







Sometimes I have a little extra "help" with the laundry.








Caroline (our next door neighbor and Jorn's first love) take a break from playing with a quick rest. Jorn actually asked me if he could marry her! Too Cute!







We had a visit from Grandma Julie and she, Jorn, and I took some time out to knit together. We had a really great visit. It was short but sweet. Grandma Julie also got the first family tour of our potential new home!





In the begining of April I took a Jetplane to see my dear friend Bruce in Ohio. I had a great time. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from the trip but this is what I came home to. It was a joint effort between Greg and Jorn. Greg did the top part and Jorn did the bottom ALL BY HIMSELF. Greg just spelled the words for him as he wrote them. Jorn did everything else!






There was no way we were going to miss the Sheep and Wool Festival at the Clermont Historic Site. It was a beautiful day and besides a wonderful assortment of yarn/fiber there were sheep herding and sheep sheering demonstrations as well as some Civil War folk on hand to keep families entertained. My friend Jess came along too but since she hates having her picture taken a link to her blog will have to do.

Here are the "messy guys" (as Jorn calls himself and Greg) hanging out with the Hudson River in the background.





Jorn had his first taste of Brownie Batter and LOVED it. No surprise there! Just try and get that spoon away from him :-)













We also had a visit from Rosie and Sean just in time for Easter! Rosie, Jorn, and I had a great time coloring Easter Eggs and Jorn did a GREAT job finding all the eggs the Easter Bunny hid in the yard. Spring brings warmer weather and warmer weather means more visitors and that always makes us happy. I hope everyone is enjoying the blossoming and warmth and I will be sure to post more frequently. Till next time....

Happy Valentine's Day

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday but I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope your day was filled with love and sweet things!

Train Show!

Yesterday was The Connors Clan 2nd Annual Family trip to the Big 2006 Railroad Hobby Show in Spiringfield, MA! Here is our little engineer all ready to check out the latest model trains all decked out in enginer pants and hat.

This is just one of three gigantic buildings filled with train hobbyists and their "set ups". These guys go to town. Each member of a "Railway Society" is responsible for a section of track that they must maintain. It is pretty impressive actually. Boys and their toys.

Besides the sophisticated set ups there were also battery powered Thomas trains...mini Islands of Sodor (the fictional island where talking trains dwell) and this was where Jorn found his people. There were little boys everywhere waiting quite patiently for their turn to watch Thomas zip around the track carrying freight. Jorn must have been here for a solid 15 minutes just watching the trains go round and round. He was truly in his glory.

Here's Dad and Jorn happily enjoying the day...


And Jorn and me toward the end of the day when it was difficult to get Jorn to willingly take a picture.

I'm holding his latest Thomas acquisition, "the Giggling Troublesome Trucks". It was like Christmas when we got home, Jorn played all night until he could barely keep his eyes open and then took his Troublesome Trucks to bed with him where I am sure he dreamed of engines, freight cars, and bridges all through the night....

A New Year and a New Look

It has been so long since I last updated our family blog and so much has happened. I felt like it was time to give this blog a facelift and lighten it up a little, hope you like the new look. First I want to start by wishing everyone a belated and Happy New Year! I hope that everyone's (the five of you out there who read this) holiday season was healthy and happy. Greg, Jorn, and I spent a week traveling the Tri-State area visiting friends and family. First stop was New Jersey to see the Nanas and Papas of Holiday City!

Here's Nana (Connors) opening her Red Hat piggy bank. Anyone who knows Nana knows her favorite past time is shopping till she drops so we thought a "Shopping Fund" container would come in handy not to mention that she is a card carrying member of the Red Hat Society.

Then it was Papa Joe's turn to open his gifts. See just to the left of Papa Joe...yeah the dancing singing Santa Claus and Frosty the snowman? Well, multiply those two guys by about 10 and you'll have the amount of motion activated Christmas singing critters in Nana and Papa's house. It has become a "tradition" for Greg to set them all off at the SAME TIME and let's just say that it can cause a severe case of sensory overload. Here's Greg suffering from the after effect.

We also spent time with Papa John and Grandma Audrey but somehow they managed to evade our camera. Now that I am looking for pictures for this post I really am surprised that we managed to leave there without a single picture :-( We had unseasonably warm weather so a bunch of us headed out to the Popcorn Zoo which was established for the sole purpose of providing a refuge for wildlife that are elderly, sick, abandoned, abused or injured, and which could no longer survive in the wild. Jorn and I got up close and personal with this Tiger. Papa Joe, Papa John, Grandma Audrey, Greg, Robin, and Brittany all had a great time too.

Next it was time to head off to the Big City for a visit with Grandma Julie and Jorns first trip to the Museum of Natural History. We spotted this billboard on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway! Of, course, we had to take a picture.

To get to the museum we had to use public transportation. Jorn had never been on a city bus or subway before. He was SO excited! Here we are on the "Big Bus". You could tell that Jorn was amazed he didn't have to sit in a car seat. Such a big boy!

After the bus came the TRAIN! Anyone who knows Jorn knows about his obsession with trains. This was such a big deal for him to ride on a subway. Greg and I took him on the LIRR when he was a baby but he doesn't remember that at all. As far as he was concerned this was his first time on a real train. He is still talking about it!


Check out Grandma Julie, Greg, and Jorn outside the big Museum of Natural History! My friend Aimee from High School gave Jorn a book called, "How to take your Grandma to the Museum" and Jorn and I read that book a whole bunch before our trip. He actually recognized the layout of the museum! The book really helped Jorn prepare for this massive intake of information so if you're reading this Aimee...Thanks!

After all the buses, trains, and dinosaurs it was time to take a nap! I struggle every day to get Jorn to rest his little head and here he is asleep on a wooden bench in the loudest, busiest enviornment that he's ever been in. I guess he has the same reaction to sensory overload as his dad!

After his nap it was time to head to my favorite section of the museum... the rocks and minerals! I think Jorn liked it a lot too since this is the actually the most child friendly area. He could touch the gigantic meteorite, run around on the ramps that bring you from section to section, and dwell in the atmospheric lighting. The colors are amazing, so are the textures. Being in these rooms again made me wish I had gone into geology but what could be better than sharing a kiss with my little guy? Our trip to the museum was great. We didn't get to see very much, it was a lot to take in and a lot of walking but I know we will return and explore some more.

When we left the museum it was just about time to meet my brother Pete for some dinner. He is at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan now so it was just a hop, skip and a jump over to his studio to see his latest work which was amazing. Really amazing. You can check it out on his website. We wound up in this shady Irish Pub where the food wasn't so great but the Guinness was cold and that was all that mattered to these guys (except for Jorn of course, though you'd doubt it from the picture)


After the Big City we headed to Brooklyn to visit the newlyweds, Jarret and Robyn, in Park Slope. We had a short but sweet visit (again no pictures :-( sorry) . Sadly we missed their wedding in October so we were really happy to see them. Little did we know that when we left Brooklyn we'd be heading into this storm.

It took us 8 hours to make a 2 hour trip going 20 miles an hour in second gear the whole way. Thankfully we made it home safely just in time to ring in the New Year.