Spring Break in Ohio

We went to Grandpa and Grandma Storm's in Ohio the first week of March during Devin's spring break and had so much fun! Mack and Heidi had a great time playing together and the kids love seeing their grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins. They especially love going in the pool, making cotton candy, popcorn and playing with all the fun toys at grandma's!

Jane and Great Grandpa Stalnaker

It was so fun to be able to visit with Great Grandpa and Grandma Stalnaker at the farm!

Emma and Molly in the pool, best little buddies.

Molly and her Pankaw

We had fun visiting grandma at work and the kids got some fun play glasses.

Grace and Molly

Sweet Jane watching all the action.

Molly, Mack and Isaac.

Molly sporting her new look.

Love my grandpa!

 

My sweet grandma.

Mack and Heidi were so fun to watch, they played so well and had a great time!

 

It is always fun to be able to see Becky too!

Molly and Isaac are so cute!

Heidi and Mack 4yrs old, Molly 2 1/2 Isaac 22 months. Cute cousins!

Molly had so much fun helping Pankaw make the pancakes, two of her favorite things, Pankaw and Pancakes.

Such a fun trip with a frustrating trip home, I have to document this unbelievable car troubles so one day we can look back on this and laugh. So we were about 10 miles into Iowa and 5 hours from home when the Aveo decided to break down. Devin was able to get over in the emergency lane on 80. The car was steaming, antifreeze was leaking everywhere and it would not start. The kids were asleep and it was 2 in the afternoon. We called our insurance to get a tow truck, called a car rental place and called a cab. We were sure this was not going to be a quick fix. The cab people said they don't like to pick people up on 80 but come on what else were we to do!? So about an hour later came the truck and cab. They towed the car to the shop and we took the cab 25 miles back into Moline Illinois to rent a car. We hauled all the car seats and what we grabbed got it into the 2013 Chevy Impala. The kids were excited to have a new car haha, little did they know it was temporary and cost $375 to have it for the week. We got home at 11pm right before a blizzard hit Omaha and all of Iowa which closed parts of 80, we were lucky we left Saturday and not Sunday. We had the black car but realized the key to unlock the black car was on Devin's keys in Iowa!! So luckily our insurance covered a locksmith to open our car.The mechanic called and gave us the bad news that the timing belt broke which ruined the motor at least a $2500 fix!!! We were sick. So Devin planned to drive the rental car back on Wednesday (if we returned it in Omaha it would have cost an extra $600!!) pick up the black car keys and then scheduled a bus ticket for $75, a 5 mile walk from the car rental and it would get back to Omaha at 1am. So off he went. The sales guy at the car place said the car would be ready on Saturday!! Devin was so mad cause it would have only cost $10 to keep the car until the and we could have driven out Saturday and not hassled with the bus. So he turned around and came home-5hrs there and 5 hrs back so about $100 in gas wasted and he has to get his bus ticket refunded which he had to battle.  Friday came and the mechanic called and said the sale guy didn't know what he was talking about and that the car would not be ready until Tuesday at the earliest!!! We were so frustrated and had to figure out what to do. To keep the rental another week would have been another $400 and Devin had clinic and school, oh such a pain! So we decided the cheapest thing (although not cheap) would be to rent a car from Omaha for $50 for me to follow him in the Impala to get it back to Illinois and all come home in the Omaha rental. So we get a Malibu a really nice car at least. I took the girls and Devin had Mack and we were off at 4 am for our 10 hour adventure. Will it ever end?! We got the rental cars returned and Devin scheduled one more bus ticket for the next Saturday to take out there and get the car and drive it home. Thankfully the mechanic picked him up at the bus station. He left and got the car, when he put it in reverse to leave the mechanic place it went forward instead! Oh my goodness he could not believe it. They had messed up the gears. 45 minutes later he was on the road. After 2 weeks of issues, about $3,200 and 8 trips across Iowa we had our lovely old car back and we did notice it drove better at least. So a week after having it the alternator went out, unbelievable! We still aren't sure if we need a new battery yet and are waiting on the part to get here. The nightmare that will never end. never end. never end.