When the words “road trip” are said to parents of children under ten there is a segment of the population who cringe. Visions of irritable children, squeals of “are we there yet?”, “I have to pee” dance in our heads and immediately we’re glad we aren’t stuck in that vehicle.
And yet at some point we all do it. We know in advance the pain we will have to endure but the end destination is thought to be worth it.
With this knowledge Hubby and I set out for a journey north of our home to Muskoka, Ontario.
My sister and her husband kindly offered us the use of her trailer this weekend at our favorite place in the world, Muskoka Bible Centre. I have written about this amazing slice of the earth before, here with Sand, Love and God at MBC.
I actually acknowledged the road trip challenges within that article, this time my friends Hubby and I were prepared! We were bringing my niece with us…..yup we recruited the big guns to occupy the girls.
Armed with pillows, snacks and DS’s there they were piled in the back seat with promises of good behavior.
We knew we would have to stop often so we planned those location approximately each 40 minutes of the 2.5 hour drive.
Of course it happened, 10 minutes after the first stop the whining began….”how long until the next bathroom….I have to pee.”
Immediately the hairs stood up on the back of my neck with irritation, “who said that?” I bit out.
Typical!
I’d like to point out that there is one child who doesn’t have her hand raised, if you guessed it’s my niece you win the prize.
So here we are driving for what seemed an eternity to the next pit stop, listening to my eldest go on and on about having to pee and what do our eyes spy in the lane ahead of us?
You’re not going to believe this….we were killing ourselves laughing.
The sign on the back was clearly visible and Syd was almost crying asking to go use their bathroom
Next we passed a big touring bus which Hubby kindly pointed out had a washroom on board.
Thanks buddy.
We arrived at our 2nd destination, Webers! This is a quaint burger joint which serves as a half-way point for so many Ontarians heading up to cottage country. Webers has been in business since 1963 and has train cars to eat in, lots of space for the kids to run oh and bathrooms of course!
The rest of the drive was relatively peaceful, there wasn’t much arguing and time seemed to flow quickly.
We finally arrived and something happened immediately…..relaxation. Can you see it in our faces?
All of that nail-biting, irritating, whining, anxiety ridden time in the car was worth it!
Here my friends is the view we are graced with, I feel touched directly by God each time I see it.
What a gift he gave us in this Earth!!
If you are anywhere near Muskoka Bible Center or if you’re planning a family road trip, today my advice is go for it! Yesterday during the drive at times I would have said never again, but now that we’re here it was all worth it.
Having this as my view for most of the day certainly helped.
Proverbs 3:5
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And he shall direct your paths.”
I love MBC!
Look at that view!!!!! Definitely worth the time in the car. :-) Enjoy!
This summer we will be making our first road trip with the grands, two boys 2 and 4. I once drove with my own four by myself from Florida to NY. I wonder if I still have that patience.
BEAUTIFUL VIEW! And now I will share with you the song that has become my anthem in cars, not the best clip, but you'll prolly laugh: http://youtu.be/RKNArhBjKKQImagine a 40 year old (well I have been doing it for years but it's funnier to imagine me now) doing this with full on faces and choreography
The car ride is always the worse, but when you get to your destination it makes it worth it. I always pack the car full of things for the kids to do, and what is my life saver is my iPad. They can play games and watch TV from anywhere we are at. With my employer DISH Network I have the Sling Adapter, so I can access all our subscription channels from anywhere. The kids can watch their favorite shows live instead of watching movie after movie. I just had to buy the Sling Adapter for $99.00 and the app was free to download. Right now DISH is giving a $99 rebate back when you purchase the Adapter, so it’s basically free. Go to this link for all the details of the promotion. http://goo.gl/Qsggz The kids love it and it keeps them quiet for hours.