Adventures in camping-part 1

I never thought we'd do it, but there we were, on an unusually chilly June day, setting up a tent in the middle of an out of the way forest preserve. How we were going to survive the next 48 hours minus cellphone access, a bathroom that was a five-minute walk away and three kids under the age of 9 was a terrifying thought to the urban mom in me.

Thankfully, we weren't the only family there. Three other brave clans joined us, and among all of us, only two people who don't yet have kids, had camped out before.

Day one passed quite well, as we pitched our $89 tent from Target, practiced making it to the bathroom in time (which was very clean, with electricity and warm water to boot!) and tried to enjoy the tech-free entertainment of green foliage, a pinkish sunset and in the evening, stories and jokes over a bonfire as we slapped mosquitoes away from our hands and faces. Roasted Halal marshmallows added to the excitement.

Nighttime though. was another story. While we had jackets, blankets and one queen-sized air mattress, this was hardly enough to stave off the frigid air. In practical terms, this meant one of my kids woke up shivering and needing to pee at 2 a.m. Getting to the bathroom at our campsite meant a five-minute walk in complete darkness, and she was in no shape to do that. So I did what human beings have and continue to do the world over: I made her fertilize a nearby tree. Alhamdu lillah, since we kept a used, filled up water bottle as our official "lota" (Istinja) in our tent, I was able to clean her up and have her back in bed in less than five minutes.

The following day was once again cool, but bright and sunny. The highlight was a long hike to a secluded beach that was part of the park. None of us swam, since it was still cold, but the kids enjoyed walking in the water, throwing rocks into it and drying off on the warm, silky sand. Our visit to this idyllic location however, was cut short by a spectacular seagull attack. The birds swooped over us at the first sight of chips in the hands of two of our friends.

I was already feeling a little nervous about spending the night again at the campsite when I spotted a patch of dark clouds heading towards us. But they passed, and we enjoyed a dinner of barbecued chicken and beef (for some reason, it seems we were on an Atkins-like diet throughout the trip).

Another nighttime bonfire was cut short by exhaustion and we all went back to our tents to what we hoped was some rest after another 12 hours in the natural world. Little did we know.