Winnipeg SERVE - Day 3 Arriving in Winnipeg

Day 3 of our trip to Winnipeg.  I awoke at 7:45 am and showered. Then took a brief walk.  

I then decided to have a quiet breakfast in the hotel restaurant and read the paper.  I'd socialize with the group when they would be eating breakfast and take some pictures of them as well.    

I ordered the usual breakfast.  It was good, except for the sausages.   

Fontana decided to show me her nail job.  I think she's done better, but apparently she was hogging the bathroom and felt guilty (go figure) and did a rush job.  It showed.  : )  

The group eventually arrived and sat down for breakfast.  They got their menus and ordered.... 

Kyle and Jacob trying to figure out what to order.  Seems that Jacob has experienced a bit of a change in voice over the past couple of days.  Actually, he's pretty much lost his voice.  He sounds so manly now.  : )   

After the ordering was done, the group decided to go for a walk, leaving Annette with all her friends.  : )  

Here they are walking to the pond with the dock.  I eventually had to call them back or the waitress would be feeding Annette all the food.  

 After they returned, Ben and Annette decided to create a new game using the peanut butter.  Very interesting to watch.  Like mother, like son.  

Hannah and some friends ordered a fruit platter.  Hannah loved the tiny watermelon.   

Nice to see some people eating healthy for a change...and allowing me to share some of the food too.  : )  I was getting hungry again.   

Megan once again doing her antics with food.  She's so weird.   

Hannah with her waffle creation.   

Not sure what Hannah was doing for this picture.  I'm just glad we were all at a place where showers were available.....  : )  

Everyone enjoying their breakfast.   

Fayth must have been bored so she began stacking the creamers.   

I was hoping to get on the road by 10 AM.  Well, it took a bit longer to get served (seems to be the theme for us in our travels thus far), so we didn't actually get on the road until 11 am.  Before we left we once again circled the van and prayed.   

Once under way, I wasn't sure what Annette was going to be doing for the day.  Neither was she apparently. I've discovered many things about Annette as we've shared a vehicle together.  I've learned about her educational journey, trips to Europe, etc.  I've also learned that Annette is a person of the moment.  She discovered that she could plug in her computer for the drive (no pun intended), because I had an inverter, so she took up using it for pretty much the whole trip.  She began writing a story for the group, interweaving all of us into it.  I might publish it at the end of our trip, if she'll let me.  I pretty much didn't hear a peep from Annette.......maybe she was using this as a diversion so she wouldn't have to talk to me any longer.....  : ) 

We were on the road for about 8 hours today.  We gained an hour, so we arrived in Winnipeg 8 pm your time, 7 pm Winnipeg time.  The drive was not a beautiful one today.  Lots of straight, flat stretches.  Makes for a more challenging drive as the driver.    

Apparently several of the girls share nail polish........

More construction as we left ThunderBay.  As we drove out of ThunderBay I was hoping to see Kekabeka Falls, but we drove around it.  Hopefully we'll get to see them on the way back.  They are amazing to witness.  

While on the drive Fontana apparently injured her big toe.  She wrapped her toe up.  She did end up showing it to me, and I laughed.  It barely scratched the surface.

So, driving for long stretches can be bad for the back.  I periodically changed positions while driving, but I did remain safe.

I warned everyone that we wouldn't be stopping much today.  Our first stop was in Dryden at this Dairy Queen.

The bathrooms are outside and Fontana was being kind and holding a blizzard for someone....always the servant.  

We ate our food outside to catch some rays.

Jacob loved his blizzard.  It helped his throat.

Just after we left the Dairy Queen we had to stop due to an accident.  It covered the intersection, and delayed us about 48 minutes.  It reminds us of the dangers of taking this trip.  We were reminded of this again this evening when one of our youth opened her email and discovered a car accident that occurred in their family.  A bit of a shock, but thankfully everyone was ok.

Here's Annette coming up for air from her story telling.  She wasn't happy with me taking this picture.

Now, there's not much to do when driving in a van, especially when the group doesn't take any games along.  So, periodically people will steal my camera and begin to take random pictures.  Here is just one of a plethora of pictures that Fayth and Megan took with weird faces.

I decided to join in.

Even though I have my son, Chris, with me I placed a picture of my family on the sun visor above my head.

Here is a nice picture of Rosy.  She's been quiet for most of this trip but having a good time.

The second stop was on the side of the road because a bunch of the kids had to go Pee.  Fontana is still trying to coordinate getting out of the van after three days of practice.  Cute.

Here are the bathrooms.  Rustic...and they stank.....

We stopped by some water, so the kids dipped their toes in for a bit while waiting.

We FINALLY arrived at the Manitoba boarder.  Yahoo...... Around this point all of us were tired and decided to make up stories, each person adding two words as their turn came along. This was hilarious because the point of the game is to have the story NOT make much sense.  That seemed to frustrate a few in the group, so we  had to restart the story several times.  Eventually Ben and I ended up doing a story together.....now THAT was fun.

I'd been driving for a bit, and we just crossed the Manitoba border and I was getting squirrely.  I pulled off at the information centre and offered to run across the parking lot with anyone who wanted to.  I thought some of the group would be adventurous and come run with me, but I got no takers.  I was stunned.  They do all sorts of crazy things, but when the older generation tries something different, they look at you like you are from outer space.  Finally Annette offered to run with me.

Here I am running.  Annette snapped some pictures of me running.  This was one of the few that turned out.

I snapped a few of Annette running beside me.  She's just a strange as I am....I like it.....the rest of the group in the van thought we were nuts....I liked that too. : )

Again, passing the time away, Hannah grabbed the camera and here is the result.  I like Chris' creativeness in the background.

Fontana read off of Annette's net book for quite a while.

This is just another picture of Fayth.  Such a nice smile.

Kyle and Chris hanging out.

Annette in one of her better moments.  : )

Here she is being her normal self....no really....get to know her, and you'll see.

Hannah seems to have had enough.  I'm not sure what happened, but she looks exasperated.....or maybe the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree?  : )

More Random, weird pictures...........I think Megan was the instigator of this AGAIN!

At 7 pm we arrived at Shellie's house.  It was nice to see her and meet her family.  Shellie knew all of us but Leah, so this was more of a reunion than a meeting.

I stretched out for a bit.  It felt really good.  : )

I never did show the back of the van and how tightly we packed everything.

The home of Vince and Shellie.  A nice welcoming place.

They have a large basement which we basically took over.  I have a bed, which I'm thankful for.

Chris is going to be sleeping in a closet.

The girls took over the larger room.

I have to inflate all the air mattresses because I have the pump.  Fontana didn't want to use her air mattress on Monday night, and I can see why.  I looks more like a raft, and it seems a bit small for her.  A good chuckle.

Once settled in we were served supper.  Here we are partaking of some great spaghetti.  

They have a great room off the kitchen that leads out to a deck to a pool.  A great place to host us.  Vince and Shellie just moved into this home a month ago, and it will prove to be a perfect place for us to be.  God is good.

Vince and Shellie talking with me.  I met Vince for the first time, but I've known Shellie for years.....we always pick up where we left off.

After supper the group went for a swim in the pool and then they were off to a park for some fun.  It doesn't get dark until 10 pm here, so they had lots of time.

We closed out our night with a prayer time again and Shellie's family joined us.
It's 1 am your time, and everyone is now in bed.  Shellie and Annette are yapping, while I try to concentrate on finishing this blog and getting to bed.

Tomorrow we go to see my friend Deb, who runs a unique ministry here in Winnipeg, the Indian Family Centre, and Hope Centre.  Then we will set up the church tomorrow night for SERVE.  It should be another great day.  God has blessed us on our trip and we are glad to finally be here.  This group of YP have been great to take along and it has been a pleasure to have them come with, and yes, you too Annette.

Thanks for the comments Katrina.  Sorry I couldn't call you tonight, but with the time change I couldn't get to you tonight.  I'll call tomorrow sometime.

Until tomorrow........