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Back from Vacation

August 18th, 2012 at 06:40 am

We are back from our short vacation to Tacoma. It was incredibly hot while we were there, in the low 90's each day. It was close to that here at home, but we really took a doozy of a time to go.

Still it was very nice to get away from home for a bit and to relax in a pool each night. The zoo was very nice, much better than Woodland Park Zoo. I have some lovely pictures some of which I will post when I am not so exhausted, but here is one.



I didn't actually ride one of the camels as my knee was acting up fiercely by the time we got to the camels (about 2 hours in)and I didn't think I could climb up the stairs to get on, but the kids and DH both did.

We stayed on budget for vacation which was something I was a little worried about. I took an extra $100 just in case, but I came back home with it.

There was a really great diner across from our hotel. We have lucked out quite a bit in finding excellent diners when we've been on vacation. We tend to shy away from the big chain restaurants most of the time if we can help it. This place, Elmer's, reminded me of the place in Port Angeles called Joshua's that we ate at several times on our summer trip last year. Elmer's is a very small chain, local to the PNW, but feels very homey and the food was incredibly good and locally sourced.

The kids got their school wardrobes (well, I guess for DS it was just getting clothes because he's outgrown everything since he's homeschooling this year) taken care of as well. Although DD still needs a pair of gym shoes for PE and a pair of everyday tennis shoes. And both kids need socks. DS's jeans will need to be altered as they are far too long, but we found ones that fit him well otherwise, which we couldn't even come close to doing last year. He's grown a lot in the last year.

I really hate the years between boyhood and teenage boyhood for finding clothes. If you are not a super skinny tall beanpole there is nothing for you in trousers between the XL 20 boys and the size 32 mens waist with a 29 inch inseam. That's 5 missing sizes. DS lived in sweat pants last year, but he hated it. There are tons of tween clothes for girls and you can at least make do with skirts for a few years if you have to. The choices for boys are extremely limited. A business taking advantage of that clothing gap would clean up. I am not the only mother of a boy I've heard complaining of this.

Still, with homeschooling he can get through the fall, winter, and spring on two good pairs of jeans and the hated sweat pants. He wears shorts in the house all the time anyway.

3 Responses to “Back from Vacation”

  1. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1345305434

    Good job on staying within your budget on vacation! I like to find diners too when I'm on vacation, rather than just eating at the chain restaurants. The diners I think give you more of a flavor of the local culture.

  2. snafu Says:
    1345313192

    I've always had the impression that small local eateries are more likely to use 'real' food and fewer unpronounceable chemicals that the big chains use in their 'convenience' packages of fake potato, vegetable flakes, pretend meat, extenders, chemical herb/flavor replacements etc.

    Were you able to verify they make their foods 'in house?' Did you or DS notice any allergic reaction? You are so careful about food source at home it would be horrid to un-do all that effort.

  3. LuckyRobin Says:
    1345318340

    Snafu--Yes, we were able to verify things. The waiter was very good about answering all of my questions. Neither DS or I had allergic reactions from eating there and the food tasted really good, very fresh, and like made from scratch food and not like chemically enhanced food. It also did not have that "set heavy in your stomach" feeling that you can get after eating at some restaurants. I was very happy with it.

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