My dh finally came home a few days early! The one Saturday dh was there, he went to a place the dc and I have been begging him to let us go to.  Does this remind you of a famous children's book?

Ever read Misty of Chincoteague?

Here are one of the wild ponies on Assateague Island.

Assateague Island is a barrier island. Marshes face Chincoteague Island...

Whereas the other side has the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean...

Assateague Island is a nature preserve with many animals like bald eagles...

blue heron...

wild deer...

and even ducks...

This is the area where the ponies swim across the channel between Assateague Island and Chincoteague Island every Pony Penning Day...

Here is the fire department that sponsors Pony Penning Day...

You can even ride some of the tamed ponies...seasonally.  April is not the season, but summer is. 

My dh had promised to take us out here as well as Colonial Williamsburg and Washington DC for our summer vacation this year.  He had told me I had 14 days to allot for the vacation, so I had already spent a lot of hours planning lots of fun.  Then he said we had to add Chincoteague to the list.  I didn't know how to fit that into 14 days.  So while he was stuck at the airport (more on that in a bit) he finally sat to figure out how much leave he would have and yet have terminal leave for retirement at the end of the year.  Terminal leave allows him to interview for a job.  He's already gotten a few offers, but sometimes those are empty promises.  Well, he found out he only has 4 extra days for vacation!  The dc and I were trying so hard not to be jealous when he was in Chincoteague and now we are heart broken as it looks as though there will be no vacation out of the huge state of Texas.  It takes an entire day just to get to one end of it.  Oh well, maybe we'll go to the beach.  Hopefully we can avoid the tar from the oil rigs.  =/ Then once he starts working for a company, we wonder what the benifits will be...as in how many vacation days will he have a year.  There might not be enough to go out of state.  sigh  That might be the end of our traveling out of state.

Anyway, the next day, he attended the same church the TOG writers attend.  He met one of the uncles, who is one of the pastors of the church.  He suggested coming to the next service the following week to meet the Sommervilles.  But dh ended up being in Denver....more on that later.

DH had been TDY at a place that would like to hire him when he retires.  He's been trying to talk me into moving to this area. He kept telling me the traffic would be better than here.  Everything would be better. I was dubious.  We had, after all been on vacation out there a few years ago and the traffic was awful!  I liked the scenery and the historical places to visit in this area.  But it is so expensive.  I have a TOG friend who lives near there and that would be an incredible bonus.  Well, after a few days there on the TDY the traffic quickly made dh irritable.  DH couldn't believe that our traffic was better!  He had trouble finding places to eat.  No trouble with that here.  The people in the restaurants were, unfortunately, rude.  Not here.  And he was surrounded by liberal thinkers the entire time and went absolutely bonkers!!!  I wonder how my conservative friend makes it up there.  Anyway, he was not super impressed with the teeny weeny work spaces of this company, nor with the benefits.  He was even advised to stay here where we already have a house and retire here.  That is sounding good.  I would hate to burn our bridges and move and decide we had it better before.  Therefore, this was a productive trip.

Although dh was supposed to come home the 30th, the guys got the project done early!  That meant they all got to come home last Saturday.  Unfortunately, dh picked the last flight home.  It was a direct flight and would land here at 930pm.  Severe thunderstorms hung over the entire East Coast and his flight was delayed to 11pm, 1130pm, then midnight, until finally it was canceled.  He tried to retrieve his luggage for the night but they said it had already been sent to our airport.  He cat napped in an airport chair.  He finally flew to Denver then here Sunday afternoon, but no luggage.   No one knew where the luggage was.  They kept say IF they find it, they will send it to the house.  Finally the luggage arrived yesterday afternoon!  Whew!  There were extremely important items in there, not to mention gifts for us.  ;)