I really want a vacation.  But with some family changes that just took place this might be some time before I get to go anywhere.

I have always wanted to go see a different part of the country.  Often when you do plan for a vacation a lot of people tend to think of sun and beaches but over look some of the other destinations.  I was doing some checking and ran across this place in Tennessee.  Gatlinburg vacations in the Tennessee mountains, looks like it has a lot to offer.  I think it would be fun to take a road trip over there.  From North Texas it cannot be too bad of a drive.

After going over all of the attractions and things to do, I want to make sure that I keep this on the radar so when we can actually take a road trip I will remember this place.

I actually cannot believe it’s been this long..  I have been rather busy and there has been a lot going on this last month.  I have a lot to write about just don’t have a lot of time lately.

Here is a small list of things:

* Soccer season just started
* Weekend getaway to Fredericksburg, tx
* Trying to adopt a child

Over the next day or two I will post some write ups on these things..

Last weekend my soccer team went to Abilene for a soccer tournament.  This was the last time this team would be the same as we are moving to a younger division and saying goodbye to the older division, so we wanted to have a last fun time together.

We really didn’t do very well as far as scoring but 2 of the games we almost won and played good.  Overall this last year was slow going and now that we have a few players off of the team, we are going to change up some things and really get competitive this year.  The girls only have a couple weeks till tryouts and I hope we can pick up a few more players to round out the roster.

So here we are in Abilene, TX for our last tournament of the season.  Next season we are moving down to a 96 team instead of a 95 team.  We have played up the entire year.  So we just finished our first game and wow, the girls we played against were really good.  We played OK, but they won.  They had 2 girls that were like 5′10″.  They must have used their best diet supplements, cause they were in shape.

I lost count but I think the final was 0-8.  The other team had about 5 of these players that were on the ODP team.  ODP is the Olympic Develoment program. So it was tough.  Next game is in a little over 2 hours.  I hope we fair better in that one.

We have been preparing for this weekend’s tournament.  We thought it would be fun to have a season ending tournament.  So we said what the heck and entered our team in.  Most tournaments we had played this past season, yielded a minimum of 3 games.  Usually one Friday night and 2 Saturday or 2 Saturday and 1 Sunday.  Well this one is slightly different.

We got our schedule a couple days ago and then they changed it yesterday so we now have 3 games on Saturday and 1 on Sunday.  Then if we are in the top 2 we play a fifth game Sunday afternoon.

Either way we finish up, we should all have fun this weekend.

Unlike my wife the school teacher I do not get to have my summers off.  In fact right now I really only get 10 work days of vacation.  Usually most of those days are used to fly to Seattle to see my family.  What I would really like to do is go on a real vacation.  Of course ‘real’ vacations cost a bunch of money so the decision has to be a wise one.  This summer I think the best we are going to get is a 3 day weekend at a bed and breakfast.  However maybe next year we can check out Orlando vacations. I have heard there is a ton of things to do including Disney World. I have never been to Disney World, but have been to Disney Land (CA). I suppose once we make the decision to head to Florida, I’m sure we will have to stay a week to check everything out in that area and just enjoy our time.

Some other places I would like to see (in the US):
Washington DC
New York, NY
North Carolina
Chicago, IL

We are trying to figure out what we should do this summer.  We usually make an annual trip up to Seattle to see my family.  Now we have or maybe I should say I have thought about it, but there is so much going on I’m not sure we can get away for at least one week and head up that way.  Also thought about checking out some Las Vegas hotels since my cousin still lives in Vegas. Hmmm, another idea was to head down south to Fredericksburg, Texas to a bed and breakfast. (I found a Gluten-free one)

I really wish we could go one a REAL vacation, but we are trying to save up as much money as possible since we are hopefully adopting a child this year.  Maybe we should just take a few short weekend trips, instead of expensive long range flights..  Hmmm  we will have to continue the debate on this one.

I’m sure she would love some company.  I usually get to see my cousins once or twice per year.  Mainly at holidays.  The last two Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays we never flew home so it’s been some time since I have seen them.

She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.  So one thing we could do is get a hotel in las vegas or we probably could just stay with her.  Although she lives out of the Vegas strip area, it would be free accommodations.  But since the holidays are coming up and we are actually going to Seattle this year, maybe we can get something planned for the spring time.  Not to mention that Leslie has only been there via the airport and never to any of the big casinos.

Saturday was quite the long day.  But if you ask me, I will say it was worth it.

Saturday morning started off by driving over to my friends house as we were going to drive up to the airport together.  We got to Dallas Love Field around 12:15pm as we had to get through security.  Our Charter plane (by Southwest Airlines) took off about 2pm and it was a somewhat short flight and we got there about 3:45pm.

Once we hit the ground there were 3 tour buses ready to pick us up.  Once we all boarded we were off to Iowa State University.  I think we got to the stadium about 5pm (1 hour prior to kickoff) and walked around and took some pictures.  Of course the game started shortly after that and it was a good football game.  Go Aggies!  Texas A&M won 49-35.  After the game we headed back to the buses were we had to wait up to 45 minutes to get everyone back on board to make our way back to the Airport in Des Moines.  Once we arrived at the airport we had to all go through security again (which seemed to take forever) and once we were aboard the Southwest Pilots got us home in quick fashion.  We landed back in Dallas about 1:45am, and we drove back to my friends house, picked up my car and drove home.  I got to bed about 3:15am.

It was a very, very long day, but one I hope to remember forever.

Anything but work, lol.  But seriously I have been thinking about cruises.  I have always wanted to go on one.  Back in the day when I had my stint as a travel agent (only lasted 2 years) I have always wanted to experience a cruise.  Now one time in Seattle I was able to tour a cruise ship that was in port, but it never left, lol.  I just think it would be really fun.  See all the different places, and do various things on the ship, I think it would be a good vacation.

However my dream must come to an end.  As I have Celiac Disease, I can imagine that it would be tough for someone like me who has this disease to eat for 7 days on a ship and not get sick.  But it’s always good to dream.  Speaking of dreaming, it would be nice to not have any bills also…  =)