The Murphaloneys Go Camping

Last weekend, we went camping with the Maloney's for Emily's 5th birthday. It was Madi's first camping experience and mine too! Camping at Disney's Fort Wilderness isn't exactly like "real" camping, but it was real enough for us! It was comforting to have a nice, clean, cool place to take a shower and use the facilities. It was a pleasure to have a bbq grill handy and running water to clean our dishes. It was convenient to have a golf cart to shuttle us all around the campus. It was fun to have access to a resort swimming pool equipped with a large water slide and sing-alongs every night by a campfire for roasting s'mores. Nonetheless, we did sleep in a tent. That's what made the camping experience "real". That and having to go potty in the middle of the night!! Despite our 90+ degree days, the nights were quite comfortable.

The highlight of our trip was our first time at Disney with Madi. We were given three magical tickets to Disney for Madi's birthday. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. We headed for the park nice and early. The girls were beaming. We took a boat over--it was Madi's first boat ride that she can remember, anyway! To see her face at the Magic Kingdom entrance was priceless. She didn't know what to think. During the course of the day, we managed to go on 15 rides. We even had the experience of being escorted off a ride that broke down--that was a first in our book!

At about 2:30, we headed back to the campsite to give the girls some down time. They promptly passed out, and we had a chance to chill out. I was so relaxed that I locked our keys in the van! It could have been disastrous, but we called AAA and they were out in a record-breaking 20 minutes time. It was unbelievable.

At approximately 6:30, we headed back to the park for more fun. Madi agreed to go into the Haunted Mansion, which she will now tell you was her favorite ride. It wasn't her favorite when we were in line! She was quite apprehensive but was a very good sport and now feels very 'grown up' that she handled it so well.

The best part of the night was the parade. It had already started at one end of the park and we were having trouble finding a place to park our stroller to watch. All of a sudden, we were approached by someone asking us how many in our party. He escorted us to a special area, which miraculously had one empty bench right next to the street. These were paid seats, and I'm sure they weren't cheap! I truly believe it was Grandma in action--her and the Holy Spirit hooked us up big time! The girls were in awe, jumping up and down and it was truly an event we won't forget. The parade was followed up by some unbelievable fireworks too. The next day, we took the girls for pony rides and went back to the pool for some more swimming fun.

It was a great trip, and we couldn't have planned our first family camping excursion with better company. The Maloney's had every meal planned, prepared and cooked! The girls, as usual, had a blast together even doing simple things like collecting acorns around the campsite. Thanks Ed, Clare & Emily for showing us the ropes!!! There are so many pictures, I'll have to post them as a slideshow.