My outdoorsy husband didn't want to take a baby and a toddler camping. I insisted — and regretted it by 2 a.m.

The author went camping with her family, but it only lasted 36 hours.

Courtesy of the author I convinced my reluctant husband to take our two young kids camping.

Mosquito bites and the summer heat kept our toddler awake and miserable.

We abandoned the trip after 36 hours but decided to try camping again.

The first sign that our family camping trip was a bad idea was that my husband and I were fighting.

Although he was a rugged outdoorsman who took frequent solo kayaking expeditions in the wilderness, he hated dragging our two kids into the woods in the peak of summer heat and mosquito season.

I disagreed.

I'd only discovered a love for the outdoors as an adult, but I had a vision: our family playing in the water, me lounging by the lake in my sundress while the 13-month-old napped.

In truth, I had mid-summer anxiety and was desperate.

Born in East Africa, I hated Minnesota winters .

So I was frantic when I realized it was July and we hadn't moved beyond a 10-mile radius of our home.

I wanted our family to make memories in the woods, and I wanted it now.

We went camping with our 2 kids Finally, he consented.

He booked two nights in a state forest at the edge of the Boundary Waters, a massive forest on the border of Minnesota and Canada.