{Virtual Coffee}

 [Sip].  

   Yum!  How nice it is to be back in my own home, with power restored, sipping on my own brand of coffee brewed in my own coffee machine!!  Our first day back, I was almost chugging the coffee down, it tasted so good (compared to the awful complimentary hotel lobby coffee that I managed to consume all week.  So much for my intentions of hitting the Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts that were nearby.  I saved a little money anyway).
   What are you sipping on this morning/afternoon/evening?
   I mentioned in last week's post that we lost our power when Hurricane Irene hit (a week ago Saturday, during the night).  We ended up staying at a motel until this Saturday.
   I have to give the electric companies credit: their crews were out there working non-stop to restore the power.  They called in help from the southern and western states-- even Canada.  It was very impressive.  And with all that effort, it still took 6 days to get the power back!
   So we made the most of it and turned the week into an "impromptu" vacation.

Here's Hubster arriving at our temporary home for the week:
Holiday Inn

Parking lot view of our hotel.
The dog and I spent lots of time walking out here!

   I want to apologize to those of you who have left comments on my blog, and to my partners in the Mug Rug &Goodies Swap 2011 (see the little button in the sidebar) for being incommunicado!!  Living out of one hotel room with two double beds and two kids kids 24/7, I could only manage to squeeze in a very limited amount of time on the computer (before passing out from exhaustion at the end of the day!)
   Now that we are back home, I am starting to "catch up" on all my responses and reading blogs.  I've seen such wonderful goodies being posted on the Flickr group for the swap and I am chomping-at-the-bit to get started on my mug rugs and goodies for my partners!
   Quilting has been on my mind, though...  We ate dinner outside the other evening in the pagoda that's in the courtyard at our motel.

   When I looked down, I saw this:

Looks like a Spider Web block, doesn't it?
I'll definitely have to add one to my "To Do" List

{For those of you who are not quilters, here's a link to what a spider web block/quilt looks like.}

   There were train tracks behind the hotel, so we put coins on the rail to see what happens...  {This is a classic children's rite of passage, don't you think?}

Setting the coins...

marking the spot with rocks and sticks so we can find the coins later

coin impressions left behind after the train(s) came through

one of our flattened pennies (some of them got really flat)

   Here's what we learned (if you care to know):  Pennies always get flat, dimes only sometimes flatten (I guess it depends on the size of the train?) and we never found our quarters, so I can't report on them.  So tuck that away in your list of essential information!
    How are your kids enjoying the new school year?  
I hope they are transitioning smoothly and liking their teachers and classmates.

   Since schools were closed, we visited the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk where they have marine animals as well as a traveling robotic dinosaur exhibit.

Stegosaurus mom and baby (and the back of my son's head)

T-Rex
Run for your life!!

   So as not to terrify the little ones, they very cleverly included a T Rex with the internal metal robotics showing that the kids could operate.

moving the head and tail of T-Rex

Harbor Seals

So cute!!

Taking a nap after feeding

We also arrived in time to see them feeding the sharks!

I love all the fish tanks

   Outside, they had an"archaeological" sand box (filled with tiny rubber pellets instead of sand) in which the kids could "uncover" the bones with paintbrushes.

Touch tank with sting rays

And of course, we had to hit the gift shop on the way out (because the kids need more stuffed animals, right?)  Here is my daughter with her Harbor Seal.  [Sorry, no photo of my son with his rainbow dolphin).]

    So there you have some photo highlights of our "impromptu vacation" week.  It's now time to make the kids lunches-- today is their first day of school (after a one-week delay due to Irene).  Nothing like saving it til the last minute, but Virtual Coffee is more important!!
   Thanks for visiting!  I'm linking up over at Amy's blog, Lucky Number 13.  Check out her weekly Virtual Coffee.  It's a very interesting and diverse group of bloggers.
   Have a good week!