Disney's Fort Wilderness Trip

Well, we survived our first family of 5 vacation, and we had a great time! This trip definitely required a LOT of packing since we were going to be camping at Disney but it was well worth all of the work. Yes, we even took a Uhaul to get all of our stuff down there. It sure did make Ryan's job much easier than trying to pack the van but our stuff would have never fit!

We left Thursday, March 10th late afternoon heading for Valdosta, Georgia to spend the night. Here was our thinking: we will leave around 3:30, the kids will watch Sesame Street, eat snacks , read books and then we will stop to eat around 6:30 then the kids will sleep the rest of the drive to Valdosta (total of a 7 hour drive) and mom will be able to relax and grade some test papers for school.

Here was what really happened: we left at 4 (not bad), the kids didn't really want to watch anything, they said "momma, momma, MOMMY" probably a thousand times at least, the boys fought over who got the Elmo book, they ate a ton of snacks, and we did stop around 6:30 to eat. Boy were we so glad to get out of the car and hear something besides "mommy, daddy, mommy, daddy...". After we ate, we got in the car and Braden, Reed and Kylie fell asleep. Thank goodness:-) Well, wishful thinking that they would sleep till we got to the hotel. Reed woke up after an hour and cried/whined the rest of the way wanting to get out of his car seat and go "night, night". Mom got 0 test papers graded and relaxed none. Oh well, memories!!!

The kids were so glad to be out of the car and in the hotel at 1 am. You would have thought it was 8am by the way they were acting. They were really excited to be in the hotel jumping on the beds:-)

The next morning went much better on the way to Disney. The kids stayed awake for a little bit then slept about 1.5 hours before we got there.

We made it!!! Ryan and I were much happier than the kids were to see this sign.

Let the fun begin of camping at Fort Wilderness for almost a week.

When we got there the Story's were already there unloading stuff. Most of what you see in the picture below is our stuff. Each person had their own bin packed full of their clothes. We also had packed a tent, 2 bikes, bike trailer, bike seat for Kylie, diapers, heater, bedding, pack-n-play, cooler, double stroller, single stroller and 3 riding toys....I'm sure I left some stuff out of that list.

Kylie and Avery (who turned one on the trip) sat in the stroller and just watched us set up. Thank goodness they are really good "babies"!

Who knows how to hook up the RV pipes?? Not our group. Me, Lindsay, Kylie, Avery and Haley all stayed in the RV and Josh and Ryan stayed in the tent with the boys.

Those of you who know Josh T., you need to ask him about his experience hooking up their pipes from their RV?!?

The first night, we were all pretty tired from setting up so we went and ate dinner at Downtown Disney at Earl's. They have the best bread! The Terry's camped too along with Josh's parents and Mandi's dad and nephews.

There were about 45 people on this trip with us, including 12+ kids. It was pretty cold the first day but then we had great weather the rest of the trip.

Thanks to Missy who let us borrow this bike trailer because we used it all the time. The kids loved riding around in it. That's one thing about this trip that was so great because you could bike just about anywhere you wanted to go.

Martha Lynn, who is expecting another little girl in June, was doing a little hair cutting on her husband Zach the first day!

Big Brent can sleep about anywhere and anytime:-) He was out "monitor babysitter" sometimes so that we could ride around while Kylie took a nap.

We didn't really know Mr. Brownlee before this trip but he is such a nice man. His wife didn't make the trip this year but I am not for sure if he even noticed:-) He fished a lot of the time we were there and was always a good extra hand that we needed with the 3 kids!

Ryan hanging with the boys before bed time. They were way off their routine of going to bed before 7 and most nights were in bed between 8-9! I think that's why they did so well sleeping in the ten because they were so tired by the end of the day.

Isn't Catherine's shirt too cute? She and Adam are expecting their first child in June. I think this is like her 20+ year for doing this Disney trip!

ML sporting her sassy pose...you wonder where Camille gets her prissiness from?!!!

Great first family vacation and we already reserved our spot for next year!

Every day, we would wake up and eat breakfast with everyone, let the kids play then get ready for the pool. The kids loved the new kiddy area, especially Braden. Braden would watch the older kids then try whatever they were doing like sliding down backwards sitting up.

Reed was more of a spectator. He needs some more meat on his bones so that he doesn't get cold so easily! He enjoyed it but not as much as Braden.

Camille then Preston sliding down.

Kylie LOVED the water. When she got tired, she would just sleep in her stroller.

The water was a little cool for me but the 80 degree weather made it much better!

Brooks and Heather The guys had to take a break and watch some of the NCAA tournament. I don't this really qualifies as camping with a flat screen TV there:-)

On Monday morning, we got up early to go to MAgic Kingdom when it opened. This was my least favorite part of our trip. Mainly because the kids are still too little to fully enjoy it and there were 64,000 people there too!

Avery and Hailey waiting for the bus to pick us up to take us to the boat.

This was most of the group that went at 7:15 that morning. The things we do for our kids!

We rode the Dumbo ride first and the boys wanted to "ride again" when it stopped.

This is about all that Kylie got to enjoy on the park day but she was great. She did enjoy the parades though.

If I had to do over, I would have just done one of the character breakfasts because they really liked seeing all of them in the park.

This was Braden while he was going through "It's a Small World" ride. Priceless!

Reed was the only one to meet Mickey and Minnie because BW and KW were asleep. After this, we started to head back to the campgrounds for naps. Reed started to not feel well before his nap so I took him to Walgreens to get some Tylenol. Well, while we were in there, he decided that he would throw up all over me in the middle of the store....making Monday for sure my least favorite day of the tip. I think there was a bug going through camp because several people got sick.

The 3 kids enjoying their riding toys.

Ryan searching for his wedding ring that he lost while playing teatherball. The Disney staff looked for it with a metal detector to no avail but some girls camping found it 2 days later. Yea!!!

The Three Amigos: Camille, Reed and Braden

This what most mornings looked like. The adults lounging while the kids played hard. Maddie girl looking too cute with her castle shirt on.

Oh Kylie, how you love food like your mommy! By the end of the week, she was known as the vulture of human garbage disposal!

Camille had just finished eating a Lik-A-Made that her Mimi had given her....pure sugar!

Remind me next time that it is not the best idea to put all 3 kids in the bike trailer to go watch their daddy play tennis. 20 plus pounds makes a difference when I am biking them. I guess my legs need it though.

Johnny with his granddaughter Maddie.

Braden really liked riding on the tricycle even though he couldn't peddle it yet.

Loving camping and staying outside 24/7.

Mandi riding bikes with Preston. He just got his bike at Christmas and did such a good job riding it around everywhere.

Lindsay getting the kids out of the road. The nice thing about the campgrounds were that the kids could ride all around the loop and not have to worry too much about cars. The cars that did drive on the loop knew to be watching for kids.

Reed was in the process of trying to get Braden off so that he could ride. I guess we need to get their tricycles out now.

The kids felt so important because they had their own little table and chairs to sit at for each meal. Pictured is Haley, Broks, Camille, Preston, Reed then Hunter.

Poor Braden didn't feel well on Tuesday. Right when I knew he was starting to get sick, I gave him medicine and he was good to go in about an hour.

3 of the nights we were camping, we all ate dinner as a group. We all helped with one of the cooking nights and the meals were so good.

Anna Claire knew that Kylie looked like she wanted to some homeade ice cream and unfortunately for her, Kylie just about cleaned her bowl.

The last night we were there, we had a huge kickball game. I am really surprised that no one got hurt because there were a lot of competitive people playing.

Like mother, like daughter. Camille is such a girly girl and I love it! It will be interesting to see what her little sister will be like.

It is impossible to get everyone to look at the camera. Oh well!

Most of the kids that were on the trip. Cash and Brooks were not in the picture because they went to the parks that morning. This was out last morning before we flew back home.
Front Row: Braden, Reed, Kylie, Maddie, Avery, Haley, and Camille
Back Row: Hunter, MAck and Preston

My dad flew to Orlando then flew back with me and the kids. I had to get back to teach and poor Ryan had to drive the 12 hour drive the next day.
Kylie took a bottle during take off then slept up to the landing!

The boys did such a good job on the plane. My mom had packed my dad a bag full of stuff and we didn't even open it during the plane ride. It really helped that they had their own seats (the only benefit of having to pay for them).
Jenny was even on the same flight back with us. Her girls are a week older than the boys and they all did really well. Who would have thought that 4 two year olds would sit and behave the whole flight. Thank you kids!

Reed's little face got burned by the sunscreen we used on it the last day. I had been using the cream kind then forgot it at the pool so I told Ryan to just spray his hands with the aerosal kind and put it on his face. Not a good idea!

Braden entertained himself with his Happy Meal toy for a good part of the ride then he even laid down in my lap too. Not usual for him!

We had a great trip and I cannot wait to go again!