🎶A-camping we will go🎶
In the hustle and bustle of city life, camping is an invaluable gem. It’s the opportunity to step back and turn off the noise, to connect as a family without interruptions, to slow down and see what matters.
We had been talking about this for years, and we knew that our first summer back in Canada had to have a camping trip. Months ago, when the Ontario Parks booking site opened, I researched provincial parks and made our reservations. The scramble to book is an actual time-sensitive matter. Sites are limited, and especially closer to the city and on weekends, they are in high demand.
Darlington Provincial Park is in Bowmanville. And in the ever-expanding GTA, that’s practically in the city. It’s on Lake Ontario, with beautiful sandy beaches which was my priority. Hot showers, flush toilet, and a camp store made this the ideal first-time-alone choice.
When the big day reached, the bags and camping gear were waiting by the door Friday morning. Right after Jumuah salah, we loaded up the van and headed out. We reached site #118 with enough daylight hours to set up the tent and explore. We couldn’t have asked for a better site…views of the lake, spacious, and close enough to the washroom without being too close.
To say it was awesome would be an understatement. It was amazing! Burgers and chicken skewers and smores and corn and BBQ chicken, pancakes and grilled cheese and breakfast sausages and hash browns…camp food is all the good things at once. Then there was beach day and campfires every night and waking up to the trees and birds at Fajr. Not to forget the generous scoops of the yummiest salted caramel ice cream!
It was fun. And it was a learning experience for us and for the kids. This is the part of homeschooling that I love…the opportunities to learn life skills that schools don’t teach.
How to put up a tent. How to put up a little rain shelter. How to entertain ourselves without any technology to entertain us. And making a fire. That’s the hardest of all lessons probably, a true education in patience and perseverance for sure!
A-camping we will go. So a-camping we went. And Insha Allah a-camping we will go for many more years
💕🏕️
