Once we got to Hiawatha Erin the boys and I got to tell her how much we loved her, Kale talked to her about God. He also told her that he knew that Great Grandpa and God were good friends and having lots of fun in Heaven. She was very happy to hear this and gave Kale a smile and even cried a little. The boys wanted to take her something so we stopped and bought her two (one from each kid) mums. She held onto the one flower that fell off Maks' plant until we left. She always loved them and it was nice she could see the boys give them to her and we could see the enjoyment from her.
We all hope Grandma gets better but she is almost 96 and at this point is just tired. We really just want her to be comfortable and happy. Since she was tired we stayed for about 15 min and then left so she could get more sleep. In the next few days she would develop a fever and struggle to stay hydrated once the IV was removed.
After visiting with Grandma our long trip began. The long trip that consisted of driving to Ohio and back within 3 days! Ya, that's right up and back! We literally drove to Defiance, OH and bought a car (which took all of 1 hour) then hopped in the car and drove back!
It all started a few months ago (maybe years) when Erin decided that he wanted a new car and was tired of his Pilot. You see he bought the Pilot new in '08 and since that time I have driven 3 different cars! :) I may have a slight problem, but I don't see it as a problem I see it as good business decisions (meaning I didn't lose money on any of them). So as Erin started looking around for cars he knew he wanted an SUV and I knew that I didn't want a big one! We started looking around and at first he was looking and SUV/trucks such as the Chevrolet Avalanche but those were just too big for me. Next we started looking at Ford Flex's. We fell in love with the convenience and space. I loved that it drives like a car but has the space of an SUV and he loves all the technical features they offer. So we set out to find the perfect vehicle, first we had to agree on a color, then on the number of seats (they come with 6 or 7), then the trim level we wanted and all the features we HAD to have and what we could live without!
You see this process for me is much easier. I just want a Honda, it can't be gold, green or red, it must have Alloy wheels and the rest well it's whatever I can find the best deal on when dad goes to the auction. But this process does not work for Erin so we must nit-pick everything for months before we commit. After finally finding what we thought was the perfect vehicle (in Michigan) the car sales man that we had been working with had it driven down but turns out he didn't get a vehicle with all the features we had asked for, so long story short I had to tell him "NO", he was a jerk and I will never do business with him or his company again. So we went back to our preference, finding vehicles our selves! So we found a car, in Ohio!
Erin talked with the guy a few times and we decided that it was worth the drive. At first we weren't sure we wanted to drive but then they decided that would work a trade with us and that sold it for us. We knew it would be a stressful weekend with Grandma not being well but we knew that we couldn't change the outcome and that if we sat around and waited to travel that long trip would have to be made in an even shorter time frame since we didn't have any other long weekends coming up and with Erin starting a new job he doesn't want to start asking for days off already!
So off we went. We drove to Ohio for a car and made a family vacation out of it along the way. Below is a map of our trip!
Maks listening to his headphones as we drive through Ohio.
My view from the front seat.
There is a long story about all the "Welcome to" signs. Really the story goes, I try to get a picture of every sign on the way, but I always seem to miss them. So this is the excellent picture I got on the way back through Illinois, I should mention we drove past it but by this point in the trip I had missed so many of the signed I made us make a U-Turn then stop to get my picture! ;) And here you are enjoying it, guess it was worth it. 
We drove into Saint Louis to stay the night and enjoy some time out of the car. This was the view of the Arch as well drove in that evening. I was worried the clouds were going to be too low the next day but it turned out to be cool to see that evening and just fine the next day! 
The boys needed to get some energy out so they were jumping on the bed in the hotel room with their Dragons.
Maks loved seeing all the Sweet Potato Vines! He made me take a picture for him to remember it forever.
Walking up to the Arch you walk down a long path through lots of trees. This was heaven for Maks as he was still on his Lorax kick at the time. There was one tree along the path that had been cut down so Maks stopped to see if he could see the Lorax standing on it. He looked and looked at the trees and was in ahh the entire time walking through this area. On the way back to the car it began to rain so we stopped under the trees for shelter and he loved the leaves kept the rain off of us.
The boys standing in front of the Arch. 2012
Touching the Arch.
Maks and I getting ready to go up in the Arch!
Kale and I inside the "capsule" to go to the top.
We made it to the TOP! The boys loved the ride I have been to the top before but I swear I didn't ride in that tiny thing before! Ugh, I was happy to be to the top but knew we had to get back to the bottom again!
Maks checking out the view.
Kale was pointing to the baseball stadium he wanted us to see.
The Dreiling's at the Top of the Arch (or World as the boys liked to say)!
Me and my boys on the way down.
All four of us on the ride down.
These were backgrounds painted on the walls in the museum. Kale said this looked like home.
There is my Kansas Sign on the way back home!
All in all it was a great trip. We had to drive through an unexpected Hurricane most of the way. So there were lots of clouds and rain but it added an element of excitement to our drive! The boys did great. We stopped as we needed along the way and they really enjoyed the extra time in St. Louis. it made Erin and I realize that we have boys that will be great in the car and so we will be planning another vacation/road trip at some point in our near future!
